Month-in-Review Highlights: June 2020

A theme for the month, if not a theme for the global moment: We need to make sustained efforts, even on different-than-expected paths, to reach our desired destinations.

JournalLeslie FarnsworthJuly 7, 2020postmortem, goals, culture, fitnessComment

Self-Reliance and Self-Confidence: On the Power of Independence

You gain a heady feeling of confidence when you know that you can rely on yourself and that you can do what needs to be done without anyone else.

ThinkingLeslie FarnsworthJuly 4, 2020culture, happiness Comments

Books I've Read: Q2 2020

For the readers among us, here’s a list of books I read in the second quarter of 2020, with my favorites bolded as recommendations.

JournalLeslie FarnsworthJuly 1, 2020reading, literature, booksComment

How Search Engines and Social Media Have Reshaped Website Content

On today’s bifurcated web, search engines answer questions efficiently and effectively and social media provides the entertainment. Needs met. Game over.

ThinkingLeslie FarnsworthJune 25, 2020writing, cultureComment

How to Transition to Working from Home Permanently

If you face working away from the traditional office for the long term, you’ll need patience and time for adjustment. Here are a few experience-based tips to help you make the transition.

ThinkingLeslie FarnsworthJune 23, 2020happiness, culture, management, leadership, distributed workforceComment

Happiness and the Routine-to-Frantic Spectrum

Research encourages adding a little spice of variety to your life, if you can find it not too far from your comfort zone.

ThinkingLeslie FarnsworthJune 18, 2020coronavirus diaries, happiness, travelComment

COVID-19 Proves Nothing about Working from Home

No one can possibly imagine that what we experienced working from home during COVID-19 provided a true litmus test for working remotely on the employer, manager, or employer sides.

ThinkingLeslie FarnsworthJune 16, 2020employees, management, leadership, distributed workforceComment

Three Ideas for Multicultural and Destination Weddings

Need new and creative ideas for your multicultural, bilingual, or destination wedding? Here are three fun ideas based on my own experience.

ThinkingLeslie FarnsworthJune 11, 2020wedding, cultureComment

Will Crisis-Driven Authenticity Last?

The coronavirus crisis forced many people to drop pretense and futile attempts at perfection and simply act like real, flawed, often-awkward human beings.

ThinkingLeslie FarnsworthJune 9, 2020culture, business, management, employees, leadership, coronavirus diariesComment

Second Languages in a Time of Face Masks

I have only a few days or even weeks before I’ll need to communicate a bit more in a French-speaking world. And I’ll have to do through voice-muffling masks.

Month-in-Review Highlights: May 2020

The year has made staying positive increasingly difficult. Hang in there, my friends.

JournalLeslie FarnsworthJune 4, 2020postmortem, goals Comments

What’s Observing Leslie?

This quick primer can give you the broad strokes on what to expect from Observing Leslie—but only reading the site on a regular basis will fill in the color.

JournalLeslie FarnsworthMay 15, 2020writingComment

How I Chose My E-Reader

In which I go on a highly picky journey to find an e-reader and assess the Kindle, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo options.

JournalLeslie FarnsworthMay 12, 2020reading, literature Comments

Month-in-Review Highlights: April 2020

Coronavirus April managed to make up for March’s benevolence by throwing many activities related to goal achievement into the penalty zone.

JournalLeslie FarnsworthMay 6, 2020friendship, business, networking, postmortem, goalsComment

The Coronavirus Diaries: The Beginning of the End

Eight weeks ago, I started the coronavirus diaries to document the happenings, thoughts, and impressions I had during the pandemic. This marks the final consecutive-week entry.

The Coronavirus Diaries: Possibly the Penultimate

This is the seventh and possibly penultimate entry in a diary I’ve posted weekly to document the happenings, thoughts, and impressions I’ve had during the coronavirus pandemic.

JournalLeslie FarnsworthApril 26, 2020culture, politics, business, writing, coronavirus diaries Comments

The Coronavirus Diaries: All of Us Were Mistaken

When all this started, I’d predicted we’d be mostly back to normal by now. Others predicted it’d take a couple of weeks longer. All of us were mistaken.

JournalLeslie FarnsworthApril 19, 2020culture, politics, writing, business, coronavirus diaries Comments

How to Spend Two Days in Ghent

In the late middle ages and early Renaissance, Ghent was one of the main centers of wealth, culture, politics, commerce, and all things intellectual.

WanderingLeslie FarnsworthApril 15, 2020culture, travel Comments