You succeed by finding ways to capitalize on who you are, not by trying to fix who you aren’t. -Marcus Buckingham Thomas Jefferson was not a good public speaker, but he knew it. He spent little time trying to compete with the great public speakers of his time. Instead, he wrote —and write he did. We can thank him for the Declaration of Independence. Don’t waste your time trying to ‘fix’ your weaknesses. Mitigate them and find ways to compensate, but don’t spend time there. Spend your time on wha...
Mar 24, 2024•1 min
"If we allow more people to solve problems without permission, and if we tolerate (and don’t vilify) their mistakes, then we enable a much larger set of problems to be addressed." - Ed Catmull Recently, a friend said: “At a certain point, you can’t muscle it anymore.” It was one of those comments that made me stop midstride and say, “Why didn’t I think of that.” I love it when that happens, and it made me consider my own leadership and how many times I’ve ‘muscled’ it. The famous quote from Arch...
Mar 17, 2024•5 min
In the West, we often think of art as a blank canvas, something we add to create the final piece. In the East, artists frequently start with a piece of jade and remove parts until the art is revealed. We each have a self-image formed through our experiences. We often cling to this image, which influences various aspects of our lives—how we dress, behaviors, language, beliefs, friendships, and self-perception. I've spent my lifetime constructing “me.” Much of this was to protect myself, compensat...
Mar 10, 2024•4 min
You’re not as good as you think. You don’t have it all figured out. Stay focused. Do better….This is the characteristic of how great people think. It’s not that they find failure in every success. They just hold themselves to a standard that exceeds what society might consider to be objective success. Because of that, they don’t care much about what other people think; they care whether they meet their own standards. And these standards are much, much higher than everyone else’s. - Ryan Holiday ...
Mar 03, 2024•6 min
Highlights from Charlie Munger's Commencement Speech at The Harvard School in 1986.If you found that helpful, please copy this link and send it to a friend.https://kellyvohs.substack.com/p/how-to-guarantee-a-life-of-misery Take care, Kelly PS: What Alcohol Does to Your Body, Brain & Health - As mentioned, this. episode by Dr. Andrew Huberman may change how you view alcohol. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, vis...
Feb 25, 2024•8 min
If you found that helpful, please copy this link and send it to a friend. https://kellyvohs.substack.com/p/three-ideas-about-time Take care, Kelly This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kellyvohs.substack.com
Feb 18, 2024•3 min
If you found that helpful, copy this link and send it to a friend who might find it helpful too. https://kellyvohs.substack.com/p/taking-the-longview-on-people Take care, Kelly This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kellyvohs.substack.com
Feb 11, 2024•2 min
We are just bags of water walking around in our own unrealities. - Epictetus We tell ourselves stories. Some of them are true, but a lot of them are not true. Stories about what we can do, and what we can’t do. And who we are, and who we aren’t. Most importantly, about who we can and cannot be. Be careful with your stories. Many of them are unrealities. When we’ve reached a conclusion we haven’t necessarily found the truth, we’ve just stopped exploring. - David Cain We can’t stop exploring our r...
Feb 04, 2024•2 min
"The professional prepares mentally to absorb blows and to deliver them. They aim to take what the day gives them. They are prepared to be prudent and prepared to be reckless, to take a beating when they have to, and to go for the throat when they can. They understand that the field alters every day. Their goal is not victory (success will come by itself when it wants to) but to handle themself, their insides, as sturdily and steadily as they can." (Steven Pressfield, The War of Art) I have a fu...
Jan 28, 2024•6 min
The idea that there are “well-rounded” people is a prescription for mediocrity, if not for incompetence. Strong people always have strong weaknesses, too. Where there are peaks, there are valleys. - Peter Drucker Someone asked me about my "leadership focus" in '24, and here is where I've landed: * Respond , Don't React : This has been at the top of my list for the past three years. A smart friend just last week described it like this: Our reaction is usually instinctual. Then we move to intuitio...
Jan 21, 2024•5 min
(The audio and video are the same, but with a bit more color than what is below. I enjoyed putting this together and hope you enjoy it, too.) “Why is everyone walking around underperforming relatively to their ability? Largely, it’s because people live their lives trying to avoid embarrassment." - Dr. Gio Valiante I’ve been lucky to study under masters. One day, a master of his craft sat me down and told me he would fire me unless I changed my communication style. It was that simple. I wasn’t ol...
