Shows
Letters To My Son#126: I want to tell you a storyThis is the story of Unworthiness. And it is fairly universal.
It’s one of my longest-running inner narratives. That I’m not good enough — that I’m somehow unworthy to teach, unworthy to invest time and money on.
I’ve found this is one of the most common inner narratives there is.
2020-09-2413 minLetters To My Son#125: Guard your own mindEvery day there's a specific decision you have to make. It's the first and it's the most important decision. Because from it, you effectively roadmap your destiny.
2020-09-2108 minLetters To My Son#124: First humble yourselfSo what's keeping you from leaping what's keeping you on the ground, it's not money, it's not tech, it's not where you started.
It's your mindset. So change how you see the world around you.
2020-09-1808 minLetters To My Son#123: The universe is listeningMaybe there are people who struggle and question themselves and doubt the road ahead. No, it must be the past diverged, they took happiness and I took those things we don't say out loud and then there's everyday life when things don't go as planned.
2020-09-1408 minLetters To My Son#122: Worthy of everything yet to comeThat's the sea we have to cross, the terrain we have to navigate. It’s not the physicality of taking the steps. Anyone can do that - it's believing that you are worthy of the journey, and you have to ask yourself - is it that you can’t become something new, or is it that you can’t, won’t refuse to detach from who you used to be.
2020-09-1107 minLetters To My Son#121: My interview with Jennifer Fox, President of Fox Vending.Many of us have something that we’d like to change in our lives, but it can be pretty difficult to overcome addictions or strong urges. Jennifer Fox shares her story of addiction, change, forgiveness and making a conscious decision to “just keep moving my feet” towards the finish line of redemption.
2020-09-051h 30Letters To My Son#120: Compete everydayAs long as your wheels don't stop turning you are never stuck. As long as you're willing to adjust there will never be an end in sight. Until you put a stake in the ground and declare victory.
2020-09-0408 minLetters To My Son#119: Moving onPeople struggle because they carry specific instances of failure with them. Right, it's a human response. Emotions play into our decision making. The problem is there are emotions that don't need to be there, they've had their time, they've served their purpose, but now they really don't bring any more value.
2020-09-0307 minLetters To My Son#118: See it. Trust it. Feel it.Life gives us infinite options. We have an unlimited number of opportunities to do anything we want. Anything. Only that's not always how we see it.
2020-08-3108 minLetters To My Son#117: GratitudeThere’s a sense of incompleteness in our lives.
We have felt it since adolescence, at least, if not since early childhood — it’s a feeling that something is wrong with us, that something is missing, or that we’re missing out on something in the world.
2020-08-2707 minLetters To My Son#116: One more burpeeIt happens to all of us: you are going strong with a project, with learning something new, with a new habit or two … and things go sideways. You get derailed.
This is a critical junction. If you let yourself quit, all your time and effort up until now has been for naught. If you can get back on track, things can be great again.
2020-08-2607 minLetters To My Son115: It’s who you areMany of us just want to get out of the turbulence and pain, want to be free of it, want to find a place of peace. That’s natural, but that’s a rejection of your experience right now, and it’s a huge missed opportunity.
2020-08-2307 minLetters To My Son#114: Wasted talentIn the 1993 film, A Bronx Tale, a movie about a father that becomes worried when a local gangster befriends his son in the Bronx in the 1960s. Robert De Niro is talking to his young son as they’re stepping off the bus and the son asks, “Do I have talent dad? Of course you have talent son. You can be anything you wanna be. Remember the saddest thing in life is wasted talent. You can have all the talent in the world but if you don't do the right thing then nothing happens.
2020-08-2009 minLetters To My Son#113: We will all fallRise above the emotion, the chaos, the present moment and see the big picture. Not only will you survive you will be better because of this, because you kept moving forward when it wasn't easy. No matter how hard life got, you never lost sight of the opportunity. And that made all the difference.
2020-08-1810 minLetters To My Son#112: Regrets of the dyingThere's a lot of research around this topic and one of the most important books written on it, by Bronnie Ware talks about the regrets of the dying. And one of them is “wishing I had the courage to live a life true to myself’.
2020-08-1410 minLetters To My Son#111: Human PotentialEvery time you thought you've given your all, you were lying to yourself and not in the sense that you weren't trying hard. Or what you did wasn't important, but in the sense that you artificially created your own finish line - you determined your stopping point. Not the laws of nature, not some unearthly being - you dictated your limit.
