Thinking about thewhitespace’s comment on my last post about black and white thinking, I’ve realized that there’s a fine distinction between simplicity and making things way too simple.
The simplicity I’m aiming for isn’t the black and white simplicity before thought, i.e. ignorance, but the simplicity that comes after the far side of complexity, i.e. clarity after thought.
Wed, Jul 23, 2008
“We are Grey. We stand between the darkness and the light.”
Delenn, Babylon 5
We like to make meaning out of things – in fact, we can’t avoid doing it.
When we write, we write facts, bullet points, objective statements. But when we remember our past and imagine our future, we don’t think in bullet points. We remember the story.
I might ‘write graduated in 2000′, but when you ask me to remember my graduation I remember the story; who was there, what we did, the happy relief I felt and the optimism I faced my future with.
So we try to make meaning twice, once with the stories we tell ourselves, second with the patterns we sift through in our stories; touching a flame means pain, getting recognition means you must be doing something right, if I get my goal it means the law of attraction works and if I didn’t it means I didn’t intend hard enough.
Mon, Jul 21, 2008
As of today, you’ll notice that there are zero ads on Life Coaches Blog; making it now a zero revenue site. It’s a decision I’ve made because of some terms in my new contract at work, but outside of an even cleaner look, it won’t affect the content any.
Sun, Jul 13, 2008
“This one is hard for me. I love participating. I love being part of things. But I have found that I have to say no to things a lot more often, so that I don’t accidentally set myself up to let others down.” Chris Brogan talks about scaling himself as he tackles the challenge of how to do everything that needs doing when demands scale up on him.
“Saying ‘no’ to any commitments we can’t handle would be ideal, of course, but like I said, we usually have a tendency to say ‘yes’ to more than we can actually handle. And we become overwhelmed, stressed, and exhausted. As you know, simplicity is the key to my philosophy. If things get complicated, I say you should simplify. Don’t try to do more. Reduce.” Zen Habits talks more about cutting back on daily demands in A Guide to Cutting Back When You Feel Overwhelmed.
Fri, Jul 11, 2008
Nothing personal development-related here, but I wanted to give a shout-out to the brilliant design team behind the new Life Coaches Blog.
Premium News was the original site where I bought my present theme, and it’s now evolved into the newly minted WooThemes. I love their designs and they have a good after-service help forum for help with purchased themes.
Together with the relaunch they’ve also released 2 brand new WordPress themes for sale. Check them out.
Thu, Jul 10, 2008
Steve Pavlina has a new book due out in October aptly named after his blog; Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth.
He says about the book that:
Personal Development for Smart People definitely isn’t a rehashing of previous blog posts or articles. The ideas in the book are new and original. Only a small portion of the content is based on existing material from this website.
This is a very unique book. Even if you’ve read 1000 or more personal development books like I have, I dare say you’ve never read anything quite like this.
and he talks about it more in detail on his post Pre-order Personal Development for Smart People. He reveals that after 2 and a half years of searching for the core principles of personal growth, he found that there were seven in total: truth, love, power, oneness, authority, courage, and intelligence, which he goes into in his book.
Wed, Jul 9, 2008
Be honest with yourself, what do you do when friends, co-workers, or relatives tell you what you should or should not do about your life, health, career, relationships, etc? Do you immediately move to action to change what others say you should change? How does what others think about you affect your life? What happens to you that you immediately feel like you must work on what someone else pointed out in your life?
I believe this act of wanting to please others affects all of us in some way. However, it affects many in a great way. Have you ever auditioned for a part in a play? Did you ever try out for the football or volleyball team at school? We endeavored to play the part well so the director would be pleased with our performance and give us the part. We worked so hard to please the coach in hopes that we might have a spot on the team.
Mon, Jul 7, 2008
I’ve discovered another lifehack; when I leave my computer turned off, I’m more apt to do the simple things like read, exercise, sleep early, clean my room and talk to my family, compared to surfing endlessly (and sometimes mindlessly).
One book I’ve just finished reading is the philosophical fiction book If Minds Had Toes, where long-dead philosophers Socrates and Ludwig Wittgenstein live on and argue philosophy in the World of Ideas.
Socrates asserts that philosophy is useful to everyone, Wittgenstein disagrees, and they agree to settle it with a bet: an ordinary young person would be brought to the World of Ideas and introduced to philosophy. If, after a time, he agrees that philosophy has benefited his life, Socrates gets to keep his presidency, if he loses, Wittgenstein becomes the next president of the World of Ideas.
Wed, Jun 25, 2008
Albert Einstein once said; “everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” I’ve been going on about the simple life lately, but what exactly is simplicity and why is it such a big deal?
In this series, I want to explore simplicity through the eyes of different people. Hopefully, this will enrich our ideas about simplicity and help answer those questions for both you and I.
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism that focuses on direct experience of its teachings. In fact, its legendary founder Bodhidharma asserted that Zen is a “special transmission outside scriptures” which does “not stand upon words.”
While Zen has a lot to teach us about simplicity, I’m going to draw specifically on two aspects linked to Zen that I first learned about from the seminal book Zen and Japanese Culture by Dr. D.T. Suzuki.
Sat, Jun 21, 2008
This is in response to KC, who wrote in to ask for those links in the sidebar which disappeared when we upgraded Life Coaches Blog. Here they are, plus a few new ones!
The 9rules Productivity Community, of which I’m a proud member, is full of updated links to good personal development posts from fellow members.
The inimitable 43 Folders, one of the most original, real and funny productivity blogs in the history of the internets.
Adam, the self-made Singaporean millionaire whom I used to coach for.
Christine Kane, songwriter, musician, inspirational, personal development blogger and one hell of a writer.
How do you describe gapingvoid? Cartoons drawn on the back of a business card? Marketing and Web 2.0? Sheer brilliant genius?
Sun, Jul 27, 2008
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