Category Archives: Uncategorized

“If you can’t hold yourself accountable, find someone who will.” -Paul Shirley And if you don’t hold yourself accountable, then be prepared to be accountable to someone else.

“In truth, the work itself is the adventure. And no artist could go about this work, or would want to, with less than extraordinary energy and concentration. The extraordinary is what art is about.” -Mary Oliver  The below passage from Mary Oliver’s book of essays Upstream is phenomenal (H/t to to Poetic Outlaws) In creativeContinue reading “Creative Work”

“Earlier this week I read a line that stood out to me, “Your goal in life should be to reduce the amount of time it takes you to get out of a bad state.” The ability to bounce back quickly is a key skill in life.  My wife once told me, “When you’re five, you can beContinue reading “State Change”

And so today, my world it smilesYour hand in mine, we walk the milesThanks to you it will be doneFor you to me are the only one, yeah Alright nowHappiness, no more be sadHappiness, I’m glad If the sun refused to shineI would still be loving youIf mountains crumble to the seaThere will still beContinue reading “Thank You”

Teaching and acting share this best practice in common…Asking yourself before you start, “What is my objective?” A teacher objective might be, “What do I want the student to learn?” An actor objective might be, “What do I want the other person to get or now understand?” The test to see if your objective worksContinue reading “Objectives”

“Try to be surprised by something every day. It could be something you see, hear, or read about. Stop to look at the unusual car parked at the curb, taste the new item on the cafeteria menu, actually listen to your colleague at the office. How is this different from other similar cars, dishes orContinue reading “Surprise!”

“The mind mistakes the talking for the doing…Once you’ve told people of your intentions, it gives you a “premature sense of completeness.” -Derek Sivers Whenever you’re tempted to talk about what you’re gonna do, don’t. Instead, get to work and do it. Talking about it with others sure is fun. And you’ll get almost allContinue reading “Tricky Talk”

“It’s just a matter of mastering the mundane—of repeating simple little disciplines that, done consistently over time, will add up to the very biggest accomplishments.” -Jeff Olson, book The Slight Edge “The reality for those in the successful inner circle is simply “the mundanity of excellence”: a smoothly applied routine of using finely tuned resourcesContinue reading “Master The Mundane”

“Pain + Reflection = Progress.” -Ray Dalio Pain without reflection is just…Pain. And because you didn’t take time to reflect and figure out what to do better next time, how you can grow, you will just end up doing the same thing again. Which will bring on more…Pain.

“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.” -Mother Teresa “When so many are lonely as seem to be lonely, it would be inexcusably selfish to be lonely alone.” — Tennessee Williams. Right now, we’ve got a whole lotta loneliness going on. Especially here in the United States where the surgeonContinue reading “Every Time Smile”