Author Archives: Peter D. Marshall

I have several Junk Drawers – and I’m proud if it!

14 Saturday Jan 2023

Posted by in Personal, Uncategorized

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I bet you have a “junk drawer” somewhere in your house or office. I do! One in my apartment and the other in my office. Why do I love Junk Drawers? I’ve had to be very organized in my life and at my job. (I was a 1st Assistant Director and also a Director in the Canadian/USA film industry for over 45 years.) It always gave me peace of mind to know that there was one special place in my life (in my home or office) where I could just hide away those things I could not be bothered to find a better place for – the (in)famous junk drawer! 🙂

“Why Every Home Needs at Least 1 Junk Drawer” by Alexa Erickson

There’s always that one drawer in the house that gets stuffed with items that don’t otherwise have a permanent home. You allow it to fill up until it can’t even close and you’re forced to go through every item, reorganize, and attempt to strategically place items back in.

This is a catch-all drawer, which is an unsightly, unnecessary mess of takeout menus, broken pens, and to-do lists that have long been forgotten. A junk drawer, on the other hand, is a strategic place to put useful, individual items that are handy to have nearby when needed.

Read the rest of this article here:
https://www.bobvila.com/articles/why-every-home-needs-a-junk-drawer/

The Real Magic of Rituals

04 Sunday Dec 2022

Posted by in Dreams & Dreamers

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By Dimitris Xygalatas

Studies show that, when people experience uncertainty and lack of control, they are more likely to see patterns or regularities where there are none. These patterns can range from visual illusions (such as seeing faces in the clouds) to seeing causality in random events and forming conspiracy theories.

Under these circumstances people are also more likely to turn to ritualized behaviors. This is known as the compensatory control model: We compensate for lack of control in one domain by seeking it in another.

Whether this sense of control is illusory is of little importance. What matters is that ritual can be an efficient coping mechanism, and this is why those domains of life that involve high stakes and uncertain outcomes are rife with rituals.

The Real Magic of Rituals

What is “Active Optimism?”

16 Sunday Oct 2022

Posted by in Inspiration

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“Optimism is seeing problems as challenges that are solvable; it’s having the confidence that there are things that we can do to make a difference. (Hannah Ritchie)

Urgent optimism, pragmatic optimism, realistic optimism, impatient optimism! I’ve heard many terms for this concept.

To make my case for why optimism is so essential for progress, we need to understand the positions of optimists versus pessimists.

The definition of pessimism is “a tendency to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen.”

Optimism, on the other hand, is the “hopefulness and confidence about the future or the success of something.”

People mistakenly see optimism as an excuse for inaction. They think that it’s pessimism that drives change, and optimism that keeps us where we are. The opposite is true.”

READ MORE at: https://bigthink.com/progress/pessimism-is-a-barrier-to-progress/

A Common Misconception About Quitting

11 Tuesday Oct 2022

Posted by in Education

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This quote is from Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away by Annie Duke.

“A common misconception about quitting is that it will slow your progress or stop it altogether. But it is the reverse that is actually true.

If you stick to a path that is no longer worth pursuing, whether it’s a relationship that isn’t going well, or a stock that you’re invested in that’s losing money, or an employee that you’ve hired who isn’t performing, that is when you lose ground.

By not quitting, you are missing out on the opportunity to switch to something that will create more progress toward your goals.

Anytime you stay mired in a losing endeavor, that is when you are slowing your progress. Anytime you stick to something when there are better opportunities out there, that is when you are slowing your progress.

Contrary to popular belief, quitting will get you to where you want to go faster.”

The Two Rules For Greatness From the Greatest Football Player Eve

04 Monday Oct 2021

Posted by in Inspiration

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I don’t watch NFL games. (Okay… maybe the odd Super Bowl game!) But I do watch football – I’m Canadian and my professional football league is the CFL. (I grew up in Regina and my CFL team is Saskatchewan Roughriders!) However, even I know who TOM BRADY is!

Recently, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal Magazine, he was asked for his one rule for greatness and his answer didn’t disappoint: “I would say two things: Discipline and determination. When you have really big dreams and you have really big goals, your priorities and your actions better be reflective of those goals. There’s no shortcuts, and you better be willing to pay the price in advance because success doesn’t come before you put the work in.”

Read the rest of the article here: https://medium.com/mind-cafe/the-two-rules-for-greatness-from-the-greatest-football-player-ever-453de7aba819

The Willingness to Take Risks

27 Monday Sep 2021

Posted by in Philosophy

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“There’s a companion quality you’ll need to be the leaders you can be. That’s the willingness to take risks. Not reckless ones, but the risks that still remain after all the evidence has been considered. … Certainty is an illusion. Perfect safety is a mirage. Zero is always unattainable, except in the case of absolute zero where, as you remember, all motion and life itself stop. … the biggest risk of all is that we stop taking risks at all.“ Purdue University President Mitch Daniels – Spring Commencement May 15, 2021, West Lafayette campus.