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The Banker and The Fisherman

An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican […]

That’s life

I’m not one of those complicated, mixed-up cats. I’m not looking for the secret to life… I just go on from day to day, taking what comes. Frank Sinatra

Social Media is Bullshit

The self aggrandising world of social media. By and large, it’s bullshit.

False standards and reclaiming the metrics of success

A snob is anybody who takes a small part of you and uses it to come to a complete vision of who you are. That is snobbery. And the dominant form of snobbery that exists today is job snobbery — you encounter it within minutes at a party when you get asked that famous, iconic […]

Motivation comes from within

You shouldn’t have to look to others to provide you with your source of motivation. True, meaningful motivation must come from within. You must have a deep seated desire to accomplish your goals. If you aren’t filled with passion for what you do and you aren’t intrinsically motivated then there are no words that another […]

Secrecy

I have grown to love secrecy. It seems to be the one thing that can make modern life mysterious or marvellous to us. The commonest thing is delightful if one only hides it. When I leave town now I never tell my people where I am going. If I did, I would lose all my […]

You’re still a rat

The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat. Lily Tomlin

Mess with the ratios at your peril

Nicholas Bate

You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling

The busy trap

Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day…. I can’t help but wonder whether all this histrionic exhaustion isn’t a way of covering up the fact […]

Flying under the radar

I love simplicity. I love it when something is so understated it fly’s below the radar. Nobody is drawn to it. It doesn’t get talked about much. It is just there. But it is, you know, right. And it endures. It doesn’t seek attention. It doesn’t shout. But there isn’t anything you want to change. […]

A&E

Everyone should walk through an Emergency Room at least once in their lives, because it makes you realise what your priorities are; it’s not the rush, rush, rush and the money, money, money, its the people you love and the fact that one minute they might be there, and one minute they might be gone.

Trees in winter

I realise there’s something incredibly honest about trees in winter, how they’re experts at letting things go. Jeffrey McDaniel

Not all men dream equally

All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible. This i did. T. […]

The paradox of our time

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but […]

Perspective

If a man has an apartment stacked to the ceiling with newspapers we call him crazy. If a woman has a trailer full of cats we call her nuts. But when people pathologically hoard so much cash that they impoverish the entire nation, we put them on the cover of Fortune magazine and pretend they […]

Suspicious Minds

As Elvis once said, ‘caught in a trap’…

Who defines you?

Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be? Danielle LaPorte

David Bailey on Fame

I saw David Bailey being interviewed at his show at The National Portrait Gallery. The interviewer gestured around the portrait section. He said “You really have shot a remarkable number of celebrities.” Bailey said “Nah, I don’t shoot celebrities.” The interviewer said “But these are all famous people: Michael Caine, Andy Warhol, […]

Bus to Abilene

I so often witness a failure to distinguish between good presentation skills and true leadership ability. I worry that there are people who are put in positions of authority because they’re good talkers, but they don’t have good ideas. It’s so easy to confuse schmoozing ability with talent. Someone seems like a good presenter, easy […]

Don’t worry, he’s a dick.

Political correctness is the oppression of our intellectual movement so no one says anything anymore just in case anyone else get’s offended. What happens if you say that and someone gets offended? Well they can be offended, can’t they? What’s wrong with being offended? When did stick and stones may break my bones stop being […]

Life goals?

Work until you no longer have to introduce yourself.

Wisdom looks like…

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do. Andrew Carnegie

Each to their own

I do my thing and you do yours. I am not in this world to live up to your expectations, and you are not in this world to live up to mine. You are you and I am I, and if by chance we find each other, then it is beautiful. If not, it can’t […]

The importance of walking

Above all do not lose your desire to walk. Everyday I walk myself into a state of well being and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. Thus if one keeps on walking everything […]

Lessons from a sidewalk sign

Real Knowledge

Commit

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back– Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would […]

On your deathbed

Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that damn mountain. Jack Kerouac

Fear

Who fears the wolf should never enter the forest. Fyodor Dostoevsky Seems like an appropriate time to also drop this in, personal favourite.