Two-Minute Daily Read

A new short blog published seven days a week, designed for reading and reflection from any stage of life.

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Toni McDermott People of the Wild Atlantic Way

Ambition, acceptance and profound truth

It's the paradox of profound truth in our daily happiness: balancing the restless ambition to be better with the restful acceptance of being just enough. To have the ambition to improve and develop ourselves is, I think, a critical ingredient…
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Toni McDermott People of the Wild Atlantic Way

The power of setting intentions

I'm quite sure there will be people reading this for whom the words in here will be simplistic beyond belief. People who habitually set an intention to do something, and then go and do it, and don't think the slightest more about it. If that…
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Toni McDermott People of the Wild Atlantic Way

Global literacy and the threat to reading

I remember hearing a story about a Dublin bus driver. He was talking about the risks to his personal security he faces on a day to day basis in the course of his job. He was happy, he said, to see someone carrying a book, because he knew anyone…
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Toni McDermott People of the Wild Atlantic Way

Critique versus Criticism

Yesterday I wrote about criticism. Whatever you want to call it, constructive criticism, or feedback, or something else, it's almost uniformly hard. But it's necessary. Thinking critically helps make everything better. So finding a…
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Toni McDermott People of the Wild Atlantic Way

The problem with criticism (and the opportunity)

Few of us enjoy criticism. Over time, criticism became synonymous with stuff being wrong. With negativity. With conflict and confrontation. Criticism is almost always difficult. We must brace ourselves for it. Prepare ourselves to react…
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Toni McDermott People of the Wild Atlantic Way

The art of passing time

Every day, most of us are passing time. We often pass time without thinking too deeply about how. We prefer pursuits with zero or minimum friction to distract ourselves away from valuable but difficult things. Passing time by low friction…
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Toni McDermott People of the Wild Atlantic Way

Diminishing tolerance

As life goes on, our tolerance diminishes. When we're younger, our appetite for tolerance is high. As the years and decades pass, this reduces and reduces and reduces. A typical 71-year-old accepts much less crap than a typical 21-year-old. Accepting…
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Toni McDermott People of the Wild Atlantic Way

A new experiment in daily blogging

This is the first day of a new experiment in daily blogging, inspired by Seth Godin. I've been reading Seth's daily blog for about six years now. I don't read every one of Seth's emails, but I open them several times a week. I don't love…
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Toni McDermott People of the Wild Atlantic Way

Seven Quick Thoughts on What the Facebook News Feed "Major Change" Means for Brands, Publishers and Public Figures

A few quick thoughts, from a digital marketing perspective, on Facebook's big news this week, which promises to have far-reaching effects on Facebook News Feed and have adverse effects on brands (link to Zuck post below). 1. User Behaviour I've…
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Food as medicine, and the Rich Roll podcast in Ireland

During my journey of positive life choices, food and nutrition - the idea of food as medicine -  just keeps coming up. There are very many advocates worth keeping an eye on, and one of the best is Rich Roll. If you’re not familiar with…
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Toni McDermott People of the Wild Atlantic Way

This "People of the Wild Atlantic Way" photo stopped me in my tracks

I've discovered, somewhat by accident, that I love walking in a wide loop, without a destination in mind. On one long ramble in July 2017 I passed through the small village of Leap (pronounced Lep) in west Cork, and stopped to view the portraits…
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