TruthOrator's Blog

In a recent Atlantic article, Emily Esfahani Smith argues for the merit of a meaningful life as opposed to a happy life. She cites psychological researchers whose study showed that happiness is about feeling good and that people become happy when they get what they want. According to one of the study’s authors, “‘Happy people get a lot of joy from receiving benefits from others, while people leading meaningful lives get a lot of joy from giving to others.’” Meaning comes from giving part of oneself away to others, from making a sacrifice on behalf of the overall group, from investing oneself in something bigger than oneself. Here’s her main point: Meaning is not only about transcending the self, but also about transcending the present moment—which is perhaps the most important finding of the study, according to the researchers. While happiness is an emotion felt in the here and now, it ultimately fades away, just as all emotions do; positive affect and feelings of pleasure are

Since ancient times, philosophers have been preoccupied with the big questions: What does it mean to live a good life? What is happiness? Does human life have a purpose or end goal? And each great thinker, from Cicero to Heidegger to Emerson, have tried to bring us closer to the answers. Jean-Paul Sartre once said, “Everything has been figured out, except how to live.” These great historical thinkers may not have come to a consensus on the nature of happiness or the human experience, but their wisdom can help all of us come to our own definition of success and happiness. Below, 11 timeless pieces of wisdom on what it means to live well. Aristotle “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence,” Aristotle wrote. The ancient Greek philosopher came up with one of the most famous definitions of happiness, eudaimonia, or human flourishing. By this theory of self-actualization, personal well-being and happiness are the highest goals

Mr. Prolific. Some call him the Reverend. F. Olu Michaels is at it again. Check out his newest blockbuster. Remember Me. I will never go for something worth nothing! I go for this.....!!! Check this out, you will understand me better. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-TejZN5bK_0

Is it getting harder for your company to deliver profitable growth? Have you succeeded in improving operational delivery yet are unable to turn this into better financial performance? Have you struggled to identify new, breakthrough profit growth solutions? And where new initiatives are launched, are you disappointed and frustrated by their results? If so, you are not alone. What was once a strategy for superior performance can be quickly eroded by today’s competitive environment. In this article, using M&S, the leading British retailer as an example, I will share with you six steps to developing and delivering a winning business strategy. The fall and rise at M&S presents a good example of how to create a winning strategy. In the summer of 2004, facing a hostile bid from Philip Green of £4 per share, the M&S Board replaced CEO Roger Holmes with Stuart Rose. The share price had fallen from £x to £x in little over x years despite Holmes’ attempt to modernise the famous

, “Success in marriage does not come merely through finding the right mate, but through being the right mate.” – Barnett R. Brickner Two years ago, my family and I embraced a minimalist lifestyle. We decided that too much clutter had collected in our home and that it was demanding too much of our money, energy, and precious time. And thus, we embarked upon on a journey to sell, donate, recycle, or remove as many of the nonessentials possessions from our home as possible. It was one of the best decisions we ever made. When we began removing the “stuff” from our life, we found a whole new world open up. We found that we had more time for the things that we valued most. Now, as a result, we spend more time at the dinner table, we take longer walks as a family, and we have been able to save money for some worthwhile experiences… like a weekend at the beach, for example. Removing the nonessentials has allowed us to focus more on the essentials. And we have discovered that true life

Well, the day is finally here—our first anniversary! Year one is officially in the books! I’ve thought about this day many times thanks to the classic “We Had the Best Year Ever” anniversary Facebook posts—an expected post of course if you follow the unspoken Facebook protocol. But I can’t help but think that many of the reflections I have about this first year are a lot different than what I thought they would be. Here are 7 things about the first year of marriage that I didn’t expect: 1. To have a child. Brandon and I swore we wouldn’t even think about children in the first year of our marriage. Three months in and our baby came home to us (that would be our dog, Izzy). 2. Some things were way easier than I predicted. Budgeting, cooking, living with a messy man—all things I thought were going to cause a ton of stress actually didn’t cause too much. Don’t get me wrong; there were moments when I burned the chicken or he left his shavings on the bathroom sink that

Today I shift my thoughts to you, to me. I do not know about you but I want to maximize my potential. I want to live to my fullest. I want to be a champion – a champion father; a champion husband; in my personal, professional and public roles I want to be my best. (I agree this is rather long but stay with me.) As I have come to learn, champions are not made in the ring (that is, the arena of battle) they are only recognized there. If I keep preparing, one day my superior performance will show. It’s like what Abraham Lincoln said years ago, “I’ll prepare and someday my chance will come.” So true! You don’t really decide to be a champion. You choose your habits and those habits decide your destiny – championship. Think about that! I think it was Aristotle, the Greek philosopher that made the remarkable observation: “We are what we repeatedly do. Success therefore is not an act but a habit.” Personal growth precedes professional advancement. When we improve, the things arou

The history of men and women is simple:  Women waited to be rescued while men killed  dragons for us. Today, there are still women  who want the dragons in their lives to be  beheaded for them.  Regardless of how supported, loved and even  worshipped we are in our own lives, being the  champion of our own life is the most  gratifying feeling there is.  Here is a guide to developing your inner  champion:  1. If you want something go after it with a  fearless courage. Everything you want is  yours. It's all a choice, what choice will you  make today to become closer to your authentic  self?  2. Empower yourself by being true to  yourself. If something or someone does not  feel right, be strong enough to walk away, and  know that there is another open door across  the way.  3. Feed your soul with people who are like-  minded and are on the same delicious path  you're on. People who s

