Ideas are free, execution is priceless.

During a cryogenics test, a pilot frozen in the thirties awakes in the nineties, but time is running out, as his body starts to age rapidly. Tell me that logline doesn’t sound intriguing. It comes from an underrated movie that came out during my teenage years, Forever Young. Mel Gibson romantically portrays the anguish of not being able to share his life with the one he loves. In one…

There’s a classic scene from an old cop movie where the detective discovers that his wife is having an affair with his best friend and business partner. Trying to make excuses for his behavior, the cheater uses that tired old movie trope: It just happened. The detective replies. It just happened? Sure, it just happened. It could happen to anybody. It was an accident. You tripped and fell and…

One evening at my support group, we did an exercise that annoyed me. The guy leading the discussion posed the following question, giving each member two minutes to answer: What is standing between you and total happiness right now? It sounded like something pulled from the appendix of a life coaching handbook. One of those sharp, poignant questions that’s supposed to cut to the core of the client’s soul…

Consider the following scenario. An employee casually comments to a company executive about a challenge they’re having with their work. That leader listens attentively and thanks the team member for bringing the issue to their attention. Then they go back to whatever seven things they were doing before the interruption. And about a month later when nothing changes, the complaining employee throws their hands up in the air and says,…

Nobody likes anything anymore. Everyone is too concerned with being seen as cool and clever, and they can’t accomplish that when they put themselves on the line. Much easier to analyze everything to a pulp. People garner more attention and greater social status by making snide comments, explaining why a thing sucks and why they’re above it. Joy is boring at best and deluded at worst. Part of this…