Brian Allain

How can I improve?

From “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol S. Dweck, PhD Mindsets frame the running account that’s taking place in people’s heads. They guide the whole interpretation process. The fixed mindset creates an internal monologue that is focused on judging: “This means I’m a loser.” “This means I’m a better person than they are.”

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Cripples All of Us

From “Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner” by Frederick Buechner Pushing down hard with his fists on the table-top, he heaved himself up to where he was standing. For the first time we saw he wanted one leg. It was gone from the knee joint down. He was hopping sideways to reach

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The heart of creation

From “The Discipline of Inspiration: The Mysterious Encounter with God at the Heart of Creativity” by Carey Wallace Even when we don’t have much talent or technique, inspiration, on its own, can provoke strange and beautiful pieces.  But inspiration doesn’t just speak in narrow categories of art. It speaks to all os us, in all

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I will trust you

From “Sacred Compass: The Way of Spiritual Discernment” by J. Brent Bill Living into an increasing understanding of God’s ever-presence is how we can pray along with Thomas Merton: My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where

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faithfulness to your gifts

From “On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Old” by Parker J. Palmer Take on big jobs worth doing, jobs like the spread of love, peace, and justice. That means refusing to be seduced by our cultural obsession with being effective as measured by short-term results. We all want our work to make

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A framework for choosing

From “Doing Good Better: How Effective Altruism Can Help You Help Others, Do Work that Matters, and Make Smarter Choices About Giving Back” by William Macaskill Over the last few years at 80,000 Hours, we’ve coached hundreds of people like Peter, as well as people later in their careers, most of whom find the following

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