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Everyone has potential crying out to be engaged. It’s what it means to be alive.  Rollo’sbookon man’s search for himself states it best: Every organism has only one central need in life, which is to fulfill its own potentialities. However, the task is never automatic. A person’s development must be to some extent chosen and affirmed by himself.  And so, if we are to overcome the limited view of our…

No matter how much attention I got, the loneliness still returned.  And I couldn’t take it anymore.  Because deep down, I knew there was a whole life unlived by me. I knew that if I took a moment, I would find a beautiful new world waiting for my participation. And so, I forced myself to look at what was blocking me from including and working with others in my…

What if menacing gray curb snow became popsicles? What if augmented reality eliminated littering? What if we sold psychographically analyzed microwave scraps? What if we shorted the secondary market for karma? What if doctors could take toot samples? In this episode of Steal Scott’s Ideas, Alex, Eli & Alexandra gather at Metric Collective for some execution in public. **Sponsored by the Schmuck Parade Music Festival Execution Lesson 107: Charisma is…

There’s a mantra that I use to remind myself about the power of fear. Once you’ve seen a ghost, you’re always afraid of the dark.  That’s the nature of trauma. Big or small, we all suffer deep mental and emotional scars from our distressing experiences. And from that point forward, we have to stay attuned to the many reminders of that trauma.  Because any stimuli can become a trigger….

When I was on jury duty, I learned that one of the most common types of lawsuit damages is called the loss of ability to enjoy life.  Unlike pain and suffering, which compensates the defendant for the physical pain they feel, loss of enjoyment damages compensates someone for the things they can no longer do because of the pain they are feeling, like playing sports, hobbies, vocations, or any other…

Altman’s book on mindfulness reminds us that letting go doesn’t mean we don’t care, it’s just that we’re no longer invested in building a brick wall to keep things from changing.  We’re not giving up, we’re being honest about our situation. We’re not throwing something away, we’re merely stepping outside of its shadow so that things may be seen in a different light.  It’s an act of mercy toward ourselves. Each…

Vulnerability is not an easy ask. Nor is it a simple one.  It’s not another technique that we can learn from a book or on a weekend retreat.  There are, however, a few questions that we can use as a entry point to feeling vulnerable.  Where are we afraid? And where are we hurting?  If we can be honest about those two things, we’re on the right track. T here’s a powerful and cathartic…

Years ago, on the day of a performance review, I stopped by the market on my walk home from lunch.  And I was this close to not buying groceries to keep at my desk.  Because I just knew it would jinx me.  That’s the way the universe works, right? Clearly, the treacherous and unholy act of buying thirteen dollars worth of pickles, trail mix and string cheese would create a ripple…

I recently heard a fascinating interview between two recovering workaholics.  Recounting the good old days of staying at the office way too late, one man laughed and admitted: There was no joy in the act, it was just anesthesia.  Who can’t relate to that experience? Who hasn’t not been trapped at a crappy job or in a toxic relationship that systematically took all of the joy out of the…

It’s tempting to beat ourselves up over the qualities that we lack.  But that’s the stoic part of our brain. It believes that turning a cruel eye to our weaknesses will help us grow.  Turns out, though, only making friends with them does. Only reconciling ourselves to our own liabilities can help us take the first step toward change.  And so, instead of railing and raging about how badly…