A Note to Young Dreamers Who Don’t Feel Supported by Family & Friends
“If you want to truly honor your loved ones, go out in the world and live your absolute best and brightest, make the most of that gift your parents gave you. And you have to be okay with the fact that they may always resent you for doing so, and you have to forgive them […]
5 Signs You Might be too Good for College
There is a common myth that only Steve Jobs-like geniuses and cheese puff eating flunkies should opt out of college. For college to be a poor fit, you’ve either gotta be sitting on the next billion dollar startup idea or sitting on your mom’s couch. This is nonsense. There is a large and growing group of smart, hard-working […]
How to Master Chaos
A day will come when your work will be truly overwhelming. You will eventually say “yes” to too many things, encounter roadblocks of time or resources, or face challenges that are greater than your own current abilities. Here’s how to start swimming when the dam breaks: 1) Simplify and systematize. There far more power in reduction […]
The Limits of Self-Help, The Power of Systems, & Why We Need Rules to Succeed
One of the commonly cited problems with a great deal of self-help philosophy is the overemphasis on positive thinking, affirmations, visualization techniques, and other motivational tools that produce short-term inspiration but that often fail to help people create lasting changes. On a recent episode of the Accidental Creative podcast, Todd Henry addresses this issue in […]
Be Better Than the Good Opinion of Others
One of the most common causes of mediocrity is the sense of comfort and contentment we feel when others express satisfaction with our work. While elements such as a happy client, a pleased customer, a proud parent, an impressed mentor, or a thrilled audience may be useful for gauging progress in certain contexts, it doesn’t […]
The Unschooled Intellectual
It has often (thankfully) been pointed out that schooling does not make an education. Most people would not disagree that it is possible to be learned without an institution or to be ignorant with credentials. However, I think that there is a case to be made that those with a love for ideas can gain a distinct […]
You Are Not Your Major
I was recently having a conversation with a friend about what she’s learned about some organizations with which she’s worked. Mostly, I learned the organizations are bureaucratic, disorganized, useless-at-best, harmful-at-worst, and generally bad places for which to work. I could tell she was disheartened from just having to work with these groups. The conversation drifted towards […]
Appreciating Unseen Value
The great French economist Frederic Bastiat once wrote of the unseen destruction imposed by policies based on economic fallacies. We may see the wealth amassed by the industry favored by protectionist trade restrictions, for example, but we fail to see the wealth lost to society when acting on comparative advantage is prohibited. Seeing this unseen cost is essential […]
5 Reasons to Rethink College
Everyone knows you have to go to college to be successful. Sometimes everyone is wrong. Here are five reasons to rethink college as the best path to a fulfilling career and life. (Hint: dropping out of college isn’t such a bad idea!) 1) It’s expensive. Here’s a chart showing college debt and earnings for degree holders. […]
Are You Using Your Weekends to Escape Your Weekdays?
The purpose of the weekend isn’t so we can forget about how much we hate our jobs on Monday through Friday. Free time is for having fun, yes, but what is more fun than taking advantage of opportunities to create a lifestyle that doesn’t require us to wait until Friday night to have fun? Instead […]
Study the Greats or Just Do It?
It’s not uncommon for the most devoted students of personal health, or business startups, or filmmaking, or success more generally to be only moderately successful themselves. We’ve all met people who have read every “7 Ways”, and, “10 Tips” book on the market, yet still haven’t really gotten off the ground personally. So is greatness […]
Kicking off the Praxis Winter 2015 Class!
The third Praxis class has officially launched! Eight promising young entrepreneurs are coming together outside of Austin, TX for a few days to kick off the program before starting their work at their business partners around the country. They’ll be spending today participating in professional development workshops and discussing with Praxis staff what it takes to create […]
Evidence of Success: Interview with Armi Legge of Evidence Magazine
This is an interview with Armi Legge, a high school dropout, entrepreneur, and the founder of Evidence Magazine. Armi has been named one of Fitocracy’s 30 Under 30 in Fitness. Q: What is Evidence Magazine? Evidence Magazine is a health and fitness education company. Our main specialities are fat loss and muscle growth. We teach […]
Your Silence Will Not Protect You
The day I ended my silence Three years ago, I decided to embark on an experiment in personal development by making a one year commitment to writing and publishing a new blog post every day. I wanted to see what would become of me if I forced myself to share my thoughts with the world irrespective […]
“What Are You Failing At?” Episode 15: A Conversation with Michael Malice
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson Once upon a time, Michael Malice was failing at office politics and pretentious small talk. So he fixed that problem not by forcing himself to get better at skills he didn’t sincerely value, […]