2020-08-1108 minLetters To My Son#110: The Great DictatorA speech turning 80, yet more current than ever.
A speech that reminds us that on the horizon there’s a new world ready to welcome a rediscovered humanity.
We are the architects of our own destiny: let’s open up to progress, to sustainability, and to tolerance. Let’s look at the future with positivity and hope.
2020-08-1008 minLetters To My Son#109: John Lewis: His wordsJohn Lewis’ final essay, which he requested be published in the New York Times on the day of his funeral: “Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation.”
I read Mr. Lewis’ final essay several times over the past weekend. His words touched me and inspired me to want to share it with you.
These are his words.
2020-08-0309 minLetters To My Son#108: SilenceEven a child knows how to gossip and chatter. Anyone can do that. What's rare is silence. The ability to deliberately keep yourself out of the conversation and subsist without its validation. Silence is moving forward, and creating, every single day.
2020-08-0105 minLetters To My Son#107: The Power To SeeWhen we focus on the vision and connecting the dots in front of you, the world opens up. Be your own biggest fan. Learn to cherish the sound of your own applause because that is always what must come first.
2020-07-2908 minLetters To My Son#106: Make mistakesBelieve in your greatness. See it. Live it. It is there and you need to know that it's there, because it will make all the difference. Your self belief will define you.
There was a long time when the lack of belief in myself was a major factor in my life.
I didn’t pursue an ideal career, or start my own business, because I didn’t think I could.
2020-07-2310 minLetters To My Son#105: Begin with compassionCompassion starts by asking yourself one question as you go about your day and connect — virtually and in person — with others: How can I help this person to have a better day?
2020-07-1611 minLetters To My Son#104: We will all be testedThere’s a saying, “You never really know what you have until it's gone”. Sometimes it takes the most abrasive of reminders, the harshest of times to help us recapture that perspective , to lift us up and show us what we had previously failed to see.
2020-07-1606 minLetters To My Son#103: If not now, when?The first step before anybody else in the world believes it - is you have to believe it. There's no reason to have a plan B because it distracts from Plan A. I honestly believe that if you're focused and passionate and driven, You can achieve anything you want to achieve.
2020-07-1308 minLetters To My Son#102: Your life will changeWhat makes you valuable? What do you bring to the world? What makes you tick? And I'll tell you right now you do not find that by studying how Jeff Bezos started Amazon and attempting to duplicate it.
2020-07-0917 minLetters To My Son#101: Keep living. Keep moving.The trick is to find the joy in the activity. Don’t just do it like it’s a chore to be gotten over with, or some ordeal you need to make it through. Instead, see it as a treasured activity that you get to do. Something that is a privilege to do, because not everyone gets to do this kind of work.
2020-07-0707 minLetters To My Son#100: Be a good manI realized that life is actually pretty simple. Help as many people as you can. Make as many friends as you can. Work as hard as you can. And, no matter what happens, never quit!
2020-07-0507 minLetters To My Son#99: Something worth rememberingSuccess is inevitable, amidst a mysterious and winding road It is my only certainty. You might ask, how could I possibly be sure I don't have evidence or tales of victory. Not yet.
2020-07-0308 minLetters To My Son#98: Not running on emptyThat inner voice that tells you that something is wrong with you. It made me think about all those years where I felt this sense of inadequacy, just not good enough, a deep sense of not being worthy. I still struggle with it sometimes.
2020-06-3007 minLetters To My Son#97: Be the heroes we need you to beNot long ago, Admiral McRaven delivered the commencement address to the MIT graduating class of 2020. I must have listened to the Admiral’s speech 5 times, loved it so much i knew i had to share it with you so full credit to Admiral McRaven and for the million little life lessons he taught me. So here we go.
2020-06-2720 minLetters To My Son#96: Choose the long way homeIf you are moving forward you are not failing. You cannot be working towards something and failing at the same time, It is impossible. You can have your ups and downs. No one will refute that . You can get knocked on your ass have moments of fear and doubt but that is growth. Not failure.
2020-06-2010 minLetters To My Son#95: I’m all inBut what would have become of you? Had you taken three more steps and reached out, had you grabbed the unseen and held on.
2020-06-1706 minLetters To My Son#94: Hope livesThe risk towers over and intimidates the reward. And rather than move forward we stay where we are. But this door, this opportunity, this minute is a hand extended to you - it's an ally, it's a road sign, emphasizing that yesterday doesn't define you. You’re not your past. You’re what you do from here on out.
