Don't Like It? Get Better

It took me years to get “ready” for my first month of writing online. For nearly a decade, I’d gathered research and fragments of essays and posts and newsletters and everything things else in between. Waiting for the right moment to unleash my heretofore untapped creative genius onto the world, or something like that. It… Continue reading A Cheat Code for New Creators

From 2007-2015, I spoke to over 2500 high school scholars from around the country. For some this may sound like a nightmare, but I loved every second. The students would come to Washington, DC for the National Youth Leadership Forum on National Security. It’s a weeklong event for high-achieving students interested in foreign policy, intelligence… Continue reading What I Miss About Speaking to Thousands of High School Students

It recently dawned on me that I needed to get a hell of a lot smarter; and fast. With a new opportunity at work comes a large increase in responsibility and ownership. I am going to need to tap into greater mental energy, maintain patience in the face of certain frustrations and come up with… Continue reading Getting Stronger and Faster in Order to Get Smarter?!?

A powerful law of nature is the more we do something, the more efficient we generally get over time. Take running for example. When we first start begin, it absolutely sucks and every time we go out is like the worst thing that ever happened to us. Progress is brutal. But if we stick to… Continue reading Gaining Experience to Level Up: Not Just for RPG Fans

It’s cliché AF, but I used to think I could just “flip the switch”. I thought I could just turn it on and deliver my best anytime it mattered, and win. Whether it was in business, at school, in sports, with friends and even with love. Can you believe that? I thought that if I… Continue reading Why “Flipping the Switch” is a Stupid Myth We Should All Stop Believing Right Dang Now

You may have noticed that one good day usually isn’t enough. Even after a perfect day of progress and engagement, we wake up the next day with the scoreboard back to zero. There is no ticker-tape parade to celebrate the progress of yesterday. Momentum can be a cruel mistress. While today was fine, there were… Continue reading We Improve Ourselves Through Victories Over the Sorry-Ass, Lazy Side of Ourselves

Everything changes when losing a parent. If we are lucky, we celebrate their life and remember the good times. We recall their best attributes in both tender moments and the most unexpected of places. And when things calm down again and we have time to think about their passing, the inevitable questions come. We question… Continue reading Losing My Father, But Finding Myself

There are certain times in our lives when more is required. Usually, these times are also periods of great growth and opportunity. The catch is they show up dressed as hard work. And as such, we don’t recognize them sometimes. Perhaps it’s understandable. During these periods, the volume gets turned up. We start getting more… Continue reading The Juice

Dickie Bush hit the big-time truth-bomb button when he wrote a thread on 4 things that compound faster than others. It seemed silly to say for a long time, but here the truth for me: that thread changed my life for the better. That very day, I wrote the list of those four things down… Continue reading 4 Things That Compound Quickly

Writing down our biggest and most audacious goals is fun, but kind of bullshit. Don’t get me wrong, goals are an essential element of worthwhile accomplishments. I see a lot of stuff these days about writing our goals down, committing to them. But I don’t see a lot of stuff about executing on those goals;… Continue reading Are You Working on the Things that Matter to You? Or Are You Just Spending Your Time Trying to Prove to the World You Already Do?