Blog

Mormon missionaries are unique in that they’re the only evangelists required wear nametags at all times in public. It’s one of the most recognizable visual features they carry. According to the church’s official wardrobe guidelines, they are required to wear their nametag on the outermost layer of clothing so that others may clearly identify them. What’s fascinating is, the badge not only dons their surname and appropriate title, but…

It takes time to build valuable things. Fruitful growth is slow. Even if we are driven by the ecstatic urgency to give rise to that which is new, whatever it is we want, it’s guaranteed to take longer than we’d like. In my twenty years of experience recording albums, publishing books and producing films, there’s no doubt in my mind.: Having patience is frustrating, depressing and most notably, expensive. But the…

The simple act of engaging with the world through a nametag has fundamentally changed my life in multiple ways. From communication to business to relationships to creativity to identity to spirituality, there are very few parts of my daily experience that have not been touched by this simple little experiments. Nametags really do stick, in every sense of the word. One subject that’s been deeply compelling to explore is…

If you are working harder on someone’s life than they are, that is not love, that is codependency. Not a relationship, but an entanglement. Not benevolence, but people pleasing. It may feel satisfying to be the helpful hero, cleaning up after your dysfunctional friend or partner, saving them from their problems. But long term, doing these things for other people will leave you feeling drained, leave the other person…

Being of service is one of our prime opportunities for making meaning, and therefore, experiencing fulfillment. But what we don’t realize it, service is quite the selfish act. It’s something that we perform for our own benefit. Like happy hour at my old office. Drinking isn’t my thing, but making guacamole is. And for me, that act of preparing food for my peers is a small expression of service….

Nobody ages out of suffering. We’re never done dealing with bullshit. Each of us will always have our own carnival of nonsense to deal with. Regardless of what we feel we deserve, or what we believe we’ve earned the right not to deal with anymore, life will still find some way to hand us a pile of crap. It’s as sure as the tides. But there are those who…

There was a time when the young, naïve and paranoid version of you wondered to yourself. How did you get here? What are you even doing here? Can you believe you got away with this? Is this a coup or what? Resulting in the final pressure cooker thought of, wow, you better be good. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Happened to me well into my thirties. But there…

Watching nametags go viral in real time is a fascinating thing. It’s happened to me hundreds of times over the years, from everything to weddings, conference, bars, offices, street parties and a number of other public events. It all starts with patient zero, yours truly, who is responsible for the initial transmission of the idea. One guy who is silly enough to put on the sticker and risk being…

Ripley’s is known as the sprawling collection of curiosities. From shrunken to unusual animals to human beings that hammer nails into their noses, they catalog just about everything you have never thought of. It originally launched as newspaper cartoon in the early nineteen hundreds, but since that time, the franchise has adapted into a wide variety of formats, including radio, television, comic books, a chain of museums, and a…

Brodie writes in his book about the virus of the mind that a meme can be any idea, behavior, practice, symbol or piece of media that gets imitated. Its existence influences events such that more copies of itself get created in other minds. Meaning, memes are small movements. They spread from person to person via social networks, blogs, direct email, news sources, or face to face interaction. Either one…