An Opportunistic Cat

I know one opportunistic cat. His name is Odie. Whenever he sees a new open box or drawer, or a platter left out in the kitchen, he'll find a way to get into it or onto it. Sometimes, it's amazing what he can do. We'll see where he's perched himself, and look around for the means he must have used and find ourselves saying "How did he do that?" But, do it, he does.

Odie is an ongoing lesson to me about the opportunistic mentality. He already has certain CATegories in mind (sorry) - a box, drawer, bucket, laundry basket, or basket of any kind, or a large bowl or anything that can contain him for a momentary repose. And whenever one of these things appears, his focus on getting to it and into it, or onto it, is so intense and unwavering that he inevitably finds a way. He always finds a way, even where there doesn't seem to be one.

I was reorganizing three sock drawers the other day, and as soon as I had cleaned one out and turned around, I discovered to my great surprise that he had managed to find a way that I could not at all retrace, into the open drawer. That's the power of a clear goal and a focused concentration on what it may take to attain the goal. That's the opportunistic mindset at work.

What's your goal now? How opportunistic are you being about it. The opportunistic mindset is often a CATalist to success. Yeah, I couldn't resist it, either.

Talent and Character

"A talent can be cultivated in tranquility; a character only in the rushing stream of life." Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe.

I remember as a boy of twelve sitting alone at home practicing holding my fingers in the right positions on the fretboard of a classical guitar. The house was quiet and my soul was filled with the difficult efforts I was making.

Many talents can indeed be cultivated in solitude and in tranquility. But character requires more.

What we do in solitude and tranquility can contribute to our character, certainly, and powerfully, but most of its formation is due to how we respond to and grow from the rough and tumble of life. What Goethe called "the rushing stream" will carry us in one direction or the other.

I understand character as just the sum total of the inner strengths and weaknesses that we bring to any challenging situation. And these strengths and weaknesses result from many forces - heredity, upbringing, association, and mostly choice. How we choose to react to people and events over time will slowly form our character, for better or worse. And then it's that character which will empower or diminish us as we move forward to new challenges.

Long ago, the philosopher Heraclitus said, "Character is destiny." And that about sums it up. It's hard to rise above who you most inwardly are. Those of us who would accomplish great things should work to establish great foundations within. And, in the end, it's all about how we react to the good things and the bad things, to the opportunities, achievements, challenges, and disappointments that come our way today, and tomorrow.

Whenever I react to a situation in a way that I later regret, I try to pay attention to what led me to do that, and I work to avoid responding that way again. The more honest we can be with ourselves in evaluating our actions, the better we're prepared to cultivate character with strength.

To judge someone else's character, pay the most attention to how they act in "the rushing stream of life." 

Sometimes, Leap

"Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps." David Lloyd George.

This is a nice image that I've long loved. You can't cross a broad chasm in two small jumps. Sometimes, you have to take a huge step, and sometimes a giant leap.

If you're normally a small stepper, that can be hard. But some things can't be accomplished any other way.

There are some big leaps in life that don't make sense. And there are others that do.

How can we know the difference? Discernment. Wisdom. Intuition. Listening.

What are your values? What do you love? What matters to you?

What do your dreams tell you? What is your heart saying?

If you're led to the edge of something new, and it's something very good, and a leap needs to be made, and your heart is nudging you forward, then leap!

Seven Conditions for Success

Anyone reading this blog post may have heard me speak at some point on what the great philosophers said it takes for success in whatever we do. My claim is simple. 

From Plato and Aristotle to the present day, the wisest people who have ever thought about success and excellence have left us bits and pieces of powerful advice for attaining true success in our lives. I've put them all together as this framework of seven universal conditions. For the most deeply satisfying and sustainable forms of success in our lives, we need to bring into any situation, relationship, or enterprise:

(C1) A clear CONCEPTION of what we want, a vivid vision, a goal clearly imagined.

(C2) A strong CONFIDENCE that we can attain that goal.

(C3) A focused CONCENTRATION on what it takes to reach the goal.

(C4) A stubborn CONSISTENCY in pursuing our vision.

(C5) An emotional COMMITMENT to the importance of what we're doing.