2020-06-1208 minLetters To My Son#93: Live and in colorThe amount of time we spend fretting over what path to take, when we’re feeling uncertain, can sometimes be staggering.
We’re entering into unknown territory, and we don’t know how to proceed. It happens all the time for many of us: we start a new job, launch a new venture, change careers, have to deal with incredible change, decide to start a podcast, write a book or create something online, put ourselves in a new social situation.
2020-06-0511 minLetters To My Son#92: How far have we come?Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to physical appearance and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. I will no longer remain silent.
2020-06-0507 minLetters To My Son#91: Why not you?We have explored the heavens above and the oceans below. Whether fighting world wars or economic downturns, whenever we've been knocked down, we’ve always stood back up, taller, stronger, ready to build an even better future.
2020-05-2907 minLetters To My Son#90: Memento Mori“Memento Mori,” or translated in English, “Remember you must die.” The point of this reminder isn’t to be morbid or promote fear, but to inspire, motivate and clarify. The idea has been central to art, philosophy, literature, architecture, and more throughout history. As Socrates says in Plato’s Phaedo, “The one aim of those who practice philosophy in the proper manner is to practice for dying and death.
2020-05-2213 minLetters To My Son#89: Someday we’ll look back at this momentIt’s time for us to accept that this pandemic, and social isolation, are here for awhile.
But in addition to that, our reality has changed, possibly for good. So hear me out.
We’re not able to do our usual things — not only work and school, but things like haircuts, dentists, coffee shops, restaurants, bars, shops and more. That can feel very restricted.
2020-05-1809 minLetters To My Son#88: Excellence lived thereI was once told that to become who you might be, you have to walk away from what you are. That maybe I couldn't see it at the time. But somewhere locked away in the depths of my soul existed the spark - the flicker of light that would change everything.
All I had to do, find it.
2020-05-1511 minLetters To My Son#87: Mother’s DayHave you said thank-you to someone to show how grateful you are for them today? Not just because its mother’s day today. It’s such a small thing, but it can have a huge impact on your life, and the life of that person. I will celebrate mother’s day by talking about gratitude and how finding little ways to incorporate gratitude in your life, will make you much happier … and you’ll make the people around you much happier as well. That’ll have a ripple effect that will make the world a better place … with such a small gesture!
2020-05-1113 minLetters To My Son#86: Not much more to sayThis is the importance of always holding a positive expectation that what you want is going to happen. It is simply a choice and a discipline of the mind.
See it. Feel it. Trust it.
2020-05-0708 minLetters To My Son#85: It remains solely on youOne of the most impactful things that's ever been said to me, came from my mother 31 years ago, as I was fixing to head to the airport and start a new life in America and one of the things she said was “in America, no one will ever care about your desire to succeed. No one cares about how much time and work you put into becoming great, it's all irrelevant”.
2020-05-0607 minLetters To My Son#84: Irrationality of the human mindIn countless little ways each day, we blame other people for our frustrations.
They irritate us, don’t do things the right way, are incompetent, rude, inconsiderate, bad drivers, too slow, not tidy, boring, uncaring.
And yet, we will always be frustrated if we stick to this mindset.
We will always be angry, offended, hurt, disappointed. There will be no end to the offenses humanity can take against us, as long as we decide that everyone else is wrong, all the time.
They’re not the problem.
The other person is never the problem.
2020-05-0107 minLetters To My Son#83: Tick-tockLife is always opening doors for us, giving us a gift. We just don’t often recognize it.
For example, this morning, life gave you an amazing gift of a new day. Many people who are on their last breath would give anything for such a miraculous gift — and yet, we often will take this gift for granted. Fritter it away. Complain about much of it.
Why do we waste the opportunity that life has given us?
2020-04-3007 minLetters To My Son#82: Today is a new dayToday is a new day. Today I am choosing to see my life, everything and everyone in it, through a lens of Love and deep appreciation. I allow myself to be exactly where I am, and others to be exactly where they are. Nothing is wrong. Nothing is broken. Nothing needs to be fixed.
2020-04-2311 minLetters To My Son#81: What time is it?Most people make the mistake of imagining themselves at the scariest part of the journey of their meaningful work — speaking in front of a huge crowd if you want to do public presentations, having an audience of hundreds of thousands of people if you want to write a blog or do a podcast, managing a huge team if you want to run a non-profit organization.
