Explaining “Be Proactive,” the first of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey wrote about pushing the pause button between stimulus and response, in order to respond in a way guided by how you want to live your life, rather than reacting in a way not aligned with…
I’m not the last person who should writing this, but I may be close. I like dogs, and I probably could be someone who loves dogs, but mostly I don’t have much interaction with them. When my siblings and I were kids, we begged our parents for a dog. After…
In an episode of the TED Radio Hour, "The Food We Eat," I learned more about why watching our sugar intake is so important. One of the speakers was Robert Lustig, a professor at the University of California at San Francisco. When you consume fruit, such as an orange, you…
I was playing with words in my head earlier this year, as I often do, and the title of my book, Six Simple Rules for a Better Life, became "Six Better Rules for a Simple Life". (I wrote about it in my monthly newsletter.) Simple things of all types appeal…
My next door neighbor invited me over a few months ago to check out his "Alexa" (the electronic device from Amazon you can ask to do things for you). I had only heard a bit about Alexa at that point. He showed me the way he uses it to control…
Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, lost her husband to a tragic accident. Sandberg, who is quite famous for her book, Lean In, is writing a book with Adam Grant, the author of two of my favorite recent books, Give and Take and Originals. In a commencement speech at…
As part of our corporate wellness program, I listened to a webinar on stress. Here are some of the things the speaker shared: It’s understandable that so many of us feel stress at work and at home because the demands on our time and our energy continue to increase, but…
I've changed the way I eat in small, but important, ways once again this year. The changes began with my goal of eating more unprocessed whole grains. At first, I moved from cereal made from processed whole wheat (Grape Nuts, made from whole grain wheat flour) to granola, made from…
Back in December, I wrote about an extremely enjoyable and edifying discussion I had with Michelle Gielan. Michelle is the author of Broadcasting Happiness and, along with Shawn Achor (author of The Happiness Advantage, one of the great books I read during the last few years), has created Inspire Happiness,…
I've written before about the importance of letting go of anger. I've also read quite a few blog posts by others on anger, including several I published after they were submitted to me for this blog. I recently read Originals, the second book by Adam Grant, whose Give and Take I enjoyed…
A piece I read last year in the New York Times on healthy eating greatly appealed to me. First, I like its title, "Simple Rules for Healthy Eating." It's pretty obvious: I like simple rules. I wrote a book called, "Six Simple Rules for a Better Life" and you are…
I've always liked the designs of the "Life is Good" t-shirts. I was recently given Life is Good, the Book, written by Bert and John Jacobs, founders of the Life is Good company. It's a nice, happiness book, and an easy read. After explaining optimism as the philosophy behind their…