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One of my favorite writers once released a drama series with an innovative distribution model.  Louie did zero promotion and made no prior announcements. The project had no logline, no press junket, no ad campaign, no test audiences, no studio system and no third party distribution.  All that people knew was, one morning, a sudden and terse email showed up in their inboxes with the following message.  Hi there….

Joy isn’t always glitter and belly laughs and jumping up and down with overwhelming delight.  Just because we don’t emanate a spontaneous outward response, doesn’t mean we’re not happy. Often times joy comes from simply being content, feeling safe and discovering the beauty of the world.  It’s exquisitely ordinary. Uncomplicated. Gentle. Inexpensive. Maybe even mundane. Whatever it takes to light up our circuits.  That’s the big misconception about joy….

Humans aren’t the only animals that think, but they are the only animals that drive themselves crazy with their thinking.  It’s a problem of proportion.  In our modern world where information is coming at us from every possible angle, faster than our constitutions can possibly handle, we treat every piece of information as a crisis.  And when we fail to realize the violent consequences that repeated thinking can have…

Opening a stubborn jar is a universal human struggle.  Even if we do use brute force, then wrap the jar in a rubber glove, smack the lid with a spoon, run it under boiling water and whip out one of those handy silicon kitchen openers for old people with arthritis, sometimes, that stupid lid still won’t budge.  It’s infuriating. You almost have to convince yourself that you’re not ever…

I have a therapist friend who uses an interesting technique to keep clients focused during phone sessions.  Within the first few minutes, before digging into the heart of the matter, he asks the following question: Is there anything on the top of your mind that might distract you during this call?  It’s a simple, respectful and practical tool for setting context.  Not just for the client, but for the…

What if pooping was gamified? What if giraffes didn’t doubt? What if fish fat became spreadable? What if resting bitch face had its own symposium? What if you could publicly shame people to make the world more efficient? In this episode of Steal Scott’s Ideas, Brittany, Sara and Zohar gather in Brooklyn for some execution in public.  # # # Execution Lesson 103: Almost everything is noise Every beautiful thing…

When my grandmother turned eighty, we decided to move her into a senior living facility.  It was a tough transition.  Edie naturally had a lot of sadness and apprehension about the move, as any elderly person would.  Can you imagine assimilating into a new community at that stage of life? You’re out of practice making friends, feeling shy about being the new kid, and coming into a strange environment…

Getting sick can be painful.  But getting angry and frustrated at ourselves for being sick, that can be suffering.  Because it’s an extra layer of resistance and confusion and despair that we create in reaction to our pain, which actually compounds the hurt and makes us feel worse than we really are.  My own needs insult me. I’m not crying because the stomach bug hurts, I’m crying because I’m the kind…

For many centuries, much of human behavior has been driven by the fear of becoming an outcast from the herd.  Our primitive instincts remind us to keep the spirits happy, keep the tribe’s nest warm and safe, and show allegiance to the chief and the clan.  Lest we’re banished into the wilderness to go die a horrible death.  But in the past few decades, there’s been a shift. Now…

People want to be strong.  They want to figure things out on their own and decide for themselves what a good course of action is.  And so, we have to prepare ourselves for their stubbornness. Because in order for them to come to their own conclusions, they’re going to conduct exhaustive research. They’re going to question and reject all expert opinions. And they’re going to do whatever else it takes to…