He had done his art for over 35 years. Every morning he woke up and went to his studio. These days he was older so he limped more than walked there. He looked at his subject—some peaches on a table or apples or grapes. These simple beauties still dazzled him. Then he breathed, picked up […]
If you’re involved in creative work, whether it’s writing or leading or designing or coaching, you know what it feels like to get stuck. A question I receive regularly goes, “This project is important to me, but I’m stuck. How do I get started, and how do I finish?” We’ve all been there. Getting stuck […]
I confess: I love a great giveaway. One of the reasons I love them is because I’ve been the recipient of free gifts that have made a HUGE difference in my life. I also like the rebelliousness of overturning the typical money-for-service paradigm and just giving somebody a huge gift. To register right now for […]
I’m so pleased to bring you this interview with my friend Daniel Harkavy. Daniel is the coauthor of the bestseller Living Forward: How to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want and the author of Becoming a Coaching Leader: The Proven System for Building Your Own Team of Champions. He’s the founder and CEO of […]
By far the best thing I have ever done for myself is create a life plan. A life plan is a simple document that you create as an intentional way of envisioning and committing yourself to a future you desire–in every area of life. I wrote my life plan about seven months ago as I write […]
Imagine driving around an unknown city for a while when suddenly your phone and all its GPS abilities goes dead. You smack it a few times. You look to the heavens. You yell “C’mon!” Nada. It’s a goner. What would you do next? Many writers find themselves in this situation. Here’s the kind of question […]
What are the books that have made you . . . you? Recently my friend Bob Evenhouse asked me how I got started blogging, coaching, speaking, etc. I immediately started rattling off the books that influenced me. I owe so much to these books and their authors. I thought others might be interested in these nine books (as […]
Holidays can be tough. It sounds counter-intuitive perhaps, but it’s true. Sometimes holidays remind us of people or events that used to be here and now for whatever reason are not. Sometimes holidays bring us into close contact with people who are important to but very different from us, and just the closeness can create […]
I’ve got a platform,” writers sometimes tell me. “I’m on Twitter and Facebook. I’ve got a blog.” But here’s the litmus test for whether you have a platform: If a publisher sent a pallet of books to your garage, how many of them could you move on the strength of your own connections? This question puts […]
The other day I walked past my bookshelf, and this juxtaposition caught my eye—two books that have no business being next to each other. The one is an Advent devotional titled Preparing for Jesus: Meditations on the Coming of Christ, Advent, Christmas and the Kingdom by accomplished writer and National Book Award winner Walt Wangerin. […]
