Day 201 – Live Where You Work
One of the most influential writers I have come across in my lifetime is Wendell Berry. One of the principles he spoke about was how moving people away from their homes was one of the most destructive consequences of modern industrialization. “When we no longer live where we work, and when we do not work […]
Day 200 – Avoiding the Mental Spiral
Have you ever had times when you cannot stop your mind from spiraling out of control? No matter what you do, your brain will just not stop thinking about several things you are worried about. Try as you might, you just cannot turn this off. You could do so artificially with drugs or alcohol — […]
Day 199 – Working On Versus In
I have read a lot of books—fiction, non-fiction, historical documentaries, and everything else in between. I have read hundreds of technical books as well. Perhaps the category I have read the most of is books about how to be better at business and leadership skills. For the most part, these books are repetitive, saying the […]
Day 198 – Open Door Policy?
“Open door policy.”It sounds inviting, doesn’t it? A signal that leadership is approachable, that feedback and communication are encouraged, that transparency is valued. In theory, an open door policy means any employee can speak directly to leadership about concerns, ideas, or problems without fear of reprisal. But in practice? It’s often far more complicated. Why […]
Day 197 – When to Cut Bait
There’s an old phrase—“know when to cut bait.” It originates from the world of deep-sea fishing, a trade where decisions are measured not in emotions but in energy, safety, and the return on effort. When you’re trolling the vast ocean, time and strength are limited resources. A fisherman might snag a fish that fights for […]
Day 196 – We Are All Just Teachers
I’m going to a funeral tomorrow—one of the last in a generation of my wife’s family. As I looked through this woman’s life history, I found myself reflecting on how little I truly knew of her younger days. I only came to know her after meeting my wife, and by then, she was already heading […]
Day 195 – The Night at Serikhan
The dust of the Silk Road rose gently with the arrival of the caravan into Serikhan, a modest but well-fortified caravanserai nestled between the Kunlun Mountains and the Taklamakan Desert. As the sun dipped behind jagged peaks, long shadows stretched across the stone courtyard. Travelers, merchants, and scholars dismounted with creaking joints and weary eyes, […]
Day 194 – The Cost of Impatience
There’s a quiet urgency that often drives us—an internal pressure to move forward, to improve, to fix what feels broken. It can come from ambition, from a desire to grow, or from the discomfort of being stuck in a moment we’d rather escape. For a long time, I didn’t question this urgency. I believed it […]
Day 193 – The Podocarpus Suffers
Years ago, my wife and I got the bright idea to buy a tree to provide some privacy to a spot in our backyard. This introduced me to the art and science of selling trees. I started to suspect I was in trouble when we showed up at the nursery and a gentleman appeared in […]
Day 192 – Start With the End in Mind
There is a quiet nobility in starting something from nothing. A seed of an idea, the courage to act, and the willingness to learn along the way—this is the fuel behind many great achievements. We have come to celebrate this method. We encourage each other to begin, to fail fast, to learn, to try again. […]