“Everybody’s looking for this magic pill that’s going to change (feelings of low wellbeing), and what we really need is a shift in our expectations and a shift in our behaviors.” – Dr. Cynthia Ackrill, certified stress mastery educator — When it comes to wellbeing, we tend to look too far outside our circle of […]
How do you figure out what gives you a sense of purpose? (draft under construction)
In the APGCCM formula, P stands for purpose. There are various ways to think about purpose, but within this formula what I refer to as purpose is the pursuit of a potential outcome that seems likely to be significant, valuable or worthwhile. Some people are turned off by high-minded terms like purpose, while others may […]
Autonomy is illusory; what you really need is more experience of agency
We tend to say we want more autonomy (right to make choices regarding our own lives without external pressures or interference) when what we really want and need is more experience of agency (ability to take meaningful actions, make decisions, and influence the world around us). Conversations about autonomy tend to focus on our resistance […]
EDIT: A formula you can use to convert change (変化) into transformation (変革) by writing stories of agency, purpose, growth, connection, contribution and meaning
EXPLORE – Scan internally and externally, forward and backward, to find out what grabs and keeps your attention DEFINE – Narrow your focus to one clearly-articulated problem/opportunity or set of problems/opportunities that seems worthy of an investment of energy and other resources ITERATE – Cycle systematically through a series of experiments to clarify what you […]
It will be easier to launch your 2025 transformation AFTER you build your RAFT
Have you preloaded your own operating instructions for 2025? One core element of establishing a new set of habits is having (a) formula(s) you can use as a launch pad to help you take your first few steps as well as a recovery plan to get you back on track after you have (inevitably eventually) […]
Tools for elephant riders: RAFT and AFTER (working draft with unintegrated sections of previous drafts)
Below is a very rough draft of an essay I started about 15 years ago, picked up again about four years ago (then forgot about again). The essay provides context on how we came up with RAFT, how we used it then, and how the concept has evolved for me over the years. RAFT: a […]
Never let the facts get in the way of a good story – unless cognitive dissonance makes you pretty sure it isn’t true:)
Mark Twain said: “I never let the facts get in the way of a good story.” Or at least that’s how the story goes. Evidently, we can’t be 100% sure whether the story is true or not. Storytelling is now considered to be an essential leadership skill, and for good reason. When we believe something […]
To extract genuine insights we need to invest our own energy in accumulating experiences and the critical thinking and reflection required to make sense of those experiences
“We can produce more information, but that means there’s more information for us to process. Our processing capability is the bottleneck.” – Gloria Mark, author of “Attention Span” This passage comes from a May 28th, 2023 opinion piece by Ezra Klein published in print and podcast form in the New York Times with the title […]
Learning turns every day into a ‘plus’ day
塵も積もれば山となる。1) Write index cards for 5-10 new kanji and review of last 50 studied, 5 new verbs, 1 new grammar/usage point 2) read 午後の曳航, 雪国 or editorials for 30-60 minutes, using highlighter to identify 10-20 words to look up later, 3) Think in and shift conversations into Japanese. This was the routine I used in […]
A paean to the malcontents, misanthropes and curmudgeons in our midst (draft)
Raise your hand if you love to work in a workplace full of complainers I’m guessing that most of us kept our hands as low as possible. Most of us don’t wake up thinking, “I sure hope someone gives me a big negativity boost today!” Being around someone who complains a lot can be a […]