You Could Have Tried Harder: Thinking Differently About Effort and Responsibility
“At least I did my best.” This is the most common and the most effective excuse in the world. It’s very dangerous. There are two important things we need to know about this statement: There is no such thing as doing our best. There is always something we could have done better. We have to know when to stop […]
What My High School Business Teacher Taught Me About Entrepreneurship (and Business Classes)
There aren’t too many hours spent in class that I wouldn’t take back if I could. But like most people, I have one or two classroom experiences that I look back on fondly. Business class was one of those, precisely because it wasn’t a class. Our teacher was a local businessman. He wasn’t a teacher, […]
5 Ways Homeschooling is Like Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is more than just going out and incorporating a business. It doesn’t just have to be building a product or launching a service and claiming a slice of equity in a company. It doesn’t even have to be solely an issue of business. At its core, entrepreneurship is creative problem solving. Entrepreneurs are people […]
Start Now: 3 Ways to Develop a Bias for Action
A bias for action is one of the most necessary traits for a successful entrepreneur. Studies find that an ability to make decisions quickly and to act upon them is one of the key determining factors differentiating successful people and companies from the unsuccessful. While there are plenty of people who sit around thinking about what it […]
Why A College Internship Isn’t Enough
I don’t need more work experience, I had an internship in college! — Famous Last Words of the Underemployed College Graduate In my path talking with prospective Praxis applicants and with prospective Praxis business partners, I am often asked why the Praxis business partner experience is ten months and not just three, four, or six […]
You Don’t Need to Get A Second Degree — Here’s What to Do Instead
This is a quick post. Below is an e-mail I received from a friend about another friend of his who is thinking about going back to school to get a second degree because he is struggling to get a job in journalism. If you want to read more, here are three related posts: How to Get […]
4 Things a College Dropout Should Do to Prepare for Success
Over the past year I’ve had the opportunity to meet dozens of young people who have created a successful life for themselves outside of the traditional college — career path. They come from different backgrounds, with different skills and experiences, and different goals and interests, but they all share an uncanny ability to set themselves apart from their […]
The Professional Benefits of Being Clueless
“I have no idea what I’m doing.” – Dog Socrates I’ve written before about how I really don’t know anything. A common theme! My guess is that a lot of young people in the workplace (if they’re smart) figure out the same thing quickly. There’s one saving grace for people like us: the model. There’s […]
How to Land an Interview Without the Credential
It turns out that people applying for a job care more about their own credentials than the people who are hiring them. source You’ve been on the job search for a while, sending out resumes and cover letters to a few positions here and there that pique your interest, but nothing that has really made […]
Work Harder To Appreciate Life More
“You’ve got to stop and smell the roses more, James!” I laughed when one of my coworkers gave me this advice. As with most cliches, there’s wisdom in this saying. Usually the people repeating the cliche miss it. Many of us view hard work and the appreciation of life as two opposite things. I’ve come to see things differently. […]
Three Questions to Ask Yourself Every Day
Do I like what I’m doing? Is it getting me somewhere I want to go? What am I giving up to be here? These seem like simple questions. Obvious even. No need to be reminded of them. Yet so much of what we do is the result of habit, social norms, envy, fear, outside pressure, […]
Dropouts and Opt-Outs: Travis Kalanick
“Stand by your principles and be comfortable with confrontation. So few people are, so when the people with the red tape come, it becomes a negotiation.” Travis Cordell Kalanick (August 6, 1976 – ) is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of the wildly successful ride-sharing service, Uber. Kalanick was like many entrepreneurs, a self-starter looking for […]
An Ambitious Young Person’s Guide to Avoiding Office Politics
You’re an ambitious young person at work in your first “real” job. Sure, you probably held a job in high school to pay the bills and let you save up for when you graduate, but this is different. You might have worked as a server or a cashier. Now you’re where you dreamed of going. […]
Ernst & Young Doesn’t Need Degrees, Neither Do You
Ernst & Young no longer requires degrees for entry level jobs. There’s an idea that jobs and income are an automatic and deserved reward for moving on the conveyor belt and jumping through all the right hoops. Many hope and believe that a degree will automatically entitle the holder to a good paying job. A degree […]
What I Do When I Feel Too Tired To Create
“I’m too tired.” Too many of my blog post drafts have died an early death because of that sentence. This is an excuse that neatly covers failure for just about any work. It’s so easy to justify. But just because an excuse is justifiable doesn’t mean it’s worthwhile. Because I can always imagine a time when I’ll feel […]