Jan 14, 2024•9 min
(The audio and video are the same, but with a bit more color than what is below. I enjoyed putting this together and hope you enjoy it too.) Jeff Bezos, talking about hiring: "Will you admire this person? If you think about the people you’ve admired in your life, they are probably people you’ve been able to learn from or take an example from. For myself, I’ve always tried hard to work only with people I admire, and I encourage folks here to be just as demanding. Life is definitely too short to d...
Jan 07, 2024•11 min
Here are a few of the most important lessons I learned this year. But first, something from someone we lost this year: I think it’s a huge mistake not to absorb elementary, worldly wisdom if you’re capable of doing it because it makes you better able to serve others, it makes you better able to serve yourself, and it makes life more fun… —Charlie Munger My 10 Lessons Learned From 2023 * Be Unproductive Focus on what 80-year-old you will care about.Don’t worry about doing it all, you can’t. Do mo...
Dec 31, 2023•8 min
I am sure that neither numbers nor strength brings victory in war, but whichever army goes into battle stronger in soul, their enemies generally cannot withstand them. —Xenophon Wilma Rudolph was born in Saint Bethlehem, Tennessee, on June 23, 1940. At the age of four, she contracted polio, a debilitating disease that left her with a paralyzed left leg. Doctors initially believed she might never walk again. Despite this prognosis, Rudolph's mother, Blanche Rudolph, refused to quit and played a s...
Dec 24, 2023•2 min
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from their point of view...until you climb into their skin and walk around in it.” - Atticus Finch Hi friend, Most people don’t spend as much time thinking about you as you think. They’re too busy worrying about themselves. Sometimes it’s selfish, usually it’s just survival. You and I are no exception, and it often holds us back. We can differentiate ourselves by focusing out instead of in - while others are busy protecting themselv...
Dec 17, 2023•1 min
"Even bad fortune is fickle. Perhaps it will come, perhaps not; in the meantime, it is not. So, look forward to better things." (Seneca) Hi friend, Here are a couple of thoughts from me: * Good or bad, most things are not permanent. Enjoy the good. Don’t overreact to the bad. * We can spend our energy complaining or changing. Only one can make things better tomorrow. * Lead with trust. You have to give it to get it. Most people won’t let you down. I’ll leave you with this from Marcus Aurelius, "...
Dec 10, 2023•1 min
"Dying is easy. Living is the trick." (Red Smith) Hi friend, Have you ever wondered who drinks the most coffee? This coffee party started in Ethiopia, and now you can find it growing in 70 countries and drank almost everywhere. Brazil produces the most coffee, and Finland drinks the most coffee at four cups daily. Our Scandinavian friends consume about 25 pounds of coffee per capita compared to the US at about 9 pounds. There are many species of coffee, Arabica and Robusta being the two most pro...
Dec 03, 2023•6 min
"To me, the real winners are the ones who step out of the game entirely, who don’t even play the game, who rise above it. Those are the people who have such internal mental and self-control and self-awareness, they need nothing from anybody else." (Naval Ravikant) Rare for apple trees, it stands by itself. With two branches jutting at a 45-degree angle, it’s not pretty. I often wonder if the more handsome trees down the hill made it leave one day. However it got here, it’s my marker. It’s exactl...
Nov 26, 2023•4 min
“Because here's another sneaky little truth about life. You can't be an important and life-changing presence for some people without also being a joke and an embarrassment to others. You just can’t.” -Mark Manson Watch, Listen, or Read :) Hey friends, My time in the army taught me a lot. How to carry a rucksack is at the top of that list. Big bag, pack it full of bullets, beans, bandaids and walk. We cross-loaded our kit to have what we needed if someone went down, got lost, or got blown up. Lot...
Nov 19, 2023•4 min
"The deliberate envisioning of loss supplies the perspective necessary to appreciate the gifts in your life because you can only truly understand how something is serving you once you know both its presence and its absence." -David Cain Do you get sick often? Once a year? Four times a year? Every couple of years? I don’t know about you, but I hate being sick. Sore throat, headache, whatever. The demands of my life, most of them at my own doing, don’t leave much room for me to curl up and wait it...
