a daily blog on well-being and how to feel better by Mark Barger Elliott…

During the Democratic convention last night, Geoff Duncan, a Republican and former Lieutenant Governor of Georgia, invited independents and Republicans to join him in voting for Kamala Harris. David Alexrod, a CNN commentator, described Duncan’s speech as a “permission structure.” Meaning, Duncan’s presence and words sought to create a structure strong enough to bear the…

I was struck by a story I read yesterday about six people who died after a storm sank their superyacht off the coast of Sicily. One of the passengers was an attorney who helped his client Mike Lynch, described as a “tech titan,” be recently acquitted of fraud charges after selling his firm to Hewlett-Packard…

I was rereading Derek Sivers’ book How to Live where he makes this observation and challenge: “Let the deadline of death drive you. Create until your last breath. Let your last spark of life go into your work.  Die empty, so death takes only a corpse.” What might change in your life if you took…

Over the weekend I was on a work trip with a colleague and as we discussed variables involved in moving a project forward she said, “well, that’s how I feel right now, but it could change.” And I thought, that insight is important to remember regarding how we feel about a certain situation. Yes, emotions…

“Untie your knots,” observes Lao Tzu. In life some things we might want to knot, like a boat to a dock. Knots can also be muscular and need to be released in order to work efficiently and smoothly. Knots can be emotional, spiritual, vocational, and relational. Tzu’s point is some knots we’ve made along the…

Tom Brady spoke at Harvard recently and made a fascinating observation about the relationship between ability and effort and the impact 5-10% of extra effort can have on one’s career. “In the NFL, every player thinks he’s giving 100% effort,” Brady shared. “Judging from what I saw, a lot of them are playing at only 70…