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 …
Right Amount, Right Time, Right Place: Three Pillars of Practical Wisdom Read More »
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!
Vacations are supposed to make us feel happy and refreshed. In many ways they do. But there’s other stuff in the mix that conspires against the goodness, creating vacation stress and post-vacation blues. Last week I vacationed with family and friends in La Quinta, California, a resort city in the Coachella Valley, about a hundred …
Lessons from La Quinta: How to Make Vacations Work Read More »
