you, I think, trying to hold space for a new conversation. So it was really painful. There were parts of it that were very hard for me and that I felt very unprepared for. Somewhere I write something about, you know, I'm a big Leonard Cohen fan and there's the "Hallelujah" lyric that says, "Love is not a victory march, it's a cold and broken hallelujah." Vulnerability is not a victory march either. Ms. Tippett: But, you know, the other lesson in that is success is not a victory march, right? Ms. Brown: No. Ms. Tippett: Because you are talking about what, for you, may have been the thing that you let in most, which was the criticism an... posted on Mar 21 2014 (33,147 reads)

daily robs us of the very capacity for joy and wonder that makes life worth living — for, as Annie Dillard memorably put it, “how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” “Expect anything worthwhile to take a long time.” This is borrowedfrom the wise and wonderful Debbie Millman, for it’s hard to better capture something so fundamental yet so impatiently overlooked in our culture of immediacy. The myth of the overnight success is just that — a myth — as well as a reminder that our present definition of success needs serious retuning. As I’ve reflected elsewhere, the flower doesn’t g... posted on Mar 18 2014 (43,064 reads)

seat, and the weight of the tires. But Brailsford and his team didn’t stop there. They searched for 1 percent improvements in tiny areas that were overlooked by almost everyone else: discovering the pillow that offered the best sleep and taking it with them to hotels, testing for the most effective type of massage gel, and teaching riders the best way to wash their hands to avoid infection. They searched for 1 percent improvements everywhere. Brailsford believed that if they could successfully execute this strategy, then Team Sky would be in a position to win the Tour de France in five years time. He was wrong. They won it in three years. In 2012, Team Sky rider Sir Bradl... posted on Apr 4 2014 (80,828 reads)

makes some people more successful in work and life than others? IQ and work ethic are important, but they don't tell the whole story. Our emotional intelligence -- the way we manage emotions, both our own and those of others -- can play a critical role in determining our happiness and success. Plato said that all learning has some emotional basis, and he may be right. The way we interact with and regulate our emotions has repercussions in nearly every aspect of our lives. To put it in colloquial terms, emotional intelligence (EQ) is like "street smarts," as opposed to "book smarts," and it's what accounts for a great deal of one's ability to navigate l... posted on May 1 2014 (114,515 reads)

your work with who will give you honest and constructive feedback. It’s not always what you want to hear, but that is often exactly what is needed. It can be very confronting, but very useful. This brings us to the most poignant question: How to unbridle one’s work, whether lauded or criticized, from one’s sense of self-worth. Collage and mixed-media artist Hollie Chastain reflects: I think as an artist it’s very easy to [equate self-worth with artistic success] because of the nature of the work. If you think of art as a job, then your product is so much more than hours invested. The product is a piece of yourself, so of course if the reception is no... posted on Apr 22 2014 (26,315 reads)

a long term view of success is critical, and it doesn’t take a psychologist to tell you that discipline is how you get from Point A to the sometimes elusive Point B. Or as Aristotle would so aptly put it… We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. Since that’s the case, how can we actually form good habits and make them stick? If you’ve asked yourself the same question, you’re in luck—today I’ll be covering a large selection of research on the psychology of planning and keeping the habits that matter. Let’s dive in! A Big Misconception About Building Habits First thi... posted on May 14 2014 (29,438 reads)

of developmental cognitive neuroscience at the University of British Columbia. She's a formative figure in innovative networks in British Columbia and beyond that are bringing the fruits of unfolding science into classrooms and educational systems — informing environments where children learn how to pay attention, to problem solve, to collaborate, and to work creatively with what they know across the life span. Facility in these skills, research is showing, is a stronger predictor of success — even academic success — than IQ. Adele Diamond's thinking has been influenced by her participation in the “Mind and Life Institute” — the Dalai Lama'... posted on Dec 6 2014 (26,415 reads)

No one ever died saying, “I’m sure glad for the self-centered, self-serving and self-protective life I lived.” Offer yourself to the world — your energies, your gifts, your visions, your heart — with open-hearted generosity. But understand that when you live that way you will soon learn how little you know and how easy it is to fail. To grow in love and service, you — I, all of us — must value ignorance as much as knowledge and failure as much as success… Clinging to what you already know and do well is the path to an unlived life. So, cultivate beginner’s mind, walk straight into your not-knowing, and take the risk of failing and... posted on Nov 3 2015 (59,642 reads)

imagination — half a century before the telegraph became the first widespread medium of instant communication and long before contemporary social media, his essay, so to speak, went viral: Ardently discussed and passed hand to hand across the scientific and Quaker communities at a speed unprecedented in that era, it soon found its way to the prestigious journal Annual Review. Soon, Howard was catapulted into the status of a scientific celebrity — but his feelings about fame and success, like Steinbeck’s, were ambivalent: Mired in self-doubt, he was embarrassed by the praise he received but was gladdened to see his labor of love make a lasting imprint on culture. Hambly... posted on Nov 5 2015 (15,998 reads)

the utter ubiquity of photography in the USA, most Americans probably don’t view photography as special. But in impoverished areas around the world, personal photos can be rare. On visits to her birthplace of Kolkata, India, Bipasha Shom frequently took portraits of people she met, and she was struck by how many people lacked access to a camera and had no family photos of her own. Shom hatched an idea to use instant film to bring photography to these people, and she successfully pitched Fujifilm out of the blue. With donated Instax Wide cameras and film in hand, she recently traveled with her husband Chris Manley (Director of Photography for AMC’s Mad Men) and friend/pho... posted on Feb 27 2016 (11,341 reads)