(C6) A good CHARACTER to guide us and keep us on a proper course.

(C7) A CAPACITY TO ENJOY the process along the way.

I was talking to a friend yesterday, and he mentioned Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, quoting one of the habits, "Begin with the end in mind." I thought it might be helpful to reflect briefly on the difference between Covey's framework and mine.

I once directed a weekend retreat with Covey and found him to be a sweet and kind person, as well as very thoughtful. I had great fun with him. And I admire the results of his work. But, that being said, on to the comparison. First, I'll just list his seven habits, as he does, in the form of recommendations or imperatives:

Habit 1: Be proactive.

Habit 2: Begin with the end in view.

Habit 3: Put first things first.

Habit 4: Think Win/Win

Habit 5: Seek first to understand, then to be understood.

Habit 6: Synergize

Habit 7: Sharpen the saw.

A few comments. Habit (1) is about taking initiative, always good, and included in the application of my C3 - the focused concentration condition.

Habit (2) is a brief version of my C1 (the first condition of the 7Cs), the condition that tells us that as we begin to work toward any goal, we need a clear conception of what we want to result from our activity, and that we need to make our conception vivid and rooted in the imagination, aspects of goal setting that Covey doesn't explicitly address in his framework. 

Habit (3), like (1), is included in my understanding of C3, the focused concentration condition, as developed in True Success.  

Habits (4), (5), and (6) come into play in relationships, in negotiations, and in work situations of joint endeavor, but not always in the successful meeting of individual, personal challenges. They are very good advice for the circumstances in which they apply, and are, in those circumstances, applications of C3, concentrating on what it takes, or C4, the consistency condition, or C6, the character condition, but they are not themselves, in my understanding, strictly universal conditions for success. Some things can be, and sometimes must be, properly done by one person alone, and for some of these private matters, a strategy of synergism need not necessarily play a role. And where not more than one person is involved, the most basic requirements for win/win thinking may not even arise. Obviously, there can't be two winners except where there are at least two players.

Habit (7) has to do with personal renewal, growth, continuing education and skill development, which is always a good idea. But, again, there are some forms of personal challenge, relationship goals, and even professional demands where, in meeting the demand, or accomplishing the goal, it does not necessarily come into play. A very commendable activity, even one necessary for a full life, does not necessarily count as one of the fundamental conditions I'm focusing in on as crucial for all forms of success. Where it does come into play, it falls under my C3.

Even more noteworthy, my conditions C2 (Confidence), C4 (Consistency), C5 (Commitment), and C7 (the Capacity to Enjoy the Process) are nowhere explicitly captured in this framework. I say this not to claim that Covey's important schema is incomplete in any way, but just to point out that it's different in design and intent from my framework of seven conditions. Although there are important fundamental similarities and overlaps, The 7Cs of Success, as a framework or tool kit of ideas, is significantly different from The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. 

For more on the 7 Cs, see True Success, The Art of Achievement, and the big new ebook, The 7 Cs of Success, which reveals how these tools were understood by some of the greatest practical philosophers throughout the centuries and around the world. For Covey's original book, click here, The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People.

Luck and Time

"Luck is something that happens at the right time." Tony Bennett, Esquire, November, 2014.

Hey, I can't just quote Plato and Aristotle.

There's a phrase in the New Testament: "When the time had fully come ..."

Luck is something that happens at the right time. Serendipity is something that happens at the right time. Coincidence. Fortuity. Kismet. Destiny. Miracle.

Providence ... is something that happens at ... well, you get the idea.

When, in your life, has something happened at just the right time? If you're doing anything now that will succeed only if the right conditions develop, remember that, in order to provide for what you most hope to see or do, things need to happen at the right time.

Await that time. Pursue that time. Be diligent. And, meanwhile, be patient. And prepared. Be ready.

Your time will come.

And like Tony Bennett's time, it may stay around for a while.

Excess

"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom; for we never know what is enough until we know what is more than enough." William Blake.

Often, what Blake said is true. But he should have been a bit more careful in how he said it. His statement is a bit ... excessive.

The Oracle at Delphi, the holiest spot in ancient Greece, had two commands for wise living inscribed in marble to greet all visitors.

