I've learned a lesson through my personal walks of life and from the wisdom/insights of those who have mentored me, that The Formula for Happiness is not complicated. Not at all…
Life with a Shaved Head; FAQ
Holiday Hat 2016
The Burden of Leadership
"I'm ready to be a leader!"
I've been hearing this theme come up in many conversations with folks I've mentored during the past couple of years. It's such a joy to see that they are now at the point in their careers where they are pursuing a move into managerial positions, have been recently promoted into leadership roles, or are beginning to forge down the entrepreneurial path.
If you are in such a position, this post is for you. This post is about something which is most commonly referred to as the burden of leadership. The burden of leadership can be hard to understand because it's not altogether logical or intuitive. When it is discussed among people not already in such a role, it is often with limited information and only in passing during a conversation about other topics. However, the burden of leadership is something that comes with the territory and its implications should be seriously considered beforehand.
I am writing this post to offer my thoughts on this topic, and I hope it will help you consider how you might approach your new leadership roles and help you plan ahead to set yourselves up for success…
The Ten Pāramī
I first learned of these while attending Vipassana (10-day silent meditation course). Towards the end of the sit, students are taught about the Ten Pāramī (Wikipedia), the universal characteristics to nurture in order for one to attain 'perfection' or 'completeness.'
These are the same characteristics which have been touted throughout the ages in popular literature as what we should aspire to. The specific meaning has evolved a little as the times have changed, but our human condition has remained relatively constant so they are still highly relevant.
Note to self: Never stop learning
On Actions and Words
This will be a very short post, and it's mostly my thinking around a puzzle-me-this notion.
I've recently encountered a number of situations where people acted highly irrationally. In some cases, their behaviour was very clearly against their own self-interest. The behaviour, if continued, would negatively impact their lives in a significant way. And the thing is, most of the time they know this is the case and can't take the steps to remedy their situation.
To what extent does an individual's surroundings influence their judgment? How long is enough for a person to wallow in their misery? How can an external party impact the person who's struggling? What is getting in the way of the individual taking steps to make a change?
The Charity Fund
Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.
- Princess Diana
The above quote by Princess Diana beautifully captures a core facet of how I live life. In this post, I will share with you a personal practice I've named the "Charity Fund," which is an important part of my philanthropic pursuit.
Memorable Advice I've received
The benefit of having amazing mentors, colleagues, and conversation partners has been an absolute blessing in my life. Recently, I've taken the time to do some deep-dive reflection exercises and realized how much crazy good advice I received from these people so far in my journey.
I'm sharing some of the advice* to pay it forward, in hopes that it will contribute positively to your life, love, business, and other pursuits.
Thought-Provoking 'Dinner Table' Talks
Last summer, inspired by the incredible range of topics explored in depth on the Wait But Why (WBW) site, I wanted to start a local, personalized instance of 'Dinner Table'. The plan was to have a 4-hour get together every week with 5-6 people in a private space. At this gathering, we would enjoy a home-cooked meal, discuss a single topic (pre-arranged and agreed on by participants), transcribe the conversation into a summarized post, and then share the post to serve as thinking fodder.
In the end, the level of involvement required to arrange guests, topics, and logistics turned out to be too much for me to take on given my then circumstances. What ended up coming to life was a scaled-down version of this, where people got together weekly at a set location, at a stupidly early hour of the morning, and on a drop-in basis, to share in conversation about whatever they fancied. Throughout the four months of summer sunshine we had in Vancouver, we got together and enjoyed some really great conversations.