One week of consistency (a challenge)

What are the habits that define you? What are the actions that you take every day, no matter what? What are your “non-negotiables,” aspects of your day that you refuse to compromise, day in and day out?

Now…what do you want to change?

In one week, I challenge you to bring more awareness to your daily routine and incorporate a new element that supports your health and wellbeing. (What exactly that…

Top 5 posts (an anniversary special)

In March 2012, I began this blog as a way to encourage empathy, prompt curiosity of others, and push networking conversations into something more meaningful than the pass-out-business-cards-conferences and set up fifteen-minute-coffee-dates situations I kept finding myself in.

Since that time, my writings have brought many interesting people to me. I have been fortunate to share my thoughts and observations with many of you and host private networking dinners in…

The path in front of you

It’s difficult to know what path to choose in terms of love, life, and work. Many of us are fortunate to be faced with choices (many choices): who to marry, where to live, what to do for an income.

Yet so many choices can be both paralyzing and confusing. Even depressing.

What if, instead of agonizing over the decision at hand, you found peace? That instead of drowning…

Life gives you cycles, embrace them

The natural world has visible cycles. Earth lies fallow but with rain, new plants sprout to life. Leaves fall and spring comes again. Inhales and exhales.

This same life force runs through you.

We exhale in order to breathe.

Sometimes you feel alive and energetic and awake. Other times you feel tired, alone, and shy.

Why do we chase away darkness instead of learning to dance with it? Or sit with it? Or embrace…

Should I focus on making money or following my passion?

I just spent one hour with students in Nepal discussing this very question. The students attended a Career Counseling workshop at Learning House, and they came with questions. And worries. And anxieties. And pressure, pressure from their parents and from society and their friends and, of course, from themselves.

I encouraged these students to focus on four buckets: People, skills, lifestyle, and rewards. This is…

Is it finished?

It might never be.

You will always find another mistake. Another word to change. A function to edit, a feature to add. The work is knowing you’ve put in your best effort and have done your due diligence.

Ship courageously. Click publish. Release your art into the world.

Write a book in eighty minutes

That’s what this group did.

A group of twenty young people, hand picked from many, many applications, were given the assignment to write an ebook together. Except they were only given one hour and twenty minutes to complete it and publish it online.

This wasn’t simply a writing exercise. This was a teaching moment, an experience in vulnerability, connection, community, and risk taking. A practice…

When you can’t make a decision

What if something better comes along? What if this is the wrong choice? What if I am not ready? Decision paralysis.

When you’re struggling to make a decision, imagine yourself choosing a definitive answer. Observe how you feel. Do your insides drop with dread, or does your heart skip with anticipation?

Often times we spend so much time analyzing and researching that we forget to consult the most important measure: Does it…

Let go

Let go of the plan that doesn’t work anymore. Just because things haven’t panned out quite as you expected them to doesn’t mean you’re not doing well. Or that you’ve fallen off track. Sometimes you need to release your grip and see what life brings.

You have an opportunity — today, tomorrow, a week from now — to let go of the habits that no longer serve you. To try…

How to write email introductions

Few things are as ineffective and frustrating as poorly written emails. Little information, no apparent connections, and enthusiastic instructions to “meet for coffee” can quickly end up in the trash bin.

People are busy.

Of course it is not always possible to be in the same room at the same time, so being able to make email introductions is an essential and valuable business skill. Yes, it is possible to write…