There's a pervasive idea that success and failure are two opposing ideas. We envision them on opposite ends of a line representing time and progress. If we’re realistic, we imagine that line jagged with ups and downs, detours and distractions. There are some popular memes that illustrate this point splendidly. But even this imaging is...

It’s the end of August, which means it’s the end of summer. Yes, I know fall isn’t officially here until September 22nd, but who is really talking about how great summer is in the month of September?* Anything month ending in an “-ER” is a fall/winter month in my Canadian mind. So, it’s September in two days…and that’s a good thing! Why?...

Here’s the secret about confidence: We all struggle with it. We all have moments when it’s naturally low and moments when it’s naturally high. That kind of fluctuating confidence is based on our emotional state—but what about that unflinching, resilient confidence that endures in the face of rejection, failure and disappointment? Where does that...

How many times have you gotten to the end of the day and thought, “Wow, what a crappy day” or “Man, that conversation really got away from me” or “Geez, I got absolutely nothing done”? How many chances do you think you had during the course of the day to alter that end result of a crappy, unproductive, runaway type of day?  The answer is:...

I’ve struggled with the Wi-fi in my house for the past year and a half. Yes, a year and a half. I’ve had repairmen come and go, intruding on my off days and afternoons, while I've twiddled my thumbs during the 6-hour appointment slot. Apparently there’s something wrong with the wiring— it’s an old house, although beautifully renovated. However,...

Making sense of the world is a Herculean—one could argue, impossible—task. But since we insist on it anyways, it's helpful to at least approach it in a balanced manner. As we explored in the last post, Changing Lenses: How to See the World from Another Point of View, drawing from multiple perspectives lends clarity to situations. When we combine...

In the western world, we’ve gravitated towards a hyper-individualized culture. In many ways, this has been an improvement: we pay more attention to mental health, work-life balance and self-actualization. Somewhere along the way, however, in realizing that our needs and views are important, we dubbed them more important than everyone else's....