Preachers and Surgeons Need Specific Definitions

If you’re on the operating table, you don’t want your surgeon to say to a nurse, “Hand me one of them sharp thingamajigs.” You ...

Make the World A Better Place

A bus driver became greatly irritated whenever he parked his bus at the parking spot at the midpoint of his route. The reason for this was the open field ...

One of the Worst Hitters in Baseball is a Hot Commodity

In February 2019, The Wall Street Journal called Major League Baseball player Jeff Mathis one of the most hotly anticipated free agents in baseball. But ...

Jerry Seinfeld's Intense Dedication to His Craft

Some people make their craft look easy, but there are often years of discipline and practice behind their craft. Consider the comedian Jerry Seinfeld. ...

Blacksmith's Ancient Swords Illustrate Excellence

In his book Deep Work, author Cal Newport provides an example of excellence—a blacksmith from Wisconsin named Ric Furrer. Furrer specializes in ...

What Actors Have Done to Prepare for a Role

For her role in Black Swan, Natalie Portman trained with New York City Ballet dancer Mary Helen Bowers for eight hours a day, six days a week for the ...

Patagonia's Commitment to Customer Service

The clothing manufacturer Patagonia employs forty-five full-time technicians who complete about 30,000 repairs per year. In the spring of 2015, the company ...

Mozart Worked Hard to Be Creative

In 1815, Germany's General Music Journal published a letter in which allegedly Mozart described his creative process:

When I am, as it were, completely ...

John Stott's Last Words of Advice

Dr. John Stott's last bit of advice to his assistant before he died in 2011 was simply this: "Do the hard thing." Stott believed that choosing ...

Workers Fake Happiness Around the Boss

An article in The Wall Street Journal points to research that proves what many workers already know: employees fake a positive outlook when the boss is ...