But that’s like wanting to be a football player and starting at the Superbowl. You’re not ready for that kind of pressure. Instead, start with youth football, high school football, and then college footba...
2020-04-2110 minLetters To My Son#80: Push the fence backYou are upright and drawing air in the year 2020. Despite your problems, your family’s problems, and the world’s problems, this is still a fantastic time to be alive.
You are not a helpless infant that life pushes around. You ARE the creator of your life. Every decision was and is yours to make.
2020-04-2007 minLetters To My Son#79: Defining courageLife is opportunity, the world around you is opportunity, some people close their eyes and ignore it. Others choose to see it. Courage is never closing your eyes, everything around you is courage.
2020-04-1809 minLetters To My Son#78: Living philosophyThere are various ways to prepare yourself for what might come your way, whether that’s a tough work project, a pandemic crisis, the loss of a loved one, an argument with your best friend, losing your job or the zombie apocalypse.
2020-04-1713 minLetters To My Son#77; With grateful heartsHealth care workers aren’t just “heroes.” We’re also scared and exposed.
I was so moved by what they wrote. I was emotionally held captive. This is their story.
2020-04-1313 minLetters To My Son#76: The chains that bindThings you spent a lot of money on. There is the guilt of getting rid of that item because you spent hundreds (or thousands) of dollars on it. The feeling that you’re wasting that money by giving it away. But you wasted the money when you bought it … holding onto it for longer and not using it doesn’t change that fact. Let go of the sunk-cost fallacy and just cut your losses.
2020-04-1308 minLetters To My Son#75: When there appears no way inAt the same time, it's already possible to see how this outbreak will permanently change our lives.
To all this I say, our backs have been against the wall before. As Americans, we fight like we know how to.
2020-04-0709 minLetters To My Son#74: Something to live forSeveral times in the course of “Man’s Search For Meaning”, Frankl approvingly quotes the words of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche: “He who has a Why to live for can bear almost any How.” He describes poignantly those prisoners who gave up on life, who had lost all hope for a future and were inevitably the first to die. They died less from lack of food or medicine than from lack of hope, lack of something to live for.”
2020-04-0312 minLetters To My Son#73: Tough times don’t lastAdversity is a fact of life. Resilience is that ineffable quality that allows some people to be knocked down by life and come back at least as strong as before. Rather than letting difficulties or failure overcome them and drain their resolve, they find a way to rise.
2020-03-2708 minLetters To My Son#72: I want your commitmentIf we’re absolutely honest with ourselves, most of us are only half-committed to most things — in many cases, much less than half-committed.
We say that we’re going to change our diet, but are we fully committed? Do we make a meal plan and buy the groceries and clear out the junk food and set time in our calendar to prep meals for the week and change our habit of eating out much of the time?
Do we feel so committed in our hearts that we’d bet our lives on it?
2020-03-2710 minLetters To My Son#71: Get goingWaking up every day is not an obligation or requirement. It's not another test or make or break audition to impress those around you. It's a gift. It's a challenge, it's something to be explored.
If the odds of being alive, living breathing are one in 400 trillion. You won. You have, as you sit or stand right now already done the miraculous. So why not cash in?
2020-03-2110 minLetters To My Son#70: Sum of every ageDo you know what it is to write and direct for yourself? I like to think consciously about my own story, the parable of my life, especially now that I am more than halfway through. I think it’s helpful to take a brief intermission before the second act, and check in with my intentions. I intend for my second act to be all about love.
2020-03-1109 minLetters To My Son#69: Perfect is not the goalIf your status quo has never been shaken at its foundation, if you've never stopped and questioned the way things are - reality as it is, if you take risks, there will be no fragments to take and rebuild. You will have the tools or capacity to change the world around.
2020-03-0909 minLetters To My Son-#68: Flowers and weedsUsing the metaphor, the question was, am I watering the weeds in my life, or the flowers? And by the weeds I mean, am I allocating energy to thoughts that are detrimental to what I want. Am I keeping myself in places I don't want to be and in relationships that are counterproductive? Am I thinking about what can go wrong instead of all that can go right? Or am I watering the flowers - the positive - highlighting the possibility - the things I'm appreciative for - the seeds - the potential that can grow a mile high.
2020-03-0208 minLetters To My Son#67: A Glass JarIn real life you create your own probability every day, every minute that goes towards working towards a goal. That means you get closer. Why would you take a snapshot of the present moment in time and use that to define the likelihood that you'll live out your dream someday down the road?
