My New Best Friend

Being a people-pleaser is exhausting, and demoralizing. For us, and everyone around us. Believe me, I know.  That’s why I fell hard for Erika Napoletano and her TedX video.  She doesn’t know it yet, but we’re BFF’s. Have you ever been afraid of...

Time Management For Losers

A long time ago, when I was selling photo copiers for a living, I met an older woman who gave me a piece of advice I will never forget. “Darling,” she said, smoothing back her hair with steady hands, “there’s a time and a place for everything.  You can’t do it all at...

What An Orange Can Teach You

Dyer was known for teaching his ideas through metaphors. The last lesson he posted on Facebook on the eve of his death used an orange as an example: I was preparing to speak at an I Can Do It conference and I decided to bring an orange on stage with me as a prop for...

Elect Yourself: No One Else Will

Do you think people are chosen for awards and recognition because they shine so brightly the world can’t possibly ignore them? That they get plucked, in all of their magnificence, from total obscurity and dropped center stage? Do you think the golden few that get the...

A Life Lesson, Brought To You By My Cats

We have a dog named Edgar whose whole raison d’ etre is to kick cat ass. Unfortunately, we also have two cats.  Peanut Butter and Mozart. Peanut Butter is a cat-hater’s cat. He’s got all the swagger of John Wayne, and the cool detachment of Humphrey Bogart.  Tail up,...

Finding My Wood

When I turned thirty, I was angry and unhappy, but didn’t really know it.  I figured that niggling feeling, the one I couldn’t really identify, the one that wouldn’t go away, was the natural result of having two little kids, too much time with...