In the wonderful movie It’s Kind of a Funny Story, based on the autobiographical book by Ned Vizzini, the adolescent main character Craig winds up as a patient in an adult wing of a psychiatry unit in a New York City hospital. As he’s being oriented to the unit, a patient walks by and yells, […]
problem solving, think, thinking
One of my favorite concepts is from the world of science and it’s called the signal-to-noise ratio. It is pretty much what it sounds like: the signal is something that we’re trying to get from one point to another, and the noise is anything that interferes with that. In sound, if you wanted to record […]
blog post, noise, sound
I read an article recently about a new trend inspired by those little free libraries you’ve probably seen at the edge of people’s lawns. This new trend is called a “free little art gallery,” where people leave small pieces of art in those boxes. You can either enjoy the art while walking or driving by, […]
art, enjoyment, free art
I was at breakfast with my father one weekday morning at a deli that he regularly went to. When we walked in and sat down, they handed me a menu and then walked away without giving one to my father. I asked him if he wanted to see mine, and he said, “Oh, they started […]
breakfast, deli, father, order
In the wonderful TV series “The Bear,” which is about a family-run restaurant in Chicago, when a staff member wants to indicate they truly understood what another staff member was saying, they respond by saying the word “heard.” There is something profound to me about letting someone know that you truly got the message. In […]
heard, Listening, the bear
When I opened my yogurt up, and it’s the Siggi’s brand, there was a note from the owner himself: “I hope you enjoy. Signed, Siggi.” It’s that classic understated marketing that they use, and even though I already bought the product, so I didn’t need to be marketed to, the idea of putting that simple […]
I was in my favorite deli recently, and someone had taken a couple of drinks out of these two giant drink coolers that cover almost an entire wall in this deli. As they were walking towards the counter, I said, “Wow, they have everything under the sun here.” With that, the person looked back, saw […]
choices, decision paralysis, Decisions, deli, options
I recently read a quip I have never seen before that said, “When nothing goes right, go left.” I’m not sure why that sort of caught me by surprise, but it reflects something I believe pretty strongly: sometimes when we’re in a rut or things are not going our way for a while, doing something […]
Change, control, left, quote, right
I got a fortune from a fortune cookie from lunch the other day that said “The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.” I suppose it’s a warning in some way that when you’re pursuing something that you want, taking a little time to assess the situation, particularly the downside […]
cheese, fortune, fortune cookie, idiom, mouse
I was reading an article in the Wall Street Journal this morning about how the executives and board members of companies that make food products, or are in the restaurant business, often sample those products before they are brought out to the market. A lot of research and testing done before that, of course, but […]
fulfillment, happiness, happy, work