Yesterday's best practices have become today's quicksand.

Organizations don't intentionally drive into disarray or failure. Instead, they find themselves there after following tried and true practices, processes, and assumptions initially developed to bring about success. However, just like my inattention to my daily diet, things can get out of whack, and painful stones develop, indicating a problem. There is an immense opportunity for growth and change when asking questions and then patiently listening to all the answers.

Yesterday's best practices have become today's quicksand. The ambition to ask hard questions pinches, but it is less painful than neglecting to address the issues and remaining mired in the ineffective practices of today.

Questions are like sunlight; they reveal the beauty in the people around us.

As I took in the sight and reflected on the beauty, I understood that it was the light revealing the natural form of the cloud. If not for the sun's light, the clouds would have gone unnoticed as just another drab cotton ball tumbling across the sky. Then the insight struck: the clouds are like the people around us; in the right light, they are beautiful, and questions can be a means of light to draw out that beauty.

What truth is waiting for you to take an insight pause?

My dad lied to me. At 53, a decade after his death, my sister called with news: we had an older half-sister through our father. He and the rest of his generation took this sister's existence to the grave. It is a strange thing to have lived half a century only to discover a stranger's face resembles your father's more than your own.

Insights reveal the previously unknown and deserve space to breathe. Without this protected pause, fear prevents new understanding from taking root. In our information-saturated world, our humanity is revealed through our willingness to sit with uncomfortable truths long enough to find the insights that transform us.

What Gifts Do You Give To Your Future Self?

The perfect gift is a gratitude fountainhead towards the giver. The receiver understands the resources of thought, time, money, and effort poured into the ideal selection, which causes the heart to leap. The receiver feels deeply known and loved.

During a discussion with Tim Ferriss, author Elizabeth Gilbert explained her concept of giving gifts to her future self. Gifts were found in the…

What Tempts You To Fear?

What tempts you to fear? In our brain, the amygdala controls the "fight or flight" response to the information our senses detect. However, humanity doesn't respond in unison to each sensory input.

A bump in the night wakes us out of a dead sleep, to reach for the nightstand gun. Some joker behind a keyboard spends two minutes to create a meme threatening to take something you hold dear, and…

How Do Metric Results Influence Behavior?

We embrace the metrics' intended consequences at the birth of the metric. The unintended consequences are vivid at its death.

Every parent has lived the dream of their child going to bed without complaint. The absence of this reality prompts a heavy negotiation and a variation of the "quickly to bed" metric. Each night sleep happens…

What Are The Other Factors Influencing Success Or Failure?

External and internal factors influence all research before science can be proven right or wrong. Advocacy increases the chances of continued funding to see a study to a conclusion and disappears when the champion changes jobs.

Inspecting research assumptions and testing protocols provides insight into the rigor to prove a point. A body of research struggled to link smoking to cancer, while…

What Was The Moment You Realized, Because Of The Color Of Your Skin, The Rules Are Somehow Different For You?

The revelation of the social order creates a distinct memory. The experience etched in the cornerstone of each life. Either it will be a life with the wind in your face adding resistance with every step, or pressing at your back, adding a lightness to each step.

Skin pigment does not reveal the character of the human wearing it, but rather…

How Do You Experience Care From Your Friends?

A global pandemic is a perfect opportunity to understand why you call your friends, friends. The forced solitude allows for hands-free filtering to occur.

When you are no longer available to buy the round of drinks, are the same friends calling to check-in and chat?

How have these friends played a role…

What Blind Spots Does Your Dogma Create?

Chessmaster and martial arts champion, Josh Waitzkin, found the dogma of any particular martial arts form was a strength, but also revealed its weakness. This memory was triggered as I mindlessly scrolled through Facebook and came upon friends' political post. The post spelled out the tenets of the political bloc in succinct manifesto fashion, with the tone of complete disdain bestowed upon anyone deviating from this worldview. The comments were full of ardent agreement.

I have friends and family all over the political spectrum and work in DC…