Brilliant's Blog

A Book about Leadership that’s Inspiring and Challenging Me I first encountered retired four-star Marine Corps general Jim Mattis’ thoughts when I came across one of his quotes online. I won’t relate it here, but it shocked me with its bluntness and violence. In retrospect, I suppose I shouldn’t have…

A Company in Business to Save Our Home Planet Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia is one of my heroes. I love that he “accidentally” created a massive company (more than $200M in revenue last year) from his passion of mountain climbing. His book Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a…

If you or someone you love is experiencing lasting fatigue and a lack of mental clarity, it might be a residual effect of COVID. It seems that there’s still a lot about COVID we don’t understand. And even as we gain understanding, we still have to figure out what to…

Cellist Gretchen Yanover says that when she was younger, she lived with the feeling that she had a hole in her heart. In her TEDx talk “What I learned from playing the cello”, she describes how music helped her transform that pain, saying, “Now, instead of thinking I have a…

David Kadavy is the author of Mind Management, Not Time Management: Productivity When Creativity Matters (Getting Art Done). I love the honesty and insight David shares in this book about his journey to being “a creative” and living a creative and fulfilling life. He describes years spent following the same…

A few years ago, my wife and I participated in a course called The Art of Loving Fiercely. It was created and co-led by John Wineland, the only teacher I’ve ever encountered who consistently fills up and sells out his workshops despite not having a book, podcast, or TV or…

In his book, The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible Charles Eisenstein writes, “Telling the truth about what is happening on Earth [has] a power to alter the course of events. … when we digest the information, who we are changes, and therefore what we do.” The Carbon Almanac not only…

The New York Times recently published an article called “Is the World Really Falling Apart, or Does It Just Feel That Way?”. Its author, Max Fisher, makes many keen observations, including this one: “Pessimism about one’s personal circumstances can easily become pessimism about the world.” It squares with a lot…

Your attention isn’t a commodity, but advertisers treat it like one. In 2022, the advertising industry will surpass $332 billion—an amount roughly equivalent to the combined defense budgets of China and India—attempting to get people’s attention, including yours. Your attention is precious. And because your attention and experience are inseparable,…

One of the best books I’ve read in a while is David McRaney’s How Minds Change: The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion. (Thank you David, a former—and soon-to-be-returning—School for Good Living Podcast guest for providing me with an advance copy.) This book contains SO MANY interesting and useful…

Einstein wasn’t just smart, he was deep. I was reminded of that recently when I Googled his quote, “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.” Turns out it comes from a short-but-dense essay he wrote about life…

Have you ever thrown an Aerobie? They’re SO FUN to throw and catch. The first Aerobie was designed in the 70’s by a Stanford engineering professor named Alan Adler. He spent EIGHT YEARS designing and refining the best throwing disc he could. He called it the Pro Ring and it broke…

Albert Einstein said, “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.”   Einstein would have loved One Breath Around The World, a spectacular short film released in 2019 by Guillarme Néry, a French free diver. Guillarme has free dived to 126 meters (413 feet) and can hold his breath…

Perhaps the secret to life is that there is no secret. “The Rich Are Not Who We Think They Are. And Happiness Is Not What We Think It Is, Either.” is a recently-published opinion piece in the New York Times by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. (Apologies if you find that it’s behind…

David Perell is a fellow learning nerd (my words, not his) who writes an excellent newsletter called Friday Finds. In it, he recently linked to a thought-provoking article called Why Winners Keep Winning that explains something I think we intuitively know, but don’t necessarily understand. And while it’s true that momentum…

Relationships are hard. Maybe that’s why thousands of people have entered into devoted fictional relationships with characters from their favorite comic books, video games and cartoons. The New York Times recently published an article that explores this phenomenon called “This Man Married a Fictional Character. He’d Like You To Hear…

Thinking of changing careers? Starting your own business? Making your side hustle your main hustle? Talk to someone who’s been there and done that, or better yet is doing that right now! PivotPlanet.com can help. Formerly called Vocation Vacations, I first learned about PivotPlanet in Dan and Chip Heath’s book…

Life’s operative question is “What do you want?” Years ago, I realized that I want to be omniscient. I want to know everything. I want to understand myself, why others behave as they do, what the universe is made of (sidenote: did you know we only know what 5% of the…

Tim Ferriss’ recent interview with Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, is pretty interesting. In this 90-minute conversation, Mark talks about some of the innovative things his company is working on to change the way we live, work and recreate. For example, you know that feeling of disconnect that comes when…

I recently discovered Twenty Thousand Hertz, a lovingly crafted podcast revealing the stories behind the world’s most recognizable and interesting sounds. It’s created and hosted by dallastaylor.com. The podcast’s website describes Dallas: Creative Director of DEFACTO SOUND [“the sonic source for the world’s most thoughtful brands”] where he has led…

Writing this week’s Three Point Thursday from the safety and comfort of my home in the United States, I’m reminded of how blessed I truly am. As you know, Russia has invaded Ukraine. People are dying. The United States offered to evacuate Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelensky, but he declined, saying,…

Earlier this week I was on a Zoom call with a group of coaches where the topic of focus came up. If you’re like me (and most of my clients), you know that it can sometimes be hard to: A) know what to focus on, B) stay focused on anything…

Dillon Helbig, an 8-year-old resident of Boise, wrote and illustrated a book, then hid it on the shelf at his local library. The staff there made it an official part of their collection. Now there’s a years-long waiting list for his book. You can read more about it on NPR.

“We know things in the core of our being that we have not necessarily been taught, and some of this deep knowing may actually be at odds with what our society or religion has tried to teach us.” and… “The crises that we are in the midst of today, whether…

Have you been putting off a difficult conversation or avoiding it completely? Do you want better outcomes in your most important conversations at home or at work? You Are Not So Smart and How to Talk to People About Things are presenting a free, 90-minute online workshop next Tuesday, February 1st at 5pm MT…

Anyone who’s ever raised kids knows that it can be hard. And anyone who’s ever managed money can attest that it can also be hard. It’s no wonder then that that raising children who spend, save and give money well is really, really hard. Someone who can help is Ron…

Tiago Forte, an entrepreneur and writer who aims to help you “Be more productive than you ever thought possible,” recently published an article called “The Yoga of Eating: Food as a Source of Information.” It summarizes Charles Eisenstein’s book The Yoga of Eating, and goes on to explore how the book’s…

Happy Holidays! You probably know that December 21st was winter solstice, which means winter has officially begun in the Northern Hemisphere and also that each passing day will have a little more daylight than the last (until June, anyway). We’re neck deep in the holiday season, part of which means that…

You could change just about anything about yourself—and I mean anything—and some people in your life just won’t see it. When these people look at you, it’s like they’re looking at the light of a dead star. They see what used to be there. They see what they expect to…