Day 191 – Tell Yourself a Story
By now, you’ve probably heard of the hero myth. This concept was articulated by the brilliant thinker Joseph Campbell. When I was a kid, I remember watching him on PBS, slowly and thoughtfully explaining how ancient civilizations, though separated by oceans and time, all seemed to tell the same story. The same myth, just different […]
Day 190 – If You Really Knew…
If you really knew what some of the most successful people started with on their incredible journeys, you would lose all sense of fear and trepidation—and just get started yourself. We create impossible myths around those who have achieved success, and we continue to build upon those myths until their accomplishments seem like unreachable feats […]
Day 189 – Abundance, Not Scarcity
One of the hardest things to do—especially when faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges—is to frame your thinking around abundance rather than scarcity. It is common to feel as though you’re working with limited or no resources when you’re at the bottom, looking up. The reverse is also true: when you’re at the top looking down, […]
Day 188 – What Happened to Quoting Shakespeare?
When I was a young man, it was common to hear an orator begin a speech by quoting Shakespeare. I remember attending a Rotary Club or other social gathering with my grandfather and hearing Shakespeare quotes all the time. This pattern repeated itself during my high school speech and debate experience, and again in Toastmasters. […]
Day 187 – Spontaneity Needs Preparation
You are really only allowed to be spontaneous when you are prepared—any other time is probably reckless. People love to be spontaneous. They like things to be interesting, exciting, and fun. When you’re well-prepared and acting from a solid foundation, spontaneity can yield good—and sometimes unexpected—returns. However, engaging in spontaneity without any basis whatsoever usually […]
Day 186 – Getting Into a Rhythm
Some days, it feels as though I can do nothing right. I sit down to work, full of good intention, but the minutes slip by in a fog of distraction. Everything feels like a false start. I pick up a task, drop it. Reorganize my desk. Check my schedule. I reach for productivity but grasp […]
Day 185 – A Fly Can’t Bird
This is my official and published apology to Benjamin Hoff, author of The Tao of Pooh. I will explain why this apology is necessary shortly, but suffice it to say that this book brilliantly conveys to those of us in the Western world the core principles of Tao, or “The Way of the Universe.” When […]
Day 184 – The Most Difficult Virtue
When I was in high school, I read Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography. This work is deeply introspective and offers profound insight into the heart and mind of one of the founding fathers of the United States. Here was a man, anxiously searching for ways to improve himself. He devised a method for implementing several virtues into […]
Day 183 – Training Unicorns
There’s something intoxicating about the idea of a rare breakthrough. The kind that erupts overnight. In business, investing, entrepreneurship—even creative work—people are constantly looking for the one thing that will change everything. We’ve come to call this elusive prize a unicorn. The problem is, unicorns aren’t real. Not in the way we want them to […]
Day 182 – Black Swan Events
We are experiencing what is known as a Black Swan event—a moment in history that was largely unpredicted but brings massive, sweeping change. The restructuring of world trade, with the United States taking a far more aggressive stance on balancing global trade flows, will most likely be considered one of these events. When the dust […]