For Those Who (Privately) Aspire to Become More Reclusive

For most of history, societies have equated good lives with active outward noisy ones: lives spent spearing enemies in battle, sacrificing oneself heroically in the name of God, achieving high office…

The Hard Work of Being 'Lazy'

At times, perhaps without quite knowing why, we slip into a resolutely ‘lazy’ mood. We’re simply not able to write anything new or can’t face setting up more meetings. We don’t…

Expectations - and the 80/20 Rule

In 1905, the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto noticed a detail about the peas in his garden: 20% of the pea pods seemed to be responsible for yielding 80% of the peas.…

Taking It One Day at a Time

Occasionally, life places us in a situation where our normal long-range hopeful way of thinking grows impossible. It’s unclear from here when you’ll be going back to work - or whether…

Spirituality for People who Hate Spirituality

The word spirituality has a capacity to divide people like few others. For some, it’s an innately beautiful touchstone, the designator of a special kind of experience that is so valuable,…

How to Spill A Drink Down One’s Front - and Survive

It is, in many way, the quintessential minor social mishap. We’re at a party surrounded by interesting people upon whom we’d like to make a good impression. We’ve been talking about…