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Approximately one year into wearing a nametag every day, a beautiful women I’d never met before approached me at a bar at two in the morning. She was completed intoxicated. And yet, the first words out of her mouth were clear as a bell.  Aren’t you the nametag guy?  I didn’t know what to say. Nobody had ever called me that before. It was too early in the experiment….

Debono’s research on lateral thinking found that in hotel fires, more people were killed as a result of panic reactions than by the fire itself.  It’s a frightening picture. But it’s also a reminder that we our own biggest threat. That in the midst of a crisis, when the world is burning around us, the thing that is most likely to destroy us is our own inability to react…

I was listening to an interview with a world renowned radio broadcaster, who attributed his success to doing things just differently enough to short circuit the system.  That phrase really spoke to me. Because although he was speaking colloquially, it’s a really interesting concept to explore scientifically.  In engineering, for example, a short circuit comes from an electrical current that bypasses the main line, travels along the unintended path,…

Matter behaviors differently when it’s being watched. It’s been clinically proven. Quantum physicists call this phenomenon the observer effect, which states that the very act of observation causes changes on the matter being observed. Fascinating.  But sometimes, when it comes to innovation, the inverse is true. The path of opportunity only exists when nobody else is looking. As if the rest of the world’s lack of attention and awareness illuminates something special…

Gilmore famously said that golf requires goofy pants and a fat ass.  But the reality is, golf simply requires a ton of practice. Daily devotion to doing the work. That’s the only real way to achieve any kind of permanent success with your swing.  Without that level of repetition, you’ll never commit that skill to muscle memory. You’ll perpetually hit shanks at the driving range. You’ll become so frustrated…

All creativity begins with the moment of conception. That little piece of kindling that gets the fire going. That initial source of inspiration that takes on a life of its own. That single note from which the entire symphony grows. That single spark of life that signals an idea’s movement value, almost screaming to us, something wants to be built here. Based on my books in The Prolific Series, I’m going…

There’s always that moment as an artist when you’re wondering if there’s anyone who knows what it’s like to be you. If you’re the only one who feels this way.  Because the assumption is, people won’t love you if they know this is inside of you. Whatever this is. And so, you keep it locked up. You back away from the creative responsibility of splattering blood onto the page.  Years ago an…

When I’m paying attention to things that are completely out of my control, participating in the nonstop tornado of nonsense, poised in a great ballet of expectation, agonizing over the trivia of the world, anxiety is never far behind.  And the irony is, I think it’s power, but it’s actually killing me.  However, the moment I remember that life is always giving me a chance not to give a…

Toffler famously wrote that change is the process by which the future invades our lives. That change is an elemental force with accelerative thrust that has personal and psychological consequences.  One of which is the sense of loss. Even death. That’s what makes change so scary. It requires a certain amount of mourning and surrendering control and letting go of a portion of your identity.  After all, who are…

Our personhood is carved by the flow of our habits.  Identity comes from consistency, not rare moments of greatness.  And so, if we are to engrave them so deeply that they become natural and instinctual, we have to make space to integrate them into our lives. I’m reminded of a useful mantra my yoga instructor recites at the end of each class: Give your body time to memorize the…