The first command was "Know Yourself." The second was "Nothing in Excess."

I long thought these were just two important but unrelated recommendations. But now I understand more deeply. You can't really know yourself unless you know what counts as excessive for you, in any area. And you can't know what's excessive for you unless you know yourself. These are deeply intertwined imperatives.

I wish William Blake had been more cautious in his often quoted statement about excess. The road of excess doesn't always lead to the palace of wisdom, but it can. It can also lead to the mortuary, or to a dark cave of chronic stress, or else to what my mother, and many mothers of her generation used to call "the poor house." It can lead to the edge of a cliff or to another unexpected dead end. It enlightens only those who are sufficiently aware that they have crossed a line, and need to back up.

We indeed never know our limits until we attempt to pass beyond them. And, to the wise, the experience is enough to give rise to a sense of what is ... enough. One year, I gave talks in 93 cities. That, I found out, was for me far too much. And I cut back on my schedule right away. The decision was a wise one, and brought me immense benefits.

Experience can be a great teacher, if we're alert students.

Is there any excess in your life right now? Be honest about it. Come on, really.

Ask yourself whether there is anything you need to do to back up a little and correct course.

Today.

Greatness and the Spirit

"Greatness is a spiritual condition." Matthew Arnold.

Matthew Arnold was an insightful student of philosophy, literature, and theology in the nineteenth century. Some of his essays are of timeless value. He saw deeply into the nature of greatness of every kind. The outer is always a result of the inner. Physical greatness, intellectual greatness, or greatness of any kind is ultimately a matter of the spirit. Greatness in any form is a spiritual condition. To think otherwise is to misunderstand the fount of all sustainable excellence.

How is the spirit of your enterprise? Of your company? Of your family? How is your own spirit? If you don't tend the inner garden, the outer fruit will not grow and ripen. 

Set aside some time to examine the spiritual state of your life and work. And identify one thing that you can do for your own spiritual health. Then begin to do it. 

Today.

Love and Ease

"When your will is ready, your feet are light." George Herbert.

No job is harder than the one you don’t want to do. And no job is easier than one you love. Skill building is important in any profession. But will building is the key. John Ruskin once said, “When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.” 

How do you prepare your will, what the philosophers called “volition,” for the job at hand? How can you move the will to love what you're doing? 

The answer is simple. You do whatever you can to match yourself to a task that's right for you. And then you use your imagination. You envision its ultimate good. You put it into perspective, within the context of what you already love and care most deeply about. Only the heart can move the will in the deepest and most enduring ways. So prepare for your work by using your imagination to tend to your heart. Use the imagination well, and the heart will follow. And then, eventually, it will lead.

We can always find a reason for not liking, or not doing, a task we need to do. We can build up resentment, irritation, frustration, and even hatred by how we think. Or we can mentally put ourselves into a totally different state of being and doing. Its finally up to each of us. If you feel good about your work, it will feel much easier to you. Remind yourself of this simple truth when things seem tough, and pass on the insight to anyone you see struggling along.

Today.

Quality

"By the work, you know the workman." Jean de La Fountaine.

Cause and effect. A great guitarist plays a great solo. A master mechanic gets a car to purr. An original thinker writes original books. A salesperson who cares shows that care in her preparations, and serves her client like no one else. 

The old view was that this is a matter of pride. Our jobs never define us. But the quality of the work we do will disclose us, reveal us, and give us away. It will also not just show who we are today, but in great part determine who we'll be tomorrow.

Do we do our best? Do we strive for excellence every day?

The great philosophers would have us recognize that all our choices define who we are. We're known for the quality we bring to the world. Let's remember that and pour our hearts into everything we do.

Today. 

And tomorrow.

Something New on Goals and Values

I was with the top management of a company the other day, discussing how to have continued success in the midst of chaos and change. We were using my framework of The 7 Cs of Success to tackle the issues. One topic that came up was how to prioritize when too much is happening at once and apparent chaos prevails.

The first point worth mentioning is this: Chaos creates confusion. Clarity begins to establish control. As we discussed this idea, we dwelt a bit on the first of my seven conditions of success, the one saying that, in any challenge, we need:

C1: A clear CONCEPTION of what we want, a vivid vision, a goal clearly imagined.

