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Just as we’re all writers, we’re all speakers. You don’t have to make your living traveling the world doing keynotes. EVERY time you stand up in front of a room with other people in it, or speak up, even if you remain sitting. You’re public speaking. Period the end. It’s not something just professional speakers…

We all feel resistance around things we don’t want to do. But ever feel resistance around things you actually want to do? How maddening is that? Public speaking is one of those things. It’s easy to just not do it.  But the people who struggle with it aren’t those who flat-out refuse; they’re the ones…

The two images below were taken almost exactly a year apart. The image on the left is what my book manuscript looked like when I was trying to figure it all out. The image on the right was taken a year later (a week ago). As finished as it will ever be. It easy to…

Would you say you’re a good writer? Or a bad one? This was the question Entrepreneur’s editor in chief Jason Feifer, host of the Build for Tomorrow podcast, posted on LinkedIn recently. OK, I’ll bite, I thought. I selected “good.” Here were the poll results: Wow — More than half thought they were good, and…

My brilliant, sweet friend Jenny Blake, founder of Pivot, had me on her podcast for the launch of Unfollow Your Passion. And her first question? “Tell us about the MLM days.” Ah, yes. For a few years in the early aughts, I was a multi-level marketing member, someone who sold jewelry for a now-defunct company…

The Washington Post reported a charming tale of an 8-year-old kid named Dillon who wrote and illustrated his own book, then snuck it into the stacks of his local library in Boise. Dillon later admitted that what he did was “naughty-ish.” But the covert act of analog sharing not only won over the librarians, they…

It’s true. Doesn’t matter if it’s true. Hate them. “Just be yourself,” and “Do what you love and you’ll never work again,” and “Life begins where your comfort zone ends.” Cliches are like hit songs without a good hook. It’s like just hearing them triggers a muscle in the back of my eyes, causing them to roll…

You’d think I’d like book clubs. I mean, I like to read. I like small group discussions. But in the experiences I had with them (which were admittedly a long time ago), it got under my skin. I usually found myself in a roomful of people who were less interested in conversation and more interested…

I made my Canada TV debut this week! During the interview, the hosts of The Morning Show asked me what getting laid off taught me about following my passion. In a word? Nothing. That advice wasn’t helpful then, or really at any other time. First and foremost when you leave a job (or it leaves…

The best compliment you can get when someone reads your work is that it “sounds” like you. Why? Because it means you’ve channeled not just your ideas but your personality, your likeness, onto the page. That you’re literally true to your word. Doesn’t mean it’s easy, but it’s worth it. So I felt pretty great…