Haters are going to hate

I was 26 the first time I realized that what people thought about me had more to do with them than with who I was/am as a person. Such an epiphany should have freed me; unfortunately, it didn’t. When I’d first moved to Iran, I wanted two things more than...

The silliest thing that changed my life

I got to thinking about this bike rack I refused to buy because it looked like way too much bother. Anything that requires me to read a user’s manual, well, I I just don’t need it badly enough. Yet, if I hadn’t been nagged to death to buy the damn...

The best piece of advice I ever received

A long time ago, when I was selling photo copiers for a living, I met an older woman who gave me a piece of advice I’ll never forget. “Darling,” she said, smoothing back her hair with steady hands, “there’s a time and a place for everything. You can’t do it all...

Dead men give great advice

Plato had it right when he said, “Those who tell the stories rule society.” In other words, if you want to get ahead–and ahead does not mean taking over Greenland–you need to open your mouth and share your experiences. A piece of advice I took to heart...

Momento Mori

I was doom scrolling on Instagram when I came across a Ryan Holiday post about his 2022 book, Discipline Is Destiny. In it he writes, “To procrastinate is to be entitled. It is arrogant. It assumes there will be a later. It assumes you’ll have the discipline to get to...
The typical death march

The typical death march

One Saturday several years ago, Walt and I decided to hike the Grand Canyon. We went down the South Kaibab trail to the bottom, meandered along the banks of the Colorado River, then headed back up to the top along the Bright Angel trail. It’s a pretty big day: roughly...