Do you suffer from low motivation, not knowing your passions, laziness, and other forms of just not feeling like putting the effort in? Do you want to have more motivation and passion? Most people tell me they’re lazy about a lot of things and don’t know their passions. Luckily, you can change that. Personally I don’t like being that way or hanging around with people like that. I connect with[…] Keep reading →

I was watching Chris Rock on Inside the Actors Studio. He talked about how growing up in dangerous neighborhoods in Brooklyn helped form him. Personally, I highly value the self-made-ness of a self-made man or woman. I think most people do, especially compared to someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth. His description of his childhood in a bad neighborhood reminded me of a neighborhood I spent some[…] Keep reading →

A client wrote with a challenge. He does sales on commission. Some assistant managers, also on commission, ask him to do small tasks that take him off the sales floor, helping their chances for commissions at his expense. He mostly acquiesces to their requests. On the occasions he declined, he “lashed out,” showing intense emotions coworkers interpreted as mood swings. His question touches on what happen in many places where[…] Keep reading →

The one person you can never see from another person’s perspective is yourself. Ironic because that’s the one person you’d most like to see from another person’s perspective. Everyone else sees you that way, so it would be nice to see how other people see us. You always hear stories about people who think they’re great leaders, but unknown to them, they always scowl or their voices don’t sound like[…] Keep reading →

Speaking of superstars, they seem to play by their own rules. Most of us wish we could. How do you get to play by your own rules, not someone else’s? Today I’ll look at rules from a few different contexts and ask a few questions about them. A rule describes how people should behave. Context 1: Mutually agreed-on rules When I think of playing a game, rules make sense. We[…] Keep reading →

I wanted to comment on a quote in yesterday’s post about becoming a superstar that illustrates an aspect important for the aspiring star — you. And, again, superstardom can mean breakout success in any area — starting a company, making CEO, being a superstar boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse, etc. A musician I quoted yesterday commented that American Idol’s shooting-the-moon style isn’t really about music. It’s about all the bad aspects[…] Keep reading →

This post is about breakout success in any area — starting a company, making CEO, being a superstar boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse, etc — but I’ll put it in the language of entertainment superstardom. I’ll leave translating it to the language of the field you want to succeed in as an exercise. But I guarantee it applies. Superstars make it look so easy. They dress how they want, say what[…] Keep reading →