Category: Life

Do You Have A Life Philosophy?

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! May your hearts, minds, families and homes be filled with gratitude and blessings. As part of this season’s focus on gratitude and thanks, I’m doing a huge number of THANKSGIVING GIVEAWAYS!  I’m giving away lots of good things throughout the entire month of November (and now I’m up until Christmas–I have more things than I can ever use, and there will be LOTS of giveaways). In the last post, I gave away a copy of Shane Mac’s book, “Stop With The BS,” and today I’ll be giving away TWO free seats to Molly Mahar’s “Holiday Council,” a 21-day course that helps you reflect on the year past and plan for the upcoming year, beginning November 26th, with the fabulous Molly (and I may even make a cameo in her interview series!). To win, see the question at the end–the winners will be chosen at the end of the day Friday, November 23rd.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be giving away three copies of a documentary, creating up a “Pay What You Can” day, and opening up new spots for the Start Something Project in December and January. Lots of good things! But now–to the bigger question, and the focus of this essay: 

Do You Have A Philosophy Of Life?

Do you have a life philosophy? A great goal so important that you’re willing to sacrifice other goals? Many writers today categorize this as your “passion,” your “purpose,”  or your “legend,” often with the intention that you should know what it is soon and figure it out.

Personally, I find this stressful to consider: we don’t always know what we like, and sometimes we have to get really good at something before we find it satisfying; the paradox of passion is that often, in my experience, you have to grow it. Continue reading “Do You Have A Life Philosophy?”

Building Something Bigger (And a Peek Behind The Curtain): My Monthly Review

Posted on by Sarah K Peck


It’s the end of the month (Happy Halloween!) and I’m sitting down to do my monthly review–which happens as close to the 30th as I can get each month, give or take a couple of days depending on my schedule and deadlines. I find that I like to check-in on the 30th to see how things are going, because a monthly check-in is a good rhythm to gauge whether or not I’m making significant progress on my larger goals, what I moved forward on, and whether or not I’m happy with the balance in my health, lifestyle, ambitions, physicality and writing dreams.

I’m sharing a peek-behind-the-scenes into my monthly review because I think you’ll like it–I love learning how people operate and how often they check in with themselves, what (or whether or not) they set goals for themselves, and how they go about reaching them. I like getting things done and making things happen, and this is a system that works for me. I’ve shared it with a handful of people over the past couple of days and so I’m documenting both what I do–and some of the questions they have–as a peek behind the curtains. Continue reading “Building Something Bigger (And a Peek Behind The Curtain): My Monthly Review”

Let’s Stop “Working Harder.” Priorities, Decisions, Strategy.

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

It’s not about working harder. Or longer. Or more. It’s not about competing to get less sleep. (This is stupid.)

It’s not (always) about staying up later to beat the competition. (I prefer to beat them and go to sleep early, isn’t that an even better win?) It’s not about finding ways to grind yourself to the ground.

It’s about working better.
It’s about strategy.
It’s about figuring out priorities.

It’s about making a decision with the time you have, because time, as an input, is limited. It’s about saying no and deciding not to do things, even though a decision feels like you’re killing something.

Sometimes, it’s about finishing.

It’s about making the decision to have the AND. I’m going to have a beer AND work hard AND go for a run AND take the time to relax. I’m going to build a business AND do my project. I’m going to do only the best things for each, and not grind myself to do all of the things.

It’s also about making the decision to say NO. I’m NOT going to go out, I’m NOT going to go to that meeting, I’m NOT going to work late, I’m NOT going to answer every email, I’m NOT going to have coffee with everyone.

I’m going to take the time I need to be the person I need to be, completely.

I’m going to take time off from work, because work is not everything.

I’m going to prioritize the things that are calling at my soul, and stop doing the things that waste my time.

I’m not going to do more, I’m going to do better. And smarter.

The only system you need is the system that works. Constantly and vigorously test if what you’re doing is getting what you need done, and how to make it leaner. If you’re an overachiever, ask yourself how to do a whole lot less and get the same results. Go on, try it. Now you have more time.

