Author: Doug Brown

Beautiful system.  Let’s break that down. When we think of beauty, we typically do so in the aesthetic sense.  But we can describe far more than someone’s pleasing appearance or a tranquil sunset as being beautiful.  A musical performance, a delicious meal, or even the feeling of a perfectly struck five iron can rightfully be described as beautiful.  The brilliant Bertrand … Continue reading Day 230 – Learning about beautiful systems…

In today’s BBTL book entry, Chet writes that real life is not like the dopamine-delivering video games that captivate us and distort our view of reality.  To the disappointment of many, reality doesn’t provide that same rush we enjoy when we frequently “level up”  in our favorite game.  Instead, life is more like a marathon than a sprint;  more “fits-and-starts”  than straight “up and … Continue reading Day 229 – Reality is not broken…

In today’s BBTL book entry, Chet writes of indecision – the delay in decision-making resulting from overthinking a situation.  We’ve all been a victim of it and, most likely, been guilty of it as well.   Analysis paralysis, as it’s often called, comes from an overload of options that renders us unable and/or unwilling to reach a decision.  With only one option available to him, the cat … Continue reading Day 228 – Leaders launch…

Too often, perhaps most often, fear freezes us.  Whether it’s a sudden event that stops us in our tracks, or a nagging fear that seems to paralyze us with worry, it’s our inaction that feeds our fear and allows it to grow.  For many of us, our natural tendency is to catastrophize and exaggerate the fear, enabling it to … Continue reading Day 227 – Scared up…

Most parents give their young children limits, because young children simply don’t know any better — “Only two cookies, or you’ll get a tummy ache.”  As teenagers, we’re given rules, because teenagers often lack good judgment — “Be home by 11 o’clock…sharp!”   But once we reach adulthood, it’s assumed that we finally know better AND use good judgement.  And so, we’re FREE from the parental limits and … Continue reading Day 226 – Fighting in fields of fennel…

Today’s BBTL book entry focuses on mindset and Carol Dweck‘s book of the same name. In Mindset, Dweck defines a fixed mindset as believing features such as intelligence, personality and character are mostly fixed, brought about through birth and environment.  In contrast, a growth mindset allows for one’s ability to reach, stretch, fail and learn from life‘s challenges.  A fixed mindset aims low, … Continue reading Day 225 – Defining failure/success…

As Chet writes in today’s BBTL book entry, “Sometimes, you study like the hedgehog (who does one thing very, very well) and stay in the lane of your domain.  Sometimes you study like a fox (who is clever, cunning and creative) and learn about many different things.” While the hedgehog’s singular focus on mastery is a most worthy pursuit, … Continue reading Day 224 – Hedgehog and fox…

In today’s BBTL book entry, Chet writes of concordance – a sense of complete ONEness and agreement.  More than simple team chemistry, it’s chemistry on steroids.  And, as Chet’s continues, creating concordances requires the ability and willingness to stay curious and listen – really listen -- deeply listen, in order to not only understand but to fully empathize with another.  This is the road … Continue reading Day 223 – Chemistry to concordance…