A friend of mine posted a recipe on Facebook that included the unexpected but glorious use of peanut butter. Along with the instructions, she noted that very few recipes are not improved by the use of peanut butter. For peanut butter lovers like me, it’s a universal truth, and it made me wonder how that […]
daily life, improvements, peanut butter
Mark Twain said,” There are two kinds of people in the world. One kind separates people into two kinds of people and the other kind doesn’t.” I’m the kind who separates people into two kinds of people, and in this case there are people who ask for help when they have a problem and there […]
ask, ask for help, problems
When I read Stephen Covey’s classic book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, his “Putting First Things First” habit made a permanent impression. In that chapter, he points out the folly of trying to manage time and says we should be managing ourselves instead. He advises that we look at the roles we have […]
organization, organization tips, schedule, to-do list
There’s a concept in psychology called “The Corrective Emotional Experience.” It refers to an experience you have later in life that “corrects” a bad experience from earlier in life that left you feeling emotionally upset. Typically, those bad experiences involved relationships with people close to us. If we’re still upset about that prior experience, a […]
corrective, erase, eraser, psychology, second chance
When sound engineers are designing and installing a sound system for a movie theatre, they balance all the different pieces of equipment so that a certain spot or area in the movie theatre will be the “sweet spot” – that’s the spot where the sound will be the best. That tends to be about two-thirds […]
balance, sound, sweet spot, theatre
One of my favorite expressions is original in Yiddish – it translates roughly into English as, “With one ass, you can’t dance at two weddings.” Someone told me that a long time ago after I was describing all the things I was trying to accomplish in life. They recognized from what I said that it […]
Stress, stress mangement, stress relief, tips
When I worked in the publishing business, I shared office space with my friend Rich. Every morning, Rich would come in to the office, grab a sheet of paper from the printer, ball it up and shoot it towards a round wastebasket that we had in the office. If the ball went in, he’d say, […]
bad day, good day, power, situation
The excellent book The Chosen by Chaim Potok was turned into a pretty good movie by the same name. It is about an Orthodox father and son who are at odds and involved in an intractable conflict. I don’t want to spoil the movie or the book for you, but there’s a story that’s told […]
broken, fix, relationship, Relationships
Although the Pandemic has separated many employees from one another and from their supervisors/leaders, the need for effective and timely feedback is more important now than ever. With feedback, as with comedy, timing is everything. When you’re giving constructive feedback (including positive feedback, although I’m focusing on constructive criticism below), try to give that feedback […]
Critical feedback, Criticism, Feedback
