A man saw a ball of gold in the sky; He climbed for it, And eventually he achieved it — It was clay. Now this is the strange part: When the man went to the earth And looked again, Lo, there was the ball of gold. Now this is the strange part: It was a…
Read More
After publishing yesterday’s post, I realized I also wrote about arbitrary goals in The Happiness of Pursuit. Here’s the story: I use an app on my phone to track my running, especially the longer runs that I do most Sunday mornings. On a recent eight-mile run, I noticed that my pace was consistently around 8:34…
Read More
There’s nothing fundamentally different about a marathon that takes four hours and one that takes four hours and two minutes. But as the data show, runners will do everything they can to hit 4:00 instead of 4:02.
Read More
Above photo from Tom Allen’s quest story Hey everyone! For the past few months, we’ve been running a series of traveler and “quester” profiles, usually each Tuesday and Thursday. Judging from your feedback and social sharing, here are several of your early favorites: “Goodbye, Comfort Zone”: On the Road with Marvin and Josephine Abisia “Life…
Read More
Things I found on long walks in foreign cities or perhaps when someone posted them on Twitter.
Read More
This summer we encountered some delays in building the blog’s redesigned pages. Basically, we got behind. It was stressful but then it was okay, as it usually is. The most important thing is having a great product in the end. During the delay, I spent some time working away on stuff that no one would…
Read More
This is a reader story. (Read others or tell us yours.) I read a long comment by Elena Kim in the 2014 Travel Roundup, and decided it deserves a post of its own. Here’s Elena: — This year I learned I could walk on water. I was in Hong Kong on my first overseas trip…
Read More
68 Comments
And… the Annual Review continues! Today’s post is all about the future. You’re welcome to share your lessons too, and—new bonus!—we’ll award a $100 Powell’s gift card to the person who leaves the best comment by the end of the week, as determined by our cats and biased judges. Right after Christmas, I’ll also share…
Read More
Adam spent 13 years making an indie video game. If you grew up gaming (I did), you’ll like this video and appreciate several of the references. Even if you don’t care for video games, it’s still a great story. Of his 6 lessons (cleverly disguised as reasons for failure), my favorite is the one…
Read More
77 Comments
And… the Annual Review continues! Today’s post is a travel roundup: everywhere I went in 2014, along with a few lessons and comments. You’re welcome to share your itineraries or lessons. Next week, our cats and biased judges will award a $100 gift card from Powell’s for the best overall comment throughout the series. Previous…
Read More
Like many of you, I was excited to hear the big news that the U.S. embargo against Cuba is ending. Wow! There’s probably a good life lesson in this news: if your government has tried something for more than 50 years and it hasn’t worked, maybe it’s time to try something else. As part of…
Read More
Jez Butterworth on writing a play about navigating the zero-sum world of opposing choices: He described it as a kind of psychological holding place as ‘nostalgia for the opposite.’ Holding two options in one’s mind simultaneously enables an emotional state—of freedom or evasiveness, depending on one’s view—in which Butterworth’s characters tend to reside. ‘The idea…
Read More
53 Comments
And… the Annual Review continues! Today’s post builds on Monday’s, with some more specific lessons related to entrepreneurship, writing, and work. You’re welcome to share your lessons too, and—new bonus!—we’ll award a $100 Powell’s gift card to the person who leaves the best comment by the end of the week, as determined by our cats…
Read More
Things I found on long walks through foreign cities, or perhaps when someone posted them on Twitter
Read More
From time to time, most of us suffer from a gap between what we say we do and what we actually do. This is especially true in everything associated with well-being: fitness, health, personal finance, and general self-improvement. We know we should exercise, but we don’t always want to. We know we should save, but…
Read More