“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” ~ the Dalai Lama When you think about some of the greatest philosophers who have ever lived and whose ideas are still relevant today…who comes to mind? Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius, Socrates, Plato, Epicurus, Confucius…Contrera. Contrera???? Wait a minute, hold the phone, stop the…
“I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on, I can’t believe you.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche “The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.” ~ Joe Klaas Recently, I expanded my reading to include books and articles whose premise or concepts are outside of my normal…
Emotional Intelligence: Opinions are like … There is a famous saying about opinions and what they are like… I will spare you the details and just say that sometimes as a leader you have to wade through the garbage and the noise so you can drill down to the truth of the situation. But who’s…
“So I tried pleasing Mom, I tried pleasing Dad. Tried pleasing those voices, Spinning ‘round in my head!” (Excerpt from the book, I Could Love No One Until I Loved Me) Effort is a good thing…unless you find yourself determining your sense of self-worth and value from it! I am 7 years-old, I am…
I Can’t Belief This!!!! How many times have you said to yourself: I just can’t believe this? Was it after seeing something that didn’t make any sense? Was it after seeing something that outraged you? Maybe it was seeing or experiencing something that you couldn’t explain? One of the models I use with clients is…
Will You Achieve Success This Year? As we close in on the end of the first month of the new year, it may be obvious, that if you want to achieve success this year you will need to be persistent in your actions for the remaining 11 months. Yes, we all want to achieve success…
“Money Changes Everything” – Cyndi Lauper Two Sides of a Coin Money is an extremely powerful force. There is volumes and volumes written about its impact on people and society. Most people’s beliefs about money lie somewhere on a spectrum between two end points. On one end we have the belief that money is evil…
*(An excerpt from Joe’s new coming coming out later this year) Extraordinary Wisdom – Part III “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein. A Most Extraordinary Thinker One of the people I admire most is Albert Einstein. Over the course of many years I have quoted him quite often. Partially,…
(*An excerpt from Joe’s latest book, coming out later this year) Extraordinary Wisdom – Part I Throughout history, much has been written on the topic of wisdom. It has been studied, analyzed, and dissected for thousand of years. Attempts to put it in motion have been unfolding for hundreds of years before the birth of…
Handling Uncertainty … To Rail Or Not To Rail? In times of uncertainty, you can choose to rail against everything and everyone you do not agree or align with. Your other option is that you can choose to be a rail that guides and supports others who are struggling to make sense of what is…