Author: Steve Ainslie

I was thinking today about my car. This year it will be four years old. I’ve been very pleased with it, although if I could go back in time for a do over, I would still be driving my trusty old Scion. In high school and college when I lived with my mother, I used…

Failure is critically important for developing resilience, persistence, the ability to learn, humility, reasoning, analysis and mature behavior. I have learned more from failure than from ever doing something right. As a manager, I created an environment that encouraged my employees to test ideas, practices, conventional wisdom and even my decisions. Th key was, if…

Note: This post is primarily directed toward those who are over age 50. I came across an article about the Shingrix vaccine for shingles while scanning news headlines last week. I’d never considered getting the shingles vaccine because I had chickenpox as a child and thought this made me immune to shingles. I also thought…

After listening to Andrew Wilkinson, a tech company founder and billionaire, discussing his new memoir I was all jazzed up about starting a business. It reminded of the feeling I had during the tech boom in the late 90s, when I was certain I was going to become the next gazillionaire tech company CEO or…

GenX kids like me who went to public school during the 70s and 80s were often told we should “keep a diary”. This was reinforced in English class (aka Language Arts) with a journaling project being assigned at least once a year from first grade through high school. I found the journaling projects tedious. I’d…

During my big purging binge this past year, I got rid of all of my dress clothes. I didn’t have much left to purge other than what I bought for dating in 2022: I had been keeping these clothes so I had something nice to wear on dates and in case I ever needed to…

Someone hit my car last month. It might have been the jagoff with the California plates who parked within 12 inches of my driver’s side door in the pool parking lot, but I’m not certain. Regardless, whoever did it sideswiped my driver’s side mirror leaving deep white gouges. Naturally, this person didn’t leave a note…

A friend told me the other day that he looked up to me as a role model for aging well. Gee…thanks. That is not what I am aiming for, but it’s better than being an example of what not to do. He was being sincere and speaking from the heart. He mentioned how I live…

As much as I despise most politicians and abstain from politics in general, I must admit, I admire how Kamala Harris has jumped right into the 2024 Presidential campaign by directly challenging Trump by calling out his litany of bullshit. She’s shown more chutzpah, guts and creativity during the first two weeks of campaigning than…

My friend went on vacation with his girlfriend recently. They drove several thousand miles to camp off grid in the American West. My friend, like me, is the type of guy who excels at logistics, operations and getting shit done. We both believe there’s a right way to do something and that’s how we do…