Masters Tennis

When I turned 80, we went to a warm place with my brother, his family, and ours. One of my then 6-year-old grandaughters crawled onto my lap and whispered in my ear “Happy Birthday, Gampy. I am going to miss you.” Every celebration is a mourning, and vice versa.

Aging has given me a more nuanced appreciation for the miracle of life. My own, of course, but that of humanity itself. I am amazed at being alive today with 8.2 billion other souls…up from 2.3 billion the year I was born.

• Ken Miller

Kafka announced to us long ago that the meaning of life is that it stops.

Forward motion is an asset, a skill and a job title.

Initiative, desire and being willing to take responsibility are powerful because most of us don’t care enough to bring them to the table.

Going forward requires skills, attitudes and belief. A rare combination.

• Seth Godin

You don’t need more ideas.

You need smarter ways to share the ones you already have.

When the committee is unanimous, it’s unlikely that the idea is a brilliant one.

Significant division and strong opinions (and widespread skepticism) don’t cause great ideas, but they’re often present when they arrive.

When there’s a complex situation that feels foreboding, you might need a manual, a coach and even a system to move forward.

Or, it’s possible you simply need someone to tell you, “you’ll figure it out.”

Frustration means you’re on the verge of a breakthrough.

It’s evidence of an internal recalibration,

a sign that your expectations have evolved,

and that the person you were yesterday is no longer good enough for the player you are trying to become.

Keep going—what feels like struggle is just the final step before an upgrade.

-Conor Casey

Kobe Bryant on having the courage to look like a fool:

“if I wanted to implement something new into my game, I’d see it and try incorporating it immediately. I wasn’t scared of missing, looking bad, or being embarrassed. That’s because I always kept the end result, the long game, in my mind.”