Shake off your redline-o-phobia and write your heart out — ’Twas brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe… Can you hear it? That is the sound of Grammarly self-combusting in a supernova of red underlines. Or at least that is what I am imagining would happen if Lewis Carroll had activated a word-checking bot like…

More creativity, productivity & focus — with less of the buzziness — Phil. Wake up. Its happened again. My stress hangover will be here soon & there is no Wolfpack to save me. There I was, working on a new draft, almost in flow, when my misguided scatterbrain seduced me with the vision of a fresh coffee and a “wafer-thin” slice of…

How to recognise it and how to “get out” — So — is boredom good or bad? On the one hand, there is the “in-the-moment” boredom described by Manoush Zomorodi in her recent book “Bored and Brilliant”, in which our mind wanders, using the down-time to process ideas subconsciously and boost our creativity. But what German consultants Rothlin & Werder…

And a perfect springboard for second life adventures — Three more days until my birthday — the big Five-O. The past few weeks have been strange, with people cautiously raising the topic — pussyfooting around it, trying to be delicate, as if they were asking me about a terminal illness. The fact is, I am looking forward to it…

How much do I have to pay you to stop telling me about your bonus? — Look what you’ve done now. You made me write a poem — I never do that! Dear writers on this medium I must confess my tedium, With articles flash flooding me Endangering my sanity — No longer can I bear this onus Of hearing all about your bonus! This is…

And how his design philosophy can be the key to a life well-lived — In September 2004 there was a stadium-size crowd of people flowing out of our German Light Forum onto the streets of small-town Lemgo. As impressive as the architecture and exhibitions in our Light Forum were, this had never happened before and never would again. People had come from all over…

A 4-step magic-free guide — In J.K. Rowling’s 6th Harry Potter story we experience the otherwise laid-back and fairly impervious Ron in a highly troubled state. Having just scraped his way into the Gryffindor Quidditch team a year earlier he now has to try out again and prove his worth as Keeper. …

Starting to run is never easy. Back in 2019, I felt like I had given up more times than I had started. First, there are all the physical hurdles the average couch professional has to push through just to reach basic fitness. The rivers of sweat stinging your eyes. The…

How to detect and design your way to new vocations — “Do what Steve Jobs did, not what he said.” That is the subject of the opening chapter of Cal Newport’s “So Good They Can’t Ignore You”. Here Cal contrasts the “find what you love” words of the viral 2005 Stanford commencement speech with the reality of Jobs’ CV. If you…