Category: Life
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Shoot your shot
When actor and former NFL linebacker Terry Crews was a senior in high school, he played on the basketball team. During a practice session, he had an open shot and his coach yelled at him for not passing it to the team’s star player, Craig. When Terry tried explaining himself, his coach stopped practice and…
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Liberating rules vs. governing rules
In my early 20s, I found myself getting easily distracted by social media. So I introduced a rule into my life, which was to check social media only after 6pm. That particular rule was great, because it freed me from the possibility of getting a quick, thin, reward. I was free to be more present,…
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What’s right vs. who’s right
Shane Parrish was talking to a woman who was one of two candidates to become the next CEO in her organization. She approached him with a difficult problem that the organization faced, and her proposed solution. It would work, but it would be complicated and risky to execute. She also told him there was another…
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The Scallenge
Sometimes, you see somebody doing something on TV, and you think, “I can probably do that better.” That’s what some people thought when they saw Brian Scalabrine play in the NBA. So Brian issued a challenge, known as The Scallenge, where people could apply to play against him. Four players, each with NCAA Division I…
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Read your old journals
Writing a journal is nice, but it’s just as rewarding—maybe even moreso—to go back and read it. It’ll give you hints—or direct advice—when you feel confused. I highly recommend adding your own old journals to your reading list. One helpful technique is to combine sources—for example, you can look at a journal entry from 10…
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When you’re switching careers, don’t rush to a resolution
There’s a great piece of advice that Herminia Ibarra writes in Working Identity, which is to allow for a transition period between holding on to an old identity, and letting go of it and taking on a new one. She writes, “Better to live the contradictions than to come to a premature resolution.” This assurance…
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Say what needs to be said
It took Wattpad co-founder Allen Lau decades to learn to speak up, instead of stopping himself when something needed to be said. He writes, “For me, I kept telling myself I needed to err on the side of speaking up too much. Trust me, even with that, the end result is that on many occasions…
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Choosing how you feel
My friend Peter has been running Barrel, which has grown into Barrel Holdings, for 18 years. In the past, he’d constantly feel the worries of what could go wrong the following week, even on holidays. If you’re an entrepreneur or independent, you’ll know exactly what Peter means—when the buck stops with you, you’re ultimately responsible…
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You made it!
There’s a popular post circulating online that suggests men shouldn’t celebrate their birthdays because they—we!—should celebrate achievements, not existence. While I could relate to it, and I felt incredibly surprised as my perspective is the exact opposite, the main point I want to make is this: If you manage to make it another year around…