Prioritize. Say no. Work better. 

Look, The Trees.

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

“For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.” — Martin Luther

Sometimes while running, a single tree will stop and leave me breathless, unable to move. A tree. I love them so much, these windy, twisty creatures from the earth; each one with a different personality and a different story. Imagine spending your entire life rooted in one place, unable to move, unable to change except constantly changing. Marvel. Join me.

I’ll borrow extensively from Hermann Hesse, in Bäume. Betrachtungen und Gedichte, to share my affinity for these wonderful creatures:

“For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche. In their highest boughs the world rustles, their roots rest in infinity; but they do not lose themselves there, they struggle with all the force of their lives for one thing only: to fulfill themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree. When a tree is cut down and reveals its naked death-wound to the sun, one can read its whole history in the luminous, inscribed disk of its trunk: in the rings of its years, its scars, all the struggle, all the suffering, all the sickness, all the happiness and prosperity stand truly written, the narrow years and the luxurious years, the attacks withstood, the storms endured. And every young farmboy knows that the hardest and noblest wood has the narrowest rings, that high on the mountains and in continuing danger the most indestructible, the strongest, the ideal trees grow.

Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. Continue reading “Look, The Trees.”

You Are Loved.

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

In the wake of the horrible bullying and the national headlines–from Matthew Shephard 14 years ago, to the Boy Scouts’ recent denial of an Eagle Scout Honors to a brilliant young man because of his sexual orientation, to the sickening videos by Amanda Todd, the young victim of internet bullying who took her life this week–my heart is breaking.

Instead of judging someone who had the courage to be open and honest about themselves, why can’t we accept them?

Instead of allowing someone to make a mistake, why do we crucify them?

Stop the hate.

I walked into church yesterday morning–the famous Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco–nervous and a bit scared to be back in a Church setting. It’s been a while since I’ve been to one, and I didn’t know what to expect. Over the years, I’ve built up walls about what it meant to be a part of Church, and it no longer felt like a community or a space I could resonate with. I don’t like the hype of what “Church” feels like, and I have a whole basket of mixed emotions about my relationship with the conservative space that has so often stood up for things (or against things) that I can’t align myself with. And in a more vulnerable-than-normal confession: I myself am not always sure what I believe in. I believe in a greater truth, and in a Universe and in things that I can’t explain or understand, but as I walk through life, I’ve not found a certainty or knowing.

But yesterday, when I walked into Church, this crazy-wacky-wonderful church in the derelict-but-somehow-lovely Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco, a liberal enclave if there ever was one, I started laughing and crying at the same time. The leader got up on a chair in the front of the stained-glass, folding-chair, high-ceiling amalgamation of people and said,

“Hello, hello. Hello! I’m so glad you’re here. I’m so glad you came. I don’t care if you’re white, black, brown, yellow, old, young, on your cell phone, sick, tired, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, on a spiritual path, not on a spiritual path, or not even sure what you’re doing here.

I’m just glad that you’re here. Continue reading “You Are Loved.”

We did it!

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

They say a picture is worth a thousand words…
Swimming Alcatraz Saturday, September 22, 2012

We did it.

$29,382 raised, one chilly swim, and the best birthday present I could ever ask for: clean water for more than 1400 people.

We had more than 400 people donate, over 100 people showed up to the party, and another 50+ companies and individuals donated time, prizes, and energy. This was not the action of a single individual. You all made this happen. Thank you for helping me making it rain: we raised nearly 30K for charity: water in just under three months.

And on Saturday morning, September 22nd, 2012: I woke up at 5 AM, got into a boat with my friends Andi, Alyssa, Laura and my mom, and, as promised, dropped into the cold water at 6:45 AM to swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco wearing nothing but my birthday suit and a swim cap (scroll down for pictures…).

I’ve learned so much, and gained so much, and I hope you all have enjoyed this as much as I have.

