Tröpfchen: a Blog

  • Declutter Your Desk Today

    A hotel stay can be a truly rejuvenating experience. Not having to worry about cleaning, washing, or tidying up after yourself is a real luxury for many of us. It’s not just the absence of chores that makes a hotel stay so special. It’s the simplicity of the environment—all those non-descript furnishings that are sterile…

  • Circles of Influence

    There are many more things in the world that we cannot control as compared to those that we have even the slightest influence over. Yet, in today’s hyper-connected world we get to feel worried, concerned and outraged over actions that are happening in countries far removed from us. In cities closer, yet still out of…

  • Turning Down The Noise of the Modern World

    We should have ample spare time and the ability to enjoy life’s moment in the absence of the noise and yet, as many have noted, we increasingly seem to fear the quiet. A pause in a conversation – in person or through digital communication – causes us anxiety. A gap in activity draws us to…

  • And Begin Again

    On the surface, the cut-throat, aggressive startup vibe you find in Silicon Valley would seem incompatible with the serene, contemplative ethos associated with meditation. Yet, it seems that more and more startup executives and workers are turning to meditation’s promise of calm that beckons like a selkie’s call. Yet while the energy may seem diametrically…

  • I’d Like an Argument, Please

    In Monty Python’s “Argument Clinic” sketch, a man is looking to enter into an argument just for the sake of argument. As the sketch progresses, it becomes clear that this is more just a back and forth series of contradictions: “Yes it is!,” “No it isn’t!” In response to which the man complains, “This isn’t…

  • Moving Past Overwhelm to Action.

    There are times when the path forward is not clear. A dark moonless night in a snowstorm. Stuck in fog on the water. No directional signs to guide you. No path to follow. This situation happens frequently and does not cause overwhelm. It can even be peaceful, if you feel safe and secure in the…

  • Why Second Place Might be Good Enough… for now.

    A Silicon Valley mantra is “Fail early, fail often.” But what if you are in it for the long run? What if you’ve sunk weeks, months or years of effort into a venture going for the proverbial gold and find yourself getting silver instead? I had the honor and pleasure of listening Kami Craig relating…

  • Is There Ever a Time for a “Plan B?”

    Plan B is really a euphemism for let’s give up and try something else. It’s either a sign of poor planning up front or a sign of surrender. Plan B is striving toward the same goal after significant expenditure of effort that has stalled and a less desirable goal is selected instead. Often it is…

  • Is Motivation Really the “Switch” you to Super Charge Your Productivity?

    A classic moment in many (American) movies is the point where the protagonist reaches a breaking point and, as though a switch was flipped, they suddenly have an abundance of motivation. Roll vignettes of the hero suffering through training, study, practice to achieve the heights that had been previously unattainable. Outcome, victory. While fiction lends…

  • The Power of a Pause

    In the hyperbolically accelerating world we live in, it feels like taking time to pause for any length of time is something we cannot afford to do. With a pause we lag behind. With a pause we are not giving it our all. It comes with a measure of guilt. We need to act, now…

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