Be The Change…

I’m dumbfounded. I’m ashamed. I’m embarrassed.

I’m dumbfounded by the results. Like many I never thought someone this clearly unqualified for the job stood a chance of getting it.

I’m ashamed of the results. “We the people” are not at all who I thought were were. I am ashamed of the fact that so many people honestly, truly believe that someone who speaks to the worst in human nature would be the better choice to lead this country.

I’m embarrassed by the results. Nothing more publicly demonstrates what “we the people” really are than who we elect to lead us. We’ve just confirmed every outrageous stereotype of “the ugly american” to the rest of the world. As a people we are more like him than not. And that’s embarrassing.

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Strategy, Tactics, and … Something Else?

I’ve been trying to think of the various types of work I do on Ask Leo! and how there are different types of work. Most commonly the biz/entrepreneur types will tell you that there’s strategy and there’s tactics.

I think there’s something else.

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Ask the Question and the Answer Will Appear

This happens to me so often accidentally that I’m starting to think I should do it on purpose.

This morning I had a problem with one of the online services I use. It’s in an area that has been problematic for me before, so after checking that things were as they should be, I began to suspect the service provider.

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Do The Work

I’ve seen and even purchased my fair share of products that are aimed at entrepreneurs trying to “make it”. Typically they’re all about how to break through, how to get noticed, how to play the social media game, how to do everything except one critically important thing.

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Goal Setting – or not

I watched a TEDx video the other day (Risk Forward: the Rewards of Not Knowing | Victoria Labalme | TEDxSantaBarbara) where the speaker began, in essence, “there are people who set goals, plan for them, work towards them … this talk is for the rest of us”. I forget how I stumbled into this video – I think someone had mentioned it or the speaker somewhere – I’ve since lost track.

Now, I can’t say that I don’t have goals, but I can tell you I have no idea what I expect to be in 5 years (one of the classic goal-setting questions).

But I did come up with something that might … just might … sum up what I want my life to be.

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On Writing Better

Interestingly enough a few days ago I posted (or rather, re-posted) an article of mine called If I Had to Do It Over…, which starts:

I never planned to be a writer. And yet here I am. I kinda wish I’d approached a few things differently along the way.

It’s an article that’s been revised a time or two on Ask Leo!, and is always well received. This time ’round it was about republishing on an different platform in the hopes of additional eyeballs. You know, marketting.

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Truth, Facts and Opinions

Sheldon: But evolution is not opinion, it’s a fact.

Sheldon’s mom: And that is your opinion.

– Big Bang Theory

Nothing sums up the current political environment to me more than that quote.

I think everyone would agree that facts are facts. They are invariant, objective  laws of the universe, subject to scrutiny and unchanging based on who’s doing the scrutinizing.

Until, it appears, you happen to disagree with a fact.

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We Want Knowledge

One of the worst things you can do in terms of customer service is keep secrets, or simply fail to share knowledge.

Sometimes just answering the question “why?” will give you an order of magnitude better customer service.

A couple of examples:

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It’s Not A War On Truth

Many people are suggesting that there’s a war on “truth”, for whatever “truth” they happen to believe in.

I think that’s a gross over-simplification. I think the problem goes much deeper than that.

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Confirmation Bias is a Bitch

We love confirmation bias; you know, the fact that we more readily believe those things that confirm, rather than challenge, our existing beliefs.

We love it when we can use it to explain the behaviour of others, or our inability to persuade them to our way of thinking. “Oh, they’ll only listen to things that they agree with.”

But we have a blind spot:

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Deep Thought

I sometimes wonder if we’re becoming less and less capable of what I’ll call deep thought.

And by “we” of course I mean “I”.

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We Are All SO Different

I often like to tell people that I love my coffee but that I can stop any time … because I’ve done it before.

Some years ago I elected to try reducing my coffee intake to zero, and did so cold-turkey. What amazes most people is that I did not experience headaches as a result. Honestly, it was more of an “oh well” experience. (And, for the record, I tend to drink strong, caffeinated coffee). Similarly I’ve been known to have a cup of said strong brew … and then take a nap.

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Thick Skin Required

Had someone call me an idiot and a moron yesterday for my Galaxy Note 7 piece. (Don’t look for it in the comments, it was an emailed reply.) Apparently he had a beef with Samsung.

Whatever.

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Why Public?

One of the first questions I asked myself about doing this whole daily thing is “why make it public”? Why am I doing this on a public blog where anyone can come along and read … and judge?

Because of course judge, they will.

A couple of reasons came to mind.

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An Exercise in Focus, Writing, and Gratitude

In 321 days I’ll turn 60. One of those arbitrary, round-number birthdays (though a friend often argues our “real” birthday’s are 280 days earlier). Nine years ago I did a “what I believe” post on my 50th, and I kind of expect to do the same again.

Between then and now I want to model one of the people I admire – Seth Godin. Seth posts something on his blog every day, and I’ve recently learned that he often doesn’t know what it is he’s about to write until he sits down to write it.

This appeals to me personally for a few reasons:

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This was never the goal….

This was never the goal, but when it became clear that it was within reach, it became a “stretch goal”. I wanted to be able to say I’d lost 70lbs. 256 to 186. Over a quarter of my max body weight. It’s interesting – there have been several stops along the way on this journey. … Read more

Lucky 13

As I do each year about this time, in honor of the anniversary of Ask Leo!, it’s time to share the weird, the odd, and the sometimes funny questions that I get. However this year I have a dilemma! So few to share? Traffic’s steady (Ask Leo! gets ~1,000,000 visitors each month), and there’s no … Read more

Today’s Amazement and Wonder

As you may or may not know, my parents were immigrants, arriving first in Canada after leaving The Netherlands, and then settling here in the United States just a few years later. With all relatives nearly 5,000 miles to the east, communication consisted primarily of hand-written letters that took anywhere from a week to ten … Read more

Dagmar Spring Update

It’s been awhile since I posted an update on Dagmar’s chemotherapy, so … No news is very good news. Dagmar finished her chemotherapy a couple of weeks ago and all is well. As I was telling our regular vet just the other day, aside from the original discovery, and one trip to the ER, and … Read more