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“I felt like I got through a door just as it was closing.” When I started my company right out of college, all of my friends were entering into the corporate world. A decade later, when retired and went into the corporate world, all of my friends began starting their own companies. Funny how that works. What’s interesting is, the old rules of entrepreneurship are crumbling. Today, starting your own company is a…

“You will continually pour rain on your own parade.” Eric Maisel’s philosophy on clinical depression is fascinating. Reminds me of a few people I used to know. Serious issues with depression. But I guess I never really understood their experience. I’ve certainly been disappointed, unhappy and sad before. Even had a few anxiety attacks over the years. But I never classified it as depression. My perspective was always mindset based. How is…

“You get what you don’t pay for.” My theory is, if you’re going to use an online dating service, fork over the money. Pay a hundred bucks and make it official. Otherwise you’ll never fully commit to finding someone special. That’s how commitment works. We need something that’s bigger than any excuse. Halfway will be the end of us. Otherwise we’ll just keep complaining about how there’s nobody out there,…

“After swimming in purgatory for fifteen years, we were making a steady living.” Love this passage from Questlove’s new book. The sad part is, few artists make it past that point professionally. Most never fully break out of the ghetto. Some make enough money to get the opportunity to do the work again. And a select few actually become rock stars. That’s why it’s often wiser to keep art as…

“As soon as somebody says you’re spending too much time on something, you’re on the right track.” When I was in high school, I spent every spare moment writing songs. Hours and hours and hours. To the point where my mom would have to flicker the basement lights on and off just to make sure I was still alive. Little did I know, those formative years laid the creative foundation from…

“Religion is a theological insurance scam.” Memorable line from Stephen King’s interview on Fresh Air. As usual, it got me thinking. Religion is an attractive proposition because everything comes built in. Faith. Belief. Community. Ritual. Tradition. Answers. Meaning. What’s not to like? It’s the perfect system for satisfying our essential human longings. I get it. And frankly, there are times when I wish I was part of it. Life is so much easier…

“How much does your life weigh?” Five years ago, life was a lot different. I had more money, more things, more goals, more friends, more faith, more productivity, more time, more freedom and more adulation than I have today. But the thing is, I also had less happiness than I have today. Interesting. Maybe I was wrong about the correlation between life’s mass and life’s meaning. Inspired by theempty backback….

“He’s unwilling to be forgotten.” Amazing interview with Billy Crystal. He tells the story of his mentor giving him notes after a performance. “Your act is like Chinese food. It’s really good, but we can’t remember what you ate. You didn’t leave a tip. That little extra something that’s uniquely you, leave it with the audience. That way, even if the show didn’t go that well, they have a reason to…

“It is mankind’s evolutionary obligation to use all the powers at our disposal.” Love this passage from Inferno. It’s a good reminder that we’re much stronger, much smarter and a much more capable than we give ourselves credit for. We just need a testing ground. An enabler. A encounter that shows us what we’re made of. Like playing trivia in a bar. Ever notice how many answers you magically pull…

“It’s not like there’s a limited number of slots.” Aziz proves that the artistic pie has enough slices for everybody. That the path of bitter resentment and bullshit competitiveness is not worth taking. And that every moment we’re lost in somebody else’s orbit is a moment we’re not improving life on our own planet. If your whole schtick is undermining the work of others, that’s not art, that’s fear….