Best Story Ever

Andy showed up drunk to an important event. Jim got into a fight with a friend and threatened to stab him. Lynn was vulgar in his actions and speech. We’ve all encountered inappropriate people who have poor conduct. But their behavior is not their biggest failure.

Major General John Sedgwick was loyal and dedicated to his soldiers and country. So when he saw a gap in his artillery lines at the Battle of Spotsylvania, he bravely charged to the front to reposition his division. It was a terrible mistake.

In commemoration of the second Yahrzeit of my dad, Dr. Sheldon Meth. Two seemingly random events on two seemingly random mountaintops separated by a few miles and a few millennia dramatically changed the course of history.

Wilmer McLean was a simple grocer living a quiet life in a quaint home in Manassas, VA. When his neighborhood took a turn for the worse and his house was vandalized, he decided to move farther south and bought a different quaint home. What happened next was no coincidence.

Catalina Island is a beautiful island of of the coast of California, and in 1952 a young athlete attempted to swim its 26-mile channel. The story of her dramatic swim is an inspiring lesson in determination, perseverance, and personal growth.

In 1924, Congress passed the World War Compensation Act—a payment to soldiers who fought in the first World War. But then came the Great Depression and everything changed. An insight from the Torah explains one man’s success and another’s failure, and is a critical lesson for solving friction in our relationships.

A young man moved to the San Fransisco Bay area in the 1850s looking to get rich quick. It’s the gold rush, it’s a boomtown; what could go wrong? A lesson from one man’s failures becomes an insight for success.

37. John Quincy Adams’s Greatest Accomplishment John Quincy Adams was one of the most brilliant people to ever serve as president. He was also one of the most qualified. Yet, he would be the first to tell you that his presidency was a complete failure. But the story doesn’t end there.

Mr. A lived a life of failure, personal tragedy and sorrow. Mr. B lived a life of success, personal victories, and happiness. Their lives go in very different directions. You know who they are; can you guess their identity? Here is a hint: it's a trick question.

By mid-summer of 1781, things looked pretty bad for General Washington’s army. Outmanned, outgunned, and without any real plan for victory, they were desperately close to destruction by the British. You know that the story ends well for Washington; but how did it happen?

“Out of many, one” is the motto of the United States. But what if the country is splintered? What if the political divide is toxic? How can the country survive? A lesson from history and an insight from the Talmud gives hope.

When making decisions about ambiguous situations, we hunt for clues; pieces of information that can help us formulate answers. Psychologists refer to these clues as anchors. An at-home experiment as well as a tragic story show that sometimes anchors do not work.

They are all around us. We use them all the time. They are handy devices that, barring the occasional jammed or squeaky wheel, we don’t think about much. Where did shopping carts come from? The story of their rise in popularity highlights a defining element of our very humanity.

In early 1948, Harry Truman was conflicted about supporting a future Jewish state. Although he was sympathetic towards the plight of European Jews, pressure from his cabinet leadership was pushing him to oppose its creation. What motivated Truman to ultimately appreciate the need for a Jewish state?

Frank had a stable childhood. Frank had great parents. Frank went to a top college. Frank became an accomplished attorney. Frank went on to become a congressman and then a senator. Is Frank a successful person?

The 1880 Republican National Convention was coming apart at the seems as a bitter division threatened to split the party in half. The compromise ticket of James Garfield for president and Chester Arthur for vice president kept the party together and profoundly changed the country—and Chester Arthur.

The Green Bay Packers are an iconic football franchise. However, their 1958 season was their worst season ever. The next season they hired the legendary head coach Vince Lombardi who transformed them into champions. How did he achieve such a remarkable turnaround?

Imagine if I told you that, from now on, traffic will no longer flow on the right side of the road, rather it will flow on the left. We would all get disoriented and probably all die in head-on collisions, right? As they say in Sweden, “det är inte så enkelt.”

My dog Tebow is well behaved. Except that he occasionally eats food from off our counters when no one is looking. How do we deal with his bad behavior? With the same approach that a hospital in San Fransisco recently implemented that is now saving lives.

A nightmarish situation unfolds mid-flight on a small twin-engine plane with Doug White’s wife and children in the back of the plane. His response is a lesson in how to build trust.

The Russians were first to launch a satellite into orbit. The first to send an animal into orbit. The first to send man into orbit. Yet, they never got man to the moon. Why not?

Take a moment and visit www.centennialbulb.org There you will find a live video of a dimly lit light bulb. In the background, you’ll probably see a firetruck and a few people walking past while pointing up at the bulb. And if you look carefully, you will also discover the reason why you aren’t achieving your goals.

In the 1890s, Wilhelm Von Osten discovered that his horse was brilliant. A lesson from his horse’s wisdom could have prevented one of the greatest tragedies in Jewish history, and can teach us how to improve our most important relationships.

What do you know about John Adams? You probably know that he was the second president of the United States. But do you recall anything that he did while he was president? Most Americans probably can’t, and that—strangely— was Adams’s great accomplishment.

Want to win the Tour de France? You will need to think big, have big plans, have big goals—right? Sometimes, what we actually need is to think small. One coach’s brilliant small approach to success at Le Tour is a valuable insight that reaches far beyond cycling.