The tendency to underestimate our own resourcefulness

Let's assume it's true that when the mind is stretched by a new thought, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions. Why stop with the brain? Surely the same metaphor applies to other organs. In my experience, anytime I’ve been willing to stand in the fire of my difficult feelings and not run away from them, my heart is actually what expands and never shrinks back to its former directions. Because you can’t unring that emotional bell. Every time...

Would you still work after hours even if it violated company policy? Many modern professionals say yes. Employees are always just a tap and a swipe away from their jobs, so it feels like no skin off their back. And yet, the cumulative cost of this efficiency in the form of anxiety far outweighs whatever value is created for the client. Becker’s landmark study demonstrated that an employee doesn’t even need to spend actual time on work in their off...

Time is a story. Einstein himself proved that it expands and contracts based on our subjective interpretation of it. Here's an example from my experience. When I set aside regular, quiet time to get the rest that my body and mind crave, something magical happens. I suddenly seem to have more time, not less, for all the other demands in my life. The act of relaxing creates more minutes in my day. It's part of the system that allows me...

My first book was written during my senior year of college. Eighty pages of stories and observations about a guy who wore a nametag every day. It wasn't that good, but it was mine, and that's all that mattered. After graduation, I published it, and the book went viral. It fundamentally changed the trajectory of my life and career forever. That was over twenty years ago. Feels like another lifetime. And looking back, it's amusing to wonder what would have...

Along each of our hero's journey, whatever power we are searching for, it has been in our possession from the very beginning. That thing was there the whole time. We just needed to embark on this long and sprawling quest in order to confront and own it. Putting on a nametag didn't make me special, it merely brought to the surface a specialness that was always there. It made me more approachable to an otherwise cynical and disconnected world, which...