Due to my own arrogance, poor decisions and surrounding myself with knuckleheads I had the pleasure of experiencing grinding poverty in my early twenties. The slow slog back to non-bum status had me working two jobs, the “real” one as an illustrator/graphic artist for Amtrak and to make the rent I worked evenings at the gym. (more…)
Seneca makes senseI pimp the philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca’s “On The Shortness of Life” any chance I get, it’s short, easy to read and packed with life changing wisdom (if you choose to listen). I stumbled across Seneca’s work when doing research for the Fundamental Success seminar, found his elegant distillation of the source of our most existential dread refreshing, and wound up becoming a bit of a stoic fanboy (more…)
What this is:A group of 90-day goals, supported by “commitment contracts” created on Stickk.com. Each goal carries the potential loss of $50 per week. I’ve used this process before with great results, and want to share it with you in the hopes that you or someone you know can pick up some useful information and maybe get some goals of your own on track. (more…)
The road to hell…Just going to post stream of consciousness-style so I get something up this week. My “blog beta” was five per week, which I found “doable” and beyond that creatively energetic. It’s very easy to labor over these things (blog posts), and get precious and “writerly”, and my goal is simply honest communication to you dear reader. (more…)
What’s in a Name?I posted to Facebook recently that it had struck me it had been decades since I’ve had an active nickname. This is noteworthy because till I was around 30 it was fifty-fifty chance that if I saw you on a daily basis you didn’t know my given name. (more…)
Grab-bag of things on my mindJust a quickie to offload some brain detritus that’s piled up the last week or so. A long weekend (President’s Day) got longer by a day with the Federal Government closing for the day. I had the opportunity to work from home but chose to burn some vacation and make it a 4-day weekend. I’ll probably regret that toward the end of the year, but as I’ll get into, I haven’t been in the best head space of late! (more…)
I might be overstating.It’s President’s Day and I’m stuck in my apartment looking out my ice encrusted windows like a sad puppy in a pet store. Why? The scheduled delivery of my mattress yesterday was cancelled due to mechanical failure (a fact I was informed of at the end of the four hour delivery window) and would have to be rescheduled to today. It’s just about the fourth hour of the five hour delivery window and I ain’t feeling all that great about how I’m going to sleep tonight! (more…)
How can people change?I actively devote time coaching people toward success, which naturally includes the “how do I do it” part, and the doing part is pretty simple it’s the “who’s doing it” part that’s tough. Why? Cuz’ we’re all crazy!
But that’s actually good news, the thing that makes us crazy is the exact thing that gives us the power to make the lives we want to live (if we’re not in a war zone, we can feed and clothe ourselves, and we’re free of the threat of imminent death). (more…)
Memory is so weirdI was jawboning with two of my clients today, and the senior asked the junior if she ever had to learn typing. This question was clearly hilarious to her, like she’d been asked if she’d learned how to churn butter as a child. (more…)
The Devil is in the DetailsYeah, I know this sounds ridiculous, alas, I am a ridiculous man. Been doing a “life hack” type thought experiment about time – how I use it, how I value it, and particularly how I waste it. (more…)