Category Archives: Success

Life’s Lesson Plan

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This has been an interesting week. No two days were the same. Come to think of it, the routine and boredom that were part and parcel of the days occupying a seat in a cubicle farm are long gone. I also don’t miss working for people I couldn’t stand.

That’s not to say that life always comes up roses in the free agent economy. August began with a great deal of optimism and the herald that things were trending in the right direction. Then, a major car repair on Tuesday chewed up a week’s worth of income and I was reminded once again that life (at least the life of a freelancer) is always going to present a bumpy ride now and then.

This is what I tweeted on Tuesday.

A successful #freelancer becomes comfortable with ambiguity, is able to juggle/prioritize, remaining the same during feast/famine.

I felt like I captured 2015 from my perspective in less than 140 characters. Twitter-rific! Continue reading →

An Honest Conversation

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So you want to talk about the road to success, eh? Seriously? Success often masquerades as Lady Luck. Finding the pathway that leads to the doorway of success isn’t simply maintaining the status quo, either.

How are you at managing adversity? Let’s talk when your prospects seem hopeless, and the light coming from the other end of the tunnel is most likely a train. That’s the kind of conversation I’m interested in having.

It’s never easy going through a rough patch. I think it becomes more difficult during these social media-influenced times, when it seems like everyone else is having a ball, and you’re sitting at home, alone, with a can of cheap beer and some second-rate movie from 1937 on the idiot box. When the losing streak stretches out for weeks and then months, being resilient is a requisite, but it sure as hell isn’t easy getting up each and every day and turning your frown into a big fat smile for the doubters to see.

And just like that, someone throws you a bone—or two—and the funk comes to an end.

Life’s funny like that.

Keep Doing What You’re Doing

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I have a tendency towards impatience. If some new idea or project doesn’t take off immediately, I’m ready to rate it as a failure and run off in a new direction. At least that’s what I used to do a lot more often. I’ve learned from past mistakes.

Novelty and hoping that if you throw enough mud (or some other substance) up against the wall, some of it might stick isn’t always the best formula for success. Being entrepreneurial does require being somewhat risk averse, however.

When you release a new book, propose an investigative story to an editor at a publication, or pitch new projects hoping to keep enough work in your freelance pipeline to stay afloat, it’s easy to think nothing’s happening. Sometimes the phone doesn’t ring today, or email seems like it’s broken. Tomorrow’s sunrise always offers new possibilities. Continue reading →

Scripting Your Life

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Is it possible to script your own life? Can you put things into play that lead to the outcomes you desire?

When I used to do workforce development, which involved training and preparing individuals for employment, I was amazed by how many of our trainees’ lives were out of control. Poor choices in men, past employment decisions that marred resumes, the permanent altering of aspects of their bodies, and criminal histories, all severely limited many in the choice of work we could train them for. There are reasons why some jobs pay $9/hour, while others pay $20.

Setting off in a certain direction 10 years ago, I had a global sense of where I wanted to go. My primary goal at the time was leaving the place where I was working—at Moscow Mutual—embarking on a life of writing. Looking back on 2004 from my current vantage point, I am amazed by how few of the specifics I had figured out at that moment in time in respect to reaching this point on the timeline of my life—for instance, I had no clue about what a gap analysis was. Continue reading →

R U Happy?

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Happiness can be elusive. Is it an emotion or a feeling? Opinions vary.

In her 2007 book The How of Happiness, positive psychology researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky, describes happiness as “the experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one’s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile.” That’s a good start, at least in terms of defining what happiness is.

I was talking with a longtime friend yesterday about happiness, and its opposites. I mentioned to him that I thought the key to successfully staying in whatever game happen to be playing, is “managing your down periods.” Continue reading →

Selling Cookies

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Being able to sell is important.

Being able to sell is important.

It’s been a while since I posted on an “off” day (an “off” day, in case you haven’t noticed is any day that’s not labeled Tuesday or Friday).

I just got to Seth Godin’s Wednesday blog post on Girl Scout cookies. I wanted to weigh-in because what he wrote was that important and resonated with me.

The lesson of his blog post was universal (don’t ask “no” questions, especially in sales), but he picked something that most everyone was familiar with—selling Girl Scout cookies. Good God! Who doesn’t like Girl Scout cookies? Continue reading →

The Power of Sriracha

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Just one word for you; "Sriracha."

Just one word for you; “Sriracha.”

It’s possible to make it in today’s world without a Facebook page and a Twitter handle. The gurus will deny this and insist that it’s not true. They tell us incessantly that we must all bow down before social media, or at least social media’s self-appointed royalty.

So much noise about what we all must do to be successful. Continue reading →

Working It Out

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Self-help and the great host of gurus plying their trade is never-ending. There is a book and a product for whatever ails ‘ya, or a magic talisman that can turn any losing streak around.

Life reduced to a series of mantras, aphorisms, or simplified down to a three-step plan of salvation helps offset the pain that’s never-ending and always nearby. Visualizing a different reality doesn’t mean that the problems won’t be there when you come back from some other spiritual plane. Continue reading →

Simmering in the Pot

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I think I'll let the chili cook a little longer.

I think I’ll let the chili cook a little longer.

I like Seth Godin. If you know me, you know I read his stuff and I think he’s almost always worth considering. You could even call me “pathetic” and accuse me of being a fanboy. He’s been amazingly successful and he offers some great advice, especially if you want to break free of 20th century thinking about work and career. 

Having said that Seth’s stuff the past week or so has been causing some dissonance. Continue reading →