When I'm living a good day

When I'm living a good day, what am I spending my time on? Do the sources of information I am exposed to each day support that type of lifestyle or distract from it?

Connecting people isn’t magic

Connecting people isn’t magic, but in the right hands, it can make magic. Just because you are not able to fulfill something for someone doesn’t mean you cannot connect them to someone who can.

It’s tempting to think that we are strong enough

Few things are more important in life than avoiding the wrong people. It’s tempting to think that we are strong enough to avoid adopting the worst of others, but that’s not how it typically works.

The difference between a preference and a foible

Our habits, preferences, and idiosyncrasies make perfect sense. We each know that we have great reasons to embrace our ways and stick with them. Other people’s habits, though, show that they are simply picky, weird or too sensitive. The difference between a preference and a foible seems to be mostly where we’re standing.

Best friends" are a recent invention

Today, the term is still widely used. But most of us don’t naturally fall into friend pairs. Seeking them out, then, can lead to hurt—if we choose one friend over another, if the best-friend designation isn’t reciprocated, or if we don’t have the closest friend but feel that we should. For those who do have one, prioritizing them could mean turning away from other, potentially fruitful friendships. And relying on one person for all of your emotional needs creates a lot of pressure: No one is available to be a great friend 100 percent of the time.

When you first start to study a field

When you first start to study a field, it seems like you have to memorize a zillion things. You don’t. What you need is to identify the core principles – generally three to twelve of them – that govern the field. A million things you thought you had to memorize are simply various combinations of the core principles.

Doing your best is about the position you find yourself

Doing your best is about the position you find yourself in when you show up. Over the long term, the average person who constantly puts themselves in a good position beats the genius who finds themselves in a poor position. What looks like talent is often good positioning. And the best way to put yourself in a good position is with good preparation.