You can become a champion in whatever you like whether it be washing the dishes or mastering a new skill. One of the hardest things to win over is your mind, at the end of the day achieving anything usually comes from a strong mental outlook and enthusiasm for what your doing…… 1- Stay Present In What Your Doing I am putting this at number one as to me its the most important and the hardest to master. When you are present and fully engaged in what you are doing nothing can get in your way, there is no room forfear, anxiety, or other negative emotions to stop you doing what your doing to your full potential. You can stay present whatever your doing in life, you just need to realize and acknowledge when your thinking goes out of hand and drags you into the past or future. It can seem very hard at first but eventually it becomes easier and even second nature. The Power of Now is a great book on achieving presence or it may even take a moment of Satori for you to come to the rea

Entrepreneurs are all different. They all have a different entrepreneur mindset that contributes to their success. Their entrepreneur mindset might have to do with their personality or even the field in which they havechosen to work. When figuring out your own approach to the challenges of entrepreneurship, it can help to learn from the experiences of others. We’ve selected the experiences and entrepreneur mindset of 10 well-known entrepreneurs from a variety of different fields. It is our hope that you will find something in each of their stories that will help you in your own entrepreneurial adventures. The Entrepreneur Mindset of 10 Successful Entrepreneurs 1. Reach Out to Customers First Though it may seem to many like product development should come first, master bootstrapper Greg Gianforte insists that’s the wrong approach. After moving to Montana with his wife and children after selling a previous company, Gianforte grew restless and decided to start again. He focused

You’ve probably asked yourself these questions countless times, “Why am I here?”, “What’s the point of it all?” and “what am I meant to do with my life?” At the end of the day, what you’re really looking for is to live a meaningful and purposeful life…a life that matters. Am I right? You’re worried that you’re going about your life the wrong way and that by the time you’re 50 or 60, you’ll have nothing but a deep sense of regret and unfulfilment. It makes sense though. Because the truth is, we only get to live once. So what makes a meaningful life and a life that matters? The secret to a meaningful life The truth is, there is no secret! What is meaningful depends on each person. There is no one formula for living a meaningful and rich life. Finding meaning is your own personal journey to discovering what really matters in life and then pursuing those things. But wait…the good news is that you can do it. You can find meaning in your life. Meaning is out there and it

When you are faced with a problem, how do you go about solving it? Do you let it overwhelm you or do you flex your problem-solving muscles and figure out the best solution? People who throw themselves at their problems often become frantic and confused. They take a haphazard approach to thinking, and then they are amazed when they find themselves floundering and making no progress. The 10-Step Creative Problem Solving Process Here is a 10-step method you can use to think systematically. With this method, you develop your critical thinking and problem solving techniques to genius levels. 1) Change Your Language About The Problem From Negative To Positive Instead of using the word problem, use the word situation or call it a challenge or an opportunity. The more positive your language is, the more confident and optimistic you will be when approaching any difficulty. The more creative and insightful you will be in identifying creative solutions and breakthrough ideas. 2) Defin

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” ~Abraham Lincoln I used to think that I would motivate myself to really live up to my full potential by reminding myself how much I wasn’t. Well, that didn’t work. Not that I didn’t get any results from chanting “You are so not living up to your full potential!” while getting out of bed, driving to work, doing the dishes, and combing my hair. Any time was a great time to remind myself. So I didn’t waste a second doing just that. And I got results. Only not the ones I expected. I became an expert on mindlessly browsing the web. I became an expert on constantly comparing myself to other people. I became an expert on feeling stuck. I became an expert on driving myself crazy with my non-stop “you are so stuck” chatter in my mind. I felt drained, stuck, and low on energy; these were my daily companions. So it shouldn’t be any wonder I grew less and less fond of my so-called motivational

We all know how it goes. You make good food choices, avoid temptations, and work out every morning only to find that on Friday or Saturday night, your willpower goes out the window. Somehow you begin noshing on chicken fingers and guzzling beer then snoozing through your Spinning class the next morning. Sound familiar? The weekend sure can pose a challenge to our health and weight-loss goals. Why? Well, during the week, we tend to plan ahead and follow a schedule. We get up, eat breakfast, head to work, eat planned snacks during our breaks, enjoy lunch at the same scheduled time each day, and find ways to squeeze in a little exercise. Many of us even pack a whole day's worth of food and do pretty well at making healthy decisions day to day. During the weekend, it might seem that all bets are off. Without a set schedule (and more opportunities for temptation) one weekend can easily undo a whole week of healthy habits. But weekends don't have to be this way. In fact, weeken

“A diamond is just a piece of charcoal that handled stress exceptionally well.” ~Unknown I’m great with short-term goals. In fact, I prefer them. Work my butt off for a few months to reach a goal? I’m down with that. I’ll give up a social life, down time, spending money, eating yummy food (read: sugar), drinking alcohol—whatever it takes, for the short-term. Long-term goals—ugh, not so much. Despite this preference for pretty immediate gratification, I have followed through with many long-term goals in my life (school and various trainings, long-distance relationships, starting and re-starting businesses, to name a few). There have also been quite a few of these goals that I’ve dropped that I wished I hadn’t. I, like many of us, have noticed a pattern of finding it much more difficult to stay engaged once the initial excitement of starting something new has worn off. Through this learning process of motivating myself to follow through with longer-view goals, I’ve come up with