Nov 12, 2023•4 min
“Like everyone, you think you are rational, but you are not. Rationality is not a power you are born with but one you acquire through training and practice. Generally, what causes us to go astray in the first place, what leads to bad decisions and miscalculations, is our deep-rooted irrationality, the extent to which our minds are governed by emotion.” -Robert Greene Emotion is good. It is the fuel that has helped create this wonderful world we live in. Despite all that is wrong, it is the best ...
Nov 05, 2023•13 min
“In the course of a week, he became to me a brother, a father, a friend, and the most worthy of confidence. His uniform good temper, coolness in danger, and resources in difficulties, his prudence, fortitude, and perseverance, under the most trying circumstances, render him a most valuable character." -William Clark talking about his friend Meriwether Lewis. In 1804, two remarkable explorers and leaders embarked on an incredible journey from the bustling frontier town of St. Louis. Their mission...
Oct 29, 2023•5 min
“Our stupidity may be clearly proved by the fact that we hold that “buying” refers only to the objects for which we pay cash, and we regard as free gifts the things for which we spend our very selves. We are eager to attain them at the cost of anxiety, danger, lost honor, personal freedom, and time; so true it is that each man regards nothing as cheaper than himself.” -Seneca Alonzo Fields was President Harry Truman’s butler, and he said, speaking of the President, “he never seemed to have a pro...
Oct 22, 2023•6 min
"We forge our truest identity by putting our heads into the mouths of the scariest demons, the realities of our lives. Only by facing our fears, our prejudices, our passions, can we transform the energy that is the source of our aggression, the source of our confusion, the source of our struggle." (Jerry Colonna, Reboot) I’ve always wondered why I tend to see the 1% wrong when 99% is right, whether it’s about me, my relationships, or the sunrise. What’s unique about us is our highly-tuned threat...
Oct 08, 2023•4 min
"Listening is suspending disbelief." (Rick Rubin, The Creative Act) Though I didn’t know it then, the back door was like most. The cement was smooth and discolored by the thousands of bags of trash dragged, pushed, and willed outside—a dumpster to the right and a pile of cigarette butts to the left. After swinging and slamming for over a decade, the metal door sounded like most metal doors. It was brown and heavy, at least for this prepubescent fellow. It creaked as I struggled to pull it open. ...
Oct 01, 2023•4 min
Humans think in stories, and we try to make sense of the world by telling stories . The truly unique trait of 'Sapiens' is our ability to create and believe fiction. All other animals use their communication system to describe reality. We use our communication system to create new realities. - Yuval Noah Harari Hi friends, What does success mean? That’s been on my mind lately. Well, that’s not true. It’s always been on my mind. Princess Buttercup reminded me this weekend that I’ve been working c...
Sep 17, 2023•4 min
"I was too tense to appreciate the beauty around me, too preoccupied to listen inwardly or enjoy the people I love." -Tara Brach Hi friends, Last weekend, three teenagers stood on a small lake beach. They watched me while I willed my muscles to remember how to rig up a little sailboat—a sunfish. I’d done it 1,000 times before, but that was thirty years ago. I was sure going into this that we would spend part of the morning with my companions using YouTube to tell me what I was doing wrong. Thank...
Sep 10, 2023•5 min
"Having eyes, but not seeing beauty; having ears, but not hearing music; having minds, but not perceiving truth; having hearts that are never moved and therefore never set on fire. These are the things to fear, said the headmaster." (Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-Chan) The table was glass with dimples and a metal frame. The ones from my childhood —a cheap table on a patio, and we were almost in the parking lot. We were in a small village with surprisingly good food, but the company was better. Just ...
Aug 27, 2023•4 min
" No matter what anyone says or does, my task is to be good." - Marcus Aurelius Here are a few words I’m considering this week. I was reflecting on where I need to lean in or make a change. These are important words but not exhaustive. Some I get right, others I get wrong. I’m just a work in progress and thought I’d share in case you find them helpful too. I’m including my thoughts about the word with some wisdom from Emperor Marcus Aurelius from his journal that he kept more than 2,000 years ag...
Aug 20, 2023•5 min
“Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.“ -General Colin Powell Teams exist to do what individuals cannot. Leaders exist to maximize team performance. Here is an acronym I use daily to remind myself what my job is as a leader - C.A.R.E. Clarity Central to the execution of anything is clarity. Why are we here? (Mission) What are we going to do? (Strategy) How are we going to behave? (Culture) ...
Aug 13, 2023•5 min
