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The Pickle Juice Mug
The best jokes need to be shared. Which is why I’d like to share the opportunity to share the joy of pickle juice… Introducing the Pickle Juice Mug! We’ve been having a lot of fun with running and the power of pickle juice this year (read Powered by Pickle Juice which started it off). One…
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DND for Deep Work
A common problem for creatives (and most of us, really), is making time for focused, creative work. We all crave that couple hours to dive into a project without being distracted, but this kind of focus is hard to come by. Cal Newport calls this “deep work” and “a superpower in our current economy”. Because…
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Looking for Trouble
Most of us have enough trouble (thank you very much), we don’t go out looking for it. What we’re looking for is a trouble-free existence, free from responsibility and things breaking down, where the drinks are cold and the water’s just right. But is that really what would make you happy? I had this realization…
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Radiology, Avatars and Human Connection in the Digital Era
In To Sell is Human, Dan Pink tells about the Israeli radiologist Dr. Yehonatan N. Turner, who did an experiment in making his work more personal. “Radiologists lead lonely professional lives. Unlike many physicians, who spend large parts of their days interacting directly with patients, radiologies often sit alone in dimly lit rooms or hunched…
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The Thirst for Freedom
Life is full of constraints. The boss, the budget, our family responsibilities, geography, education, all create boundaries and limitations. We dream of shaking ourselves free from our chains and living the life of our dreams. Free of responsibility, free of constraints. If we could only get free, then we’d be truly happy and fulfilled. The…
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Comfort and Safety
As a kid I learned how to ride bike with no hands. With my first attempts, I tried to ride slowly, to minimize risk, I thought. I wobbled and struggled, without success. It wasn’t until I was told to ride faster that I finally succeeded in pulling my hands off the handlebars. As with snowboarding,…
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Why Work
When Tim Ferris taught us that only 4 hours of work was required to make ends meet (as opposed to 40 or 60) he forced us to re-evaluate this important question: Why would anyone work anymore? A few possible answers to the question: Ferris just wrote the book so he wouldn’t have to work anymore.…
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Motivate by Looking Back
Progress is important. Whether it’s in your work, fitness, or leading a team, huge motivation can be found in the feeling of moving forward. When we can see our growth or improvement, we’re energized to keeping going. This is why we love before/after photos and checklists. This is also why we get depressed when it…
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Snippets
After thumbing through my Twitter feed for too long, every new thought becomes a tweet. Every observation, every overheard phrase can be twisted into 140 characters of clever. Which makes me wonder, how much is our output affected by our inputs? When we feed ourselves a steady diet of snippets, sound bites, snapshots and tweets,…
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Complexity
If you’ve found a difficult problem, you can skip it and move on to an easier one, one that you know you’ll get right. One that you can check off the list. That’s what most of us are taught to do. Or, you can dig in and stick with the difficult one. While everyone else…