2020-02-2908 minLetters To My Son#66: It’s about timeThe key is to see this abundance, and feel it in your body. It’s like the abundance of oxygen in the air all around us: it’s limited and precious, but we have plenty of it and can breathe freely and with joy. In some situations, oxygen is so limited that it can be life-threatening … but most of the time, we have more than enough for our needs.
2020-02-2410 minLetters To My Son#65: Walk right throughProgress is nothing more than the ability to break big things down into small things. That's it. And those manageable pieces, day in and day out, they become the roadmap to accomplish what ever it is you set out to accomplish.
2020-02-2009 minLetters To My Son#64: Someday is knocking at your doorYou can talk about hours spent - routines - habits, but if you aren’t passionate about what you want. If you don’t Immerse yourself in it - None of that really matters.
Live How you need to live - do what you need to do - Be who you need to be - to make your dreams real - fully commit to excellence because until you do that - you will only be left with a vision and a false sense of reality.
2020-02-1707 minLetters To My Son#63: Let goWe’ve all been hurt by another person at some time or another — we were treated badly, trust was broken, hearts were hurt.
And while this pain is normal, sometimes that pain lingers for too long. We relive the pain over and over, and have a hard time letting go.
2020-02-1106 minLetters To My Son#62: How will it read?Some turn fear into opportunity. Others avoid the unknown. Some never stop learning. Others think they have all the answers.
2020-02-1104 minLetters To My Son#61: Live your best lifeSo imagine as you continue this walk outside and you think about your dreams. The things that fear kept you from becoming, because on your last day alive in the face of death, you'll probably realize that the worst possible scenario wasn't as scary as you thought.
2020-02-0506 minLetters To My Son#60: Carpe DiemRight now, is about execution. It's about taking all those hours, and turning them into the best version of yourself - today is about being better than you ever dreamed you could be. These are the moments you live for.
2020-02-0105 minLetters To My Son#59: Footprints from journeysWhen the path is uncertain we seek out footprints from journeys that occurred Long ago. opinions from people who know no better than us. We look for things that can’t be given, but must be made.
2020-01-2804 minLetters To My Son#58: We may never pass this way againI have been on quite a journey since our sweet dog Henry passed away on Oct. 22nd. and every step I have made on my spiritual path has confirmed what I already knew to be true. There is no higher purpose, no more relevant calling than Love.
2020-01-2807 minLetters To My Son#57: How sweet the soundSometimes it's not easy to see the finish line. To peer down that long treacherous road ahead And feel completely confident that things will work out. You know that Success is waiting there for you in one form or another. Obviously there's no road signs letting you know your progress is paying off - there's no blatant indicator that you're on the right track. Essentially, there's nothing.
2020-01-2408 minLetters To My Son#56: There is only right now that mattersI loved working everyday. I practiced, rehearsed and drilled always trying to keep sharpening the saw.
After 21 years it all came to a crashing halt. Finished. Over. With a single phone call, I was told that my services were no longer needed and HR was sending me a packet in the mail.
We are a product of the pain we endure - the sacrifices we make - the struggles we overcome.
2020-01-2207 minLetters To My Son#55: It’s your very next stepIn every step along the way is who you are - that’s What defines you - your pursuit. Your future rests on the decision to conquer right now - create the world you need to be the change you so desperately want. There are an infinite number of ways to succeed. Infinite.
2020-01-1705 minLetters To My Son#54: I promise you it won’t be wastedThere's a lot that you don't know - a lot you're pretty sure you understand, but couldn't possibly wrap your hands around. Because the most important things in life, the things that you'll remember. They're the very things that seem like footnotes in your story, background noise hidden in plain view.
2020-01-1507 minLetters To My Son#53: Bigger than right nowIt's where decisions are made, and lives are ultimately defined. And which way you go when staring at this fork in the road can mean everything - Maybe you go left, take the easy path minimal upside minimal downside, proven and tangible - it gives immediate identity but also brings with it, some degree of regret not because you won’t like who you are but because you’ll never know what you could have been.
2020-01-0706 minLetters To My Son#52: Mouth closed, eyes wide openYou have that power within yourself, literally to change the world as we know it. That's not a question - its not even far fetched. But we need to spend less time feeling like we're owed something for that exhausted energy. The world is a tough place. It rewards value - And sometimes it takes way longer than we like to see a return on that investment.
