People tell me it’s hard to change beliefs and values. Some people think it’s impossible. I agree if they believe it’s hard, but you can and it gets easier with practice. Most people change their beliefs and values all the time without realizing it. One goal for this page is to help people learn to change their beliefs more easily so I try to give examples of how you already[…] Keep reading →

Do you feel stress from too much stuff to do or lose track of things? Many entrepreneurial and management types I know read Getting Things Done and put it into practice. I recommend it. I read the book and like the philosophy — in particular, his observation that if your mind has to remember something, it will allocate resources that distract you from everything else. The more you have to[…] Keep reading →

If you haven’t heard of the Barnes Foundation and you like art, find out about it. If you’re anywhere near Philadelphia, go there. Albert Barnes was a successful entrepreneur who lived in and near Philadelphia (and went to my High School) from 1842 to 1951. According to Wikipedia, “in his 30s Barnes began to study and collect art. He acquired his first 20 pieces by commissioning his friend, the artist[…] Keep reading →

Everybody faces tasks they don’t want to start, know they have to do, but also know won’t take that long — things you might characterize like pulling teeth, holding your nose and taking your medicine, or grinning and bearing it. We all want to learn to motivate ourselves better. Examples include talking to your boss about a raise, talking to a significant other about a problem that’s been bothering you[…] Keep reading →

Investors describe themselves as helping entrepreneurs and often they do, but somehow every entrepreneur I’ve asked about the challenges of working with investors could still tell me stories about how investors made their lives and business difficult. However much investors want businesses they’ve invested in to grow, their interests never perfectly align with those of management, especially before they invest in the firm in question. I wouldn’t call that difference[…] Keep reading →

I wrote the following to a client and thought it was worth sharing here. I’ve written similar things before, but it bears repeating. I think it speaks for itself, but let me know if it needs more explanation or context. —————————– I find with passions you get out what you put in, so I think the advice to find your passion only gets half of it. You need to find[…] Keep reading →

[This post is part of a series on internal objections and blocks and how to overcome them. 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.] Objection I don’t think you can significantly change your life, at least not at the beginning, without thinking something like I’ve been working on this for[…] Keep reading →