I recently realized I announced my recent career transition on LinkedIn, on Facebook, and have even been interviewed about it on the Corporate School Dropout podcast, but somehow forgot to talk about it on my own blog. Oops. The summary is that I left Google in July after working there for almost 11 years, to […]
Category: selfdesign
Bikepacking as a spiritual practice
As I mentioned in my last post, I went on a week-long bikepacking tour along the Lost Coast in Humboldt County a couple weeks ago (pictures here for those interested). I found the bike tour to be a surprisingly spiritual experience, so I wanted to share a bit about my experience. I realize that “spiritual” […]
Gratitude or Greed?
Last week, I went on a week-long bikepacking tour along the Lost Coast in Humboldt County (pictures here for those interested). For three of those days, we biked along desolate dirt and gravel roads through nearly untouched nature, camping at primitive campsites with no running water (we purified the water from creeks like the picture) […]
Find Meaning in the Present Moment
Earlier this week, I was listening to this Reboot podcast conversation between Jerry Colonna and Parker Palmer, which discusses how leaders measure their lives. In particular, the podcast summary has this line: “For many leaders, the draw can be to gaze upon external outcomes as a manifestation of our life’s meaning, allowing our worthiness to […]
Immunity to Change™ methodology
I attended the facilitator’s workshop for the Immunity to Change™ methodology a couple weeks ago, and was surprised how powerful this simple methodology was at uncovering assumptions that hold people back from change. It can drive insights even when done in a perfunctory fashion, as when I did it on my own before the workshop; […]
What will you do differently?
As I have been doing more coaching over the last year, I have been seeing how some people tend to employ magical thinking. They believe that if they just think of what they want, then somehow it will magically happen. This is influenced by books like The Secret, which tout that visualizing what you want […]
Flip your default
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to fly away for a long weekend on a day’s notice (e.g. booking a cheap flight on Thursday to leave Friday morning). My immediate reaction was “I can’t do that! I have all these things I have to do! That’s crazy! It’s irresponsible!” So I decided not […]
What do you control?
After finding your way, how do you start moving towards your vision for yourself? I’ve been thinking a lot about that question, as people to whom I’m giving career advice say “I have this grand vision for myself, but I don’t know where to start.” The first step is to figure out what is in […]
Why don’t we change?
In my last post, I talked about how journaling helps you to discover patterns in yourself, and see what you’re actually doing as opposed to what you mean to be doing. In coaching, we call this gap between plans and action a breakdown, and a large part of coaching is how to deal with client […]
The Power of Journaling
I have become a fierce advocate of journaling over the past year, and keep recommending it to people, so, as is my habit, I’m now turning my thoughts into a blog post to make them easier to reference. I first got interested in journaling ten years ago after reading Becoming a Technical Leader, by Gerald […]
