Visioneering – Unbounded Life

On Remembering the Future

Posted on February 26, 2022August 25, 2023 by Chris Barclay

Stephen Hawking found it tantalizing that we could not remember the future. But remembering the future is child’s play for me now. I know what will become of my helpless, trusting babies because they are grown-ups now. I know how my closest friends will end up because so many of them are retired or dead now […]

The celestial emporium

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Chris Barclay

In Chinese traditional culture there is the belief that success requires three conditions: Tian Shi 天时 (right time), Di Li 地利 (right place) and Ren He 人和 (right people). All three of these things, more specifically, the will of heaven (Tian Shi), material resources (Di Li) and the harmony of people (Ren He) must be […]

Dream a little dream

Posted on February 28, 2009March 1, 2009 by Chris Barclay

One day around sunset, Zhuangzi dozed off and dreamed that he became a butterfly. He flapped his wings and sure enough he was a butterfly. What a joyful feeling as he fluttered about, he completely forgot that he was Zhuangzi. Soon though, he wondered if the butterfly was really Zhuangzi who dreamed he was a […]

Finding your hedgehog

Posted on February 15, 2009February 16, 2009 by Chris Barclay

In my recet post, “How to be an expert“, I talked about passion as being key to finding fulfillment in what we do. Yet so often we invest our passion into a hobby, because we can’t fully express it through our work. As hobbies rarely pay for themselves, we learn to live with spending the […]

The Art of Being Unreasonable

Posted on December 6, 2008December 11, 2008 by Chris Barclay

There is a wonderful quote by G.B. Shaw that goes like this: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists in adapting the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” Being unreasonable can mean someone who doesn’t listen, someone who is difficult to deal with. Imagine a […]

Visioneering 101

Posted on October 29, 2008December 12, 2008 by Chris Barclay

I’ve always been interested in what makes people successful. What leads some people to achieve while others fail? I knew it couldn’t only be about raw intelligence or access to resources (though those things certainly do help). Being in the right place at the right time also seemed to be a factor, though not a […]