059: How Self-Awareness Helped Me Overcome a Negative Emotional Reaction
Some of the most meaningful and practical ways that Primility can impact each of our lives is in our individual reactions with others. Specifically: how do we respond to what other people say …...
View Article060: Do It Yourself
One of the main reasons why I am so excited to be marrying Heather is because I am constantly learning from her. Not heavy-handed You should do this lessons, but the lessons inherent in the example she...
View Article061: The Primility of Having Something (Part 2)
Back in episode 057, I discussed a quote by C.S. Lewis that I only partially agree with: Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. I disagree with...
View Article062: Saint Thomas Aquinas on Balancing Humility and Magnanimity
As I’ve said many times before: the concept of balancing pride and humility as a vehicle for self-actualization is far from new. Aristotle talked about it. Augustine talked about it. Jesus lived it....
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063: Can Intentional Gratitude Be Selfish?
It’s time for another edition of #ThankYouThursday … but I don’t have a thank you note to share today. I couldn’t narrow down who to write it to. But I’ll use today’s Primer to express my abundance of...
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064: Your Response — Is Private Gratitude Selfish? (Does it Matter?)
I wrote this in yesterday’s blog post and made a similar statement during yesterday’s episode: Gratitude is nothing but selfish expression if we don’t make the effort to communicate it to the people...
View Article065: The Starfish Story
Below is the legend of The Star Thrower, which has been adapted into many different versions over the years. It comes originally from The Star Thrower, an essay by Loren Eiseley. Once upon a time,...
View Article066: How Primility Leads to Better Presentations
There are not many, if any, regular activities in my life that produce the maelstrom of emotions that giving presentations does. It’s a maelstrom that oscillates between pride and humility. In the...
View Article067 WW: Attempting to be Independent in a Dependent World
Last week, a member of the Primility audience who is currently a college student emailed me an essay that he was inspired to write during class. That essay, by Will DeWitt (connect with him on Twitter...
View Article068 TYT: The Benefit of Appreciating the Good Things We Can’t Control
Our lives are split up into two distinct parts: the parts we can control and the parts we can’t control. We should take pride in managing the parts we can control to the best of our abilities, while...
View Article069: The Primility of Giving (and Receiving) Encouragement
Anyone who ever gave you confidence, you owe them a lot. The above is a quote from Truman Capote, which is included in this post called Giving the Gift of Encouragement by Gregory Ciotti at Sparring...
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070: Feeling Primility While Walking the Streets of Philadelphia
There is perhaps no city in America that makes one more contemplative about the founding of the United States of America than Philadelphia (sorry Boston). I am in Philly today and tomorrow for a work...
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071: Primility Leads to a Productive Personal Compromise
I started freaking out on Monday night. One of those moments where the impending weight of several different to-do items all coming due at once became more than I feared my shoulders could bear. We all...
View Article072: Accept It … or Do Something About It
When something is weighing on our minds and won’t go away, we have two options: we can accept it, or we can do something about it. This thought hit me while walking through the Philadelphia Airport...
View Article073: ‘Sports Beautiful’ and This Week’s Thank You Note to AWeber
The Cubs may have gotten swept last night by the Mets, but they exited the 2015 season with grace, class, and by showing immense gratitude. And that gratitude went to a group of people who absolutely...
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074: How Primility Can Help You Handle a Fiasco
The definition of fiasco: a thing that is a complete failure, especially in a ludicrous or humiliating way. Yesterday, I was part of a webinar that was a fiasco. And while I would give quite a bit to...
View Article075: Together Everyone Achieves More
If you’ve played team sports, you’ve certainly heard or seen the acronym T.E.A.M: Together Everyone Achieves More. It’s a cliche, yes … but only because it’s true. This weekend, I received another...
View Article076: ‘All for The Glorification of Your Massive Ego’
There is an episode of Seinfeld called “The Opposite,” in which George decides that he is going to start doing the opposite of what we thinks is right in any given situation because so many of his...
View Article077: Good Pride versus Bad Pride (And Why the Distinction Matters)
“There are two kinds of pride, both good and bad. “Good pride” represents our dignity and self-respect. “Bad pride” is the deadly sin of superiority that reeks of conceit and arrogance.” This is a...
View Article078: In Appreciation of Unexpected Leadership
Anyone, at any level of an organization, with any amount of experience, can be a leader. Because leadership isn’t always about rah-rah speeches or big decisions. Sometimes it’s just about have an...
View Article079: Seth Godin Wants You to Feel Worthy (But Not Too Worthy)
Seth Godin has chimed in with his thoughts on Primility. Okay, not really. (Wouldn’t that be awesome!) But he did write a blog post recently that should, I hope, sound familiar to anyone in the...
View Article080: Why I’m Making a Temporary Schedule Change
Taking pride in doing our best and having the humility to ensure we are doing all we can be doing (and need to be doing) for others sometimes requires tough decisions. Today I am making one of those...
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Primer 081: Talking About Practice
Welcome back to Primility Primer, your twice-weekly reminder to practice keeping your pride and humility in balance so that you can make your next decision a better one. The two-month hiatus is over....
View ArticlePrimer 082: Finding Meaningful Ways to Practice Gratitude
The daily schedule may have changed, replaced now by a less intense twice-weekly schedule, but one thing hasn’t changed: Thursday is still #ThankYouThursday. The more I explore the concept of...
View ArticlePrimer 083: How to Make Better Decisions Through Primility
Primility is a mental framework that helps you better manage your emotions so you can make your next decision a better one. That sentence is the essence of Primility. Notice a few things about it: The...
