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Do Beautiful Things Work Better?
I still remember the first time I went snowboarding in my (then) new snowboard pants. My first real boarding pants, they felt good, looked great, and changed my world. As I became one with the mountain that day, I honestly felt like I became a better snowboarder. But can new pants really make you a…
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The Art of Asking Amazing Questions
I’m terrible at asking questions. Even when it comes to talking with people that I admire or want to understand more, I find it difficult to ask questions that unlock people. But I was inspired to ask great questions by Marc Prachter’s 2008 TED talk. Prachter shares about a series of interviews, or “living portraits”…
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Everybody Has a Junk Drawer
Or, as a friend put it strongly a couple months ago, “Everyone’s a shit show”. We were talking about building friendships after moving to a new place, and how difficult it is to get to know people. My friend suggested that it was hard to develop deep relationships because most of us have such a…
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Flow
I just finished reading Dan Pink’s Drive, in which Pink explains why traditional carrot-and-stick motivators are out-dated and need to be replaced by the intrinsic motivators of Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. (For the abbreviated version of the book, watch Pink’s TED talk, which I’ve mentioned before). One thing I learned was the importance of experiencing…
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The Gifts We Made
For the past month or two our house has been slightly resembling Santa’s workshop (minus the elves, reindeer, and some other things) as Anna and I tried our hand at making some of the gifts we gave to friends and family. Here’s a look at a few of the things we made. Did you give…
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Merry Christmas!
Christmas is nearly here! Above’s a little Christmas postcard, from our family to yours :). In the midst of all the busyness of buying and making gifts, decorating (yes, we got a real tree, and no, Olivia hasn’t even threatened to pull it down yet!), and working through what is the busiest season for my…
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Don’t Quit
I was looking at some kinetic typography videos yesterday when I came across this one, which is hugely encouraging if you’ve embarked on learning a craft, but haven’t mastered it yet. Ira Glass is talking about storytelling, but it probably applies to what you’re doing too.
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Tea Time
This kid of ours is amazing.
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The Magic of Spoken Word
Nine years ago I stood up in front of 50 Chilean and realized that I had something to say. For the first time I felt like myself in front of a group, without shaky knees, and realized that I could make a connection with people, make them laugh (at my own expense, maybe), feel and…
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Happy Thanksgiving
Ah, American Thanksgiving, that day where Canadians wish they’d saved their Thanksgiving for today, and envy the genius of making it a 2-day holiday! Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends to the south! “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘thank you,” that would suffice.” – Meister Eckhart
