From the category archives:

thinking...

i bookmarked this video on mike king’s blog some time ago, and finally got around to watching it. it’s stefan sagmeister, a new york designer, giving a talk at TED about the power of taking time off.
i often find that i need people who do things more extreme than me to push [...]

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our “youth ministry advance team: haiti” leaves this coming thursday. one of the adventures in missions guys asked our team, on our private team facebook group, to articulate some of our expectations for the trip. here’s what i wrote:
i expect to struggle with my emotional response
i expect to get pissed off — maybe [...]

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i’m going to post in the next few days (or week) what i’m planning to do for 2010. but i thought i’d start by sharing the process i went through to figure it out.
let’s back up to december of 2008. i’ve blogged about this before, but in mid-december, a year ago, i found [...]

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dan kimball in 20 years

January 14, 2010

(ht to fail blog)
(here’s a reference photo of dan, for comparison:)

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four recent reads

January 11, 2010

How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In, by jim collins
5 stars
man, collins has to be one of the best business and leadership writers alive. this short (for collins) book is packed with insight and painful help. so many insights, all backed by research. ah, hubris, the silent killer.
Patrick: [...]

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for the past 9 months, i’ve been in a wonderful leadership coaching program with dr. john townsend. we meet one day a month, for 12 months, and there are 7 others in the group with me. the 360 process has been one of the most valuable features.
as i’ve thought about what god is [...]

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my six days of silence in the desert was such a significant experience and turning point for me in my post-lay-off process that i haven’t been able to bring myself to blog about it until now. somehow, it felt like i would be commodifying it had i jumped right into a blog post within [...]

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4 books i read in the desert

November 30, 2009

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
theoretically a young adult fiction, but i can’t see why it’s not an amazing book for adults also. set in nazi germany, it’s the story of an orphan girl, into a family who hides a jew in their basement. part coming-of-age story, part adoption story, part holocaust history. oh, and [...]

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today, i am thankful

November 26, 2009

today, i am thankful that i was laid off.
it’s a choice, more than a feeling.
i cannot, no matter how much effort i apply to the task, think of a single challenging, painful, or hurtful experience in my life, whether by my own doing or done to me, that i would now wish away. i [...]

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a place for rest and grief

November 14, 2009

the day i came home from getting laid off, i knew i needed to get away by myself at some point. but i had also assumed i would “lay low” for the first month or so. and this last few weeks sure hasn’t felt like “laying low”.
so, this morning, i’m heading out to [...]

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