To be honest, I’ll be sleeping for the next few days–as well as catching up on work, because even though my company was amazing about letting me take time off last week (they were excited about the swim, too!), now I’ve got to get back and make sure to keep doing the work.

And right now, all I can think is this:

“No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”
–Edmund Burke

This happened not from one person, but from the collective action of many hands–from all of YOU. For everyone that donated $5, $10, $29, and $100: thank you.

To the incredible donors that pitched in $290, $1000, and even $2900 because they could afford to and wanted to: bless you.

Thank you.

Let’s Make It Rain. And You’re Invited.

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

How far would you go for clean water?
(All images in this post from Charity:Water’s 2010 Haiti trip.)

Updates to the Birthday Swim Campaign!

I’ve got some pretty good news. So exciting, I can barely stand it.  Six weeks ago we set out to raise $29,000 for my 29th birthday Charity: Water birthday fundraiser. Did I think I could do it? Um, No. I had no idea if I could do it, and I wondered whether we’d be able to raise even raise $290.

It was pretty nerve-wracking. I made a big statement: I said I’d swim naked from Alcatraz to San Francisco–if we raised the sum total of 29 big thousands.

So where are we today, six weeks later? Continue reading “Let’s Make It Rain. And You’re Invited.”

“To those I love.”

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

This post is in memory of my lovely, beautiful grandmother whose memorial party I had the joy of attending this past weekend.

I am blessed to be surrounded by curious, fascinating, lovely family who chatter, chirp, and move like I do. We gathered to celebrate of the life of an amazing woman–my mother’s mother–who brought to life so many of my favorite people: my siblings, my mom, my cousins, my future descendants, my aunt and uncle, my relatives.

In the afternoon we spent with each of her friends and close colleagues, I learned story after story of her life, of things I knew and didn’t know–and above all, was grounded with a sense of how much my grandmother did for others, and for her community: she loved being active, she loved events, she knew how to throw a killer parties, she was crafty and full of ideas, and she couldn’t stop making things and putting things together. Born of another generation, I get so much of who I am from her, and I am grateful. Continue reading ““To those I love.””

Prizes, prizes, and more prizes! Donate to the water adventure and WIN BIG. Oh, and help the world.

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

Magic doesn’t happen without a whole lotta hustle.

With the start of a dream, you put your thoughts to the world, you whisper a promise, you believe that something is possible—and then you get out there and you chase it.

On July 12, I opened my big mouth and made a promise. We made a promise—you all made a promise. In fact, 225 of you have already jumped on board, as well as a whole lot of companies, start-ups and organizations.

Then the Huffington Post even featured it.

Amazing.

But we’re not done yet!

Nope, not even close.

(You don’t stop hustling until you’re done. Quick movie trivia–who said it? “Never stop–Never stop fighting until the fighting is done.” Answer here.) Continue reading “Prizes, prizes, and more prizes! Donate to the water adventure and WIN BIG. Oh, and help the world.”

The Proust Questionnaire

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

On wandering and lost conversations.

Do you have a minute to wander? How about an hour to stop, pause, reflect, and think? Take notebook, some scratch paper, a word-document (if you’re brave, and can trust yourself not to wander over to the vast glorious internet pages in the middle of a thought stream, then do it on some online forum–personally, I, at times, cannot trust myself to navigate the internet-world-of-focus, and thus devote my wanderings strictly to pen-and-paper, humoring myself in a cubby-hole in nature, watching in silence and thinking, speculating, pontificating. But already I digress).

If you don’t have an hour to wander, ask yourself for a few minutes: why not? What are you doing instead, and what is taking up the time? The best part(s) of my week are the four to ten hours I spend analyzing, reflecting, planning, and escaping the manic nature of the “doing” to think and observe on what I’m trying to achieve in the macro. Coupled with action is an ability to wander, explore, and lean into new realms first within your mind, and soon after, with action. Continue reading “The Proust Questionnaire”