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Every time we get lost, we make our world bigger. Our most valuable teachings come when our plans are disturbed. Our greatest transformations occur in the moments when we’ve lost our way. And our finest symphonies assemble when we turn a humble ear to the most unintentional music. But when we make gods out of our plans, when we scrub our world clean of surprise, and when we preserve…

A hundred years ago, most scientists completed their best work before age forty. Einstein, who identified his theory of relativity at age twenty-six, claimed that if a scientist had not made his greatest contribution by that age, he would never do so. Of course, it’s all relative. Life expectancy was dramatically lower. There was fraction of the information available. And the population of the world was under a billion….

Every day we make art not knowing if we will get recognized or paid for it. This is both a beautiful and terrifying reality. On one hand, everything we create is an arrow shot into eternity. We’re just winking in the dark, without feedback, without closure and without metrics. It’s just us, our art and a heaping pile of trust. What a pisser. On the other hand, the ambiguity…

According to a recent report from the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, our country has three 327 million mobile phone subscribers, but only 315 million people. Proof positive that our insatiable desire for human connection will always outweigh our unstoppable desire for technological consumption. Smartphones are awesome, but the fix we get when we use them to reach out and touch someone is the addiction. It’s physiological. As mammals, acts…

We are what we share. Just look at the last thing we published, posted, profiled, updated, uploaded, streamed, liked, tweeted or clicked. That’s it. That’s us. That’s who we are, whether we like it or not. And because the web never forgets – because the web is forever – we better be careful what we put out there. A Georgia teacher got fired for posting videos of binge drinking….

When someone plagiarizes us, we shouldn’t send a subpoena. We should a thank you note. Creative piracy is a compliment. It’s a reminder that we’re worthy copying. And it’s validation that we’re big enough to be a target. It’s also part of the job description. Everybody steals from everybody everywhere. They always have, and they always will. That doesn’t make it okay. But there’s not much we can do…

[ View the infographic! ] “Everyone should wear nametags, all the time, everywhere, forever.” That’s my thesis, philosophy, dangerous idea and theory of the universe. My name is Scott, and I’ve been wearing a nametag for past four thousand days. And after traveling to hundreds of cities, a dozen countries, four continents, meeting tens of thousands of people, constant experimentation and observation, building a enterprise and writing a dozen…

Presence is a powerful motivator. If we want to inspire the people around us to do great work, the smartest thing we can do is dig in our heels and start cranking out great work of our own. That way, we lead by example. We influence through infection. We demonstrate trust in each others’ sovereignty. And we create a space that supports a mutual commitment to individual passion. Eventually,…

The night I ended a four-year relationship, I slept like a rock. I felt guilty. Like I should have been more devastated, more disturbed, busy counting dots on the ceiling, tossing and turning until the sun came up. But when I woke up the next morning, rested and relieved for the first time in weeks, my body sent me a memo: You made the right decision.Cartwheels should tell us…

After I graduated college, published my first book and ran out of money, I made a crucial career decision. Time to move back in with my parents. For two years, eight months and twenty-nine days, to be exact. Not that I was counting. But they were cool about it. They even charged me rent, which I thought was solid parenting move. Every month, I paid them the amount of…