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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…

The problem is not that life is insecure, the problem is that we expect it to feel secure.  And that foredooms us to bitterness and disappointment.  Here’s how it typically works.  The world falls short of our fantasy, other people fail to fulfill the assignments we mentally give them, and the future stubbornly refuses to unfold exactly as we expect it to.  Then we feel like a failure and start being…

You’re never alone in the world unless you want to be.  If you are lonely, it’s because you are not letting other people in. It’s because you are surrendering to your antisocial tendencies and isolating yourself from the world.  And maybe it comes from a place of stubbornness. You already convinced yourself that you are not a team player. Or maybe it’s rooted in an outdated identity narrative, because…

The most demanding type of execution is following through on a project, long after the mood has passed, long after you’ve run out of steam, and long after your inspiration reserves have been tapped out.  It sucks. You reach that dreaded point where you can’t even conceptualize how the hell you’re going to muster the momentum to catapult yourself out.  During preproduction of my animated folk rock opera, we…

Here’s something nobody tells you about building your body of work.  Everything after the first one is business.  It’s an unfortunate reality of the creative marketplace. The purity, naiveté and idealism with which you came out of the gate is quickly replaced by more practical concerns. Like strategy, monetization and scalability.  And not that your work is devoid of heart and soul, it’s just that after you’ve been around…