Ultimately all the advice in the world leads to one simple starting point: You have to act, practice, and rehearse new skills to get their benefit and those first acts, as with any new skill, will be clumsy, embarrassing, and full of other challenges that will lead the novice to feel bad. If you try, you will fail and feel bad, worse than if you never tried, but if you[…] Keep reading →

If you pay attention to your inner monologue, as the exercise I call The Most Effective Self-Awareness Exercise I Know leads you to, you’ll notice patterns. Songs get stuck in your head. You judge people. You judge yourself. You try to figure out the best order to do things in. You play out arguments you might have with others. Sound familiar? Years ago I had the idea to catalog the[…] Keep reading →

The host of a podcast we just recorded emailed: Again, I so enjoyed our conversation today. Thank you for bring your whole self to the table. … I loved it. (and I know my audience will love it too.) I never used to hear that I brought my whole self to anything. On the contrary, as I’ll share below, I spent the first few decades of my life only able[…] Keep reading →

I don’t know if the interviewers are getting better, if I’m developing in conversation, or if I’m just enjoying podcast conversations more, but it feels like the interviews are getting better all the time. Yesterday, Jim Harshaw (scroll down to learn more about him) of the Success Through Failure podcast posted our second conversation. Second conversations lead to greater comfort, depth, trust, and intimacy, so I recommend listening. We cover[…] Keep reading →

I decided to post my regular 10,000-burpee increment update on Inc. first this time. I’m only supposed to sample the beginning of the article when it first goes up. So click to my Inc. post, “90,000 Burpees Today,” which begins 90,000 Burpees Today I started my daily burpee habit in December 2011. Today I hit my 90,000th. I’m a 45-year old man and I’ve done burpees every day since December[…] Keep reading →

With five Ivy League degrees, especially the PhD in astrophysics, experience teaching at Ivy League and other elite schools, and a father who was a tenured professor in history, I think I’m qualified to know the value of intellectual knowledge. The more I learn through physical experience, the more valuable I find it. The intellectual world, especially schools and universities, value the intellect so much, I don’t think they realize[…] Keep reading →

A podcaster and I were emailing about the possibility of doing an interview. He said his podcast was mostly health related. As I summarized for him my health-related activities, I felt that what I was writing would summarize well here, so wrote it more comprehensively than I normally would have. I like sharing these practices. Note that they are things anyone can do. I mean, if you’re wheelchair bound, you[…] Keep reading →

Seen at the Barnes and Noble in Union Square! Some are in the business section, aside Richard Branson, some are downstairs, on the first floor, center. If you’re looking for a copy of Leadership Step by Step, and you should get one if you don’t, I recommend buying these copies. I signed them. I have to say, most of the stages I’ve passed—signing an agent, signing a publisher, finishing drafts,[…] Keep reading →

Mark Bidwell, founder and podcast host of Innovation Ecosystem, posted today a wonderful interview about Leadership Step by Step, experiential learning, exercises, and more. I can only describe Mark as someone who gets it. He ascended the corporate ladder, where he drove innovation, built teams, and so on, then found there was more to life and is creating resources to enable others to. If you are looking to improve your[…] Keep reading →