Samuel Engelen's Blog

Daniel Miller — sometimes called Dan by friends, but not more often than Daniel, so it never made sense to him to tell people to call him Dan — had never expected his last words to be “Well how about this?” He had specifically not expected to speak his last words into a hands-free Bluetooth […]

The post Dilemma appeared first on contradictorian.

In the quest for success, we often lose sight of our true values and focus too much on the accumulation of money. This is a common notion, and perhaps even a bit of a cliché. But in talking to a few of my entrepreneur friends, I’ve come to realize that it is based in reality. […]

The post Time VS Money appeared first on contradictorian:.

Whether you like or not, you’re playing a role right now. I used to think that was bullshit, that I always had complete control and made all my choices independent of outside influence or circumstances. I imagined I operated on completely autonomous basis. Turns out I was fooling myself. I just spent three days traveling, […]

The post The Roles We Play appeared first on contradictorian:.

It’s a Friday morning. You got up early, feeling refreshed and awake. You had your little morning ritual (shower, shave, coffee, whatever it is you do to get started). Now you’re sitting at your desk, ready to get to work. You’re excited, because last night some great ideas came to you and they’re still fresh […]

The post The Good Days and the Bad Days appeared first on contradictorian:.

“Money only exists if two or more people believe it exists.” – Daniel Suelo Money has no intrinsic value. It’s a representation of a certain amount of perceived value in a certain currency. The value, despite what the stock market graphs tell you, is totally dependent on your beliefs. For example, to a lot of […]

The post Freedom and the Value of Money appeared first on contradictorian:.

Throughout my life, I’ve picked up and subsequently given up a lot of things. Writing might have been one of the first. I took cello classes for a long time. I was getting pretty damn good, if I say so myself, but I suddenly lost interest and just quit. I’ve been trying to learn to […]

The post On Quitting appeared first on contradictorian:.

In our quest for personal improvement, there are lots of obstacles to be overcome, and many fears holding us back. Every time we overcome an obstacle and every time we conquer one of our fears, we come out stronger and with more momentum to keep on growing. But there is one thing I’ve noticed that […]

The post The “Fuck It” Factor appeared first on contradictorian:.

What I’ve learned in my first year of being a father Tomorrow we’re having our son’s first birthday party. It’s amazing how much and how fast he’s grown (even though he’s relatively small, but then, so are his parents). Some fathers don’t see their children until after the hospital nurses have bathed and swaddled them […]

The post One Year of Fatherhood appeared first on contradictorian:.

Every once in a while, you stumble upon a book whose meaning changes completely when you learn who wrote it. A recent example of this is The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P., which is a very detailed look into the mind of a 30-something male, written by a woman named Adelle Waldman. It’s a well-written […]

The post Review: The Farm of Wisdom by Warren Cassell Jr. appeared first on contradictorian:.

Recently, while reading some of Chase Night’s stuff, I came across a word I had been looking for. The term ‘essentialism’ rather than ‘minimalism’ had occurred to me before, and I found it quite fitting for my own philosophy. Then I read that Chase uses the term ‘personal essentialism’ to describe his brand of minimalism. […]

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