Step into life. Engage on a level that strips illusion. See so clearly the possibility beyond the haze. Breath it in. Live it out. Long enough for its essence to bind your DNA. It becomes you. A vein opens. Then you transmit. Pure. Unadulterated. Jazz. You cannot create change in others. Until you embody the...

My usual writing spot is a 10-minute drive. But on Sunday, I walked. An hour each way. No cell-phone. Nothing. Just me, my backpack and a path that wound across a bridge from Da Bronx to Manhattan, through the woods, along a river and through a park. Walking instead of driving, I lost nearly two...

So, here's the interesting thing about the early days of any visionary journey, there's a whole lot of thrashing that goes on. It needs to go on. But most visionaries don't talk about that "dark" time. Because it's not sexy. It doesn't feel good or look good to others. Nor do the great creators tend...

I spent 90-minutes yesterday interviewing Bob Taylor, the legendary founder of Taylor Guitars, at his San Diego compound. What an amazing person, company and and experience. But that's for a future post. This is about something Bob shared with me after I stopped recording and asked a personal question. Since selling my last business and...

Great work, brilliant ideas, extraordinary art requires space. Time away. Room to process, synthesize, allow connections between seemingly disparate parts to effervesce out of the ether of the mind. Genius is the offspring of the in-between. But, increasingly, technology is removing the in-between. We don't just walk in contemplation, we walk, talk and type. We don't just...

Motivation to do anything comes in two forms: push or pull. Push... Push is generally about the avoidance of pain. It's the "away from" side of the motivational spectrum." You're actively pushing yourself away from either a source of current pain or the perception of an anticipated pain. So, if you're overweight and feeling bad...

The ring is my wedding band. Simple sterling silver with four words etched around the outside in the oldest known language, Sanskrit. What are the words? The four immeasurables from Buddhism—Loving-kindness, Compassion, Appreciative Joy and Equanimity. I think about them a lot, each serves as a constant reminder of how I strive to live in...

I was deep into my writing trance when, out in the distance I heard a noise. It came from the living room, where my daughter and her friends were playing. But, I was in my bubble and there were other responsible grown-ups in the house, so I returned my focus to the words before me....

1. Failure to evolve. Markets change over time. People’s needs change over time. One of the biggest problems that I see with entrepreneurs and small businesses is that they start the business based on a single solution, or set of solutions, products or services, that satisfy one particular need or pain point in a market,...

Pearl S. Buck said: The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanely sensitive. To them... a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god,...

So, I was sweating, panting and grunting my way through an indoor cycling class the other day... When, amidst the sea of exertion, our teacher, Christine Dercole, who's pretty damn close to a walking, talking conduit of inspiration (and provider of great tribal beats), says to the class: I want you to ask yourselves a...

Ask an aspiring entrepreneur why they'd kill to make the jump and, without fail, four of the top 5 reasons will be: Freedom Control Money Passion They dream of working their own hours, not having to report to "the Man," skipping though fields of money, loving what they do every moment of every day and...