Subscribe below to receive a new post via email every Thursday.
In the food court of Concourse A at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, there is a guy who is really good at his job.
Not only does he keep the napkins stocked and the seating area tidy on the busiest of days, he will even approach travelers to clear their trash when they are finished with their meals instead of waiting for them to take care of it themselves. Pleasant but not overly friendly, he conducts himself with brisk efficiency. No energy is wasted or misdirected.
Read MoreIt is hard for many high-achieving people to acknowledge growth, progress, and mastery.
"Oh, I'm just stumbling around in the dark," they'll scoff in response to a compliment. Or they'll say, "I've got to work harder," when the evidence suggests they're already working harder than anyone else.
It's laudable to want to better yourself — to want to raise the bar and not settle for less than you're capable of.
Read MoreEven though most of us have computers in our pockets, it's still entirely possible to get stuck.
A million things have changed since I was twelve (for instance, there's now the Internet), but today's twelve-year-olds are often just as helpless as I was to find a solution to a problem or an answer to a question.
In order to solve a problem or find an answer, you have to know what to search for. You have to know what questions to ask.
Read MoreBack in Atlanta after some time away, I am catching up on the changes.
I walked past a new development on the way to another new development and saw tidy signs to the left of each front door of a row of townhomes. "Private Residence," each sign proclaimed, in white lettering on a black background. A compulsive reader, I couldn't help scanning each one as I went by: Private Residence, Private Residence, Private Residence, Private Residence.
I chuckled, imagining my own tiny home in Maine, a house that couldn’t possibly be anything else, with a "private residence" sign in front of it. I could put one next to the lilac bush, or maybe by the boat wintering alongside the driveway.
Read MoreMany people go broke seeking to manifest the trappings of wealth.
They buy cars and homes they can just barely make the monthly payments for, and nobody knows how far they are stretching. They put clothes, decor, and nice vacations on the credit card to complete the picture.
Maybe someone else then looks at the results of this indebtedness and sees an aspirational example, and the cycle repeats.
Read More
