I’m a magician. I’ve learned, performed and created magic for the past 26 years or so. I can’t remember a family gathering where I didn’t have a deck of cards on hand. It started when my grandmother made a coin disappear, right in front of my eyes. I don’t think she used any sleight of hand (I was 4 or so). In fact, I’m pretty sure she just distracted me and dropped the coin into the cushions of the couch we were sitting on.

A friend of mine posted an article about 6 problems in education… and I realized that we’ve heard these arguments over and over for the past decade or so, and videos and articles like these keep being made. Hasn’t anyone paid attention to the work being in done in schools to address these issues? Yes, we’re a long way from progressive being the norm, but here’s my breakdown of the video which is linked here.

+++ title = “01” date = 2018 +++ Ever since Ray Dalio’s book Principles arrived, many people have been thinking less in terms of goals and more in terms of principles. In other words, it’s less about how we do something and more about why we do it. This aligns also with the work of Simon Sinek (Start With the Why). I recently thought about my own set of principles. From just a quick brainstorming session in my journal, here are three of mine.

My New Year’s Resolution is to accept my own apology. I heard this rule recently: don’t speak to yourself internally in a way that you would not speak to a friend or family member externally. More specifically, this means no more calling yourself an idiot in your head. If you wouldn’t call a friend or family an idiot when they make a mistake, don’t do it to yourself. I have this horrible habit that’s rooted in insecurity: I am embarrassed many of the things I’ve done and said over the years, and weirdly, sometimes it takes years for this embarrassment to set in.

I recently saw a relative of mine posting about their child coming in last in some athletic competitions at their school. My relative congratulated her child anyway, and told her that participating, not winning, is the most important part of competing. It made me think about my childhood. Frequently, I came in last in races (of any kind). Not second to last, or somewhere in the back of the pack, but dead last.