Years ago I tuned in to one of those reality TV shows that feature teams of contestants and some kind of elimination competition. What struck me was that the conniving, cutthroat, contemptible (and contemptuous) behavior of the contestants was not how normal, sane people behave. Then I realized that the producers of these programs contrive the game so that contestant have to act that way to win. . . .
Author: Paul Knight
The Keys to Personal Productivity
I have a new coaching client. He’s an exceedingly bright and hard-working manager who sometimes gets into trouble because his structures for keeping track of everything he’s taken on aren’t quite up to the task. In the interest of clarifying for myself how I will approach this assignment, I decided write out what I consider to be the key principles for optimizing one’s personal productivity. . . .
The Covid-19 Test Heard Round the World
I would have thought I’d experience a healthy shot of schadenfreude after learning that Donald Trump had contracted the coronavirus, but I find that all I can muster is an eye roll. There’s no question that he brought this on himself, but I’m disinclined to gloat, not because I have any sympathy for Trump but because the country just doesn’t need another disruption that further compounds our uncertainty about the future. . . .
The Debate
The debate . . . what to say about the debate. I think Thomas Friedman, writing in the New York Times, got it right: we can’t let the fact that Trump sent the debate so completely off the rails distract us from the real story . . .
The Gatekeepers, by Chris Whipple
This week I finished reading Chris Whipple’s 2017 book, The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency. As a presidential politics nerd, I found it fascinating, but I expect that anyone who is even somewhat interested in the inner workings of the West Wing would it find it compelling. . . .
A Broken Tax System
An editorial in the NY Times this morning nicely expresses my view that the most important thing about the revelations this week regarding Trump’s tax returns is not what the President has done, but the fact that it’s so easy for rich people to get away with gaming the system. . . .
Learning to Fly, by Gordon Baxter
As I described earlier this month, I starting thinking recently about taking flying lessons. That led me to attend a Zoom meeting of a local flying club. When I introduced myself and explained why I was there, one of the members recommended a book called How to Fly: For People Who Are Not Sure They Want To, by Gordon Baxter. I finished reading it last night. . . .
Mindfulness
Over the past few years I’ve become more appreciative of the power of mindfulness. Many of us are used to hearing that term in the context of “mindfulness meditation,” but the practice of mindfulness isn’t limited to meditating. In fact, although I meditated daily for several weeks a few years ago, I didn’t stick with it. But I have stuck with the practice of being mindful. . . .
Love as a Practice
I’ve written previously about Kevin Kelly’s “68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice.” I was thinking again this morning about what my advice would be to younger people based on my own 67 years’ worth of lessons learned. The one I came up with this time is understanding what love is as a practice. . . .
Could Anything Be More Fraught Than Buying a New Car?
Yesterday I went with my mother to a Subaru dealer to buy a new car. I’ve always hated buying a car. You’re dealing with an outfit whose goal is to get you to pay as much for the car as they can, while you, of course, want to pay as little as you can. But they do this multiple times every day while you do it once every 5, 10 or 15 years, so they have around 5,000 as much experience at such negotiations as you do. It can really be tortuous. . . .