Notes:
1. Ten Times More Organized Course
2. New occupation: Mediatrician
3. Walmart’s TikTok Deal
4. Creepy Stories for Christmas
5. Dr. Jerrold M. Post, psychological profiler
6. Nikki Giovanni, poet
7. Color Words
What are your biggest challenges for being organized?
I’m creating a free video course called, “How to Be Ten Times More Organized” and will be filming in the next few days. The course will be delivered one video per day for five consecutive days. The main sections are: Roles, Goals, Projects, Creativity, and Purpose.
What should I cover in the course?
Ep 58 - Captain Kirk's Decision-Making
Notes:
Boston Globe:
1. Maybe we need sages and monks to make our tough decisions
2. Rev. Liz Walker persuades Black people to take the vaccine
3. John Le Carre, obit, author of spy books
Wall Street Journal
4. Painful changes we had to make at work during 2020
5. Book: Gray Matter: 71/2 lessons about the brain - Lisa Feldman Barrett
6. Dr. Jill Biden
7. C-Suite Strategies section
8. CEO Spotlight section
New York Times
9. Students kidnapped in Nigeria (gratitude for what we have when you think about how difficult things are for others)
10. Book: My Struggle - autobiography by Karl von Knausgaard, fashion icon
11. Taylor Swift’s new album, Evermore
12. Queen’s Gambit causing more females to play chess
13. Color words
Ep 57 - In the Next 30 Minutes, You're Going to Learn...
Notes:
Boston Globe
1. Book: Red comet: The short life and blazing art of Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark Knopf
2. Little girl loves new vocabulary
3. New way to play chess
4. Intriguing opening lines
New York Times
5. Recipes:
* Rice cake soup with bok choy & edamame
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7f26d-AIrM
* Pasta with bacon, cheese, lemon, & pine nuts
* White borscht
6. Convey different tones with body language
7. Tattoo artist, Mira Mariah
8. Books:
Is this anything? - Jerry Seinfeld
Mindful thoughts at home - Kate Peers
10 lessons for a post-pandemic world - Fareed Zakaria
JFK: Coming of age in the American century - Fredrik Logevall
A certain hunger - Chelsea G. Summers
Group: How one therapist and a circle of strangers changed my life - Christie Tate
The sun collective - Charles Baxter
The Ickabog - JK Rowling
Dolly Parton, Songteller - DOlly Parton
Eleanor - David Michaelis
9. Creativity: A short & cheerful guide - John Cleese
10. Color words
Ep 56 - Life Purpose and a Special Ten Dollar Bill
Notes:
Boston Globe
1. Neil Krieger, obit, neuroscientist, bioluminescence
2. Godfather 2
3. Stella Sullivan, obit, 96, “that dirty bird virus”
4. Dad pays for son’s first legal beer
5. Joan Baez, painter
6. Massachusetts Conference for Woman
Wall Street Journal
7. New rule in England: can only serve alcohol with a “substantial meal”
8. Tony Hsieh’s unwieldy estate
9-10. Consumer psychology: sloppy vs neat present wrapping
11. The Lindler brothers and fishing business
12. Walter E. Williams, obit, good or bad? hold space
13. Microsoft engineer, Eric Engstrom, obit
14. Margaret Chase Smith, courageous senator
15. Autism/invention connection
16. Older people are happier than younger
17. Book: Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present - Ruth Ben-Ghiat
18. Atomic Habits - James Clear
19. Resilient systems in nature
20. Dan Ariely: make tasks manageable, peak-end rule
21. Monastery in Switzerland
22. Recipe: Delicata squash with cauliflower puree, brown butter, and hazelnuts
23. Solution for rock-hard brown sugar
24. Steven Soderbergh, director, interview
25. Jen Atkins, hair product CEO, Ouai
26. Goldie Hawn, non-profit, MindUP
Ep 55 - Do You Want to be a Digital Nomad?
Notes:
1. TV recs: Pennyworth & The Wilds (NYT)
2. Documentary: Gunda (follows a family of pigs) (NYT)
3. Deb Price, obit, ground-breaking gay columnist (NYT)
4. Building homes on the moon (WSJ)
5. Amphibious homes (WSJ)
6. High-tech fresh air (WSJ)
7. Digital nomad, Alan Frei (WSJ)
8. Book: Brazil that never was - A.J. Lees (WSJ)
9. Fire-inspired artwork, Dave Cole (B. GLOBE)
10. Smoky cocktails, https://www.tiktok.com/@johnrondi
11. Cigar reviews, https://www.tiktok.com/@cigarprop
Ep 54 - Consistency and Performance
Notes:
1. Los Angelis Rams coach, Sean McVay inspired by Patriots coach, Bill Belichick: “Consistency is the truest measure of performance.”
