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Avatar was a film that taught us to develop a new kind of relationship with nature.  One that’s grounded in sense of gratitude and prosperity and generosity.  Sulley models this connection in the scene where he goes on his first hunt as a rite of passage. He shoots down the great beast, pulls the arrow from the twitching body of a hexapede and dispatches it with his knife. He then speaks…

Life is not set up to meet our meaning needs.  It’s not the universe’s obligation to endow each of our endeavors with a sense of significance and value.  Meaning is an inside job. Only we can form our experiences into communicable meaning for ourselves. This process can be an uphill battle. Especially during seasons of inactivity and transition. Because we want to be proactive, but we also don’t want to burden…

Carlin famously said that you can’t be the fastest gun in town forever.  There comes a time when you’re no longer the golden boy, and you have to go off somewhere and figure yourself out.  What’s interesting is, some people do just that, and come back guns blazing looking for blood. They kill a man before breakfast just to work up an appetite.  But some people move away from the spotlight…

You’re more prepared than you think.  The groundwork has already been laid in the inner space of your mind. It’s all muscle memory now.  And so, let go of all your crutches and props and cheat sheets. They won’t help you. Instead, trust that you’ve already done the work. Trust that you can be moved by whatever is inside of you. Trust that who you are is enough to…

The reward of the journey is not arriving at the destination, it’s transforming yourself to such a state of joy and worthiness and fulfillment, that you don’t feel any different when you get there.  Because you’ve already done the work. You’ve already supported yourself in becoming the person you most needed to be. The destination was just a bonus. The cherry on top.  Job seekers, for example, assume that…

What if grandparents babysat in parking lots?  What if doing house chores was a competitive sport?  What if ping pong had ball boys?  What if we monetized road rage?  What if parents could shop in big box retailers without stress? In this episode of Steal Scott’s Ideas, Andy, Phil and Sherril gather in Tampa for some execution in public. # # # Execution Lesson 102: Air as dense as a poor man’s…

Saturday morning, a man receives a knock at this door.  He answers and sees a jehovah’s witness smiling and holding a bible.  “Hello, sir, do you mind if I come inside to talk for a bit?”  To his surprise, the homeowner says yes and invites him in. A few minutes later, the man comes into the living room with some coffee and a bagel, sits down on the couch…

Belonging is the opposite of thinking that wherever you are, you would be better off somewhere else.  And if you’re lucky enough to experience it, it’s one of the most joyous and liberating feeling in the repertoire of human emotion.  Take it from somebody who struggled with belonging his whole life.  Somebody who always felt like an alien staring into the window of the party. Somebody who wondered if…

Cameron’s school of thought, which has been fundamental in my own development as an artist, promotes the idea that writing writes things.  She says that as we move our hands across the canvas of our lives, we paint more vividly the brush strokes of our experience. Our transitions become more consciously wrought. And writing becomes transformative, alchemical, empowering and enlightening.  Writing writes things.  Through this mantra, I discovered creating to…

Parkinson’s law, which states that work expands to fill the time available for its completion, creates an interesting predicament for artists.  Because most of us work alone. And so, if we have a problem, we have all of the time in the world to obsess over it. There simply aren’t enough structures and constraints to keep our minds occupied.  Whereas people working a more traditional career path, complete with…