You’re a lucky person if you had a grandfather to help raise you. Grandparents can teach you things your own parents can’t. It’s a special gift for a kid to get the gift of 50 years of master from someone.
Category: The Life Apprenticeship
Both Sides Are Wrong: A Rule of Thumb for Navigating Conflict
You’ll face plenty of conflict in life. You can settle your part in it with the right questions. You don’t have to pick sides, and you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble if you don’t. Instead, pick the complicated truth that doesn’t fit into molds, but breaks them.
How My Grandfather Won His Last Battle
Today my grandfather died. I’m still processing what it means to live in a world without him. But there’s one thought that gives me extraordinary satisfaction: he ended so well.
Why Imposter Syndrome Can Be a Good Thing
I am a manager due to chance + occasional wise decisions + courage in carrying them through. But when I leave my office, I am just another human being. And when I leave my company, I will continue to be just another human being. Nothing is permanent or deserved.
Irony Is Stunting Your Relationships
It’s easy to make acquaintances in the modern world. New connections are just a few taps away on any mobile device. That’s an amazing thing. Sincerity and depth in relationships with other young people is harder to get at.
How To Be a Cynic and an Idealist (at the Same Time!)
Is it better to be a cynic or an idealist? Should you give up on dreams or pursue them? Is the universe fundamentally friendly or hostile to happiness? Maybe you don’t have to choose.
Wisdom Is (Mostly) Invisible
If we are going to acknowledge wisdom in others and embody wisdom ourselves, we must not confine ourselves to visible wisdom – the wisdom of all our preconceptions. This wisdom is just the tip of the iceberg. We have to see further and deeper to see the wisdom of inaction and restraint.
Why a Radical Libertarian Can Enjoy a Show About a British Monarch
Here I am, a radical libertarian, enjoying a show whose protagonist is the monarch of one of the world’s brutal and oppressive empires. How do I square that circle?
The Devil’s Dictionary for Business: “Corporate”
In 1881, American writer Ambrose Bierce began work on a series of short satirical definitions eventually published together as The Devil’s Dictionary. If you’ve never read the entries, you’re in for a sarcastic, cynical treat.
How Curiosity Can Help You Overcome Suffering
I’ve lived through a couple of rounds of layoffs at this point in my career. On the worse occasion, one of my coworkers was facing down the reality of picking up the pieces of their work after losing several team members. The only thing keeping them going? Curiosity about what it would take to continue operating. Curiosity about what life would be like now. Curiosity about whether success was now achievable.