noun : an accumulation of loose stones or rocky debris lying on a slope or at the base of a hill or cliff.
In this article, I wanted to share some of the many lessons I’ve learned from George over the years and in the process of working on the book with him. His wisdom and example have influenced my life in ways I never could have imagined—I hope these 21 lessons impact you as much as they have impacted me…
~ Ryan Holiday, from 21 Powerful Life Lessons From My Mentor (George Raveling)
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I’m not even quoting a single one, because you should go read them all.
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On a personal level, I have found that keeping reminders of mortality close at hand provides me with the clarity to see what truly matters to me, and the courage necessary to live a life aligned with my values. Because I have, for decades, been asking myself what I would regret if I were to die – and because I made changes in accord with those answers – I live a rich and fulfilling life that I appreciate every day.
~ Joanna Ebenstein from, Reflections on mortality can help you live well now – here’s how
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Hear! Hear! And I’ll keep talking and writing about memento mori.
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Adapted from a series of Instagram posts by Weiss, the film blends reenactments, live action and, of course, some exquisite microscopy to explore how his tendency to seek ‘comfort in unusual places’ culminated in his spending up to 16 hours at a time with only single-celled organisms as company.
~ from, A body called life
Watch.
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He smiled a little. He looked forward, thinking, perhaps about the movie, as if it hadn’t crossed his mind for a long time. Then he grinned and said: “Money job.”
~ Ben Stiller from, Gene Hackman’s Simple Truth
It’s not clear, of course, exactly how Hackman meant for Stiller to take his simply reply. But, having seen The Poseidon Adventure, I’m taking it this way: Hackman is a consummate professional, able to deliver. “You need what done? I can do that.” That’s a professional.
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How does a podcast serving millions still make each listener feel personally connected?
Discover why “connection, not perfection” became the north star for one of the world’s most-listened-to language shows.
[Do you ever freak-out thinking about 200,000 people listening?] I think that our vision of the human connection is still so strong inside me, that I think about that. I think about that listener who might feel isolated right now because of language. They’re either living in the US and they’re struggling to get connected in their community, or they’re on a call from Japan to New York and they’re cringing because they think they just said the wrong thing and they’re not building the business relationship.
~ Lindsay McMahon (19:00)
This conversation with Lindsay McMahon explores the strategic structure and guiding values behind one of the most successful podcasts for English language learners. Lindsay discusses how the show’s consistency in structure, length, and tone builds trust and supports learning. The format was intentionally designed from the beginning, and every episode follows a clear template. The recurring message, “connection, not perfection,” drives the brand and resonates deeply with listeners around the world. The show targets global English learners, particularly professionals, and publishes five days a week, delivering a sense of reliability and approachability.
Lindsay shares her team-building strategy, including how co-hosts are hired, trained, and retained. She emphasizes treating podcasting as a business (for example, offering benefits like 401(k) matching), which contributes to long-term team cohesion. The show’s monetization model is also discussed, covering courses, sponsorships, licensing, and Apple+ subscriptions. The team uses lead magnets (like quizzes), and consistent calls to action are embedded in every episode. Additional topics include burnout, managing production buffers, and ambitions to expand into live events and podcast coaching.
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Reading my previous journal entries (as I do every morning) I was surprised to find it’s been only a year since I move my 7 for Sunday weekly email off to its own site. (If you like reading my blog posts, you’ll love reading my weekly email. ;)
It was quite a lot of work, although I’d completely forgotten all about it. What a gift it was to my today-self; yes, the work to move the project making it even better, but more so the delight of being reminded to look back and appreciate the project now.
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What happens when faith, logic, and vulnerability collide in a personal search for truth?
Cassian Bellino has turned personal doubt into a public quest for answers interviewing scholars about Christianity.
I think just, over time, you really understand that God invites these questions because He doesn’t want us to live blindly or have blind faith.
~ Cassian Bellino (36:55)
The conversation explores the origin and evolution of Cassian’s podcast, Biblically Speaking, focused on asking scholars direct, often difficult questions about Christianity. It begins with her internal conflict—wanting to live as a Christian while not fully understanding or agreeing with the faith—and follows her decision to start a podcast to resolve those doubts through dialogue. Cassian’s podcast is a place for intellectual exploration, built from personal curiosity and a desire for logical clarity rather than blind faith.
The discussion touches on content strategy, emotional challenges, and the mechanics of sustaining a solo creative endeavor. Cassian recounts her journey through building community platforms, hiring coaches, learning software systems, and dealing with burnout. Marketing, guest outreach, and pre-call preparation processes are shared in detail, alongside reflections on episodes that felt like failures but later proved meaningful to listeners. Throughout, the conversation centers on the power of asking questions and trusting intuition to guide the creative process.
(more…)Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.
~ Steven Pressfield, from Writing Wednesdays: The Unlived Life
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For me there’s a huge tension between those two. I see so many things that I want to do—and I don’t mean binge-watch TV shows. I imagine something I’d like to write—for example, a weekly, emailed publication for paying subscribers—and the complexity of creating it overwhelms me. The writing is the easy part; Or, am I deluding myself? The only salve I’ve found is to remind myself over and over and over that I consistently overestimate what I can get done in a day, and underestimate what I can get done in a lifetime.
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Claude and I discussed it, and my theory (Claude is giving me full credit) is an LLM of this sort is not a communications medium at all. There’s no way for a human to put a new idea directly into it and no way to send that message to another human. Instead, my take is that Claude brings us everything it knows, and that its function is to help us go within, not across.
~ Seth Godin, from Across and within | Seth’s Blog
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A slightly longer than usual blog post from Godin making the interesting point differentiating across time, versus across space (just normal space, not outer space.) I know I find “talking” with LLMs very helpful for various reasons. I think the biggest is that it is (or at least “feels like”) one-on-one communication; It’s very much not social media where I always feel like I’m serving corporate masters by making grist for their mills.
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There’s a pretty obvious incentive at play when companies have the ability to unilaterally alter how their products work after you buy them and you are legally prohibited to change how the product works after you buy them. This is the first lesson of the Darth Vader MBA: “I am altering the deal. Pray I don’t alter it any further.”
~ Cory Doctorow, from Pluralistic: Brother makes a demon-haunted printer
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There are many wrongs to right in the world. This one “small” legal wrinkle doesn’t seem like a big deal at first glance. And then…
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