“What sucks the joy out of our everyday lives is our notion of how life is supposed to be.” So begins an insightful tome that came across my feed this week.

These days, it feels like divisions are sharper, tempers are hotter, voices are louder, the future is bleaker. It ain’t necessarily so.

The world is filled with noise and distractions. With so many voices competing for our attention, what should we care about?

How some things change. And some things remain the same.

To often, we sing someone’s praises after they are out of earshot. Why wait?

Discipline will take you where motivation won’t. It is the essential bridge between goals and achievement.

“Public acclaim,” says Nobel Prize-winning novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, “may be nice to have, but ultimately, it’s not worth very much.”

We are quick to label. Cancel culture tosses many innocents under the speeding bus of selective outrage. Few have the courage to stand with the labeled. The damage can be lifelong.

“There are few catastrophes, in our own lives or in those of nations, that do not ultimately have their origins in emotional ignorance.” So writes Alain de Botton in The School of Life.

A lifetime of experience has taught me that success is often out of our control. But excellence is always within our grasp.