Life Lessons from George Bailey
My favourite movie of all time is It’s a Wonderful Life. I bet I’ve seen it 100 times. Once, I watched it 4 times in the same day, back to back. Every time I see it, I wind up in tears at least 3 times. I have much of the dialogue committed to memory. One […]
Things To Do During Downtime
Ahhh….downtime. It’s so rare for most of us these days, but with the holidays fast approaching, many of us are dreaming of having a few days to unwind, particularly after the Christmas chaos has finally subsided. If you’re like me, you might have a hard time with downtime. I cherish the moments when I don’t […]
A Practical Guide to Learning from Mistakes
We all make mistakes. Lots of them. And we all know that often, the best way to learn is from our mistakes. The bigger the mistake, the more we learn. But sometimes, we tend to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. It’s as if we’ve learned nothing at all. I think that in […]
Arsenic and Possibility
Yesterday, a group of astrobiologists from NASA announced that they have discovered a new life form which can exist even if phosphorus, a compound which until now, was one of the 6 basic building blocks of life, is replaced with arsenic. This is a highly significant discovery. It means that our understanding of what makes […]
Want More Fans? Be a Fan.
Oh, don’t give me that. Of course you want more fans. It’s only human to want acceptance. It makes us feel good when people project positivity towards us, pay attention to the work we do, and reward us for our accomplishments. We don’t NEED that acceptance. But we still WANT it. A lot of people […]
We Don’t Talk Anymore
Last week was a quiet class for me. My students were out doing video shoots for their latest assignment, so there were just a few people hanging around, working on editing and so on. One of my students approached and sat down to ask a few questions. Nothing out of the ordinary. A few minutes […]
Life at 30,000 Feet
I don’t fly all that often. Maybe a half dozen times a year. Certainly not as much as some people. When I do, I have plenty to complain about. The seats are way too cramped. People don’t cover their mouths when they sneeze. I never have a functioning TV control on my arm rest. But […]
How Cultivating Compassion Makes You a Better Communicator
I’m witnessing such an influx these days of “Learn how to Tweet” courses, and “Use Facebook to Win Clients and Influence People” workshops. It’s got me quite frustrated. I’m also growing weary of the “Want to Pick My Brain? That will be $400,000 a day!” conversation. I’m afraid we’re moving away from the things we […]
Technology Catastrophe Update
In case you’re just tuning in, here’s what happened the other day. Flash forward, 5:30pm today. I delicately removed my formerly soaked iPhone from its cozy rice bath, where it had spent the past 48 hours or so. I ever so carefully plugged it in. Nothing happened. Then, the faintest glow, of the battery recharge […]
Catastrophic Technology #FAIL
This is a true story. Last night, I was in the bathroom. I washed my hands, then leaned over the (yes, it was clean!) toilet to grab a Kleenex. In one fell swoop, my iPhone slid from the pocket of my hoodie and…..kerplop. Yes. Ker. Plop. I panicked, grabbed the sopping wet phone from the […]