I've found in business as in life that there are two options for projecting a refining influence into the world around you: inspiration and legislation. The first, my favorite, requires the most out of you and those within your sphere of influence, but also yields the most sustainable result. The second is typically employed more …
Tag: gregg hake
Juggling Elephants
Every once in a while you go through a phase where everything intensifies, where you go from managing the normal daily details to juggling what feel like elephants. It typically goes something like this: your workload increases, you feel the weight of the world on you and things seem to come at you from every …
Slip of the Tongue
"Better slip with foot than tongue." - Benjamin Franklin There are few things worse than saying something negative or demeaning about another person who is unexpectedly within earshot. It is a good practice to imagine anyone you're talking about being in the room with you. If it is a criticism, ask yourself "Would I say …
Status Quo Bias
It may seem strange that the most illuminated men and women who have walked the earth have also caused the most consternation in the consciousness of humanity, but when you look at the situation in the right light, it makes perfect sense. Allow me to explain. The world we have is the product of decisions …
A Better Chance of Survival
"I am pessimistic about the human race because it is too ingenious for its own good. Our approach to nature is to beat it into submission. We would stand a better chance of survival if we accommodated ourselves to this planet and viewed it appreciatively instead of skeptically and dictatorially." - E.B. White My sons …
Love is
What is love? To answer this question, it might be easiest to begin with what love is not. Love is not possessive, neither can it be possessed. Love has no strings to which anything can be attached; true love cannot be adulterated or manipulated for selfish gain. Contrary to popular opinion, there is no fear …
Peace of Mind
Peace of Mind by Kathleen Raine If the pool were still The reflected world Of tottering houses, The falling cities, The quaking mountains Would cohere on the surface And stars invisible To the troubled mind Be seen in water Drawn from the soul's Bottomless well. Your pool is stilled not by outer circumstance, but from …
Reconciliation
Reconciliation by Walt Whitman Word over all, beautiful as the sky, Beautiful that war and all its deeds of carnage must in time be utterly lost, That the hands of the sisters Death and Night incessantly softly wash again and ever again, this soiled world; For my enemy is dead, a man divine as myself …
Fidelity to a Worthy Purpose
"Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose." - Helen Keller There are a great many purposes to which you can dedicate your life. Some purposes will prove to broaden the scope of human achievement while others will bring …
The Essence of Wisdom
In the spirit of yesterday's consideration, I'd like to expand a little on what it means to "fight for life." You've probably had the experience on occasion of having to reach deep down to overcome a challenge, problem or limitation. This feeling is part of the creative process and how you deal with this discomfort …
Gregory Hake 