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Whether it’s getting married or starting a business or having children or moving across the country or going full time with your business, you’ll never really be ready. It’ll never really be the right time.  So what’s the holdup?  Because by that logic, you’re always ready. It’s always the right time. And so, making the right choice doesn’t matter as much as making the commitment to choosing. It’s not…

Effectiveness is relative.  When you’re doing the right things, it doesn’t matter if you’re doing things right. Because when you create from a place of meaning, productivity follows. When you nail the what and the why behind the work, the how comes along for the ride.  Effectiveness and productivity become incidental, not intentional.  On the other hand, if you have an antagonistic relationship with your job, no system is going to save you. That’s like…

Because the creative process regularly feels uncertain, overwhelming and unsatisfying, it’s important for each artist to build a personal menu of faithful forces. Portable routines and dependable constants to keep their creative life stable and fruitful when inspiration goes into hiding.  I prefer doing the dishes. Because unlike publishing books or composing music or giving speeches or strategizing with clients, doing the dishes is one of the few times…

It’s easy to make things hard for ourselves. To approach innovation as an endless uphill battle. But the creative process doesn’t have to be as laborious and pressured as we make it out to be.  Searls famously said in his manifesto that he’d been pushing large rocks for short distances up a lot of hills, for a long time. But then he inverted and started rolling snowballs down hills….

Savasana, also known as corpse pose, is the most anatomically neutral position of any yoga practice.  Physically speaking, it’s the most ergonomic position of the human body. It reduces stress and fatigue on muscles and joints. It also helps lower blood pressure and  slow respiration and reduce heart rate. In fact, most teachers say it’s the most important posture of the practice.  And yet, it’s profoundly challenging. Because the only…

I don’t pack heat, I pack nametags.  Since I wear a nametag twenty four seven, I carry spares with me everywhere I go. In my wallet at all times. Both blank and prewritten. Because you never know when you might need one.  What’s interesting is, after fifteen years, I’ve found ways to use a nametag for almost every conceivable purpose, unrelated to an actual badge.  Scrap paper, tissue paper,…

I believe purpose matters. It’s a deep source of energy and motivation for me. It’s a valuable checkpoint for evaluating my actions. It’s an intelligent way to provide a framework for systematic behavior patterns in everyday life. And it’s the best available cure for my feelings of meaninglessness and anxiety.  After all, it is easier to get out of bed when you have a horizon to point to. The…

My nametag is my passport.  It’s a guest pass that makes me feel welcomed everywhere. With the nametag, I’m instantly friends with everybody everywhere, no matter what country I’m traveling through. It enables a positive, personal and memorable experience with people of different cultures. And it builds a bridge to people who may look different on the outside, but have the same wiring on the inside.  And yet, whenever…

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…

Given the choice, I would rather exercise steadily for sixty minutes than strenuously for ten.  In my experience, it’s duration, not intensity, which allows me to break a better sweat, keep my heart rate elevated, lock into flow state and have a more meditative, meaningful experience.  That’s the way I’m wired. Pure marathon mindset. I’m not playing to win, I’m playing to keep the game going. Of course, countless…