How do we get clear goals? Where do they come from? I pointed out that we often think we have a goal when all we have is a fantasy, a figment of the imagination floating in and out of our conscious minds. And sometimes, we think we have a goal when we have something stronger than a fantasy, but it's merely a desire, an inclination of the appetites, as philosophers have said. A goal can be suggested by a fantasy or a desire, but it isn't the same as either of these other things. Then what is it? It's a commitment of the will.

A commitment is an interesting thing. It's a decision and a new path of action. It embodies focus, conviction, and determination. If you don't have new actions in your life, or in your business ventures, you don't yet have a new goal. You may think you do, but unless you've made specific, concrete commitments, you don't - at least, yet.

We often speak of goals and values. What, then, is a value? You may say, "I value my family" or "I value growth" or "We value customer service," but what does that mean? A value isn't just an affirmation or a mild belief that something is good. A value is also a commitment of the will. If you don't have a real commitment to something, you don't have that thing as a value. You may like your family a lot, you may enjoy growth immensely, or see the need for good customer service, but unless you're committed to these things, they aren't really values for you.

So a value is a commitment of the will. And a goal is a commitment of the will. Then, what's the difference? It's simple. A value is a general commitment. A goal is more specific. Both are present and future oriented, and enriched by the past. But one is broad and the other is narrow. In fact, it's our values that best suggest, support, and guide our goals.

Everyone in a business needs to get as clear as possible on what the values of the company are. Only that can reliably lead to the right goals. Each of us needs to do the same in our personal lives. What are your values? What proper goals do they suggest, going forward?

In times of chaos and complexity, we can prioritize well only if we're clear on our goals and values. That clarity can create a new form of control and a personal command that's otherwise impossible to attain.

So think a bit on what your foundational commitments are, and about what your specific goals are.

Today.

Energy is Eternal Delight

"Energy is eternal delight." William Blake.

Printer, painter, poet and mystic, William Blake knew what he was talking about. Samuel Smiles once praised energy and described its place in life like this: “It is energy - the central element of which is will - that produces the miracle of enthusiasm in all ages. Everywhere it is the mainspring of what is called force of character, and the sustaining power of all great action.”

Do you have that experience of eternal delight that Blake refers to, the motivating enthusiasm that Smiles so values?  If the answer is "no" or "rarely" then you should ask yourself some questions.

Are you well rested? Do you eat right? Do you exercize every day? Do you meditate or pray? Those are what philosophers call facilitating but not sufficient conditions for that inner magic that moves the world. The most important ingredient is a cause to believe in. Deeply.

Are you doing something you really believe in? If not, why not? Find a way to get a big picture for your work. Connect it to the meaning of life. Connect it to something noble. Or change what you do to something you can view in this way. Then you’ll experience the energy that's always at the heart of great endeavors. 

So get some rest. Eat right. Move around. Calm your spirit. And believe. Then surf on the good energy that can flow though you. 

Today.

When To Take the Risk

During the first period of a man's life, the greatest danger is: not to take the risk." Soren Kierkegaard.

It starts in school. Major in something safe. The job market is everything. Choose your courses carefully. Treat your teachers like the future references they are. Then make sure you learn how to get the grades you need. Don’t sign up for anything that could possibly drop that all important GPA. Then find a job with security. Keep your head down. Do what you’re asked. Smile. Respect authority. Forget your individuality. And don’t ever, ever read Kierkegaard.

The father of existentialism, the thinker who advocated taking a LEAP OF FAITH whenever appropriate, would not fit into the mold of the Standard Guidance Counsellor Advice these days. When he was alive, he was utterly contemptuous of the herd mentality that seems to define so much of the modern world. Kierkegaard believed that you should follow your own sense of who you are and what you can do. And on occasion, be prepared to take a risk. By playing it safe in every way, you’ll never find out who you are. It turns out that always playing it safe ends up as the most dangerous way to live. You forfeit your soul. You lose who you're meant to be. You fail to grow into your best.

And this is just as true of companies as of people. 

You may need to heed the philosopher’s advice here. Or you may need to pass it on to some young friend who's just playing it safe and losing himself in the process. 