2. Shakespeare quote: “When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions” - from Hamlet
3. Book: Breaking bread with the dead - Alan Jacobs
4. Pantone colors for 2021
5. Book: How science taught Leonardo Davinci to paint - Francesca Fiorani
Ep 53 - Swiss Cheese Defense and Personal Productivity
Notes:
1. Swiss cheese defense for the pandemic: multiple layers of defense are very effective (NYT)
2. Honeypot: catching hackers by luring them in, deceptive technology (WSJ)
3. Reignite the spark in your relationship during the pandemic (WSJ)
4. Help your teenagers focus (WSJ)
5. Ferrari lover, Chanterria McGilbra, philanthropist/founder of Prancing Ponies Foundation (leadership for young women) (WSJ)
6. Book: Friends and Enemies - Barbara Amiel (WSJ)
7. Chuck Yeager, obit, broke the sound barrier (B. GLOBE)
8. Recipes: Taiwanese beef noodle soup, latkes, spice-rubbed braised brisket, & caramelized sheet-pan French toast (NYT)
9. Barack Obama: how he became an effective storyteller and writer (NYT)
Ubuntu: I Am Because We Are - The Secret to Teamwork
Ubuntu is a South African philosophy which means humanity. It is translated as I am because we are or humanity towards others. In other words, a person is a person through other people. Ubuntu became the unifying motto of the 2008 NBA Championship team, the Boston Celtics.
Doc Rivers was the coach and he often reminded his team, ‘When you play free, you can’t be beat.’ His philosophy was true teamwork - each individual plays for the other members of the team.
Before the 2008 season, Rivers brought his top three players - Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen - on a surprise field trip. He arranged for a private Duck Tour (amphibious vehicle) through the championship celebration parade route that he envisioned his team participating in! Now, THAT’S having clear, positive vision for the organization.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu said the following about ubuntu: “A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, based from a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.“
Related Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_philosophy
Become More Purposeful Using Three Japanese Principles
Living a life of purpose and fulfillment is something most of us desire, yet few attain. When you discover your mission, you’re energized and empowered at the deepest level. When you know in your bones that you’re making a difference, you’re aligned with your values.
Tips for Becoming More Purposeful
1. Pursue Pride
For one thousand years, shop owners in Japan have sold mochi (rice flour cakes). Each generation is like the next runner in a relay race. Moshi shops have persevered through wars, plagues, natural disasters, and the rise and fall of empires! They strive to create a product that inspires pride. Their focus is on a higher purpose other than profit. A common Japanese tenet is to do one thing very well. Mochi shop owners serve their customers, employees, community, and inspire pride through the outstanding quality of their product.
2. Live Your Core Values
The word for core values in Japanese is kakun. Actually, kakun translates to family motto, family precepts, and the rule of the home. To begin your journey, choose three words that best encapsulate your vision and purpose. Which words express what you’re about in the deepest way? My company, All the Hats We Wear, has joyful, productive, and fulfilled as its core values. What are your core values?
3. Welcome Icky Guys in Your Life!
No, no, no. Not icky guys - you want ikigai in your life. It’s pronounced icky guy and in Japanese it means reason for being. Iki means life, gai means value/worth. You can’t exist in a vacuum, everything is connected. In ikigai, you reach a life of true balance of: purpose, passion, satisfaction, fulfillment, calling, true self, good for society, and your values. You embody ikigai when you balance those elements. In ikigai, you’re not validated by outside recognition, you can only discover and affirm your own ikigai. Wow - how important is THAT for us all?
Learning about ikigai reminded me of the book Blue Ocean Strategy - where your goal is to bypass all competition by being so unique that you cease to compete in typical markets. You must provide a one-of-a-kind experience for others - it’s NOT enough to find a gap and fill it. I recommend the documentary, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, to learn more about service and purpose. You’ll never think of sushi the same! Use these three principles to uncover your purpose, core values, and mission.
What’s something you do everyday that generates pride? What COULD you do? Share it in the comments!
Related links:
https://www.japan.travel/en/au/travellers-blog/ikigai-find-your-passion-and-purpose-the-japanese-way/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/02/business/japan-old-companies.html