My friend, visiting from overseas, described the difficulty we all feel away from home when we can’t do the morning routine we like. Nearly everyone has a morning routine that starts their day right for them. I see a higher-level strategy: if something happens regularly, habitualize it. I love discovering things, but I don’t see any benefit in trying to discover a new ordering between showering, eating breakfast, brushing my[…] Keep reading →

Whenever I’m short for time and have to write a post fast to make sure I post that day, I always get emails commenting that they liked the post. Posting here is a SIDCHA of mine, after all, so I don’t miss posting. Sometimes that means posting fast. I haven’t been keep track scientifically, but I have casually, and I don’t remember a counterexample. I occasionally get emails saying they[…] Keep reading →

The event Stand Up For Passion is a tremendously personal and inspiring event that is growing and growing. Created by entrepreneur/artist/director/comedian/performer Arnaud Collery, each event features seven speakers speaking for seven minutes each on a passionate story or experience in their life. The effect is to create community of people who get close to each other—performers and attendees. I am honored that he invited me to speak at the next[…] Keep reading →

Coco and Breezy Prince wore their sunglasses — from his album cover — on Saturday Night Live. Beyoncé showed them in her video. Vogue labeled them “fashion icons”. Rhianna, Serena Williams, and more wear their accessories, sold in twenty countries and growing, as well as at cocoandbreezy.com. Find out how these twins from Minnesota started their brand in their teens … with a thousand dollars between them. I didn’t mention[…] Keep reading →

[This post is part of a series on the Self-Imposed Daily Challenging Healthy Activity (SIDCHA). If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.] Here are two videos of people who learned to dance by doing it every day. So much more photogenic than burpees and writing here daily. I don’t know[…] Keep reading →

A reader responded to “Another genius business idea: Communities refurbishing their subway platforms” to describe the idea already in action in San Francisco: Hello Joshua, I want to share with you the concept of property and business improvement districts and how one in San Francisco beautified the plaza around the Castro Street subway station. I’m sharing this as a real-world example you might find interesting. The gist is that a[…] Keep reading →

“Which is more important as a leader, to work alone or to work in groups?” I heard that question asked of a panel of business leaders last week. The panelists all answered something like “in this day and age you have to be able to work in groups. That’s where you get everything done” with some acknowledgment that you had to be able to work solo too sometimes. As soon[…] Keep reading →