In my twenties, I was in my Mordecai Richler novel phase. Geez, that guy loved to trot out some $10,000 words. I'd have to look some of them up. Words such as corpulent (obese), capacious (roomy) and perfidiousness (betrayal, lack of trust). After I'd look up the word, it seemed as though I would then trip over it every few days. I went from having never seen the word to seeing it all the time. Since delivering a series of workshops and … [Read more...]
How to turn accountability from a negative nag into an paragon of positivity
May 3, 2018 By
Yes, a hard question to start: Do you hold yourself accountable? Do you follow through and do the things that you say you are going to do? (Squirming yet?) Or, do you think about, say, going to the gym, but find that over and over again, that you don’t go? Do things seem to get in the way—like a bad night’s sleep, an argument with your partner, an obligation—and you talk yourself out of going? Similarly, how often do you formulate a … [Read more...]
The paradoxical freeing power of commitment
December 14, 2016 By
I’ve got a riddle for you: Let’s say you’re playing golf by yourself and you have to use a washroom. You just gotta. So you leave your golf bag on the tee. While you’re in the loo, say your golf bag falls over. There’s no one there to hear it land on the ground. Does it make a noise? Super deep, eh? It’s good for you to think about stuff like that—at least for a few seconds before you look it up on Google. Ok. I got something else for … [Read more...]
I’ll bet you can make a commitment and keep it
December 6, 2016 By
In thinking about our societal problem with commitment, I’m reminded of a poignant episode of that paragon of social commentary, The Flintstones. In Season Two in 1962, Arnold the newsboy challenges Fred to a marbles game, re-igniting Fred’s gambling compulsion, sending him into a hypnotic, stuttering trance, ‘B-b-b-bet-bet!” Generally speaking, if I ask most people about their commitments, it’s such a loaded and scary word that they can … [Read more...]
