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“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…

“If you can’t have religion, there are big absences that you have to find somewhere else.” The word religion means “to link back.” Forget about gods or churches or temples or prayers. Religion is the organizing principle, the iron rod at the center of our lives, that everything else links back to. We don’t need to believe in god, we need to have a system for refilling our reservoir of meaning….

“Loss, theft, damage or mysterious disappearance.” In the personal property world, that’s what they call comprehensive coverage. I learned that when I bought insurance for my fiancee’s engagement ring. Turns out, the most common claim filed by women who lose expensive jewelry is “mysterious disappearances.” Such a great phrase. I imagine a committee of 1950’s insurance executives sitting around a table, smoking heavily, trying to coin a term for this phenomenon. And then…

“I wish there was something wrong with you so this would be easier.” That’s how my friend Wendy described her first time firing an employee. She said it tore her up inside because the guy was so talented. Makes total sense. Humans hate playing the role of the heartbreaker. There’s something in our blood that’s averse to inflicting emotional pain upon others. And when we know we’re about to devastate…

“When you gamble on yourself, it’s an asset you understand.” The last time I gambled, I won a hundred bucks on blackjack. Later that night, I got a speeding ticket for the same amount. Pretty much ended my career as a card player. And then I started a business. Which meant I had to gamble on myself. Completely different ball game. Now, I could control the dice. Now, I…

“Surrendering birthed amazing things.” Don’t you just love the moment when you relax into your vulnerabilities and accept life as a perpetual series of happy coincidences? So peaceful. So otherworldly. Letting go is such sweet sacrement. Inspired by a podcast about Tig Notaro’s battle with cancer.“It’s hard to face change alone.” My whole thing about change is, once life becomes different, I adapt quickly. But until then, until the…

“It gives me a craftsman’s pleasure.” I am forever attached to the poignant scraps that flow through life. At any given moment, ideas flock to me like iron fillings drawn to a magnet. From every source imaginable. And the next thing I know, I’m borrowing energy from the ideas themselves, riding on little waves on language, completely tuning out the rest of the world, lost in my linguistic vortex until…