2020-01-0305 minLetters To My Son#51: The pain we endureI've met him before many times this gatekeeper guardian of all that is worth possessing, acquiring and conquering. I've witnessed the pain he inflicts - the doubt he manufactures - the obstacles he creates - and what's interesting about the things in life worth having is that they’re never easy to obtain.
2020-01-0105 minLetters To My Son#50: Get after itAnd that simple metaphor, created a foundation for everything that's come through my life since then - Right - in anything we do - There's the option to go all in or to walk the line to hedge your bets. People so often leave or quit when something becomes difficult - because there's another door they've left open - right - there's an easier way - an escape route.
2020-01-0107 minLetters To My Son#49: Just what ifWhat if the starting role is too much for me? What if I was a born follower? What if I never find happiness? What if I don't choose the right path? What if I get lost? What if I can never be as good as the person standing next to me? What if a life of meaning will always be something I'll have to stare up at - wishing - dreaming?
Or what if I just change the way I look at the world?
2019-12-3105 minLetters To My Son#48: Live AccordinglySee human beings make things unnecessarily complicated. Instead of drawing a direct line from point A to point B. We create 100 reasons why it's too hard. Too Tough, we construct distractions. There is no hard - there is no easy. There is a goal - the price that must be paid. And the eyes observing from a distance, wondering, just maybe, if they can do the same.
2019-12-3005 minLetters To My Son#47: Free your mindThis life is about acquiring skills and really pushing yourself to see how much you can do because you really can do whatever you set your mind to. But first you have to set your mind to be free of what others think of you.
2019-12-2405 minLetters To My Son#46: Insults and nuggets of goldSuddenly, it doesn't hurt so much to have somebody say something as long as it's true - you're willing to use it - as long as it's true and you're willing to take it on board and see how you can improve and get better - but first you must stop being willfully blind to your inadequacies - you must stop being willfully blind to the mistakes you make - you must stop being willfully blind to the areas that you need to improve - if you want to achieve the things that you say you want to achieve...
2019-12-1808 minLetters To My Son#45: Passion in its most sincere formWhen we feel safe. When we feel that our leaders care more about us than a number, they care more about our lives and our confidence and our joy and our skill set, more than some short term gain - that they care more about our priorities than the priorities of some disinterested external constituency. Then we will respond in kind and we will offer our blood, sweat and tears, and we will make sacrifices of all kinds, to see that our leaders vision is advanced that this company continues to thrive. Not for them, for ourselves - it becomes...
2019-12-1612 minLetters To My Son#44: One decision awayBecause you have the power to right now take your life back right now. No matter what is going on - No matter What has happened to you - no matter what crazy things have befallen you that seem like fate. Take ownership. Don't beat yourself up. Don't waste time feeling badly about it, just recognize you are far more powerful and capable than you know.
2019-12-1306 minLetters To My Son#43: Persevering is the whole battleBe mindful of where you put in your hours and what exactly you think is important. Be cautious about the promise of jumping from one opportunity to the next too quickly, without giving yourself time to deeply understanding anything. As Duckworth warns in “Grit”, “some people get 20 years of experience while others get one year of experience 20 times in a row”.
2019-12-1012 minLetters To My Son#42: Shut them up for goodThe people that really get somewhere - the people that are able to build extraordinary things - they're the ones that aren't afraid to fail - They're the ones that aren't afraid to fail publicly. They're never worried about what other people think.
2019-12-0507 minLetters To My Son#41: Process of adaptationWe all need a word of encouragement from time to time so let this be that word. You can change no matter what you think of yourself. Humans are designed to change. That’s what we do. But you have to put yourself underneath tremendous amount of stress in order to trigger that adaptation response.
2019-12-0405 minLetters To My Son#40: Face fearThe things that matter to you are the things that matter most. And so, to run in the opposite direction to allow yourself to get into that to allow yourself to see that there are stakes that it matters that it has meaning, and to move in the opposite direction is to literally state you want to stay small is to literally say that you don't want to be successful.
2019-12-0207 minLetters To My Son#39: Lead with courageIt is extremely hard to make decisions with a just cause in mind. With so many of the pressures on all of us pushing to make the finite short term decisions. If you work for a public company the pressure is overwhelming from the outside to focus on the finite at the expense of the infinite. Sometimes we put pressure on ourselves to focus on the finite we become so obsessed with the arbitrary goals we set for the end of the year that sometimes we abandon our own values in order to make the sale, getting the client, move...
