The Tao of How

What happens to us molds us. The actions we choose to take in response to situations that arise are the actions by which we learn and grow. However, through all this we need to remember that we're individuals in charge of our own destinies. There is a difference between being an active participant in the process or just letting the waves push us around like jellyfish. Being impressionable means being easily influenced because of a lack of critical ability. If we are to be the ones in charge of deciding how we will react to situations and how we will let things affect us, we need to have the critical ability to determine whether we want to be impacted by external forces. This could be people, environments, or external stimuli (think commercials and little kids). We need to build the ability to be critical. To know that there is a significant amount of external stimuli to have to get through, and what we choose to do with it ultimately becomes the level to which we are acti...

During the holidays it can be tough to keep the house clean. Everything ends up being everywhere, and it can be difficult if not impossible to focus in such an environment. I read an article the other day, and will have to track down where I happened upon it, about the idea of resetting your space. At the end of an activity you should put the space back to a 'ready' state so the next time you need to use it you're ready to go. There's no need to waste time with setting things up if you can configure your spaces to be easily accessible and easy to use. This works in situations where a space is used for one purpose, but multi-use spaces can add a dimension of complexity to the issue. This is something I've tried to practice regularly, but you're only in control of so much when you live with a family that isn't necessarily like minded. Therefore, the resets I do on a regular basis are specific to my things and my areas. It is about compromise, and there...

I haven't blogged in nearly a year. I've been focusing on other content, on getting a Facebook page started to support another book I'm getting ready to publish, and on building a set of ideas around my next book. I've been fairly busy, in other words. I'm not idle. One thing I try not to do is sit around and do nothing. I always try to continue to move forward. And when I'm not working on specific projects, I'm journaling. So now is the time to get back into writing, and I'm taking a different approach with this new book. The Tao of How was a blog I created to capture some of the ideas around productivity and how I get things done. Not only that, but the reason why I put my energy into what I do, and the returns that are created by this investment of energy. Not just in terms of output, but how these investments impact me on a personal level. This time around, I'm going to use the blog to capture my ideas that will become the book. I hav...