Thanks, Moms!
Here’s a shout out to all the stay-at-home moms (and dads) out there – thank you for all you do, not just for your own kids but for my kids too. I am writing this from my hotel room in Pt. Reyes, California where I am staying for a client off-site retreat that Leigh Marz and I are conducting with a partnership of non-profit organizations. I feel privileged to work with this talented, committed, and ambitious group. And what made this work possible was the support of my husband and the help of no fewer than four mothers of my children’s friends, who have hosted my son for...
Read MoreBedtime Chicken
Lately, my husband and I have been playing a game of chicken. It goes like this: Both of us say that we want to go to bed earlier, but then as evening progresses, we each keep on working and wait for the other to blink first. Finally when it is well past our target time, one of us turns off the computer and heads upstairs and the other follows. Result? If anything, our bedtime has actually gotten later over the past month, even though we have started getting up earlier (FIVE AM!) to go to the gym. So what gives? Part of the explanation is epitomized by Jerry Seinfeld”s Night Guy/Day Guy...
Read MoreHappiness vs. Pleasure
I have a confession to make: I didn’t actually feel very good at the gym on Saturday. My triathlon training session — especially my somewhat labored running — was not pleasant. It didn’t actually hurt, but it was hard work for me. I thought of the blog I had posted just the evening before and felt a fraud for having blithely promised that I would be happy at the gym the next day. Would a passer-by think I looked happy? Probably not. Red-faced, perhaps even grimly determined … yes. But happy? Really? The answer was yes. Because happiness and pleasure are not...
Read MoreHappiness Beyond the Comfort Zone
In fifty-one days my husband Reece and I will be running, biking, and swimming the Marin Triathlon. There! I have set a specific, measurable, and actionable goal. Now that it is public, I am committed. So here’s a cool thing I have noticed: three weeks into my training, I already feel major benefits from having set a goal and begun to work for it. The first positive effect is that I enjoy sharing a goal with Reece. Although we are unable to train together, we give each other support and additional accountability, and we spur each other on. It is also fun to direct our shared energy ...
Read MoreHow Much is Enough?
Money. We all need it, and daily we make decisions large and small about how to use it. We are constantly bombarded with news of the economy, and many of us have definite opinions about the local, national, and world economies. But when it comes to personal finances, we are often vague and uncomfortable. Talking about our finances is unseemly, pretty nearly taboo. You can be sexually intimate with someone, but don’t ask what your lover’s income is. Despite our diffidence in talking about it, money is a big driver for most of us – determining what job we take, where we live, and...
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