I am a regular reader of an advice column I don’t like very much.
Why? Well, I like advice columns in general. I like how they wake up the problem-solving part of my brain and the empathic part at the same time.
The problem is that I’m not a big fan of the advice given by the writer.
Read MoreA young man had a big dream. He wanted to leave his job and create a business that would sustain him. He was afraid of failing.
I asked him how he would define failure — and success. After all, if you know what you are going for and what you’re trying to avoid, you can create a vision for the future and a map that will help you find your way.
To my surprise, he defined failure as an inability to make the business replace his day job within a tight time frame (I think it was six months).
Read MoreI’ve heard a few different versions of the same story now:
“You get written up at my daughter’s school if you’re not wearing a belt! You get in trouble if you walk too close to the wall in the hallway. We’re frustrated with these rules and we’ve talked to them about finding ways that she can have more creative expression at school, but nothing seems to change.”
No, nothing will change. This is exactly what happens when there’s a mismatch of values between you and the private school you’ve chosen for your child.
Read MoreThe 50th anniversary of the moon landing has come and gone. Nothing has changed as a result of marking that moment. In fact, the argument is that not much changed as a result of the moon landing itself.
That may be true for the moon itself, cold and still and untouched since the Apollo missions. But we are still reaping the benefits of the technological advancements that were required to achieve Kennedy’s ambitious goal to put a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s. Many decades of research and development were compressed into just over eight years. That is the benefit of a clearly defined, time-bound objective.
Read MoreStarting a new hobby or learning a new skill can bring on a sort of infatuation phase: You think about it all the time, even when you’re supposed to be doing other things. When you can’t actually be engaging in your new pastime, you’re watching YouTube videos or listening to podcasts about it. You can’t get enough.
And you may start to feel a little self-conscious about it. If you have big goals, however, ignore that feeling and do your thing.
Read MoreJason Fried, co-founder of Basecamp, doesn’t believe in goals. He claims he’s never had one.
Imagine being able to succeed by just wanting to make things — and make things better for everyone. Fried is proof that it is possible.
So often, we focus on an external timeline that we have to satisfy in order to be acceptable. We believe that if we fail to keep up with others (or with our own imagined future self), our efforts have no value — or even that we have no value.
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