Erik Van Alstine

“Do you kids know,” I asked, “that you do not have to do what I say? You don’t have to obey your mother either.” I have six children. One day in the year 2005, while we all were waiting in the living room for dinner, I started this casual conversation. The youngest was 6, oldest […]

Want to live better? Want to be more effective? Make better decisions? Getting three critical things right will help. I call these three things, Right Amount, Right Time, and Right Place. Right Amount: The Inverted U In a recent post I explained the merits of a “less is more” approach to living, using, of all

Here’s a link to a recent podcast I did for Srini Rao’s podcast, The Unmistakable Creative. Enjoy! The Power of Perceptual Intelligence with Erik Van Alstine

This week I joined a small group of leaders for a two-day stay on the USS Theodore Roosevelt, one of the Navy’s ten nuclear-powered supercarriers known as “The Big Stick,” as its team of 5,000 workers conducted training exercises 150 miles off the Pacific Coast near San Diego. Here’s a picture of the phenomenal people

Every time we make a decision, we say yes to one thing and no to another. “Yes” to a burger and fries is “no” to a trim stomach. “Yes” to driving north is “no” to driving south. “Yes” to an afternoon with a friend is “no” to an afternoon at work. Yes and no are

Do you often feel unsatisfied? Like something’s missing? Like you don’t have enough of something? There’s a deep human need for fulfillment. Certainly, this can be a deep philosophical and religious need. I’m reminded of a saying by Saint Augustine of Hippo, the fifth century Algerian church father: You have made us for yourself, and

This is the second in a series that asks the question, How much money is enough? Click here for part one. Last post we looked at the “Inverted-U Graph” and money. The point of the graph is, too much of a good thing is a bad thing. There’s a relationship between the amount of good we

For several posts lately I’ve been writing about the idea that too much of a good thing is a bad thing. There’s an Inverted-U relationship between the amount of good we get out of life and the quantity of things that contribute to the good. Here’s the Inverted-U graph: Take vacationing as an example. Vacation

Imagine trying to water ski without the pull of a boat. We bob in the water, pushing ourselves up, trying to raise ourselves to the surface, but sink right back down because the boat isn’t moving. This is often a picture of our emotional lives. We want to be happier, but fall back into doldrums

Our team just released a video interview, it captures my heart to help leaders be more effective. Enjoy!