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In order to leap forward into new artistic possibilities, every creator must be willing to destroy what they’ve created.  And not physically, of course. Hendrix setting fire to his guitar was legendary and rebellious and punk rock and everything, but for most of us, it’s not exactly a scalable growth strategy.  That’s why we expand our definition of the word destroy.  To destroy is to lay waste. Meaning, stripping away all…

There’s nothing more powerful than saying no to people. For us and for them.  But if you struggle to believe that, perhaps a little reframing is in order to snap you out of your codependent tendencies.  Think of this way.  When we say no, we are not rejecting another person, we are simply refusing a request. When we say not, we are not criticizing another person, we are simply asking for…

Most of our automatic reactions to things are dead wrong.  Our first thoughts are usually childish reactions. Ancient habitual responses that take us on ride along the superhighway of emotional reactivity. And if we don’t pause and deepen our attention and intention, we’ll continue to the live out the same patterns.  Becker’s book on the birth and death of meaning once made the case that what we call the…

Once you finally come to terms with your workaholism, several things start to happen.  You liberate yourself from the crippling guilt of people pleasing and approval seeking. Instead of convincing yourself that you will take care of your own needs tomorrow, you can actually take time for yourself. Because you’re not too scared to stop. You slow down and let people back into your life.  Instead of forcing family and…

We are told there is nothing new under the sun.  But considering the sun is eight hundred and sixty thousand miles in diameter, if we can’t find anything new under it, then perhaps we aren’t looking hard enough.  That’s the reality nobody wants to talk about. The fact that we are limited only by the scope of our own imaginations. That ownership is not a set of legal rights,…

Twain famously said that the two most important days in your life are the day you are born, and the day you find out why.  It’s an inspiring message to comprehend your true purpose as a human being.  However, there’s a missing step in the process. Because although it’s meaningful to recognize our reasons for being on this earth, if we fail to take action on those reasons, then…

It is always within our power to make ourselves indispensable.  Nobody is standing in the way of our ability to create value in the world. If we want to operate at our highest point of contribution, the onus is on us.  But the challenge is, something inside of us exerts an enormous gravitational pull against the achieving our full adult potential.  Moore’s superb research on the psychological foundation of…

Reis’s groundbreaking system on lean startups makes the argument that there is no bigger destroyer of creative potential than the misguided decision to persevere.  It’s the kind of obstinate thinking that leads many entrepreneurs to successfully execute plans that lead nowhere, as opposed to identifying the right product to build.  But we don’t have to start a business to fall victim to this trap.  All of us face commitment bias somewhere…

Extremes in anything accomplish nothing.  All they do is allow our discouragement to globalize.  And yet, we make this move on ourselves every day. Think of all the examples.  When we feel down, everything we do seems to come out wrong.  When it doesn’t work right away, we consider the whole thing a failure.  When our confidence is fragile, the smallest upset can derail the whole project.  When we…

If the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist, then the greatest trick the ego ever pulled was convincing us that we actually needed it.  Of course, we completely bought into it. And now everyone has developed an allergy to being wrong. Now everyone makes a conscious effort to kick doubt’s ass right out of their minds. Now everyone is distracted by the…