Sharing what I have learned from what I have read: A blog by Joe Abittan
I am guilty of not spending enough time planning what to do when things don't work out the way I want. I have written in the past about the importance of planning for failure and adversity, but like many others, I find it hard to do and hard to get myself to sit down and … Continue reading Imagining Success Versus Anticipating Failure
One of the frustrations I have with modern day America is how frequently employers say that their greatest asset is their employees, but don't back that statement up with actual action that helps improve the lives of their employees. Many of us work 40 hours when our work could reasonably be completed in fewer hours, … Continue reading Employers, Employees, and Opioids
Cal Newport describes the difference between lead measures and lag measures in his book Deep Work. The lag measure is generally the thing we are working toward. A promotion, a book publication, and a down-payment are all lag measures. They follow our actions and are the outcome that we can measure for success or failure. … Continue reading Find a Lead Measure and Drive Toward It
It is easy to look at other people and compare ourselves to them and feel either vastly superior or completely inadequate. But whether we feel better than someone else or worse than another person, we should recognize that these comparisons are generally meaningless. There are some people who do incredible things in the world, and … Continue reading Credit for Being Who You Are
It is popular today to have strong opinions about the shortcomings and moral failures of other people. Democrats will gobble up news about the crazy things our president does and says, people who work will be quick to call out the laziness in others, and it is easy to condemn the greed and excesses of … Continue reading Understanding and Forgiving
"Indeed, for every hour later in the day the test were administered, scores fell a little more. The effects of later-in-the-day testing were similar to having parents with slightly lower incomes or less education – or missing two weeks of school a year." The quote above is from Dan Pink's book When in a … Continue reading Timing Impacts Test Scores and Life Outcomes
I'm not sure what it is about American culture today, but we seem to be really good at worrying about almost everything. We fear lots of uncertainties and spend a lot of time uptight about things that might go wrong. While a certain level of worry is ok, being what encourages us to use calendars, … Continue reading Don’t Run Out To Meet Your Suffering
In Letters From a Stoic Seneca encourages us to avoid living a life that is motivated by material possessions. He encourages us to recognize times when we desire more and more comforts and pleasures in our lives and to remember that we will never be satisfied with our things, and will always desire more. An … Continue reading Roughing It
Ryan Holiday includes three sentences in his book Ego is the Enemy which he calls a mantra, "Not to aspire or seek out of ego. To have success without ego. To push through failure with strength, not ego." Holiday reads a lot, and this mantra that he has developed comes from the lessons he has … Continue reading Ryan Holiday’s Anti-Ego Mantra
On a recent episode of the Ezra Klein Show podcast, Klein interviewed two journalists to talk about the central role that our work now plays in our lives. For many people, work is becoming increasingly important as a way to define oneself and as a way to give life meaning. I have seen reports and … Continue reading Work and Identity