Last week I unpacked Owen Schaffer’s research on flow—the 7 conditions cited in Ikigai. The recap: every condition assumes the path is already known. Know the task. Know the method. Know the metrics. Match skill to challenge. Execute. That’s flow for optimization. The research doesn’t measure originality, divergent thinking, or creative […]

I was reading about flow when I realized the research contradicts everything we believe about it. Beach cabana. Malta. Sunshine. I’m in Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life when I hit Owen Schaffer’s research on flow—and the 7 conditions required to achieve it. And I stop.

Here on the solstice, there’s a sense of renewal, a quiet hope, a pause in time. It takes me back to summers in New Jersey, to my parents’ legendary dinner parties: The theme was luau and guests arrived in festive tropical attire and sipped flower-adorned mai tais. My parents converted

I’ll be wandering the Palazzo Pitti courtyards soon, surrounded by the world’s most impeccably dressed men. Pitti Uomo. Florence. Men’s fashion week. Fashion has always been my first love. It’s daily self-expression. And I adore that. The tilt of a hat. The peek of a pocket square—or alluring lingerie. The

Greetings from Malta! Or so I hope—the only thing that can happen to a plan is that it changes. 😉 I’m excited to savor this place, and to wander its mysteries with dear friends. When I return, I’ll tell you all about it. In the meantime, I’m pulling reflections from

It wasn’t always natural for me to travel alone. At 22, just out of college, I was living life on rails. Great education, top consulting job in NYC. All the trappings of an upwardly mobile, high performance life. But rails nonetheless. Guard rails. Achievements, certainly. But predictable, as long as