apply it to the collective, to organizations and specifically to business. But unfortunately, he died prematurely in 1970, and so he wasn't really able to live that dream completely. So I realized in that dotcom crash that my role in life was to channel Abe Maslow. And that's what I did a few years ago when I took that five-level hierarchy of needs pyramid and turned it into what I call the transformation pyramid, which is survival, success and transformation. It's not just fundamental in business, it's fundamental in life. And we started asking ourselves the questions about how we were actually addressing&... posted on Sep 2 2016 (26,556 reads)

existence, which is that literally anything can happen to literally anybody at literally any moment. [laughs] And to live in the awareness of that without needing to drown it out, or dull it out, or suffocate it, or deny it is quite an exhilarating way to live. And then you can start to participate as much as possible in how that story unfolds. MS. TIPPETT: I don't want to finish talking to you without kind of noting the irony of the trajectory of your career and your persona and success as a writer. It was kind of interesting to me. I didn't really understand how much you had really written a lot about men and for men, and been a journalist, and been — I don't k... posted on Sep 5 2016 (16,785 reads)

I lay out seven guiding principles that I would use in a purpose-learning curricula for high schoolers. Prioritize internal motivation over external achievement In today’s schools, students compete against one another for grades and attention from teachers and colleges. The ranking system at most high schools sends the message to students that their worth is based entirely on their grade point average. This reinforces the notion that external achievement is the means to success and the way to get rewarded. But this is actually the opposite of what develops a sense of purpose: Students who show a sense of purpose have a deeply developed intrinsic motivation&nb... posted on Feb 1 2016 (11,111 reads)

our request," he writes.  The more sensitive one becomes to the smallest of tries towards the right thing, and the quicker one rewards those tries, the quicker and more solidly the horse learns and grows. It's the same for us. The more respect we can give ourselves or each other for the 'micro tries', the quicker and more solidly we can grow.  My belief is that inside these micro-tries, no matter how small, is the most powerful of neurological rewards — success. From a neurological point of view (remember, we are talking small here) the bio-chemical stimulus of success is the same, whether it be a tiny success, or a huge one. But tiny ones ... posted on Sep 25 2016 (15,064 reads)

on Facebook, ranking it the second most followed university, just behind Harvard. Reshef is now taking the first steps to bringing US-accredited degrees to the masses. The online model means that learning can now reach the remotest and most impoverished parts of the globe. What’s more, the centuries-old institution of education has been turned on its head. So, how did he do it? AB: What gave you the idea for University of the People? SR: My former education company was a great success but I started to feel that something was missing. I was conscious that, for some people, getting a great education is nothing but wishful thinking. It’s just too expensive. So I ended up... posted on Mar 11 2017 (19,212 reads)

stayed that way, as I'm in touch with my staff in Tibet that took over the project after we had to leave. We know that since we started working in two of the rural districts in Nepal —Baglan and Aldopa  the number of neonatal deaths from 2010 dropped from 300 to 0 deaths last year in 2015. And the number of maternal deaths went from 30 a year to 0 deaths, the last two years. Ameeta: That is phenomenal. There are many NGO's operating out there and they can't claim the success that you have reached. Arlene: I think it goes without saying, "You teach a man to fish and they learn to feed themselves". Everything we do is to empower and to provide the skill... posted on Jul 11 2017 (7,406 reads)

the field of love, acts of hate strengthen the field of hate. Nor is scaling up necessary when we trust that the tasks life sets before us are part of a larger tapestry, woven by an intelligence that puts us in exactly the right place at the right time. I attended a funeral recently for a central Pennsylvania farmer, Roy Brubaker, among several hundred mourners. One of the testimonials came from a young farmer who said something like this: “Roy is the one who taught me what success really is. Success is having the capacity to always be there for your neighbors. Any time someone called with a problem, Roy would put down what he was doing and be right over to help.” ... posted on Nov 9 2017 (15,816 reads)

never too late to reinvent yourself. Take it from Paul Tasner -- after working continuously for other people for 40 years, he founded his own start-up at age 66, pairing his idea for a business with his experience and passion. And he's not alone. As he shares in this short, funny and inspirational talk, seniors are increasingly indulging their entrepreneurial instincts -- and seeing great success. I'd like to take you back about seven years in my life. Friday afternoon, a few days before Christmas 2009. I was the director of operations at a consumer products company in San Francisco, and I was called into a meeting that was already in progress... posted on Mar 11 2018 (54,908 reads)

I lay out seven guiding principles that I would use in a purpose-learning curricula for high schoolers. Prioritize internal motivation over external achievement In today’s schools, students compete against one another for grades and attention from teachers and colleges. The ranking system at most high schools sends the message to students that their worth is based entirely on their grade point average. This reinforces the notion that external achievement is the means to success and the way to get rewarded. But this is actually the opposite of what develops a sense of purpose: Students who show a sense of purpose have a deeply developed intrinsic motivation&nb... posted on Dec 12 2017 (46,773 reads)

these little mistakes next time round. As for Maria Gomez, everybody agrees that she is just as you'd imagine a corrupt Hispanic government economist in a pencil skirt to be. Clive is satisfied and vindicated. He begins work on a sequel. 2. The craft that defies craftsmanship That is the end of the tale of Clive. Its purpose was to suggest that somewhere between a critic's necessary superficiality and a writer's natural dishonesty, the truth of how we judge literary success or failure is lost. It is very hard to get writers to speak frankly about their own work, particularly in a literary market where they are required to be not only writers, but also hucksters s... posted on Mar 14 2018 (11,810 reads)