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Primer 084: What Do Gratitude and Empathy Have to Do With It?
What do gratitude and empathy have to do with Primility? In Monday’s episode, episode 083, I dove deep into how Primility can be a tool for making better decisions. I did this by breaking down the new...
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Primer 085: The Inescapable Irony of Being Human
There is an inescapable irony of being a human being. We all face it. The problem is that we don’t always recognize it. And when we do recognize it, we often are not equipped mentally or emotionally...
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Primer 086: 4 Simple Methods for Dramatically Increasing Your Self-Awareness
To begin 2016, we have been focused on how Primility can help you make better decisions. Specifically, we’ve been discussing how Primility will help you make your next decision a better one by helping...
View ArticlePrimer 087: Two Examples of Using Primility to Make a Better Next Decision
Thus far in 2016, we’ve spent a lot of time redefining the benefit of Primility and discussing some important practices that can help us achieve that benefit. The benefit, as I define at the beginning...
View ArticlePrimer 088: How to Use Simple Self-Coaching to Achieve Personal Adaptation
I want to take a big step to the side today, and put our last two Primility Primer episodes into perspective. In episode 086, we discussed a handful of methods for dramatically increasing our...
View ArticlePrimer 089: The Benefits of Fostering ‘Gateway Habits’
Welcome back to Primility Primer, your twice-weekly reminder to practice keeping your pride and humility in balance so that you can better manage your emotions and make your next decision a better...
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Primer 090: Manage Procrastination (and Precrastination) with This Simple...
Today, we’re going to talk about procrastination. Eh, or maybe we’ll wait and do it next episode. Just kidding. I have battled a proclivity to procrastinate for as long as I can remember. In fact, if...
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Primer 091: What Do You Do With an Idea?
Today, I want to talk about ideas. I was inspired last weekend by a moment of serendipity while out with Heather celebrating our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple. And this moment of...
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Are You Balancing What You Want and Who You Serve?
Trying something new: a curated newsletter. I come across so many great articles, videos, and podcast episodes each week that I want to share with you. Putting this newsletter together for Fridays...
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Primer 092: The Truth About Empathy (with Sonia Thompson)
Today, we’re going to talk about empathy. Sonia Thompson was the first guest author at Primility. Her post back in 2014, 4 Lessons Learned During My Two-Month Adventure in Breathtaking South America,...
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The Ultimate Vaccine Against the Hubris That Humiliates
Balancing Pride and Humility Caroline Paul wonders why we teach girls that it’s okay to be scared, while simultaneously imploring boys to be bold, fearless risk-takers. Caroline was one of the first...
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Primer 093: Use This 3-Page Worksheet to Make Better Decisions
We all want to make better decisions. Because better decisions will drive better actions, which lead to better and more fulfilling lives for all of us. In this episode of Primility Primer, we talk...
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Do you believe you’re too special … or not special enough?
You’re not as special as you may think you are. Guess what? Neither am I. Then again, maybe you don’t think you’re special. In that case, I should let you know that you are special — more so than you...
View ArticleThink big, but be humble
You’ve probably heard of the poem Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley. It’s among Shelley’s most famous poems. It drifts in and out of pop culture, most recently gaining acclaim in perhaps the best...
View ArticleScrew That!
Sometimes, our thoughts and our emotions just … run rampant. It happens. It doesn’t make us bad or irrational people. It makes us human. And if we don’t have a way of seizing control back when it feels...
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What is the opportunity cost of what you’re doing right now?
You’re always doing something at every moment. The question is this: is the something you’re doing right now leading you toward something you really want in the future? Because if not, you’re not...
View ArticleIt’s the thought that counts … or is it?
I bought a present for someone recently. It wasn’t some generic gift, ordered on Amazon at the last second. It was a thoughtful, personalized gift. It required some planning and a modicum of effort....
View ArticleAccept blame, take ownership
How do you approach a situation in which you haven’t achieved the results you desired? Some people’s natural gut reaction is to look outward, seeking someone or something to blame. The typical end...
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The key to self-motivation
Being motivated does not have to be something that we wait to happen to us. We can learn to motivate ourselves — if we are intentional about it, and if we practice keeping our pride and our humility in...
View ArticleAnswer these 3 questions (now) to better understand your purpose
The key to self-motivation, as we discussed yesterday, is our ability to make a choice. But not just any choice. The key to self-motivation is making a choice that leads to an action that is part of a...
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Here’s a creative way to think about changing the world
Everyone is creative. Oh sure, you may think you’re not creative, especially if you don’t classify yourself as some kind of artist … but you are, in your own way. My wife and I will argue about this...
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Would you rather someone describe you as nice or as kind?
I often hear the words “nice” and “kind” used as if they are synonyms. They’re not. At first glance, it may seem like a distinction without a difference. But upon closer inspection, you’ll find the...
View ArticlePodcast Notes: 5 Simple Things Everyone Can Do to Live Longer and Better
Show: The James Altucher Show Episode: Ep. 174 –Dr. Sanjiv Chopra: The Art of Well-Being About the guest: Dr. Sanjiv Chopra has been a physician for almost 45 years, is the brother of Deepak Chopra,...
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Can You Choose to Be Joyful?
This past weekend, I celebrated my first wedding anniversary. This past weekend was also the first time that my wife and I turned on the Christmas music, unpacked our Christmas decorations, and...
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What is Standing Between You and Your Dreams?
Question … Do you believe it is more pride or humility that compels us to follow our dreams? My first instinct would have been to say pride. That pride drives us to believe in our dreams, and pride...
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