The start of the New Year is a perfect time to start a stop doing list and to make this the cornerstone of your New Year resolutions, be it for your company, your family or yourself. It also is a perfect time to clarify your three circles, mirroring at a personal level the three questions asked by Smith:
1) What are you deeply passionate about?
2) What are you are genetically encoded for — what activities do you feel just “made to do”?
3) What makes economic sense — what can you make a living at?Those fortunate enough to find or create a practical intersection of the three circles have the basis for a great work life.
Think of the three circles as a personal guidance mechanism. As you navigate the twists and turns of a chaotic world, it acts like a compass. Am I on target? Do I need to adjust left, up, down, right? If you make an inventory of your activities today, what percentage of your time falls outside the three circles?
If it is more than 50%, then the stop doing list might be your most important tool. The question is: Will you accept good as good enough, or do you have the courage to sell the mills?
Looking back, I now see Rochelle Myers as one of the few people I’ve known to lead a great life, while doing truly great work. This stemmed largely from her remarkable simplicity. A simple home. A simple schedule. A simple frame for her work.
Rochelle spoke to me repeatedly about the idea of “making your life a creative work of art.” A great piece of art is composed not just of what is in the final piece, but equally important, what is not. It is the discipline to discard what does not fit — to cut out what might have already cost days or even years of effort — that distinguishes the truly exceptional artist and marks the ideal piece of work, be it a symphony, a novel, a painting, a company or, most important of all, a life.
Happy New Year!
January 1st, 2010Honoring fallen soldiers.
December 31st, 2009A memorial in Afghanistan: a tepee, tobacco, and Psalm 31.
Finding friendship and love through Facebook…
December 29th, 2009Opera at the market.
December 29th, 2009A friend shared this with me and it cheered me up.
Merry Christmas
December 25th, 2009
Handel’s Messiah’s Hallelujah
December 25th, 2009The wonder of science, the beauty of our world.
December 24th, 2009Watch this incredible video on our known universe.
Thanks to American Digest.
The legends and the real stories…
December 24th, 2009Not only a Mother could love…
November 30th, 2009these faces… Check out the beauty of science at Der Spiegel:
Roma sterilization.
November 30th, 2009Great lawyers… The Devil and Daniel Webster.
November 30th, 2009I came across favorite 25 short stories by accident. By accident as well, I came across last night an old movie I had never seen, “The Devil and Daniel Webster.” I was riveted, even though there were some exaggerated acting moments… Equally by accident I remembered the name given to the one who sells his soul to the devil, “Jabez”... Sometime in 2oo1, there was a little book that came out about the power of a prayer to Jabez… Also, by accident, I discovered that the author of that prayer book quit on his project in Zimbabwe.
Despite all these accidental turns, I loved the movie, especially the dialogue between the devil and Daniel Webster:
Dan’l Webster’s brow looked dark as a thundercloud. “Pressed or not, you shall not have this man” he thundered. “Mr. Stone is an American citizen, and no American citizen may be forced into the service of a foreign prince. We fought England for that in ‘12 and we’ll fight all hell for it again!” [39] “Foreign?” said the stranger. “And who calls me a foreigner?”
“Well, I never yet heard of the dev — of your claiming American citizenship,” said Dan’l Webster with surprise.
“And who with better right?” said the stranger, with one of his terrible smiles. “When the first wrong was done to the first Indian, I was there. When the first slaver put out for the Congo, I stood on her deck. Am I not in your books and stories and beliefs, from the first settlements on? Am I not spoken of, still, in every church in New England? ‘Tis true the North claims me for a Southerner, and the South for a Northerner, but I am neither. I am merely an honest American like yourself-and of the best descent-for, to tell the truth, Mr. Webster, though I don’t like to boast of it, my name is
older in this country than yours.”“Aha!” said Dan’l Webster, with the veins standing out in his forehead. “Then I stand on the Constitution! I demand a trial for my client!”
“The case is hardly one for an ordinary court,” said the stranger, his eyes flickering. “And, indeed, the lateness of the hour-”
“Let it be any court you choose, so it is an American judge and an American jury!” said Dan’l Webster in his pride. “Let it be the quick or the dead; I’ll abide the issue!”
“You have said it,” said the stranger, and pointed his finger at the door. And with that, and all of a sudden, there was a rushing of wind outside and a noise of footsteps. They came, clear and distinct, through the night. And yet, they were not like the footsteps of living men.
Gourmet Magazine ends with November…
November 26th, 2009Here’s a sad obituary…
Legal research via Google.
November 25th, 2009It is not just legal opinions… I was looking for some general information, and was able to retrieve articles that pointed exactly to what I needed.
Beyond the Pale.
November 25th, 2009Judge Vojtěch Cepl was a gentle giant with a wry sense of humor and great incisive perspicacity.
November 25th, 2009He was the principal drafter of the Czech Constitution and a great admirer of the United States.
1938 – 2009
Lech Walesa sues Polish President for libel.
November 25th, 2009Italy fights back…
November 25th, 2009of crosses, culture, and judgment:
Should one talk to the police or plead the Fifth?
