Recent Posts

the cover of the book Start With Why by Simon Sinek

Book Review: Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek

'People don't buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.' This fast-paced marketing and business book will help you better understand and brand yourself and your company. What is your WHY?
two magnolia blossoms open in soft sunlight

How to Build Self-Discipline: Why Awareness and Intrinsic Motivation Are Key

Self-discipline is the ability to do what needs to be done, to stay in control, to accomplish your goals. How do you build discipline? Here are strategies I use.
the cover of the book The Self-Driven Child by William Stixrud and Ned Johnson

Book review: The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving Your Children More Control Over Their Lives by William Stixrud and Ned Johnson

Why responsibility and a sense of control are critical for children.
the cover of the book How Children Succeed by Paul Tough featuring the title over a line of colored pencils in the background

Book review: How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough

Why do some people succeed and others fail? This book argues that it's not just how you're born. Instead, the key is noncognitive skills—and the good news is, you can practice and improve them.
gold, silver, and bronze medals Jacqueline won at fencing tournaments

Why You Should Pursue Excellence, Not Success

Pursuing excellence will help you succeed—but pursuing success won't make you excellent. Here's why I follow this life philosophy, and why you should want to, too!
man standing at the top of a ladder pruning a tree

Bad Risk, Good Risk: Minimize Downsides and Maximize Upsides

Risk is to be avoided—right? Wrong! Some asymmetrical risks are good to take. Which ones? How can we minimize potential downsides while maximizing potential upsides?
silhouette of a person with arms outstretched in front of the setting sun

Planning for Success: How Effort Makes Good Luck More Likely

Don't wait for success to happen to you. Make your own good luck—put in the elbow grease to make success more likely!
Baby Elian stands on Randy's lap and types on his keyboard in front of three monitors

Opting for Flexibility in Work

Self-employment enables me to achieve the work-life balance I want. Here's why I love the flexibility—and how you can get the same flexibility in your own life.

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About

We're Jacqueline and Randy, a blogging duo with backgrounds in tech, robots, art, and writing, now raising our family in northern Idaho.

Our goal is to encourage deliberate choices, individual responsibility, and lifelong curiosity by sharing stories about our adventures in living, loving, and learning.

Learn more about us.


Connect:

whoo@deliberateowl.com

Start here

Curious about our life and journey? Here are some good places to start reading:

Jacqueline and Randy leaning their heads together smiling at the camera

A Blog About Education, Lifestyles, and Community

A brief history of how the Deliberate Owl came to be and why we're writing a blog about us, our lives, and how we're living out our values.
Priests in red and gold celebrate a traditional Latin Mass

Discovering the Traditional Catholic Mass

How I discovered the traditional Latin Mass a few years ago, why that discovery changed everything for me, and what was wrong with the Novus Ordo Masses I'd attended.