Bravery Is A Discipline, Not A Trait
People who choose bravery know what drives them, and they care more about the outcome than they do about temporary discomfort.
Bravery Is A Discipline, Not A Trait
Articles about Articles
The Tyranny Of The Adequate
The Tyranny Of The Adequate
There are times when it’s wise to settle for the most reasonable answer, but don’t allow the daily grind to lull you into mediocrity.
Want To Improve Your Odds Of Success? Take More Shots.
Want To Improve Your Odds Of Success? Take More Shots.
Winning is often a game of percentages. Practice and hone your skills through unnecessary creation, follow your instincts for opportunity, and don’t be afraid to take shots and miss.
The Benefits of Keeping a “Commonplace Book”
The Benefits of Keeping a “Commonplace Book”
With the increase of information crossing your attention span each day, it's easy to forget even the most impactful experiences. Make every effort to capture these, and to ensure that they become a valuable part of your creative process.
Aim For Influence, Not Control
Aim For Influence, Not Control
Controlling behavior never leads to results beyond your own grasp. However, when you are able to achieve influence, you multiply your efforts and reproduce your values and principles in the lives of others.
Feeling Nervous About Your Work? Good!
Feeling Nervous About Your Work? Good!
Stretching always requires that you risk failure, which means you will probably feel a little over your head from time to time. Don’t mistake a little nervousness for weakness. Use it as fuel.
The Power of No
The Power of No
Many people allow their life to become cluttered with passive yes's, not active ones. They are living with a decision they made months or years ago, and are not making the effort to re-visit whether it's still the right decision. Sometimes you have to say "no" in order to re-focus your efforts.
Brilliance Demands Bravery
Brilliance Demands Bravery
If you make things and share them, your heart will at some point be broken. If you never share, it will harden. Your choice.
Good Leaders Are Willing To Change Their Mind
Good Leaders Are Willing To Change Their Mind
One of the more concerning dynamics of the “everything is on the record all the time” world is that changing your mind - especially in a highly public way - has become Sin #1.
The Value Of Connectional Intelligence
The Value Of Connectional Intelligence
Last week, I had the chance to chat with Erica Dhawan, who is co-author of the new book Get Big Things Done. The book is about the age of connectedness, and how we can now accomplish things previously unattainable if we leverage "connectional intelligence".
Mick Jagger And The Uncertainty Of Creative Success
Mick Jagger And The Uncertainty Of Creative Success
Don't believe the lie that success is inevitable. On the inside, where all of the risk is being taken, it often feels like things could fall apart at any moment, and that's precisely how it should be.
Are You Stealing From Yourself?
Are You Stealing From Yourself?
Don’t rob yourself, and stop trying to will yourself to do better. Instead, recognize that small actions of focus and discipline today is the best way to love your future self. Make investments today so that you can reap a return tomorrow.
Don’t Settle For The First Idea
Don’t Settle For The First Idea
In the effort to "ship fast" we often fail to lay a sturdy foundation for our work, and the results can be disastrous. Shipping early shouldn't be equivalent to thoughtlessness. You need to ensure that you are respecting the work by giving it your best mental effort.
Why Does Criticism Sting?
Why Does Criticism Sting?
It’s often not the circumstances we learn from, but our response to them. Identifying limiting narratives or patterns of self-destruction can help us spot them when they crop up, then nip them before they cause us to implode or obsess needlessly over critique.
A Simple Question That Will Keep You Inspired
A Simple Question That Will Keep You Inspired
If you want to remain productive, and you want to have ideas when you need them most, then the kinds of stimuli you allow into your mind are important. Because creativity is essentially the combining of existing pieces of inspiration in your environment into something new, the quality and relevance of inputs will often directly affect your creative output, thus either propelling you forward or impeding your progress.
Use Time Chunks To Master Distraction
Use Time Chunks To Master Distraction
Many of us lack the kind of latitude over our schedule that we’d like to have, but all of us have some discretion about how we spend our time. The best way to prevent distractions and make steady progress on your most important work is to dedicate predictable time to it.
How To Receive Negative Feedback
How To Receive Negative Feedback
There's no delicate way to say this: many of us carry weapons. Not literal weapons (most likely), but figurative ones, and we get trigger happy the moment we experience something we don't like.
Run Your Race, Not Someone Else’s
Run Your Race, Not Someone Else’s
Run YOUR race. Execute YOUR plan. Do YOUR work, not someone else's. Don't allow envy, spite, ego, or greed to derail you or cause you to chase a phantom ideal that was never meant for you.
Why You Must Invest (Time) In Yourself
Why You Must Invest (Time) In Yourself
Anything of value that you wish to create will require a significant investment of time. Brilliant work is expensive.
Slow and Steady Does NOT Win The Race
Slow and Steady Does NOT Win The Race
Don’t be lulled into the idea that being busy and making progress is necessarily going to net you a win. You have to be intentional and deliberate about your activity, and you have to be willing to sprint when the occasion calls for it.