Think about it. 

Today.

The People You're Around

You become like the people you're around.

A man sitting next to me on a plane told me an interesting story. A therapist friend of his asked him to make a chart on a piece of paper. On the left side he was to write:

Physical

Social

Emotional

Financial

Spiritual

Then, he was to draw vertical lines, making five columns to the right of these categories, and at the top of the columns to write the names of the five people he was around the most, but including only one member of his immediate family. Then he was to assess the health of each of these people in each of those categories, writing a brief summary or evaluation, in as few words as possible.

The therapist left him to the task for 20 minutes, then came back in, and read over what he had writen. He then said, "I want you to look over this carefully. You have just predicted your own future. Make sure it's the future you want. Or make the changes you need to make."

I said, "Really? What happened as a result?" 

He said, "The divorce was easy. But ending my business partnership was a lot harder."

I was surprised. We don't always have to take such dramatic steps. But we do need to remember that we become like the people we're around. That can be great. Or it can be scary, depending on who you're around and what you really want to become. We're all in a state of becoming, all the time. Ask yourself this: Am I associating with the right people who will help me to become the person I most want to be?

And if the answer is not a resounding YES, then start making some changes, however small.

Today.

Making Our Mark On the World

Hi everyone! Blogging this morning from the beautiful Wilmington, NC airport, preparing to board. I wanted to tell you about something interesting that came to light in the past few days.

The journal Nature reported this week that paintings of hands and animals in seven limestone caves on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi may be the oldest human art yet discovered. It's estimated that the people who did these simple paintings put their mark on the stone walls more than 39,000 years ago.

Since the beginning, human beings have wanted to make their mark in the world, to say "I was here!" I love it that so many of the paintings were outlines of hands. "This is me." Or, "This is my son." Or, This is my mate."

Those artists could have had no idea that we'd be talking about the hands and the animals they painted, more than 39,000 years after they made those simple, but inspired markings.

Likewise, we have no idea how far and wide our simple daily acts may reach and what impact they may have on others. The cave painters could never have predicted that their work would move us in 2014 to reflect on our own lives, and on how we make our own marks on the world.

And their lessons are many. One is that the smallest things can leap and fly across space and time with amazing results. Try to remember that in the little things you do.

Today.

The NaySayers in Life

"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do." Walter Bagehot.

I once sat next to a man on an airplane who told me of his days as a high school baseball player and his dreams of professional ball. “You’re pretty good, but you’ll never make it to the pros,” people in his hometown would tell him. But then he made it to the pros and heard people say: “Enjoy it while you can in the Minors, but you’ll never make it to into the Major Leagues.” When he did make it to The Show, he had to listen to the newest verse of the old song: "There's no shame in sitting on the bench." But he didn't want to sit and watch. And he played, and then heard, “Don't even think about home runs, you’re lucky to be there at all.” 

But Willie Stargell would not believe the naysayers. And he took great pleasure in every home run he ever hit, each one of the 475. This Hall of Famer would have missed out on a lot if he had listened to the people around him who had no idea who he really was, deep down inside.

That day on the airplane, I showed Willie Stargell my laminated wallet card on The 7 Cs of Success. He read each condition carefully, and then said, "You nailed it with these ideas. You're the first person to ever explain to me how I became successful as a baseball player. I did each of these things you outline here, and I did them intuitively, instinctively, but I never could have put them into words. Thank you for this. This is a great gift to me."

The whole conversation was a great gift to me.

Remember that naysayers will always be with us. Even our best friends will sometimes warn us about how hard and unlikely our goals may appear, not wanting us to set ourselves up for disappointment. They just don't realize that we're often really setting ourselves up for success. The dream comes first, then the goal, then the work, but always, the belief and confidence deep inside. 

You have to know your own strength and follow your own heart, believing in your own sense of mission in life.  Then you can hit your own home runs, and take pleasure in the results. So step up to the plate.

Today.

The Joy of the Journey

There’s a special joy in doing what you’re meant to do. 

