Five Ways to be a Human Being at Work
Work puts too much emphasis on process, transactions, technology, outcomes, outputs, and the bottom line. Even though we work with people we really like and respect, we often treat our colleagues differently on the job than we do our friends….
Time Management
Time management is commonly thought of as the ability to keep oneself organized in order to get as many high value tasks completed as possible. Time management is also the acceptance of what Oliver Burkeman calls “the finitude” of time…
Evaluating Two Iconic Christmas Carols
Christmas is this Sunday. Christmas carols are a cool part of the holidays. About a month ago, my oldest son’s music class was asked what Christmas carol they should perform for the school’s concert. He recommended “Christmas in Hollis” by…
Managing Expectations and Canada’s World Cup Exit
The FIFA World Cup final is on Saturday. Argentina will probably play France. Despite Group F’s success (two teams in the semi-finals!), do you know what team has not been playing futbol for a few weeks? Canada. The Kings of…
Five Tips for Being the Life of the Party!
About two years ago I received a really great compliment from my friend Alison: “John, I just thought of a perfect job for you – Party Initiator.” From a very young age I’ve always had a knack for exuding contagious…
Five Ways to Create Positive Community Collisions
I think that we need to disrupt our social networks by thinking of and engaging with other people. Wharton super-professor Adam Grant recently tweeted that what actually drives prejudice is “in-group love, not out-group hate”. We need to engage and…
How to Find Your Flow
We are a society that is addicted to distra- [checks phone] … what was I writing about? To say the least, we need to find our flow so that we can focus on the most important things in our worklife…
Three Ways to Realize the Potential of Dialogue
THE POTENTIAL OF DIALOGUE Meaningful dialogue is an elusive thing in our communities. Having a respectful conversation with someone about something on which we do not agree isn’t common. Yelling opinions over someone else or building a newsfeed that reinforces…
Late
Being late is forever. Once we’re late for a meeting or a deadline (like a blog post) it can’t be undone. Being early lasts for hours and being on time only exists for a few moments. It’s tough to always be…
The Business Case for Playing Every Day
Play is a central part of being human. Here is a business case for bringing play to your life and your practice every single day.