Your struggle with branding yourself or your business comes from two conflicting fears: You don’t know who you are; You don’t want to ruin what you already did/created/have This places you at the crossroads between ignorance and fear. A lousy place to be (and we’ve all been there). As a result, you are hesitant to put a…
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One of the Best Lessons Trump Just Taught You
READ MORE: One of the Best Lessons Trump Just Taught YouIt’s been more than a week since the election that reduced the entire country to a shivering, seething pool of rage. At this point, we’ve likely all been barked at—often on our own FB pages, including me. We’ve been told to buck up and deal with the fact that our candidate lost. Even though it’s…
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Don’t just do something. Make something.
READ MORE: Don’t just do something. Make something.During a recent interview on SiriusXM, Howard Stern asked Lady Gaga if she listens to what the “kids are into these days” so that she knows what to do next, if she’s calculated and preplanned each phase of her career. The answer? No. Sure, she likes to listen to music and know what’s going on—in…
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Don’t Get Good At Things You Hate
READ MORE: Don’t Get Good At Things You HateA recent episode of This American Life (#598: “My Undesirable Talent”) told the stories of people who had become really good at things they regretted. One of them was a guy named Zora, born to Ugandan parents and raised in Fresno, who went off to college and pretended to be an African exchange student. He did a whole Coming to…
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Why Writers Need to Think Like Entrepreneurs
READ MORE: Why Writers Need to Think Like EntrepreneursI sat next to a woman at a lunch recently who heads up the magazine publishing program at NYU, and she said the students are, understandably, feeling down about what they see as bleak prospects in magazine publishing—simply because those seats are becoming fewer and fewer. It’s easy to interpret the shuttering of (many) print magazines and newspapers…
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Why You Should Watch More TV
READ MORE: Why You Should Watch More TVPeople watch TV to relax and unwind after a long day. They are able to get lost in the world of whatever is on TV, be it sci-fi, soap operas, or historical shows. In fact, TV is so important to so many people that one of the first things people do when they move into…
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How to Make Your Work Matter
READ MORE: How to Make Your Work MatterWhether you work for yourself or someone else, there’s one thing I know about you: You want your work to matter. Even, or especially, if you’re afraid it doesn’t. Maybe your boss or clients heap praise on you. Maybe they don’t say a damn thing. But you want it to be good, and you want…
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The Real Definition of Entrepreneur
READ MORE: The Real Definition of EntrepreneurLet’s face it: There’s nothing sexier than describing yourself an an entrepreneur. It’s like a hot leather jacket that everyone is trying on for size, including me. If it’s not a fit, maybe you like this simpler style, called solopreneur. Or maybe this tiny little handbag, called micropreneur instead. Or, this briefcase-slash-diaper bag called “mompreneur.”…
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Your Job is to Be a Magician (Like This Guy, Kind of)
READ MORE: Your Job is to Be a Magician (Like This Guy, Kind of)It’s not every day you have your mind blown. I was in Vegas last week giving a talk to a group of (very) sober HR execs about why HR needs a serious brand overhaul (admit it, it does). And at the cocktail party they had this magician who blew my fucking mind. None other than…
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The Real Reason You’re Afraid of Being Lonely
READ MORE: The Real Reason You’re Afraid of Being LonelyThere’s no shame in being lonely. That’s what friendship expert (and friend!) Shasta Nelson, founder of GirlfriendCircles, said to a group of women at the launch of her second book, Frientimacy: How to Deepen Friendships for Lifelong Health and Happiness. And yet, the word “lonely” itself is scary. Even those who love and treasure their solitude (um, me)…