This week, so far, I’ve travelled to Colorado Springs for a talk at the great Broadmoor hotel, speaking to 450 business owners. The hotel itself is spectacular, and I always seem to be put in the West Building, which is quiet and beautiful, with serene views outside the window of my suite. To get to the main building, where I had dinner last night with one of the top speaking agents in the country, a really great individual who also has an unexpected and interesting background as a songwriter, with tunes, so far, in eighteen films, I had to walk on a path bisecting a scenic lake, mounting a gently sloping footbridge in the middle, surrounded by mountains. The temperature was perfect. The evening was magical. 

Who knew that being a freelance philosopher could put me in so many wonderful places, where the glories of nature are on such magnificent display? And the people I meet along the way enrich my life immensely.

And then came the talk, the speech for which I had made the journey. I had forty minutes, a relatively short time these days for philosophy, but it was ethereal. We pondered, we analyzed, we laughed, and we explored the wisdom of the ages on one of the most important topics of all - how each of us can have our best impact on the world in the short span of years that we have, and how we can have true success, deeply satisfying and sustainable success that fulfills us, in everything we do.

It was a treat to represent the great philosophers, east and west, and to add my own interpretive frameworks. And everyone who was there went away with a laminated wallet card on the ideas we talked about. I’ve given out these cards on each of my topics, for more than twenty years. I’ve probably handed out millions as little gifts. And as a result, people stop me in airports and hotels, and in other places, and pull out their wallets and show me the card that they say they got six or nine or twelve years ago at a talk they heard me give and still remember. What a kick! Those little laminated wallet cards are almost the paper version of tweets, but they last, and can be carried about and kept and referred to again and again. The way tweets stand to blogs, these little cards stand to books, and have a special magic all their own.

My talk at the Broadmoor was, as such a thing almost always is, a joy, What Emerson would have called an ecstasy, and an honor. In the whirlwind of time allowed on a busy meeting day, we ranged through space and time, appropriating the insights of the ages for our own lives, and thinking anew about what we want from our time, and our efforts. 

It’s always a new experience for me. I never memorize talks and hit the play button in front of an audience. I do like the great jazz guys and improvise around a framework. I surprise myself. I sometimes say things I’ve never even thought before, but in that moment, I realize a new truth and pass it on to others.

Now, I’ll have two days at home, and then a quick trip to Florida, to philosophize again, for a small group of executives who make sure the lights stay on at such places as Google and NASA, operations where power reliability is crucial. We’ll get to talk about the life wisdom that’s also powerful and always reliable. And that will keep the lights on for them, as it does for me.

I tell you this today in hopes that you are also, in your own way, participating in the joy of living your proper mission and adventure. And if you haven’t quite found that yet, let me encourage you that it awaits you and can be both lived and loved.

So examine your own experience. You’re here to do great things, and to have great joys. I want that for you.

Today.

Fear and The Value That Overcomes It

A great profile of the novelist Marilynne Robinson in the New York Times a few days ago begins like this:

This June, as a grandfather clock rang the quarter-hour in her modest Iowa City living room, the American novelist and essayist Marilynne Robinson, a woman of 70 who speaks in sentences that accumulate into polished paragraphs, made a confession: “I hate to say it, but I think a default posture of human beings is fear.” Perched on the edge of a sofa, hands loosely clasped, Robinson leaned forward as if breaking bad news to a gentle heart. “What it comes down to — and I think this has become prominent in our culture recently — is that fear is an excuse: ‘I would like to have done something, but of course I couldn’t.’

Fear. It's amazing how often it holds us back, largely because we don't realize our own greatness, our deep resources, our resilience, and the magnificent purposes we can enact in this life. Marilynne Robinson is a believer in who we are, in our most fundamental souls. She's a religious novelist who has the rare, uncanny ability to depict goodness in compelling ways.

I wanted to bring this essay to your attention because I enjoyed it so much and I suspect you might, as well. In it, she says such things as:

“Being and human beings,” Robinson told me, “are invested with a degree of value that we can’t honor appropriately. An overabundance that is magical.”

It's good to be reminded of our astonishing core value, as human beings, in a world that often ignores it in so many ways, in favor of counterfeit values.

Robinson is a person who, learning her own value, and realizing the value that the rest of us embody, has not let any form of fear hold her back, but has launched out into a brave venture of writing that can show us, in subtle adumbrations, who we really are. And her honest boldness has garnered her both a Pulitzer Prize and a National Humanities Medal, in addition to many critical accolades.

