Tips and Tactics

14 More Ways to Increase Creativity and Generate Clever Ideas

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The last post was fun to write, so without further ado about nothing, let’s continue the list. Here we go with 14 more ways to generate ideas, increase creativity, cure cancer, end all wars…you get the idea. 17. Travel Travel will give your brain a chance to go wild. New places, sights, smells, gravitational pulls, [...]

16 Ways to Increase Creativity and Generate Clever Ideas

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We’re all looking for ways to increase creativity, but sometimes it isn’t easy. No matter what kind of work you do, sometimes you run into a wall; the ideas dry up and you feel anything but creative. It happens to everyone. Don’t worry. You’re not alone. You need a break. You need a strategy. You need a [...]

How to Relearn Your Old Musical Instrument

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cello bridge

Got an old trumpet or guitar collecting dust? Do you want to learn to play the piano all over again? Maybe  you used to play way back when. What happened? Did you put it away and forget about it? Did ‘life’ get in the way? If so, why? Playing solo just for the sheer hell [...]

15 Things I Love About Not Driving

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road rage

When the wife and I moved to Korea, we left a lot behind behind: our family and friends, a big apartment, the comfort of the familiar, and the very icons of our Americanity: our cars. We both drove late model gas sippers. We didn’t have a choice. In our town, like most other cities in [...]

Better Packing Part 2 -How to Pack Light, Pack Less

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Walking in Rome

Let’s lose some weight! When you’re on the road, a lighter pack can give you more freedom to explore, reduce achy shoulders and feet, and make you an all-around cleverer and sexier traveler. Part 2 of Better Packing, Better Travel explores the benefits of a lighter pack and gives you some tips for dropping those pesky unwanted pounds.

Better Packing, Part 1 – How to Stay Dry on the Road

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Want to learn how to stay dry when you’re on the road? It’s easy, and once you know how you might just find yourself jumping in puddles for the sheer hell of it.

Master Your Mental Monkey with Daily Journaling

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Buddhists talk about the mind being a spastic, unruly monkey. When the monkey is under control, it’s a wonderful pet, but give it the chance, and it will bounce around, looking for bananas and mischief. Getting it under control requires a wide variety of tricks and tranquilizers (television, anyone?).

For creative types, we need to have zen-like control of our mind. However, if you’re not the mediating, yoga-ing zen type, journaling provides the fastest way to get the monkey under control.

Quick Motivation Trick

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In a rare moment of blinding self-awareness, I became conscious of a trick I use to motivate myself. I use this trick when I realize I’m running from the lumbering monster on my to-kill list rather than having it the other way around. This hack is actually mental macro, and the operation goes something like [...]

6 Ways to Stay Sane While Living Abroad

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Living abroad isn’t easy. Staying sane is even harder. I’ve relatively new at this expat business, but the past six months have been fun and rewarding. However, I sometimes wonder if my baseline for sanity is changing. I’ve met some crazy people and heard some sordid tales about people breaking down. For example, one guy [...]

5 Things I've Learned in Korea

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As of yesterday, I’ve been living and working in Korea for six months. The wife and I arrived on a cold January night, given the keys to our little apartment, and started teaching the next day. Since then we’ve developed a tenuous grip on life here, crazy as it is. I’ve become more adept with [...]

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