Newsletter
The Take Two Newsletter
Two minutes to reflect, reset, and reimagine your life.
A twice-monthly letter for people who know there’s more to life — and refuse to miss it.
The Take Two Archive
Eighteen years ago, a liver transplant saved my life. Fewer than half of recipients make it this far. Here are the lessons that hit me hardest — on time, perspective, and what it means to live intentionally.
What do isolated Tasmanian tribes and the Vanderbilt fortune have in common? Two stories — separated by millennia — with the same quiet warning about what we lose when we stop engaging with the world.
Most people treat waiting as wasted time.
But what if the moments in between—the sideline, the pause, the quiet gaps in your day—are where everything that matters is actually happening?
From an unexpected scene during an NFL playoff game to a forgotten book that took 16 years to be discovered, this issue explores a powerful truth: the way you use the in-between moments shapes everything that follows.
What if the most meaningful parts of your life aren’t the ones everyone applauds?
From an unexpected moment at a concert to the hidden significance of an ordinary day, this issue explores why the moments we almost miss often matter the most—and how noticing them can change everything.
Vincent van Gogh died largely unknown. The world almost missed his genius—until one woman refused to let it disappear. The story of Johanna van Gogh-Bonger reveals a powerful truth about perspective, belief, and the impact we can have when we champion someone else’s gifts.
What if progress isn’t about adding more—but removing what isn’t essential? A reflection on simplicity, creative influence, and why sometimes the strongest structures have space built into them.
Pet Sounds once peaked at #10 and was called a disappointment. Decades later, it became a masterpiece. A reminder that unseen work is not unimportant.
Comfort has a cost. This reflection explores how habits, familiarity, and the past can quietly shape our lives—and the courage it takes to begin again.
Newton’s First Law of Motion isn’t just physics—it’s a mirror for how we live. This reflection explores inertia, momentum, and the small forces that quietly shape the direction of our lives.
A story about a perfectly logical mistake, the limits of certainty, and why asking better questions may matter more than having the right answers.
We imagine a future version of life with fewer problems and more joy. But real happiness isn’t waiting somewhere else—it’s found in how we live, notice, and attend to life today.
We often wait to feel ready before we begin. But clarity rarely comes first—it follows action. The path forward is made by walking, imperfectly and anyway.
A meaningful life isn’t built through dramatic reinvention. It’s shaped by small course corrections—made often—that slowly guide us toward the life we want.
Some of the most enduring gifts begin when someone chooses to believe—before anyone else does. A reflection on courage, presence, and remembering what matters.
As the year comes to a close, reflection helps us turn experience into wisdom. In this issue, I explore the value of looking back—on our days, our moments, and the people who shaped them—and share a few reminders found on the streets of New York about beginning again, embracing pressure, and clearing the dust to see what matters most.
A reflection on It’s a Wonderful Life, quiet meaning, and how seeing your life with new eyes can reveal more purpose than you realize.