Go check out her books here. I've started with Gilead.

I think you'd enjoy reading about her. It may spark a new sense of value in your life.

Today.

Appearances That Mislead Us

"Things are not always what they seem." Phaedrus.

Appearances and realities. Don’t you wish you could easily tell them apart? Plato diagnosed our condition long ago. He believed that most people live lives of illusion, imprisoned by appearances, unable to break through to the underlying realities of life. How does anyone break free and grasp bedrock truth? With philosophy. By using the wisdom of others as well as your own powers of discernment. 

First of all question. Then, secondly, question some more. Anticipate motives. Ponder spin.  Peel back the first layers of what presents itself. Dodge the deceptive surfaces that come your way. What’s at issue, really?  And whose interests are at stake? Don’t always trust your senses or even initial judgments. Be a detective. Interrogate appearances. Dig deeper. And then be prepared to trust your heart, after the probing you most often need to do.

A really good book on asking questions to peel back appearances is Water Berger's recent effort, A More Beautiful Question. Another one for business people is Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan's short book Execution.

The stoics often said that almost nothing is as good as it seems or as bad as it seems, so we all need to calm down. Use this advice.  And help others to benefit from it. 

Today.

How BIG Is Your Mess?

"Good order is the foundation of all good things." Edmund Burke.

When I was a philosophy professor, my office as was once described in Notre Dame Magazine as perhaps the messiest on campus. I liked to claim that the apparent disorder was just an extremely subtle and complex form of rational order beyond the comprehension of the casual glance. I was one of the early exponents of chaos theory. I was also a great rationalizer.

When I left the university and set up my own Morris Institute for Human Values, I quickly came to appreciate the value of order. A quirky, eccentric professor lost in the physical world can be not only tolerated, but even enjoyed within the safely protective environment of a major university. Out in the world, it’s a different matter. Any of us who are determined to create new forms of success have to respect the need for efficient access, clear records, and orderly procedures. If Architectural Digest wanted to photograph my office, it would still take me a few minutes, or - ok - maybe a few hours, over a period of days, to get it really nice looking, but it’s not the waste dump of resource materials and old book drafts that my chaotic professorial den once was.

How’s the order in your life? The degree of order and clear structure that you need will be a function of the person you are. Not everyone has to have labels on all drawers and a system for everything. There's a spectrum. But on the total mess end of the spectrum, I do believe that a measure of potential effectiveness is seriously inhibited, regardless of what absent minded creatives may think when they're ignoring it. 

Are you often wasting time looking for things that should be more rationally organized and more readily available? Would an uncluttered desk help you think better? And how about that old closet? Do you really have any idea what's in there? 

Philosophers have often been the closet organizers of the mind. We help people straighten up their thinking, get their ideas well ordered, and discover the treasures that may be hidden away within the deep and cluttered storage of their own minds.

Creativity flourishes best within a context of good order. So do we as people. Organize something, anything in your life, and enjoy the results that will come.

Today.

Success and Toil. Wait. Toil?

"Success, remember, is the result of toil." Sophocles: Very Successful Greek Playwright.

It’s not just who you know. And it’s not just the luck of the draw. The wisest people have always acknowledged that success ultimately comes from hard work. First, the mental work necessary to establish an appropriate goal, along with a planned path to that goal, and then the ongoing work, mental and physical, necessary to implement that plan consistently yet adaptively in pursuit of your goal.

The modern paradigm of success tends to revolve around the apparent magic of the right idea galvanizing the right people at the right time. Before you know it, there’s an investor and a startup company, then suddenly an IPO, and everybody’s buying expensive new cars to fill up the 6 garage bays in their recently purchased mansions. But behind nearly every tech startup magic story in modern times, there's a tremendous amount of that ancient activity: toil. 

The lubricant of success is the oil of toil. It always has been. It always will be.

There's no way around it. You may one day win a lottery without it, but you’ll never enjoy any form of true success except as the result of it. But that’s no problem. Toil and pride go side by side. Yeah, it rhymes. Say it. Sing it. And remember it.

Today.