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Hey Everyone, Here are my answers to Dan's questions: "Which non-fiction book has had the most powerful positive impact on you in your life?" This is a tough question, so I am going to go with a book I read quite recently, for the first time, and which deserves at least another read: "How to Win Friends and Influence People," by Dale Carnegie. Much of the advice seems like common sense, but at the same time, so much of it is forgotten by so many of us in our daily interactions with others. If you can apply even half of Carnegie's timeless advice to your daily interactions, your life will certainly improve in every domain: work, family, social, and otherwise. Highly recommended! "Which person (real or fictional) do you believe is the best role model for living with integrity?" Another tough one, and I am really not sure, so I will go with someone who always spoke his mind, would openly debate anyone, would put himself out there unprotected, would go against the dominant society norms when he considered them incorrect, and who day after day fought for what he believed in and tried to make the world a better place: Charlie Kirk. May he RIP. Regardless of one's political views, I think it would be very difficult to argue that he didn't embody integrity, in every sense of the word. "What's the best advice you've ever received?" Again, such a tough question... I'll go with some advice I received during a tough time of my life... Back in the fall of 2012, I had a terrible semester at university, largely connected to living on campus and not having much of a life outside of my school work (I was very grade driven and obsessed). This led to insomnia, depression and anxiety, and I had to take a semester off to recover. Thus, I was back in my hometown in early 2013, still suffering, and decided one day that I was well enough to go to the chess club and see my old friends there. They were all much older than I (most of them 60+), and I sort of let them know my situation, or at least they could sense something was wrong.

I've studied Stoicism on and off over the last few years, and have found it helpful in many ways. One way is in my approach to dealing with difficult people, largely influenced by the following quote from Marcus Aurelius: "When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own—not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are obstructions." It's kind of deep, but I think one thing that we can take away from it is that people are people, imperfect in nature, and expecting the worst from them helps us brace ourselves for our interactions with them. Furthermore, we can even GROW from our intereactions with them. I try to tell myself, when dealing with difficult colleagues and students, to be 'grateful' for them, and to see my interactions with them as 'training in patience and tolerance'. I think Ryan Holiday has discussed this in some of his YT videos before as well... Maybe that's where I got it from. So, welcome the difficult people in your lives! Thank them! LOVE THEM! They were placed there to challenge you, to make you grow, to make you improve, and by approaching them with the right mindset, you will! Furthermore, it is their nature to be that way, so don't become angry with them! As a Stoic (I forget which one) once said, "are you going to hate a fox for going into your chicken coop?" and "If a dog bites you, are you going to bite it back?!?" 🤣

Brotherhood veteran @Haris Naz came up with a great idea: a treadmill. I've seen a few people do this now, installing a walking treadmill for while they're working. Haris discovered that this also unlocks all kinds of solutions for mental and emotional issues as well. So often, the answer to whatever's plaguing you is simply "Go for a walk" (or "move your body").

I’ve often wondered… Why are most of us so good at showing up for others (bosses, friends, family members – you name it), but often so inconsistent at showing up for ourselves? Aren’t we among the most important people in our lives? Most people would say ‘yes’, but their behaviour seldom reflects it: - They continue to eat poorly and skip workouts, knowing the long-term consequences. - They continue to put their projects off until tomorrow, when ‘tomorrow’ never comes. - They continue to try to make everyone else happy without taking care of their own emotional needs. - They continue to emphasize their own failures, while downplaying their victories. And much more! The list goes on and on… Why do you think this is? What is it about human nature that makes many of us neglect, fail to show up for, and cheat ourselves? Would you cheat on your partner? I hope not! So, why are you ‘cheating on yourself’ so to speak? I’m interested to hear your thoughts on this! Here’s a story about showing up for oneself, or rather, a lack thereof... My supervisor at my previous job (teaching at a university and working in the open-access English only space). An excellent employee and all-around good guy; this post isn’t intended to pick on him, but rather, to make a point. He arrives at work at 7:45 am, even though work starts at 9:00, and goes home after 7:00 pm, even though he could go at 6:00. When asked why, he says it is simply because he has so much to do. He doesn't charge his company any overtime, especially because they couldn't afford to pay him for all of those hours anyway. I think he takes pride in his work, and how much he works. Thanks to his efforts, his company has maintained their contract with that university for many years, and everyone knows that if he quit, that would be the end of the company, as that university contract is their only real lifeline (pressure!!). Contrary to his work efforts, he doesn't seem to show up for himself at all. He is at least a bit overweight, gets "metabolic syndrome" on his health check every year (that leads to diabetes eventually, amongst other ailments), talks about starting some sort of exercise program but never does, eats all sorts of crap throughout the day, along with sugary drinks, and as a result, is often moody.