From the Web
It’s only life or death – Chris Guillebeau does a fantastic interview with John Unger about pulling yourself out from a personal crisis. Here’s the interview-inspiring article. Some of the best parts:
“The best thing that ever happened to [John] was nearly being killed in a diner by a crazed taxi driver who held a gun to his head. (It taught him perspective, he says.)
“See if there is some way to leverage the force of the disaster itself to provide a solution. I regard this as a form of Tai Chi. … the core concept of [Tai Chi] is redirecting an external force rather than meeting it with an attack. … Any real disaster has some momentum, and if you can find a way to leverage that force, or turn it to your benefit, you may be able to accomplish a solution more quickly or easily.
“Almost nothing is impossible but many things are less than obvious.
“Mere optimism doesn’t pay the rent. When you come to the point of desperation, you do more than just hope for something.
“Disasters suck. No one thinks the recession is good. But sometimes the best things arrive in disaster form, and it’s up to you to decide how to respond.”
Beast Skills: taking fitness to the next level – Recently I posted about my desire to be able to do a handstand pushup. (Update: I’m able to do 2-3 against a wall, but my balance is a long way from doing them freestanding.) This website goes a step further, with detailed tutorials to do such amazing physical feats as one-arm chin ups, handstand clap push-ups and flag levers.
From the Archives
Stop Checking Your Web Stats Every Day! – I’m on Day 2 of another 30-day internet diet, so this piece from the archives is especially timely for me.
Information addiction is a disease in the blogging community, and unfortunately I know a lot of good people who are users. I can imagine the mental rationale goes a bit like this:
- Measuring is good.
- Therefore, more measuring is better.
- Therefore, I should check my Digg ranking, AdSense earnings and web traffic every five minutes!
I'm a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, podcast host, computer programmer and an avid reader. Since 2006, I've published weekly essays on this website to help people like you learn and think better. My work has been featured in The New York Times, BBC, TEDx, Pocket, Business Insider and more. I don't promise I have all the answers, just a place to start.