Most people avoid boredom. When I was little, one of my most frequent complaints to my parents was, “I’m so bored!” I always wanted to be doing something.

When I directed high school Shakespeare productions, I had a different experience of the show than the rest of the audience. As the director, I knew the lines, the blocking, the jokes, and when these were missed or delivered imperfectly, I noticed and was frustrated.

Recently, I’ve had a season of joyful contentment and gratitude. I’ve been pondering what has changed, since the season before this one had more frustration and discontent.

“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.” This quote from G.K. Chesterton highlights how our mindset shapes our experience. 

“What is the crossroad at which I find myself at this point in my life?” This is one of my new favorite coaching questions. I found it in the book The Answer to How Is Yes by Peter Block.

“What is my contribution to the problem I am concerned with?” This ownership question comes from the book The Answer to How Is Yes by Peter Block. When Ifeel frustrated or stuck, I find this type of question powerful.

Until recently, the story I told myself was that watching my kids on my own for an extended period of time was stressful. It seemed that my patience was finite, that I could only take so much before I needed a break or lost my cool. These experiences could lead to an apparently logical and convenient conclusion: that I’m just not that good at parenting small children—that it just doesn’t suit my nature and therefore perhaps my wife should take this part of running our household.

There is a time and a place for the question, “How?” but it’s not where we should begin. This is what Peter Block, the author of the book, The Answer to How Is Yes, argues.

In an article titled Self-discipline is easy, actually: clarity vs. force (sic), Dan Koe argues that rather than trying to change your life, you need to begin by spending enough time with your “anti-vision.” Here’s part of the article. 

Part of the vision for The Good Leaven Letter is to share thought-provoking distinctions that act as good leaven for your life. A section I read by Dan Koe in his e-book Purpose and Profit: A Guide to Discovering Your Life’s Work shares such a distinction.

Can you touch your toes? This common stretch is often used to test flexibility. Perhaps you’re like me and not very flexible. If you’ve tried to improve and had a hard time making progress, it might be that you’ve been operating according to a common misconception that flexibility has to do with muscle or tendon length.

Have you ever said something like “I’ll complete that by the end of the week,” and then found that you ran out of time or you simply forgot to finish the task?

Have you ever been interrupted in the middle of a task? The interruption might even be the next thing on your agenda. For example, you might be eating lunch and realize that your 1 o’clock appointment is in five minutes.

I’ve been writing The Good Leaven Letter weekly for several years now. Each week, I follow inspiration and don’t have particular core themes in mind. Because of this, I’ve been increasingly curious to learn whether or not there are general trends.

It might seem unusual, but I am in the midst of a book titled The Empowered Wife. Actually, I’m reading it together with my wife after more than one coach friend told me that it transformed their marriage.

Before trips my wife uses a written list of items to pack for our family. Some friends of ours cook brats for dinner every Saturday. As a recruiter, I use a chart to visualize and track my phone, text, and email communications to candidates.

Joseph King Barkley, the president of the MetaPerformance Institute, recently wrote a thought-provoking post on LinkedIn. It relates to how he handles exploratory calls with coaches who are considering joining Foundations, a coaching training program offered by the Institute.

Strong Towns, one of the most popular books on urban revitalization, has grown an entire movement around its principles. All around the country, people have banded into groups called “Conversations” to support the improvement and renewal of their cities.

“The thing’s on fire, and they had to call the fire department.” These are the words that my wife woke me with at 7:30am.

In Patrick Lencioni’s book, The Ideal Team Player, the main character finds himself in a challenge that will require intense focus. For a time, he is able to make this his main priority but then, he is surprised when the busyness of ordinary tasks take him off course for two whole days.