Here’s the latest edition of my weekly newsletter, Makoism, a curated collection of interesting ideas from across the Internet.

Interesting the alignment of world events and what I had planned on writing about this week. Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open this past Monday over mental health concerns, which seemed to spark all sorts of controversy from the press.

I found her decision to speak out incredibly brave and a reminder to everyone on how important it is to focus on well-being and prioritize personal health. …

Here’s the latest edition of my weekly newsletter, Makoism, a curated collection of interesting ideas from across the Internet.

I don’t know the reason; perhaps it’s from having a year+ of being penned up in a home office in front of non-stop Zoom calls sitting in the same office chair. Or maybe the terror of turning 50 last month. Or maybe it’s some form of self-therapy while coming to grips with the reality that I’ve had two scary health incidents in under 20 months.

Whatever the reason may be, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about experiences you go through…

Here’s the latest edition of my weekly newsletter, Makoism, a curated collection of interesting ideas from across the Internet.

I thought this week was going to be another commencement address to open things up, but I am honestly unable to find the source of this 2018 speech from Arnold Schwarzenegger on “Rules of Success”.

Here’s the cliff notes as well as a condensed video that digs into them:

1. Have a Vision — You’ve got to have a vision of what you, not what others, want to do. Know where you are going.
2. Ignore the Naysayers — Always listen to yourself…

Here’s the latest edition of my weekly newsletter, Makoism, a curated collection of interesting ideas from across the Internet.

I’m not sure what’s been drawing me towards these commencement speeches as of late (spoiler — there’s another one coming next week), but I am finding that there are incredibly powerful ideas interwoven in them. …

Originally published at https://www.makoism.com.

A few weeks back, I posted on LinkedIn an idea that seemed to click. The post was about the concept of creating a personal board of directors:

I find tremendous value in having a “personal board of directors”.

Cultivate a trusted circle of former or current colleagues, advisors, networkers, and even a critic or two that you can bounce ideas off of, help you with professional development or provide some clarity to major decisions.

This group needs to be able to give you honest feedback; and more importantly you need to be able to take it…

This post is a repost Makoism, my weekly newsletter. Please check it out and subscribe here to keep up to date!.

An artifact of recently turning 50 is that I’ve been spending time (yes, probably too much time :)) thinking and reflecting about the choices that I’ve made and where I am in life.

Heavy stuff. Or amusing stuff. I guess it depends how you look at it. :)

While I was doing a bunch of reading and research, I came across a compliation of speeches from Robert Downey, Jr that resonated with me. …

I took a brief hiatus last week in an attempt to get some much-needed rest and recovery while I quietly celebrated my 50th birthday (ouch). As usual, things didn’t work out exactly as planned — I didn’t get much rest, but it was a well-needed change of scenery. The San Juan Islands which arguably are one the most beautiful spots in the world, enabled me to at least spend more time hiking/walking/thinking and just being.

Right before sunset one afternoon, I jetted over to Lime Kiln Point, aka “the whale watch park”. …

An area that I spend a lot of time researching, learning, modeling is leadership, skills that the best leaders exhibit on a day to day basis, different forms of leadership and stoic philosophy. I know, it’s a weird combination, but there’s a ton in stoicism that has helped my mental models. But I really liked this talk Simon Sinek called “There’s NO Such Thing as ‘Soft Skills’”.

For him, “Human Skills” are what makes the best leaders. …