The Blog

I’ve struggled to maintain my weight within a healthy range all my life.

This morning I stepped on the scale and was eighteen pounds over my “ideal” weight.

What should I do?

Reduce my caloric intake?

Increase my water consumption?

Add more movement to my day?

Order one of the many “miracle” w...

Imagine a world where uncertainty and adversity reign. A world that’s torn apart by plague, turmoil, division, and violence.

And imagine in this world a man navigating these challenges with courage, self-control, philanthropy, and clear-eyed purpose who tries to help others do the same.

Do you kno...

What are decisions for?

Reasoning from first principles, it might be a good idea to start with what a decision is.

Decision comes from the Latin decidere, the roots of de (off) and caedere (kill).

To  decide is, therefore, to kill off.

Kill off what?

Well, for one thing, when you make and act o...

To reason from first principles is to distill a problem to its essential elements by asking powerful questions to uncover fundamental truths.

This approach helps us separate facts from assumptions to build better solutions from the ground up.

For instance, when I was a musician and decided to expl...

Sometimes I act like an *ss. I bet you do too.

Why is that?

Human beings crave certainty.

The problem is that almost everything is uncertain.

Human beings are also storytelling creatures.

We make sense of ourselves, our situations, and each other through narrative.

Our love of certainty and na...

What are you grateful for?

Psychology and neuroscience confirm that gratitude is one of the simplest and easiest ways to boost your own (and others) mood.

When we are grateful, we practice love and empathy from the inside out, cultivating joy and equanimity.

The ancients knew the benefit...

What do you want to get better at? Where in your life would you like to be better?

It helps to begin with why you want to get better and where you want to improve.

Thriving and prosperous difference-makers know that intention and integrity matter. 

Getting better at something that doesn’t align w...

Making progress in your pursuit of making a better living while you make a bigger difference requires making decisions and taking action.

Of course, it helps to make deliberate decisions (ones that are weighed and considered) and to take action with intention and integrity.

It also helps if you ac...

Human beings are meaning-making machines.

We are uncomfortable with uncertainty and randomness.

We try to make sense of what we don't understand and impose order on chaos.

But here's the thing, in our desire to make sense of ourselves, our situation, and each other, we put another natural human p...

Aspiring and advancing difference-makers set goals and develop strategies for making an impact (and a living).

Many well-meaning change agents often think about what else they can do to amplify the reach and impact of the difference only we can make.

After all, human beings are programmed by biolo...

Be selfishly selfless.

For most of us, this is a counterintuitive, even repugnant idea.

Only a narcissist would place himself in the #1 position in his life.

Right?

I don't think so.

Sure, a narcissist places his needs, wants, dreams, and desires ahead of everyone else's.

But only a narcissist...

Why does the pursuit of happiness create so much misery?

Because happiness isn't a place. It can't be pursued.

The pursuit of happiness is a fruitless endeavor that can only result in frustration and emptiness.

So, does happiness matter?

Of course, we just need to understand what it is (and what...