by Brooks Mendell | Dec 14, 2025 | Thinking/Analysis, Communication Skills, Forestry, Leading/Managing
Introduction My late friend Danny Hamsley once told me, “The web of life on Earth is complex.” Danny and I often discussed the challenges of being human and raising children, long before I married or had children of my own. Danny called this the “curse of the big...
by Brooks Mendell | Nov 28, 2025 | Leading/Managing, Communication Skills, Learning, Thinking/Analysis
Introduction I have been thinking about processes, habits, and routines after, once again, incinerating hours of my life watching videos online. Two situations account for most of why or when I get offtrack and surrender my attention. Fatigue. I’m tired and sit at the...
by Brooks Mendell | Oct 31, 2025 | Communication Skills, Leading/Managing, Learning, Sports
Years ago, my younger brother, Loren, and I traveled to Uruguay to study Spanish and eat grilled meat. Our return home included a troublesome and frustrating connection in a regional Brazilian airport. Previously, Loren had worked at CAA as a talent agent assistant,...
by Brooks Mendell | Jun 16, 2025 | Leading/Managing, Books, Communication Skills, Learning, Thinking/Analysis, Writing
I can basically do one round of creative work each day. Maybe two. No more. The attention, capacity, and focus required to write, research, and develop ideas are limited to a few hours daily, especially when life includes a spouse, children, bills, bowel movements,...
by Brooks Mendell | May 31, 2025 | Leading/Managing, Books, Communication Skills, Forestry, Learning, Sports, Thinking/Analysis
As a kid, I learned that the “knee bone connected to the thigh bone” thanks to the School House Rock song “Them Not So Dry Bones.” The lyrics remind us how things “really fit” and “it’s a framework… holding you together.” This idea, that we are combinations of...
by Brooks Mendell | Apr 27, 2025 | Thinking/Analysis, Communication Skills, Learning
How to Load a Dishwasher Take a break from fixing the world via social media to consider the art of loading silverware into a dishwasher. Dishwasher manufacturers recommend putting knives point down and spoons and forks tongs up (though there exists a minor kerfuffle...
