Have you ever hid behind vague language to avoid putting yourself on the hook? I know I have. But my experience is that vague language produces vague results.

Consultants give answers. Mentors share their experience. Coaches increase agency. These three ways to look at creating value were introduced to me during my training at the Meta Performance Institute, and I’ve been pondering them ever since.

Conversion is often thought of as life-changing on a grand scale—for example, a religious conversion. This larger renewal of the mind, or metanoia, is beautiful but rare in a person’s lifetime. My own conversion to Catholicism was of this sort.

Some words describe things. Other words generate the future.

Your life is a three-act play. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Your past is the first act. Your present is the second, and your future is the third. The future hasn’t happened yet, but for many it is already written.

Worrying can feel awful. I know; I’ve been there. But what if being worried isn’t just something that happens? What if you were the one creating this experience?

As my family and I prepared to move from our tiny house, I found myself pondering memories from the beautiful years we spent in our little 120 square foot home. The lessons to be gleaned from our time there are still unfolding and too numerous to pack into one letter. Instead, I’ll share one small musing at a time.

Over some cigars by a bonfire, a friend of mine recently shared his 100-year vision for the property he is living on. Much of what he hoped for had to do with creating a place for his children and grandchildren to enjoy and grow in love together.

Marc Barnes raises the following three questions toward the end of a fascinating episode of the New Polity Podcast.

Three times. That’s how many times I’ve broken my commitment to send out the Good Leaven Letter by Monday during the last 80 weeks or so.

“And then I realized that no matter how long I researched and thought about shoes, I wasn’t going to find a good fit. What I actually needed to do was to try on a bunch of different pairs.”

All people, even the ones we find most challenging, are our teachers.

According to the school of therapy called Internal Family Systems, the core self that is beneath all of our sub-personalities or parts has several qualities: curiosity, compassion, clarity, connectedness, creativity, courage, confidence, and calm. These are known as the eight Cs.

There are two ways to transformation: either you change your world or you change how you relate to it. One path focuses on changing things on the outside, the other path works on changing things within.

Imagine an upset parent speaking to a child who hasn’t finished an assignment for school. Contrast these two possible statements:

“I am angry that you didn’t finish your homework.”
“Part of me is angry that you didn’t finish your homework.”