Reinvention is my brand. There is a wealth of writing and advice out there about establishing your personal brand. There are even some contrarian positions on the concept including a recent post by someone with a pretty amazing personal brand (please, Laurie, say it ain’t so). Continue reading
Category Archives: Success
Empower Yourself
I believe that many are lacking something that makes them feel alive, or gives their life meaning. Merely working 40-50 hours each week for a paycheck isn’t meaningful; it’s survival.
I’ve written about my quest to learn to swim. I decided that I wanted to complete a sprint triathlon in June. Mary’s been competing in these for the past three years and I wanted to join her. I only had one problem; I haven’t been in a public pool since I was 12 and I could barely make it down the pool and back. I certainly had no technique. Continue reading
Life is like publishing a book (part I)
Book publishing teaches many life lessons.
What motivates people to make changes in their lives? Why is it that some people embrace self-improvement and personal growth, while others stay stuck in the same old rut?
As mentioned before, I was stuck in self-defeating patterns of behavior for a good chunk of my young adult life. Even in my early 30s, when I began looking for answers not bound by spiritual precepts, I had a hard time accepting the power our minds hold over us. Often, how we think, and what we choose to fill our heads with sabotages the best laid plans. Continue reading
What I can do
One day last week, after wrapping up some end-of-the day work tasks, I sat down, put my feet up and flicked on MSNBC while waiting for Mary to come home. I’m comfortable saying that I lean leftward, so MSNBC is often a mainstream news choice. If you tilt rightward, you most likely prefer your talking heads, Fox-flavored.
Left or right, much of what now passes as “news” is nothing more than a bunch of people screaming back and forth, or engaging in some form of fear-fogging. During this particular dinner hour, the topic was gun control. On another day, or week, it could have been the fiscal cliff, why Republicans (or Democrats) are such idiots, or some other item from a list of meaningless topic fodder that runs like a tape loop on all the networks, lacking intellectual girth, and not much variation, depth, or nuance. Continue reading
Know your kryptonite
We spend so much time focused on and promoting success that sometimes we usually look past glaring deficiencies that are waiting to sabotage even the most robust success strategy. While there are as many schemes for success as there are stars in the sky on a cloudless night, papering over our liabilities will surely sidetrack our best-laid plans moving forward.
For this post, I’m going to diverge from the “three steps to success” model that’s all the rage—at least for today. Today, we’re going to focus on weakness. Continue reading
Setting goals–hitting the mark
Success requires hitting some goals (and missing a few).
I keep notebooks. They’re scattered across shelves and tucked in cubbyholes in my office. Sometimes I like to take stock by taking a look back.
Yesterday, I found this notebook I was using in 2008. The date indicates I’d just started working on Moxietown, and WorkReady was still a fledgling program.
Some of you know the rest of the story.
Should I write a book for you?
The subject of writing a book came up during a conversation I had yesterday. During the course of meeting with someone about the possibility of partnering on future projects, my friend mentioned that she’d love to write a book. I mentioned that she should. Continue reading
Learn from the past
Einstein receives attribution for the maxim that “doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results” is one definition of insanity. If Einstein’s true, and his body of work supports his veracity, then a good many people are just plain bonkers.
Over and over again humans choose paths leading to dead-ends. Even when given a second (and a third and a fourth…) chance, they regularly choose futility.
When I began writing, I was forced to fake it ‘til I made it. Without clips, clients, or any kind of substantial work, I learned to bluff my way forward. I ended up getting work, some of it offering valuable experience to someone finding his way as a freelancer. Continue reading