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Having healthy boundaries means learning to face other people’s reality with maturity, respect and understanding.  Even if it’s painful.  Here are a few examples that have been a struggle for me over the years, both personally and professional.  Instead of ignoring someone’s flagrant signs of disinterest, accept whatever relationship people are comfortable having with you.  Instead of chasing people who clearly don’t want to be with you, accept that…

Scaling may lead to greater distribution, broader impact and higher profits.  But when you scale, you’re likely to dilute quality and destroy your ability to work on the razor’s edge and lose that unique personal thing that made you successful in the first place.  A talent manager once emailed me and asked, what are your scaling aspirations?  Um, they don’t exist? Look, I was burned out enough going it…

Whatever you think makes you an outsider, is precisely what makes you valuable.  Truth is, you are uniquely qualified. Something has prepared you to come into this world hardwired. Even more than you know. Your distinctive life experience has equipped you with a valuable perspective that few people have, but all people need. Which means you have a vital role to play in this world.  You have a real…

Most standardized testing manuals tell students the same strategy.  Don’t try to do all the work in your head.  Thinking a great place to start, but after a while, more thinking equals less doing. You’re stuck in the paralysis of analysis. And it’s not the healthiest emotional state for solving the problem.  Only by writing your ideas down, the test prep experts say, do you avoid making careless errors…

Anger management has been a field of study since day one.  Maybe before then.  Seneca and other philosophers have been offering advice for countering uncontrollable rage for the past two thousand years.  But what’s interesting is, people don’t need more resources for anger management. Because anger is a defensive feeling that protects another feeling. It’s just a roadmap to our real emotions. Which, the majority of the time, are grounded…

Wiesel, the award winning author, professor and concentration camp survivor, is famous for saying that the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference.  What’s interesting is, anytime we’re on the receiving end of that sentiment, it can be transformed into gifts of deeper understanding and empathy.  Knowing how we feel when we’re treated invisibly and indifferently helps us not to overlook others in the future.  This happens to me in…

My hardest class college was business law.  The subject simply didn’t jive with my brain.  And I really worked at it, too.  Did the weekly readings. Came to class every day. Paid attention. Took copious notes. Studied hard for the exams. Even stopped by office hours to get help from my professor.  But nothing. Failed every single test. Every goddamn one of them. I just didn’t get it. Despite my…

The hardest thing to believe is that the world does not revolve around us.  Because we’re all the stars of our own little movies. As it says on the subway poster by my apartment, we’re one city of eight million centers of the universe.  But if we never take a breather from our own concerns and move beyond the bounds of our oppressive egos, we lose. We make our…

In this episode of Steal Scott’s Ideas, Scott shares his favorite moments from season one. Miss any of the episodes?  No problem. Here’s a list of the innovations we discussed, in software, consumer goods, industrial goods and service businesses. Enjoy@ SOFTWARE Shit happens, but you want my coworkers to know that you’re late for good reason and actually believe your story. Introducing Be Right There… An image based messaging app for…

You complain how it’s so hard to meet someone special.  That the dating scene in this city is unforgiving and exhausting. And that there are no good prospects out there.  Fair enough. All of those things are probably true.  But they’re also external, out of your control and therefore, very easy to blame for your current situation. The only question that matters is: How are you keeping the fire of…