2019-11-2617 minLetters To My Son#38: In business we don’tThe military is not different than business, it's not better or worse than business. The lessons are just much easier to see because the stakes are higher. In other words, everything is exaggerated. So the good is really good and the bad is really bad, and the impact of really good is obvious, and the impact of really bad is obvious. And so, I find that it's a much easier place for me to study leadership, just because it's way exaggerated. Right. The other thing is it's a deeply human culture, because the stakes are life and death, very often...
2019-11-2208 minLetters To My Son#37: Fall forwardI found that nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks. Nothing. There is no passion to be found playing small and settling for a life that's less than the one you're capable of living.
2019-11-2112 minLetters To My Son#36: The enemy is rarely outsideThrough daily work the better you get the quieter the voice gets. The enemy within cannot criticize the one who has done the work it can’t argue with someone who has no regrets so do the work every day. Every step forward builds belief. Every step forward builds confidence. Every step forward develops habit. Every step forward is a step ahead of that voice.
2019-11-1806 minLetters To My Son#35: The power of personal affirmationWe are not born feeling inadequate. Life experiences and emotions create that sense within us in a variety of creative ways. When we were little and when we felt afraid or anxious our mind told us something was wrong with us, not with our environment. That’s why children who were abused or neglected grow up to be adults who carry so much shame. A child’s mind not yet rational concludes, there must be something wrong with me if I feel so bad or I must be bad if I am being treated badly. As adults armed with education on e...
2019-11-1506 minLetters To My Son#34: What I would tell my 20-year old selfI don’t care how scared you are, what you need to do is make bold decisions. Right now you’ve got to begin training yourself to act you’ve got to begin training yourself to take chances to put yourself at risk - to risk embarrassment to know that you’re going to fail that’s the only way that you’re ever going to get the things that you want out of life. All of us want to do something extraordinary.
2019-11-1405 minLetters To My Son#33: Burnt up or burned out?A toxic interpersonal environment whether it shows up as undermining, backstabbing, incivility or low trust is a breeding ground for burnout because it requires so much emotional effort just to cope with the situation. Role conflict which occurs when the expectations of one role that’s important to you conflict with those of another also increases risk of burnout this might happen when the demands of your job make it impossible to spend adequate time with your loved ones or when the way you’re expected to act at work clashes with your sense of self.
2019-11-1413 minLetters To My Son#32: The choices we makeYou simply decide how you’re going to see something you can see a catastrophic loss in your life as empowering because there’s something for you to learn or you can simply see the loss you get to decide what you see in that. And once you realize that life really is about cause and effect that the things you decide to see the things you decide to focus on are going to determine the very quality of your life
2019-11-1007 minLetters To My Son#31: Of course it’s possible if you believeIt’s the people who dare to believe, it’s the people who allow themselves to believe that, it’s the people who cultivate that belief fanatically more than they think about anything else they think about how capable they are, they imagine themselves doing it.
2019-11-0707 minLetters To My Son#30: On a missionEvery day we deal with doubts with feeling overwhelmed with frustration and anger with loneliness and disconnection with stress and anxiety with discomfort and change and in times of trouble we deal with the uncertainty of death, massive change, illness, loss of jobs, collapsing finances, growing debt, incredible fears a shifting economy and turbulent politics. It’s enough to make us want to give up or run to our comforts. At least it does for me.
2019-11-0510 minLetters To My Son#29: First you have to believeThere’s no way to just do it - you’ve got to find something in you that you believe in so much that you’re willing to push yourself that hard. You’ve got to construct a story about not only who you are but what you can become and when that narrative is so compelling that it pushes you forward then you will have the kind of change that you want in your life but first you have to believe that you can do it, you’ve got to put yourself out there.
2019-11-0407 minLetters To My Son#28: Within your graspIf you’re willing to do that and be real with yourself about whether or not you’re making progress then your dreams really can come true and that’s what I want for people to believe it to the core of their being. You can do anything you set your mind to and if you need encouragement let this be that encouragement. You can do it, it is possible, it can happen.
2019-10-2906 minLetters To My Son#27: Your life worth rememberingYou have to decide what is a life that’s worth remembering, what is a life that’s going to give you that sense of self. What are you going to have to do to earn that because you have to earn it, there’s no way to stumble through life hoping that it will somehow add up to something that makes you feel good inside.
2019-10-2506 min