I read and recommend Steve Martin’s memoir, “Born Standing Up.” He writes honestly and concisely. He persevered through a challenging life. Unlike many people we admire, he didn’t overcome obstacles that befell him. My list of inspirations on my “Resources and Inspirations” page includes three big ones for me who overcame outside challenges that they couldn’t have foreseen and have to handle—Victor Frankl, Jean-Dominique Bauby, and Mark Zupan. Overcoming challenges[…] Keep reading →

Two great posts by others force me to break my pattern of sticking to original work. The first is that if you know me you know I love Calvin and Hobbes. The first new work by Bill Watterson in a long time appears here — “Ever Wished That Calvin and Hobbes Creator Bill Watterson Would Return to the Comics Page? Well, He Just Did.” The second is one of the best[…] Keep reading →

Don’t know who Mr. P. Hewson of Dublin, Ireland is? Read the following rejection letter to him and his band to see one of the great rejection letters of all time. (Hint: his band has sold over 150 million albums, the band won 22 Grammy awards, and Rolling Stone magazine ranked them in the top 25 greatest artists of all time). If you didn’t figure it out, RSO records summarily[…] Keep reading →

Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, None but our self can free our mind. — Bob Marley, Redemption Song Context How do you move from living reactively, like in this graph, where you can’t help but react to any intense motivation: To living aware and non-reactively like this, where you are aware of many motivations but don’t feel compelled to react blindly to any? That change brings freedom. It comes from[…] Keep reading →

Think of a time you reacted blindly. Did it go well? How do you feel about leaders who react without thinking or intuition? You don’t want to react blindly—the opposite of leadership, since it means you’re reacting to someone else, or unpredictable events in your environment, which I call blowing in the breeze. Most people understand the term “reactive” vaguely, so they can’t do much about it. I find visualizing[…] Keep reading →

After the game in the picture below I couldn’t help myself emailing a friend about it the following. I don’t know if I’m more proud or ashamed and if it’s from the high score or the poem. Look on my high score, ye mighty, and despair! You met a geek from an antique land Who emailed: “Sixteen small and colored numbered tiles Stand on my screen. Near them, on my[…] Keep reading →

“You! You cannot do that here!” A voice in a stadium of 20,000 people told my friend he was breaking a rule. The man yelling pointed at my friend and sounded angry. A man next to the first saw what he was pointing at—my friend—and pointed and yelled he couldn’t do that here too. Then another, another, and another. Soon a whole section was pointing at him, angrily yelling at[…] Keep reading →

On a note of remembrance, many years ago, when I lived in Paris, my friend volunteered at the English Language Library for the Blind there. She told me they valued American accents in the readings there and asked if I would read a book for them. I agreed and decided on Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who died yesterday. The librarian suggested starting with a[…] Keep reading →

Do you like creative things and being creative? Read my series on creativity. I just posted it as a series. Click here to read it. You can become more creative.