by ERIK ORTON
El Capitan is 3,000 feet tall, the largest single monolith of granite on the planet. Climbers come from around the world to attempt an ascent. It rises straight up from the Yosemite Valley Floor and dominates everything else. The most prominent line runs straight up what’s called The Nose, the corner where the East and West walls meet. This is what I wanted to climb.
Read Moreby EMILY ORTON
I’m betting woman...now. I'm practicing separating decisions from outcomes. It’s helping me appreciate good stuff more and be frustrated less. I got this idea listening to Annie Duke, author of Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts, who got National Science Foundation Fellowship in cognitive psychology, but became sick during the academic hiring season and took a 20-year detour as a professional poker player before returning to psychology. She says life is a lot more like poker than it is like chess. I played poker for the first time last month and I agree with her. In chess, whoever makes the best decisions wins. In poker, that is not the case.
Read Moreby ERIK ORTON
I can’t tell you how many twists and turns we’ve had on this trip. Some have been good, some have been bad, but all of them have been unexpected. One of our families favorite movies is Dan in Real Life. We can all quote most of it. One adage from the film is: "prepare to be surprised."
Read Moreby EMILY ORTON
This week we’ve been on the road. We drove from our home in New York City to Idaho, where our daughter Alison attends school. We stayed with our friends Matt and Mary who both teach at the university. Mary extended a surprise invitation to speak to her Human Resources class. The topic was conformity. It is human nature to fit in, to go along, and to roll with it. This class talked about being mindful of incremental influences. We don’t want to be on autopilot mindlessly going wherever the crowd or prevalent culture is leading.
Read Moreby ERIK ORTON
Yesterday I turned 44. Birthdays make me philosophical. So I’d like to speak briefly about time, my perfect day and taxes.
Read MoreAbout a year ago we took Eli climbing in the Shawangunk mountains...
The event was so impactful that Eli decided he did not like rock climbing. He was not a rock climber. He was a victim of fate, born to parents who thought scaling rocks was a good time. We even took him on a 105 day road trip seeking out some of the greatest rock climbing in the U.S. and Canada. He preferred to sit at the base and wait for it to be over. I only got him in the harness once when I guaranteed he would not have to climb. I wanted him to stay low to the ground and swing on the rope. When introducing new foods, I only expect my kids to take a taste not eat the whole plate. I wanted Eli to get a taste of trusting the rope. He didn’t love it, but he didn’t panic.
Read More“So I was reading in my journal...” is how I’ve started a lot of sentences this week. Emily has been very kind to listen to all my reminiscing. It’s often said that reading our journals can give us a sense of perspective, but I hardly ever do it, until now.
Read MoreThere are some seasons where I can’t tell I’m progressing at all. This is especially true in February. It’s the shortest month, but it feels like the longest. Like the world will always be gray and cold. It feels like nothing is coming together. I have no traction. I’m spinning my wheels. I look back at my day, week or even the month and it doesn’t seem like I’ve accomplished anything. I’ve just churned through the days. It’s very trendy to live in the Now. But what if Now doesn’t look like anything?
Read MoreGetting distracted is the easiest thing in the world. We all walk into a room, forget why we came, try to remember and walk out. Or an email comes in. Or a text, or Facebook, or Instagram. I do it. You do it. We all do it.
This morning my son was sitting on the couch with his game pad. I asked him, “Didn’t you just say you wanted to go play with Daniel?” Oh, yeah! Right. He stood up and walked out the door to go find his friend. Even if it’s something we want to do, we get distracted.
We’re pretty good at giving ourselves reminders for things we “have to” do: conference calls, deadlines, dental appointments. But what about reminders for the things we want to do?
Read MoreToday is about love. Maybe it's about romantic love, friendship, family or that co-worker who always manages to make you smile. It's about those relationships where you show up as yourself and you are embraced.
The night before Karina was born my water broke so I woke Erik up and he me drove to the hospital. Before we got out of the car I said, “A lot of women yell at their husbands during delivery. I don’t want to do that to you.” Writing this memoir is like that except we’re both in labor at the same time. Heaven help us. We laugh a lot, but there are long pauses after statements like, “I’m feeling defensive.” "You seem defensive." “What did you mean by that?” “That’s what you thought I was doing?” Our communication is leveling up.
Read MoreWe live in NYC. We have five kids. We bought a sail boat. We called it Fezywig.
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