November 14th, 2009If you are innocent of any wrongdoing, and believe in telling the truth, should you talk to the police (or IRS for that matter) if you have nothing to hide? This law professor and his guest policeman say No! I watched this last night and must admit it was very illuminating, and better and more entertaining than TV.
Remembering the victims of communism.
November 10th, 2009Lech Wałęsa and the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
November 7th, 2009One of the “Wise Men of Europe” speaks out.. Excerpts from the Der Spiegel interview:
SPIEGEL ONLINE: The guest list in Berlin is an impressive one. Chancellor Angela Merkel is expecting numerous world leaders to attend, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, among others. Surely it is an honor to be a part of it.
Walesa: The first wall to fall was pushed over in 1980 in the Polish shipyards. Later, other symbolic walls came down, and the Germans, of course, tore down the literal wall in Berlin. The fall of the Berlin Wall makes for nice pictures. But it all started in the shipyards.
****
SPIEGEL ONLINE: You count yourself as one of the masses and not as a politician?Walesa: Yes. But I belonged to that part of the masses that fought hard for victory over communism. I risked my life. And we won this victory, but the politicians ignore it. The victory over communism came thanks to the shipyards and thanks to the Holy Father. But now, nobody mentions the Holy Father. Nobody mentions Solidarnosc. The past isn’t everything, but one cannot build a future on such a foundation — and that’s why I am trying to speak up today.
Love and the Marines.
November 3rd, 2009When all is not well, and we feel sorry for ourselves, here’s an uplifting love story:
The Fall of the Berlin Wall…
November 3rd, 2009Interesting background from Der Spiegel acknowledging Central Europe’s role…
Everyone remembers the iconic images from the dramatic breaching of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989. But the groundwork was laid elsewhere. The fate of Germany and the rest of Europe was decided in Warsaw, Budapest and Moscow.
Here’s a 2006 Smithsonian Magazine article …
And here’s the Newseum take on the Berlin Wall and its fall..
20th Anniversary of The fall of the Berlin Wall – a look to the past….
October 30th, 2009A death in no-man’s land. Here’s an excerpt of a 1962 Time Magazine story:
[Peter] Fechter was an East Berlin bricklayer who had waited a year for an opportunity to join his sister in West Berlin. Because of his trade, he was allowed to work near the crumbling wall, and, with another 18-year-old, discovered a deserted lumberyard that was separated from a low stretch of Wall by a vacant lot and the “death strip.” a border of sand within easy range of a dozen Communist tommy guns.
When the pair made their dash early one afternoon last week, Fechter’s friend managed to climb the six-foot-high barrier and leap over the barbed wire on top. But Fechter paused for a few fatal seconds, long enough for the Grenzpolizei (border police) to raise their weapons and fire. Shot in the back by crossfire. Fechter fell back onto the death strip only 300 yds. from Checkpoint Charlie, the U.S. command post at the busy Friedrichstrasse border crossing.
“Go Get Him.” There he lay. moaning “Hilfe, Hilfe,” while a growing throng of horrified West Berliners stood gaping on the other side of the barrier. As the minutes ticked past, photographers, cops, even a couple of U.S. military policemen, edged gingerly up to the Wall’s western side to have a look at the hideous sight. One conscience-stricken U.S. second lieutenant could stand it no longer, picked up the “hot line” telephone to Major General Albert Watson II. the U.S. commandant in West Berlin. Back came the order: “Lieutenant, you have your orders. Stand fast. Do nothing.” Not knowing the reason for the Americans’ inaction, an agonized crowd swirled around the command post crying: “For God’s sake, go get him.” When a German reporter asked why the American troops did not rescue Fechter. one G.I. replied, “This is not our problem.”
Fifty-five minutes after he had fallen to the ground, Peter Fechter’s lifeless body was carted away by Communist cops. He was the 50th East German known to have been killed while attempting to breach the Wall.
Checking with Washington. It was not the first time that Western soldiers have been powerless to help a wounded victim of the Grepos. Last December another youth died within a few yards of the British sector line. At the time, freewheeling General Lucius D. Clay snorted: “If that ever happened at the American sector, we would have had that boy out of there in ten minutes.”
General Clay enjoyed a unique freedom of action—and comment—for he was sent to Berlin as President Kennedy’s special representative. General Watson, in a complex chain of command from the Pentagon and the State Department, can hardly make a move without clearing it in advance with Washington. Like the men under him. he lives with the somber instructions that a single rash decision could trigger World War III. Read the whole story.
How could you hate him, when he was so handsome?
October 30th, 2009But Mengele himself was never cruel to them?
“Never,” they say in unison.
They said he was almost fatherly. “We knew he’s not going to harm us. We knew it.”
“Because he was so handsome,” Pearl says. “You forgot about anything.”
“He was like an angel,” Helen adds.
“We were like friends with him,” Pearl says. “Really.”
“He was very smart,” Helen says. “People were falling in love with him; I’m not kidding.”
So said twin survivors of Mengele in Auschwitz. Abigail Pogrebin has written a book about the twins.
My comment after visiting the site where these ladies were subjected to experiments:
Invictus.
