Resilience Success is not about short bursts of hard work. Success is achieved through a willingness to grind each and every day. Greatness is not punctuated moments of brilliance; greatness is doing your best with determination and consistency. Be resilient. Success is not about the hits you take. Success is about how your respond to those hits,Continue reading “Resilience”
Monthly Archives: February 2016
“Do your best”
“Just do your best.” There should be no more terrifying mandate than this. Just do your best. Perhaps it is a misnomer, for there is no “just”. “Do your best.” Often this is used as an excuse or alternative for not obtaining an external, objective goal. However, if our best is truly the bar, thereContinue reading ““Do your best””
Beliefs and blinking
As human beings we are constantly searching for answers. This curiosity, this drive for truth, can be a double edged sword. Curiosity compels us to lifelong learning, contemplation, and experimentation. It drives us to discover new findings, invent new technology, and create beautiful art. However the drive to know can also attract us to peopleContinue reading “Beliefs and blinking”
Pursuing excellence, together
Surround yourself with people that inspire you, that drive you, that push you, that make you uncomfortable. What we want is often the enemy of what we need, of what is best for us. Only surrounding ourselves with people that make us comfortable allows us to languish where we could be living, pushes us toContinue reading “Pursuing excellence, together”
Reading Books and Living Life
In the immortal words of Jay-Z: “They read a bunch of words, I’ve lived a bunch of life” Several times in the past year I have come across scenarios, whether in writing or in conversation, where I have been asked to comment on what should be seen as a false dichotomy between book knowledge andContinue reading “Reading Books and Living Life”
Empathy Over Entertainment, Compassion Over Consumption, and Love Over Luxury
As we reflect on the rise and fall of great empires of the past, numerous markers of a declining society have been proposed. While some of these markers are almost certainly innocuous, others may be the harbinger of a failing civilization. Although we may be caught up in chronologic snobbery, the erroneous perception that we atContinue reading “Empathy Over Entertainment, Compassion Over Consumption, and Love Over Luxury”
Special (pt1: a small part of nature)
From a scientific point of view, the ’specialness’ of the human species means very little. We are one of but a vast array of species who have only arisen in the last blink of earth’s existence. As we gaze at the galaxies surrounding us and focus on the proteins and cells within us, we realizeContinue reading “Special (pt1: a small part of nature)”
Breathe. Grow.
Breathe. Grow. Enjoy the wind in your face and the sound of nature around you. Take each moment to become excellent at the task you have been given and to revel in the places and opportunities that surround you.
Real and Genuine
Over the past several days I have been going back back and forth with a researcher in a nearby lab over what is “real” or relevant in the systems that we study. In short, are the high doses of chemicals we give our cells in culture relatable to the conditions that those cells would seeContinue reading “Real and Genuine”
Meaning and making marks
Often when faced with the ephemeral nature of life, people express the desire to ‘leave a mark’. Perhaps our desire, our joy should not be in the futile quest for permanence, but in the impressions we leave on those around us. Those who are just as fleeting and ephemeral as ourselves, yet whoContinue reading “Meaning and making marks”
JR.Stanley 