Blog

I recently overheard a conversation between two women, one of whom said to the other: My schedule was so busy, I peed on mute today. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Apparently being busy is the great badge of honor.  What’s interesting is, nearly a century ago, the greatest fiction writer of her times wrote the following passage. Rand said: People hurry because they’re afraid. It’s not a purpose…

Making a name for yourself is good for the ego, but helping others make a name for themselves is great for the soul.  Rand famously said that it takes two people to make every great career, the one who is great, and the one who is great enough to see greatness and say go.  And so, once we’re flushed all of the selfishness out of our system and made…

When asked why they couldn’t execute something on time, people often attribute their failures to forces outside of their control.  In contract law, attorneys will often use the legal term act of god, which is an implied defense under the rule of impossibility or impracticality. Events for which nobody can be held responsible. Chalking nonperformance up to divine intervention, fate or destiny.  But here’s the thing. Most of life is…

Goffman’s social psychology research found that true identity is formed when people assert pride in the thing that made them marginal.  When they realize, oh wow, what I thought was wrong with me, that thing that everybody always used to make fun of me for, is actually the very gift that I can use to belong to and create value for the world.  What a glorious relief. Sweet liberation. Especially in…

Frankl famously said that to live is to suffer, but to survive is to find meaning in the suffering.  The key word, of course, is find. Which suggests a significant amount of intellectual and existential work. Searching for aspects of our circumstances that we can view as gifts to be treasured. Forgiving reality for being what it is, but then cognitively reframing the story we tell ourselves about what…

Here’s what I’m searching for in life.  Moments when I suddenly know a different sense of living. Experiences when everything I thought I knew about my life comes to an end. When all my little rules go out the window. Milestones when I awake to a new sense of a responsibility, feel a fresh sense of energy flowing through me and start walking down a path toward a better…

We don’t always have to bring knowledge to the path.  Sometimes we simply have to trust that the function of the path is to equip us with what we need, and the moment we announce to the world that we’re ready to take that pivotal first step, the path will being to illuminate itself.  But the terrifying part is, we have to commit. We have to believe that the…

The paradox of the banking world is, in order to secure a loan, you must first prove you don’t need it.  That’s why the entrepreneur who shows up at his local branch with a coherent business plan, a high credit score, organized bank statements, tons of pay stubs, substantial industry knowledge, significant collateral and a twenty percent down payment, almost always qualifies for the loan.  Because the fact that…

Here’s the interpersonal mistake most of us make.  We treat people the way we think they deserve to be treated.  When somebody is cold or rude or uncaring towards us, we vindictively decide that we’re going to teach them a lesson. We’re going to give people what’s best for them. We’re going to show them the light and help them see what we want them to see so they’re never…

Camus, the original gangster of absurdist philosophy, once said that all great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning.  He believed that true groundbreaking ideas were often born out of unknown and unsuspected venues, like a street corner or in a restaurant’s revolving door. And they arrived outside the frames of man’s plans and intentions.  So small and so simple and so innocuous, that they didn’t even…