October 29th, 2009A poem by William Ernest Henley (1849–1903) and the title of a new movie on Nelson Mandela:
OUT of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Spanish Eyes.
October 22nd, 2009Everything you ever wanted to know about a “Spanish song by a German bandleader for an Italian crooner. Not exactly “world music”, but the world loved it.”
[Al] Martino has three claims on posterity: a) He had the first ever Number One record in the United Kingdom; b) he played the crooner Johnny Fontane in The Godfather; and c) the number that gave him his blockbuster hit is said to be one of the world’s 50 most performed songs…
Then…here’s a video of Martino’s 1966 version of the song… It is awkward and “weird” as my daughter would say. Yet, the song is melodic and pretty. Sometimes, it’s best to just imagine.
You know how …
October 22nd, 2009Dad hates it when you don’t look where you’re going…
Via my kids.
The Most Amazing Medical Images.
October 21st, 2009Here’s one depicting “blebbing” in lung cancer. To see more amazing photos click here.
Blebbing
Via Instapundit.
A cool Mother…
October 10th, 2009…because I beat Jon Stewart and his interview of William Kamkwamba, the “boy who built windmills”.
Nostalgia
October 8th, 2009I used to love this song as a little girl…
Conversing with my children about their grandfathers, it brought back memories…
Regina Spektor
October 7th, 2009A singer my daughter introduced me to, and whom I like..
Helicopter autoration?
October 7th, 2009
Hate to fly, but admire those who have no fear… like my brother-in-law, the pilot here, and my nephew.
Rainbow of beauty.
October 6th, 2009
Iraqi flag flying in Maine…
October 6th, 2009
One of those forever records: Bobby Darin’s “Mack the Knife”.
October 6th, 2009Dorothy’s Back…
October 6th, 2009
Artist: Duart Dillon Hillas
A cute Xochimilco denizen…
October 6th, 2009
1600 girls to have a new school…
October 5th, 2009
Blogging and the FTC.
October 5th, 2009Re the Polanski affair…
October 5th, 2009“Some people see lemons and make lemonade. William Kamkwamba saw wind and made a windmill.”
October 5th, 2009So starts a wonderful story of ingenuity and passion, in spite of adversity.
Thanks to Instapundit.
Ukrainian artist Kseniya Simonova
October 3rd, 2009Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution, died.
September 13th, 2009Norman Borlaug’s views on genetic engineering of plants can be found in his article: Ending World Hunger. The Promise of Biotechnology and the Threat of Antiscience Zealotry.
Here are more articles about the man, via Instapundit:
Norman Borlaug: The Man Who Saved More Human Lives Than Any Other Has Died
I am still haunted by those who were on those planes…
September 10th, 2009
Sir Nicholas Winton, a hero for the ages. (Continued).
September 7th, 2009In light of The Telegraph’s article last Friday about 100-year old Sir Nocholas Winton and his reunion with Holocaust survivors, I’m reposting what I wrote a while back…
A couple of years ago I was lucky to be invited by a friend to go to Paris. My visit there coincided with the visit of one of those rare individuals who –in his unassuming way- was a giant of his era. He made an incredible contribution to mankind and is known as the British Schindler.
Sir Nicholas Winton, “Nicky” to his friends, was in France for a special program on anti-Semitism. He hails from Maidenhead (UK), is a lover of gardens, a gentle, kind, no-nonsense man who stresses that he is not a diplomat.
His story is one for the ages. In 1939, as an English stockbroker, Sir Nicholas Winton spent some time in Prague and he became a “living angel” by rescuing 669 Czech children from their doomed fate in the Nazi death camps. Most of the saved children never saw their parents again. These unfortunate souls perished in the German Nazi concentration camps.
Nicholas Winton’s feat was unrecognized for more than 50 years, and most of the children he saved were totally unaware who their savior had been. His story came to light when his wife Greta, rummaging through their attic, found an old leather briefcase that contained lists of the children and letters from their parents. Here’s a short clip of the impact of his remarkable achievement.
Sir Nicholas’ perspicacity made him aware that something was terribly wrong. Unlike so many others, he was courageous enough to do something to right what was so terribly wrong at the time. Because he was born of Jewish parents who later converted to Christianity, he was not recognized as one of the Righteous Gentiles at Yad Vashem.
I had the privilege and great fortune to meet a living legend, who turns 100 years old this May. I think of him often, and how it is so true that one person can make a difference.
Sir Nicholas Winton never thought what he did was outstanding. It was just the right thing to do. 
An anniversary..
September 5th, 2009in Iraq… Is it worth it? Yes, according to a painter who works for the Corps of Engineers…
Great TV.
September 5th, 2009I’ve been watching the 1980’s Reilly, Ace of Spies, which I hadn’t seen in more than 20 years. It’s a great show, and hasn’t aged a bit. The score, based on Shostakovich’s Gadfly Romance is beautifully haunting.
Living architecture …
September 5th, 2009and botanical engineering are the subject of a fascinating article with amazing photos at Dark Roasted Blend.
Poland in a nutshell.
September 1st, 2009The Smithsonian Magazine has a lovely article about Poland.
