The tyranny of metrics

Lately I was thinking a lot about a story that I read a while ago. Sir Alex Ferguson‘s biggest mistake Sir Alex Ferguson is one of the legends in international football management, especially at Manchester United, the club he managed so successfully from 1986 to 2013 (sic!). He is widely considered as one of the …

On Jazz and Classical Music

In 2003 the 16-year old me went into a music store with his father. It had taken years of continuous persuasion but finally I had been convinced by my parents to start playing an instrument: electrical guitar. For me it was the begin of a musical journey: from hard rock to blues to funk; from …

Reflections on Victor Frankl’s meaning of life

On Friday, September 25, 1942 the 37-year old psychologist Victor Frankl was brought to the Nazi Ghetto Theresienstadt (Terezin in today’s Czech republic), along his wife and his parents. At this point Frankl was already a very well regarded doctor of psychology and philosophy. In his early career he already worked alongside with Sigmund Freud and Alfred …

Strain: The art of pushing yourself.

In the beginning of this year I read an article by one of my favorite podcast hosts Patrick O’Shaughnessy about strain and one by the author Ryan Holiday about not being hard enough on ourselves. Lately I was thinking a lot about those topics so I want to share some thoughts about them. Strain O’Shaughnessy …

Fasting & Failing – lessons on decision making and self-management

Every year 40 days before easter thousand of religious people start with a ritual called fasting. Here in Austria – a catholic country – it’s quite popular. Interestingly this idea of self discipline is present in multiple religions and comes in different forms: Ramadan in Islam (30 days), Vassa in Buddhism or Fasting in the …