Have you been feeling bored? Would you know what bored even is anymore? There’s literally NOTHING about 2020 that was even remotely “boring,” but can you be afraid and hectic and also bored? Yes. I used to think of boredom as something we’d bred out of our bodies like a weak gene. Tossed it out…
Blog
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Meet me at Four Seasons (not that Four Seasons)
READ MORE: Meet me at Four Seasons (not that Four Seasons)You know what happened. The announcement went out that the Trump campaign would hold a press conference about the election at the Four Seasons in Philadelphia. The Four Seasons….Total Landscaping, cough cough. Oh my. Claire Lampen at The Cut aptly called it “a dark-horse contender for the day’s most captivating development yet.” Of course it’s…
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A good reason not to write
READ MORE: A good reason not to writePeople will tell you that writing is hard. They’ll tell you that if they don’t write. If they do write. Especially the people who want to write, but don’t. (They complain most of all.) I am well aware of the fears around writing: …I’ll never be able to do it. …If I do it, it’ll probably…
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Tale of a website launch in 10 lines
READ MORE: Tale of a website launch in 10 linesHere’s the story of the creation and launch of a completely brand new, from-the-ground-up website in 10 lines of dialogue: ME: This is going to be hard. TEAM: It should be pretty straightforward. ME: I like this font. TEAM: OK. ME: Let’s plan for a mid-March launch. What could go wrong? (Enter Pandemic.) ME: I…
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Anything is possible. Start with the impossible.
READ MORE: Anything is possible. Start with the impossible.Have you met Annie Dillard? Probably not in person, but met her, as in, on the page. She’s one of the most unusual writers you’ll ever read. Her words leap to the surface and surprise you with their compact moving parts, their stunning clarity, how they make magic of everyday things. I found this piece on…
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Positive feedback does not = blowing smoke
READ MORE: Positive feedback does not = blowing smokeDo you know how much more effective positive feedback is to negative attention? What do you think. Twice as much? Ten times at most? Try 30. Positive attention is 30x’s more powerful than negative attention in creating high performance on a team. (That comes from Marcus Buckingham & Ashley Goodall.) Oh, so that means we…
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First Rule of (Write) Club
READ MORE: First Rule of (Write) ClubYou already know the first rule of fight club. But do you know the first rule of Gateless Writing? No. Most people don’t what that even is. The first rule is: Do not disclaim your work. It’s one of the hardest things you’ll ever do: Say something WITHOUT qualifying, defending, explaining away, or basically telling…
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My book is coming (Spring 2022!)
READ MORE: My book is coming (Spring 2022!)Quick story: Years ago, I went on a writing retreat in Rhode Island. I knew one person (my friend Becky). The retreat leader, Suzanne Kingsbury, explained the method we would be using: We’d write together, then read what we wrote out loud. And then we’d give feedback on what we liked about what we heard.…
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I did not follow my passion onto this field, or any other
READ MORE: I did not follow my passion onto this field, or any otherI didn’t catch a football until I was in my 40s. Mainly because no one had ever thrown me one. I was encouraged, invited (cajoled! Forced!) by my friends from improv class to be part of their coed touch football team in this actual league where you had matching t-shirts and everything. No. Way. You…
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What should you say right now?
READ MORE: What should you say right now?Look, messaging is hard enough ON A GOOD DAY WHEN THE WORLD IS NOT BURNING. But during highly charged moments like this one, it’s worth thinking real hard about what you want to say, yes, but also why you think you want to say it. Anything you say can get a response you didn’t expect…
