I was at breakfast with my father one weekday morning at a deli that he regularly went to. When we walked in and sat down, they handed me a menu and then walked away without giving one to my father. I asked him if he wanted to see mine, and he said, “Oh, they started […]
breakfast, deli, father, order
In the wonderful TV series “The Bear,” which is about a family-run restaurant in Chicago, when a staff member wants to indicate they truly understood what another staff member was saying, they respond by saying the word “heard.” There is something profound to me about letting someone know that you truly got the message. In […]
heard, Listening, the bear
When I opened my yogurt up, and it’s the Siggi’s brand, there was a note from the owner himself: “I hope you enjoy. Signed, Siggi.” It’s that classic understated marketing that they use, and even though I already bought the product, so I didn’t need to be marketed to, the idea of putting that simple […]
I was in my favorite deli recently, and someone had taken a couple of drinks out of these two giant drink coolers that cover almost an entire wall in this deli. As they were walking towards the counter, I said, “Wow, they have everything under the sun here.” With that, the person looked back, saw […]
choices, decision paralysis, Decisions, deli, options
I recently read a quip I have never seen before that said, “When nothing goes right, go left.” I’m not sure why that sort of caught me by surprise, but it reflects something I believe pretty strongly: sometimes when we’re in a rut or things are not going our way for a while, doing something […]
Change, control, left, quote, right
I got a fortune from a fortune cookie from lunch the other day that said “The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.” I suppose it’s a warning in some way that when you’re pursuing something that you want, taking a little time to assess the situation, particularly the downside […]
cheese, fortune, fortune cookie, idiom, mouse
I was reading an article in the Wall Street Journal this morning about how the executives and board members of companies that make food products, or are in the restaurant business, often sample those products before they are brought out to the market. A lot of research and testing done before that, of course, but […]
fulfillment, happiness, happy, work
One of my favorite quotations from Stephen Covey is a question: “Have you ever been so busy driving you didn’t have time to stop for gas?” For a lot of people in today’s busy world, it can feel like we’re never taking time to re-energize, but a lot of evidence and research suggests that taking […]
Breaks, energize, Energy, fuel, restore
As I was walking to my office the other day, I passed a car where a healthcare aid was helping an older woman out of the car. The aid was getting her steady on a walker that she had next to her. As I watched the determination of this older woman to take hold of […]
grateful, meditation, step, thich hanh, walker, walking
In the acknowledgement section of Julia Child’s The French Chef Cookbook, she mentions her husband Paul. She refers to him as “the man who is always there.” She then mentions all these roles he plays in her life. He is the fish illustrator, he is the dishwasher, and the porter, and resident poet, and husband, […]
always there, cookbook, julia child, Support