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

I recently bought a book by Thomas Kemeny on advertising where he describes how each of us is, “the last line of defense against the easy way.” I’ve often thought that we defend against “the easy way” when we say things like this to ourselves and others:  ”If we were to start this project over…

Nick Saban once asked sports psychologist Dr. Lionel Rosen,“What do you tell a team that thinks it has no chance to win?” As John Talty writes, “Rather than identifying winning the game as the goal, Rosen encouraged Saban to stress winning each play instead. If players could zero in on what they needed to do…

During the Oscars there was a commercial which ended with the poignant line, “where you were meant to be.” It is a compelling idea and hope, an expectation and destination. Something we wish for friends and loved ones; something we imagine finding for ourselves. For in that place we can become and be our truest…

I was coming home late last night from the airport in a cab when there was suddenly a lot of traffic. The cab driver, maybe in his late 60s, asked, “Do you mind if I get us out of this mess?” I looked at my phone and it appeared the traffic would clear in 14…

I was inspired by the story of the University of South Carolina Salkehatchie coach Matt Lynch this week. As Billy Witz reported in The New York Times, Lynch has been on the job for a little over a year and this season his record is 17-13.  Which doesn’t sound that remarkable except as Witz writes…

One of leadership lessons famous restauranteur Danny Meyer writes about is the “saltshaker theory.” His friend Pat Cetta taught it to him one day where Danny was feeling stressed about pressures in running his business. Meyer writes, “Pat pointed to the set table next to us. ‘First,’ he said, ‘I want you to take everything…