By: Christy Liner on April 18, 2024
This has been an intense week. After a long week at work and the end-of-semester writing assignments, I was grateful to have a light, enjoyable, and practical reading. The general idea behind Clear Thinking is that our subconscious responses are often counter to our better judgment.[1] Parrish uses the first half of his book to…
By: Julie O'Hara on April 18, 2024
I was not very far into Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish and it felt familiar. The premise of the book is to distill the best of research and wisdom about thinking into action steps leading to repeatable results.[1] The method is to make small decisions along the way which enable people to be in good…
By: Jenny Steinbrenner Hale on April 18, 2024
Annabel Beerel, in her book, Rethinking Leadership: A Critique of Contemporary Theories, examines popular and overlapping leadership theories and addresses the leadership gap highlighted and widened by the Covid-19 Pandemic. Writing in 2020, she said, “At this time of the global pandemic, the world is hungering for both morally good and professionally effective leadership. Alas,…
By: Chad McSwain on April 18, 2024
“Where have all the leaders gone?” This is the question that Annabel Beerel asks echoing Warren Bennie and Time magazine before her, yet it seems as appropriate as ever.[1] Beerel is writing in 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic and observing the lack of leadership being displayed during a time that needs leaders…
By: Jennifer Eckert on April 18, 2024
All the books we have been reading lately about thinking… really have me thinking! I love dogs, but how much DNA could I possibly have in common with my brute-force 117-pound Bernese Mountain pup? The answer is a surprising 84 percent.[1] In the opening pages of his book, Clear Thinking, author Shane Parrish acknowledges that…
By: Debbie Owen on April 18, 2024
It’s very hard to watch someone you love and care about struggle with being sad. I have a good friend–let’s call her Jane–who has had a lot of changes in her life over the last year. Some of those changes have happened “to” her. Some are decisions that she and her family have made… but…
By: Shela Sullivan on April 18, 2024
Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results by Shane Parrish [1] provides practical tools to recognize crossroads moments, make better decisions and apply clear thinking to what truly matters in life. Shane shares a 4-step framework to navigate those moments effectively. Creating Space for Clear Thinking [2]: Parrish emphasizes that clear thinking is not…
By: Ryan Thorson on April 18, 2024
Shane Parrish’s book, Clear Thinking, was a great book to end the semester on. This simple but helpful text has reminded me of many of the things we’ve been pondering over this term together, as well as other leadership learnings I’ve experienced along the way. Parrish mentions the importance in his introduction of being in a…
By: Kari on April 18, 2024
My phone kept ringing and ringing. Multiple calls from multiple unknown numbers kept showing up on my “missed calls” screen. I turned my phone on silent and was only answering calls from known friends. Friday night. All day Saturday. On Sunday one of the callers left a voicemail message, then another one, and still another…
By: Daren Jaime on April 18, 2024
Living in suburban areas, having a vehicle is a necessity. I will never forget how a lifelong friend of mine called me up, asking if I could assist him as his car was having mechanical difficulties. He asked me to follow him to the mechanic, drop his vehicle off, take him to work and be…
By: Chad Warren on April 17, 2024
Coaching Little League baseball in the United States is both a challenging and fascinating sociological experience. On the one hand, you have the challenge of breaking down the complexities of baseball into “bite-sized,” understandable chunks. Seeking to find a clear and compelling way to explain to a 10-year-old that they cannot just keep running around…
By: Scott Dickie on April 17, 2024
We have just started a new sermon series on modern-day idols at our church and this past week I spoke on the idol of ‘success/achievement’. Like most preachers, it took me 35 minutes to essentially say a relatively simple truth: we will always be tempted to bow down to the idol of success as a…
By: Nancy Blackman on April 17, 2024
INTRODUCTION Chris and I were at Target looking for something, I can’t remember what, and I spotted a t-shirt that had the words, “Bad Choices Make Good Stories.” Knowing that Chris would understand the double entendre, I grabbed it and held it up for him to see. He smiled. “Would you wear it?” I asked.…
By: David Beavis on April 17, 2024
It was a Wednesday night. I preached at our young adults’ service at church. I felt encouraged by the response, but I was tired and eager to get home. I was feeling under the weather. But I wanted to push through and deliver the sermon I had worked hard on. Driving home at 9:15 PM…
By: Elysse Burns on April 17, 2024
Shane Parrish begins his book Clear Thinking by revealing a common misconception we often hold. We mistakenly believe that the future will work out if we get the big decisions right. Guilty as charged! However, Parrish argues it’s the ordinary moments that determine our future. [1] In Clear Thinking, Parrish draws lessons from the wisdom…
By: Graham English on April 17, 2024
A few years ago, Wendy and I put on our backpacks and walked the Camino de Santiago. The Camino Frances is an 800-kilometre journey beginning in St. Jean Pied de Port, France and ending at the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. How do you walk 800 kilometres? One step at a time. One day…
By: Chris Blackman on April 17, 2024
The one thing I do know about myself is that I will take responsibility for my actions. The other thing that I know about myself is that I have lived in a fantasy land where everything is going to be okay, and I made decisions based on positive thinking rather than reality. So, this is…
By: Jean de Dieu Ndahiriwe on April 17, 2024
Welcome to the Wounded Healers, (Resilient) Leaders Club! In Rethinking Leadership: a Critique of Contemporary Theories, the author shares fantastic insights on Leadership: “I believe that Kurt Lewin was right, “there is nothing as practical as a good theory.”[1] For justice’s sake to this book, I will only share a few insights that I found…
By: Pam Lau on April 17, 2024
In Daring to Lead: Brave Work, Tough Conversations and Whole Hearts, researcher and storyteller, Brene Brown, inspires her audience and readers to lead bravely through her accessible insights. As I write my last post for the semester, I am reflecting on how profoundly grateful I feel for who we are as a doctoral student cohort extraordinaire. Thinking back…
By: Diane Tuttle on April 16, 2024
Shane Parrish has a lot of information packed into his book Clear Thinking. His premise is that individuals have the ability to shape their future by taking control of their actions one small step at a time.[1] As a businessperson and entrepreneur, he draws on his many and varied experiences. Throughout the book he relies…
