Early this year, I read the book “How to Change Your Mind,” by Michael Pollan, about psychedelic drugs, which are finding a place in the medical world to treat addictions such as smoking, alcoholism, and some forms of mental illness. In the 2020 elections, Oregon passed a law legalizing the…
A bunch of years ago, I read Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think, by Peter Diamandis. Since that time, I have often read Diamandis’ newsletters. I wanted to share excerpts from one of his newsletters from late last year that came with the subject line, “Increase your healthspan,…
In a past post about the importance of reading food labels and understanding serving sizes, I wrote about serving sizes of breakfast cereals. A few years ago, I was on a mission to find a tasty, yet not-too-sugary granola. In the end, I moved to Bob's Red Mill Muesli, which…
Earlier this year, I heard Dr. Sanjay Gupta interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air about his most recent book Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age. In the interview, he spoke about these four important activities for better brain health: Exercising Eating well for heart health Getting…
In the past, I've written about James Clear. I’ve been reading articles by him for a bunch of years. He shares all kinds of useful life hacks. Over the last few years, he has written quite a bit about making and keeping good habits, a subject near and dear to…
If you bought a house or a car or made another major purchase, you would likely put a lot of thought into it. You wouldn’t just jump in. You would pause, digest all the available information, and respond to the situation in a way that makes sense to you, and…
I have extremely strong feelings regarding customer service responsiveness. Whether I am providing service or receiving it, whether in my personal life or my professional life, my standards are very high. Last fall, a client complained about one of my colleagues not responding to an email. When I spoke with…
My earliest, clear memory of the then-imminent pandemic was almost exactly a year ago, during an early-morning visit to a hotel gym. I was attending a business conference in Austin, Texas. As I peddled away on a stationary bike on February 27, I read the news on my phone. In…
During the summer of 2019, my cousin married a Parisian woman. The wedding was in Paris and I was fortunate enough to be able to attend. We arrived several days early to be able to spend some time exploring and experiencing Paris. It was a phenomenal week. On the first…
A few years ago, as we were about to try an Italian wine during a guided tour in Italy, the tour guide taught us how to clink glasses over drinks. Most of us, when we tap the other person's glass, look at the glass to make sure we are tapping…
Happy New Year! This has been a horrible year for all the reasons I don't need to list here. Nonetheless, as I have done for quite a few years, here are some of the experiences I enjoyed this past year: what I listened to, what I read, what I watched,…
With so much suffering this year, it can feel awkward to talk (or write) about silver linings from the pandemic. Nonetheless, it can be helpful to think about them as part of a practice of gratitude. Last week, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, the Morning Brew newsletter solicited from their…