Barbarians to Bureaucrats – Summary and Potential Application – Part 1
Thriving Organizations Every organization goes through a natural life cycle, initially flourishing and growing, maturing and then calcifying, and then often ending with its decay, and usually, its demise. Lawrence M. Miller wrote about this progression in 1989 in his book “Barbarians to Bureaucrats”. He noted that while this cycle is likely, it is not…
In Defense of No-Spend Months
Why do we need a No-Spend month? Well, two months ago my family and I experienced a fantastic couple of weeks vacationing, traveling with friends, vacations-within-the-vacation, adventures, visiting exotic locals and enjoying delicious restaurants, sometimes with friends. It was an absolute blast, making memories that we hope will last us a lifetime. But then came…
Is Notion AI Worth It For Casual Users?
Is Notion AI worth it for the casual user?
Portfolio Rebalancing in 2023
Assessing Investment Portfolio Health – What’s in Your Portfolio? It is commonly accepted wisdom that a “balanced” investment protfolio is a key part of managing your investments. By having an balanced portfolio, you spread your risk around to different types of investments, while also giving yourself the oppurtunity to benefit if and when there is…
Investing Assumptions for 2023 – Demographic Changes in Europe and Asia
First off, the disclaimers: This is not investment advice and should not be taken as such. This is my personal musings, and my attempts to understand the investing environment in 2023, and the implications of that environment. Demographics set the stage for 2023 Demographics are a tricky subject, and the ramifications on the global economy…
Notion’s Superpower? Clarity through Simplification
One of the most common refrains that that people don’t “get” Notion until it changes their lives. Then people love it. The make free templates for the community. They make video after video on the tips and tricks of Notion. But many people are missing Notion’s super-power, which in my opinion, is clarity through simplification….
Want to jump-start self-leadership? Start with Love.
Self-leadership is often understood as you forcing yourself to do things that you don’t really want to do. Instead of starting with grinding things out based purely on your will-power, you should start with figuring out who and what you really love. Leadership, generally speaking, is a confusing thing. Part of the reason why people…
Why Flourishing in Your Work is More Important Than You Know – Three Activities
We all want to enjoy our work, and some of us do. Unfortunately, that portion of people that feel that they really enjoy their work is much smaller than it should be. Based on Marcus Buckingham’s book “Go Put Your Strengths to Work” only about 17% of people feel that they are able to use…
Three Questions to Identify Old Patterns and Start New Patterns
One of the challenges and blessings of an expat lifestyle is the lack of consistency, especially when compared with life in your home country. This can create stress and confusion, as well as a general confusion about your own mental and emotional well-being. Just going to the grocery store or driving to a near-by park…
Order of Operations – Understanding Must Precede Vision Development
Vision based on flawed understanding can be more distracting than helpful. (This is a continuation of the Order of Operations Matters series of posts started here.) There is a tension that exists when we are working to understand a new situation. As we start to develop our understanding we begin to essentially mentally sketch out…
The Order of Work Experience Impacts Your Learning Value
When you’re pivoting through your career, the order of experiences matter. In the same way that knowing the order of operations in baking, math, law or business matters a lot, the same holds true in your work life. This is a continuation of discussion on career pivots where starts here. Some things need to be…
Adapt or Pivot – Which is Better?
Adaption is the process of figuring out how do I continue to do the same thing, even though the conditions around me are changing. Pivoting is moving toward an end goal, one step at a time, but the movement usually isn’t a straight line, it’s more of a zig-zag pattern, where you move forward, but…
Work Pivots or Work Jumps
Learning to pivot successfully in life has become a non-negotiable skill for anyone who hopes for some degree of progress throughout their career. The idea of having a single career that spans decades seems less and less likely, and to a large degree less desirable to people who are looking for their work to provide…
A Break in the Writing Streak
My blog post writing streak (blog at least 250 words five days a week) came to an end yesterday. Many thanks to Seth Goden for his inspiration of starting a daily blog. His argument is that daily blogs are written daily. Takes the guess work of how long are you going to work on the…
The Value of Stepping Away
Stepping away from your projects from time to time can give you new perspective and new insights. After trying to focus on increasing the number of photos I was taking for a couple months, I stepped away from my photography. When I went back to review my pictures, I was surprised to see some of…