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“It’s not okay with me that I don’t understand that.” Seth Godin made a great point about being a noticer during yesterday’s presentation. I can relate. There’s this relentless mechanism inside of me that demands to know things. Like when the cashier at the clothing store asks me what kinds of things I plan to do in my new shorts. I need to know why she asked that question. Was…

“People that are like batteries to your creative endeavors.” The ones who answer how with yes. The ones who spark your productivity by proximity alone. The ones who don’t make you feel stupid for speaking up. I love these people. Thanks to them, instead of your ideas solely living and dying in your imagination, they’re able to grow up and reach the world. Inspired by Kevin Smith’s description of…

“This is why I don’t have goals.” For years I promised myself that if I could just accomplish this, then I would be happy. But despite checking off goals on a weekly basis, the list kept growing and growing. Like a regenerating monster. And the hunger was never fully satisfied. Until one day, it hit me like a slow, hot wind. Holy shit. I’ve done enough to be okay with myself, I realized….

“There’s a breed of nerd that’s become a bully.” Awesome interview with Jim Jeffries about the evolution of nerds. One one hand, all the nerds who grew up in the seventies and eighties have become successful. On the other hand, all the nerds who grew up in the nineties and beyond have now become trolls. To the point that they’re using the Internet to bully each other. What happens when…

“Fill the silence with ideas.” The first step in creating value is taking initiative. Literally, the first step. Only when you physically move your carcass out of our chair can you truly contribute. That doesn’t mean you have to be right. That doesn’t mean you have to be perfect. Nor does it mean you have to be loud. But if you wait for people to tell you what to do,…

“The emotional center of my customer is the most magical data I could have.” I spoke at a business conference yesterday along side Gary Vee. Loved his philosophy on research. Real research. Not quant. Not sentiment analysis. Not fabricated consumer profiles. But the excavation of actual human feelings, usually compressed into something as small as a single tweet, that provides insight into their world. That’s the drop of iodine…

“I’ve learned that I need to give it the first energy of the day.” I’m fascinated by human routine. If I could host a television show, I would interview happy people and find out exactly what they do in the first three hours of their day. Then I would broadcast the show into university cable stations, require all students to watch weekly episodes in groups, and then discuss with their…

“When you get to the reception, you’re fired.” Encouraging words from our wedding emcee, Beth. She’ll have the event under control, she explains. Our job is to stay in the moment and have fun. What a selling point. Forget about the songlist, music is just the functional benefit. What you’re paying for is the freedom to not to think. To be able to enjoy your own party. If more entrepreneurs positioned their services…

“The best way to complain is to make things.” Last week a listened to a women at my yoga studio bitch to the receptionist about the smell. She told us the carpet was in dire need of a cleaning, the mats were old and stale and the towels needed to be replaced. Then she had the audacity to pontificate about practicing non-attachment, and how the smell didn’t really bother her…

“Careers are things you can only look at in reverse.” Who would want to work one job their whole life anyway? By the time my generation has grandkids, we’ll look back at our careers and see a plethora of jobs, occupations, work trajectories and professional experiences. But here’s my hunch. As diversified as our careers become, as powerful as technology gets, and as evolved as our identities become, we’re still going to…