In 2013, I interviewed my great-grandmother about her childhood, living through World War II, what she learned from 53 years of marriage, and more.
There are some life (and love) lessons in here that have withstood the test of time.
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1) When choosing a partner, look at their upbringing.
Her husband (my great-grandfather) had 5 younger sisters.
"He was always protective. And that would sometimes turn into jealousy — he thought because I was so young when I married him that I'd be curious about other people"
2) Don't be curious.
"When you commit, you can’t be curious. [People] think if they quit & find someone else, the problems will go away. They won’t — there will be other, new problems.
"No 2 people are perfect, but they can help each other learn to break their bad habits."
3) Fall in love with someone's soul.
"When you’re young and beautiful like we were, falling in love is easy. But you have to fall in love with someone’s soul — because you will get old, but the soul will never change."
❤️ Read my full conversation with her here (and a reminder to call your grandparents!):
She has became one of the most powerful philanthropists in the world by using her money intentionally and with purpose.
Here's how she did it.
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As valedictorian of her high school, Melinda delivered a speech that helped guide how she thought about "success" for the rest of her life.
She quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson: "To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."
She says:
“That’s been my definition of success since high school. So if I have an extra dollar, or a thousand dollars, or a million dollars, or in my case, which is absurd, a billion dollars to plow back into making the world better for people, that’s what I’m going to do.”
After the events in D.C. this week (and the events throughout 2020), I've taken the time to think about what the hell is happening.
After all the finger-pointing, we need to finally look in the mirror and do some self-reflection.
What I've been reading 👇
In this Op-Ed, @BenSasse put it best: "It’s time for civic self-reflection ... There are no easy answers, but one thing is certain: We have to become better consumers of information. Our media habits are driving this country to the edge of suicide."
I wrote about this for @ProfileRead last week: While most of us are willing to invest in our health, we often neglect our "content diet," which refers to the type of information we choose to feed our brains on a daily basis.
Here are 10 thought-provoking questions guaranteed to spark an interesting dinner conversation.
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1) In something he calls the “theory of maximum taste,” columnist David Brooks says that each person’s mind is defined by its upper limit — the best content that it habitually consumes and is capable of consuming.
How did you improve your "content diet" this year?
2) Malcolm Gladwell says there are 3 three things we need for work to be satisfying: 1) autonomy, 2) complexity, and 3) a connection between effort & reward.
He adds, “Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have meaning.”