Category: Personal

Personal Psychology

The Mathematics of Core Values

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
Over the holiday weekend, Geraldine took me to see Lincoln. I’d watched a clip aired during the Daily Show last week that had me excited to see the film, and Fred Wilson’s post sealed the deal. That clip contained the following quote: Euclid’s first common notion is this:  ‘Things which are equal to the same thing are equal to each…
Personal Product Psychology

Where Does Creativity Come From?

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
I love discovering that long-held wisdom or cultural beliefs are mythology. Ideas are so often what hold people back from achieving greater potential – and freedom from the prison of those ideas can create revolutions that make us all better, stronger, and wiser. This weekend I watched some videos on the site Everything Is A Remix that changed my preconceptions…
Personal Psychology

There is No Work/Life Balance

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
I recently started getting some CEO coaching help from Jerry Colonna, at Brad & Amy‘s recommendation. The first session was introductory. The second one was revelatory. We talked about the Ireland trip (which Geraldine wrote about here). It was a really tough one, and it shook our marital relationship more than I thought was possible. When Jerry and I talked…
Personal Psychology

Just Because I’m Terrible at It Doesn’t Mean I’m Going to Stop

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
I think I might have some masochistic tendencies. Usually, when people are terrible at something, they find alternatives, or they stop entirely. I do that sometimes, but I’m also weirdly persistent when faced with an obvious lack of acumen for a skill or pursuit. In college, I was captain of the only flag football team not associated with a fraternity.…
Personal

Taking a week off of blogging

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
I’m heading to Ireland – Belfast & Dublin – for the next 9 days, so I’m going to take some time off blogging. It’s been a huge challenge writing every night again (haven’t done it in a few years), but it definitely takes a toll. Hopefully the week off will help.…
Personal

I Love You Geraldine. Happy Birthday.

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
Dear Geraldine, For the last 10 years and 9 months, you’ve been the best thing in my life. We’ve been through a bunch of tough times together and some amazingly good ones, too. And for the past 3 and a half years, you’ve been writing a love letter to me (that’s turned into much more than that). Today, I wanted…
Personal

I Hated My Blog Post From Last Night

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
This morning I woke up with a lot of regret. I really don’t like my blog post from last night. To use a common SEOmoz saying, it was “TA” but not “GFEE.” I shared my thoughts transparently and I authentically don’t like the “growth hacker” terminology, but why am I writing about that? It doesn’t help anyone and it tears…
Personal

Cynical Optimism

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
Geraldine sometimes tries to describe my outlook on life as cynical optimism. I think that’s a fair assessment. I generally believe that humans will do a lot of stupid, selfish, hurtful, tragic things to each other and themselves. I see this as exacerbated by behavioral and evolutionary psychology, which is poorly understood and even more poorly compensated for on an…

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