This Curious Adventure

Life in a Nutshell: Health, Wealth, Purpose, and Fun

November 21, 2020November 21, 2020by Drew

“There’s too much going on” is something I’ve heard often from family, friends, and clients, and something I’ve struggled with as well. As we approach the holiday season, I thought I’d share one approach that’s worked for me. When it…

A Simple Personal Planning System: 3 Lists and 3 Categories

October 4, 2020October 4, 2020by Drew

In this day and age, keeping track of all of the activities going on in our lives is more than our brains were designed to handle. This has led to the rise of a myriad of different planning systems, with…

Occasionally (Eu)stress Yourself

September 19, 2020September 19, 2020by Drew

Stress is anything that causes a disruption to our current state of being. We often think of stress as a bad thing. That is because, over time, the word stress has become synonymous with distress, which is a negative form…

5 Overlooked Skills

September 6, 2020September 6, 2020by Drew

Everyone likes shiny objects. That’s human nature. We pay attention to the most obvious things we see, and often assume they are the primary reason for what happens. In the corporate world, this manifests as the standard advice. What do…

Mental Model Toolkit: Finite and Infinite Games

August 23, 2020August 23, 2020by Drew

My previous post introduced the concepts of mental models. These are frameworks that help us better understand how the world works, and can be eye opening if used in the right context. One of my favorites mental models is the…

Mental Models: A Primer

August 7, 2020August 7, 2020by Drew

Life is a prediction game. We take actions that we think will bring us what we want now or in the future. Does it work? Sometimes – but that’s the nature of prediction games. You don’t know if it works…

Strategy Toolkit: Think one level deeper

July 25, 2020July 25, 2020by Drew

Recently, I was helping my daughters plan out some activities, and I found myself wanting them to “think more strategically”. As other phrases popped into my head (“think big picture” and “think outside the box”), I realized that the phrase…

The Stock Market Simplified

July 11, 2020July 11, 2020by Drew

I’ve been thinking a bit about the stock market lately as my daughters are taking a summer course on the financial markets. For the general public, the explanation is pretty standard: The stock market reflects the growth of the economy.…

A few suggestions for learning at home

June 21, 2020July 24, 2020by Drew

“I would appreciate some advice on homeschooling. Giving my 10 year old extra work doesn’t seem to be working.” I’ve gotten this type of request a lot recently as the coronavirus has required parents to take a more active role…

A few thoughts on resumes

May 16, 2020May 16, 2020by Drew

If you are looking for a job, everyone knows you need a resume, commonly defined as follows: résumé (noun): A brief account of a person’s education, qualifications, and previous experience, typically sent in with a job application. While that is…

Long vs Short-term Success: Same questions, different order

May 9, 2020by Drew

When coaching someone about a long-term strategy for success I often use the following order of 4 questions: What do you love to do? While you can’t always match it to an immediate opportunity, the closer you get, the happier you’ll…

Your personal toolkit: The importance of mindset

April 26, 2020April 26, 2020by Drew

My last post presented a simple model for getting what you want by using the combination of mindsets, skills, approaches and actions to get results. As we build on this framework, I want to introduce a new concept: your personal…

3 keys to solving the puzzle of life (or anything else): Mindset, Skills & Approach

April 11, 2020April 11, 2020by Drew

Let’s assume for a minute that when people say life is a puzzle, they mean it literally. Take every facet of your life, from family to health to career to your to-do list and consider them the pieces of the puzzle…

Start Simple: Do One Thing Differently

March 22, 2020March 27, 2020by Drew

If you want to make a change to your life, but don’t know where to start, start as simple as you can. Do just one thing differently. That’s it. One thing. If you are successful in making that change, great.…

A few suggested maxims

March 8, 2020by Drew

“To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day” – Lao Tzu I’m a firm believer in the concept that, when in doubt, simplify. So whenever life gets a bit overwhelming, I find it helpful…

Relaxation and Peak Performance

February 3, 2020February 3, 2020by Drew

“If there is one tool you must possess in the midst of tough conditions or threatening competition, it is the ability to relax and focus on what matters most.” – David Shaner When I first read the above quote in David Shaner’s…

Memory or Habit: What are you trying to create?

January 19, 2020January 19, 2020by Drew

Zoom out far enough on your life and you will see that everything you currently do ends up as either a memory or a lifetime habit. This simple zoom lens can help you choose the strategy to use. Why? Because…

Learn to Zoom – Career Advancement Edition

January 5, 2020January 5, 2020by Drew

My previous post covered how learning to regularly zoom in and out on your life is a valuable skill. This post covers how to apply this zoom technique to advance your career. Before we get into the details, I need…

Learn to zoom

December 22, 2019December 22, 2019by Drew

I’ve written before about how to apply different lenses to your life. You can build on that concept by adding the ability to zoom. To understand the concept of “zooming in” or “zooming out” on your life, it’s helpful to…

Fishing for Moments that Matter

December 8, 2019December 8, 2019by Drew

As I’ve written before, lenses let you see life from a different perspective. Here’s another lens you should try. Accept for a moment the following idea: Most of life is noise and doesn’t matter. Assume that the day-to-day choices you make…

Where to spend your time: An effort vs value perspective

October 27, 2019by Drew

If you are lucky enough to have some control over how you spend your time, my advice is to think carefully about how you do so. The simplest answer, which is common for some employees, is “I’ll just do what…

How to choose what to do: My take on career advice

October 13, 2019by Drew

Whenever people ask me for career advice, I always suggest the same exercise. It starts with 3 circles. The first circle is what you’re good at and lists all of your key strengths, particularly those that differentiate you. Some people are…

“Life Lenses”: A perspective on how to view the world

September 29, 2019by Drew

My goals with This Curious Adventure are two-fold: 1) uncover life’s hidden rulebook to help me craft my life in the way I want and 2) share what I’ve learned so others can do the same. After being recently asked,…

“Should I do this?”: a simple life decision tree

September 15, 2019September 15, 2019by Drew

The idea behind This Curious Adventure is to 1) understand life’s hidden rulebook and 2) figure out how to use those rules to live a successful life (acknowledging that “success” is a self-defined term that is potentially different for everyone…

Welcome to This Curious Adventure

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