Every few months I read another article on why gamification is the new tool to achieve success. Sometimes it's a social media dashboard that promises to make engaging with your network fun and easy. Or a smartphone app for creating better habits that will give you medals and awards for exercise or some other personal development goal. But they all claim to tap into the same psychology that makes video games so addictive and use that power for professional and personal change. But I'm not sold. Like many of my friends who grew up in the 80's and 90's, I'm a bit of video game nerd. OK, I'm a big video game nerd. From late-night … [Read more...]
Moving Past the Damming (and Damning) Power of Getting It Right
I've found that one of the biggest challenges for myself as an entrepreneur and creator is the desire to get things right. I know that it sounds a little backwards, but I've found that one of the best ways to not make forward progress is to worry about making sure your progress is the best it can be. Perfection Gets You Stuck Getting stuck because of this focus on perfection manifests in different ways for different people. For some it's analysis paralysis, where they keep accumulating more and more data instead of acting. For some it's constant revision and changes on their projects which prevent them from being released into the … [Read more...]
The Right Questions Make All the Difference
I was catching up with my friend Ian yesterday and our conversation turned philosophical (as it usually does when we are sharing a few craft beers). At one point he asked, "Do you think that American society is on the path to solving its problems, or are we not even asking the right questions?" This morning I'm thinking about how that same distinction can apply to us as individuals. We worry about coming up with the right answers, but we actually need to start by examining the questions we ask about our lives. The quality of our answers, in fact the possible answers we can come up with, are dependent on the questions. And I'm not … [Read more...]
The Story of my Success (So Far)
June 6, 1997. There's a common thought that the most important moments in your life happen without you realizing their meaning at the time. That's certainly tue with one of the turning points in my career. I didn't know it, but that day would go on to influence the direction of my entire professional life. Because that's the day I walked out of a non-descript office on the north side of Chicago and became a knife salesman. Yep, I sold knives. I sat down in people's kitchens and sold Cutco Cutlery. These days the company has grown to be a common brand name; but back then, few people had heard of it, much less thought about selling them. … [Read more...]
You Can’t Do Anything You Put Your Mind To
No matter how badly you want to, you can't do anything you put your mind to. Sorry. It's a dangerous myth that we often hear when we are children. We are told constantly that "you can do anything you put your mind to" as the moral of the story in sitcoms and Saturday morning cartoons (remember the G.I Joe "knowing is half the battle?). It's dangerous because it's untrue and it usually has the exact opposite effect that's intended. Before you get all huffy, know that I'm a huge proponent of personal growth and development; that's why I know this idea isn't true. No matter what happens, I'm not going to be able to slam-dunk a … [Read more...]
Top Ten Book List
Updated October 2018 A few years back there was a meme that went around Facebook about the 10 books that had the greatest influence on you, and my friend Brian asked for mine. I put this together then, and have updated it with a few newer entries. But it's a simple truth that reading has been a a consistent and constant source of learning and education throughout my life and career. In the past I would tell people that I read a lot, and then dismiss it by making some comment about "being a nerd or somesuch." I've stopped apologizing for reading a lot and making constant learning a priority in my life. You'll notice that most of … [Read more...]
Being a RockStar Public Speaker
Being a public speaker is as close as you can get to being a RockStar during the daytime. And, it involves pretty much the same steps too: develop material over weeks and months, make a ton of phone calls trying to get booked, spend a solid amount of time getting to the venue hours early so you can do a 5-minute sound check, wait until it's your turn, worry about how many people are in the audience, deliver what you hope is a great presentation, try to minimize your mistakes, collect your applause and only sometimes a check, go back home and try to get another gig. Now, I love speaking just like I loved playing in a band (although it is … [Read more...]