As part of this page’s new functionality, today I introduce its first series: “Communication skills exercises for business and life.” Click the link to view the series as a single page where you can jump between posts without losing the page or having to reload it. Posts in that series rank among the most read on this page. If you haven’t read them and you want to improve your social[…] Keep reading →

I’ve been coaching clients one-on-one for a few years, as readers have noted from my references to clients. I’ve coached nearly a hundred clients by now, most of whom found me through word of mouth. I added a new coaching page to this site to help people find coaching with me. Why? My clients succeed. That’s why I love coaching. You can achieve more too. Because coaching works. I have[…] Keep reading →

The great satirical online newspaper The Onion illustrated one of my favorite stepping-stones to creating the life you want. I wrote about it in this relevant post, “A model that will bring you happiness.” They didn’t realize they were onto something more effective than they thought, but their description of how deeply changing your environment can change your mood shows a great way to start changing your life — whether[…] Keep reading →

I read a story with a lesson for anyone who creates anything too helpful not to copy. As much as I didn’t want to copy something you can find elsewhere, I couldn’t stop myself. I hadn’t read it before so I hope it’s new to you. It’s from a book called Art and Fear on creating art, but you’ll find it useful for creating anything — products, beliefs, rules to[…] Keep reading →

There’s no getting around that deciding if something is positive or negative means judging it. If you want to avoid judging, thinking positively undermines your goals. If you can’t think of an alternative, you’ll conclude thinking positively is your best option because it’s your only option. But that conclusion just indicates sloppy or incomplete thinking. Sloppy thinking like that reminds me of some criticism someone gave me when I was[…] Keep reading →

Fred Wilson, a prominent New York City based venture capitalist, wrote about the size of the New York City technology sector in terms of number of jobs. I couldn’t help but think about a major issue about New York’s technology sector compared to other markets — the competition for talent with money coming from banking, finance, media, etc. While some people love working in start-ups and would never do otherwise,[…] Keep reading →

A reader contacted me and suggested I read the book “Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story,” by Jim Holt. The author writes for the New Yorker among other things, which implies I’ll enjoy his writing. The book promised to explore the question why the universe exists as opposed to not existing. Why being and not nothingness. I borrowed the book from the library. I hadn’t considered its[…] Keep reading →