Have a Nicer Flight
Many things improve with age; airline travel is not one of them. After a challenging romp through an airport, I boarded the plane and was overcome with a wave of nostalgia for the good old days of airline travel when …
Archive for August, 2009
Play It Again, Sam
One of the things Malcolm Gladwell discovered after researching outstanding achievers for his book Outliers is, “What we call talent is really the desire to practice.” He’s not the first person to point that out.
Three years ago, Tiger Woods …
The Driving Force: Don’t Run Your Business Without It
Last week, the NY Times published a popular article called On to Plan B: Starting a Business. The piece talked about people they called accidental entrepreneurs, folks who had lost their jobs and decided to go out on their own. …
Through the Back Door to Getting Published
On February 29, 1992, I woke up in my New York hotel room scared to death. I was about to teach Making a Living Without a Job to 125 students at the Learning Annex. Although I’d taught the class dozens …
Still Waiting for Someday? Cut it Out
When thirteen-year-old Summer Riley lost the iPod she’d received as a birthday gift in May, she was devastated. After she stopped scolding herself, she decided to earn the money to replace it and set up shop selling lemonade. In …
Open with a Hook: A True Story with 7 Openings
When I was driving home from California yesterday, I heard the news that legendary
newsman Don Hewitt had died. One story said that when he got the go ahead to produce 60 Minutes, CBS told him, “Don’t make us …
6 Good Guidebooks for the Joyfully Jobless Journey
A great personal library is one of the best investments you can make—providing you read and learn from the contents of the books that line your shelves. Here are half a dozen that are loaded with advice, information and inspiration. …
Do Talk to Strangers
For the past several years, I’ve been urging seminar participants (and anyone else who will listen) to take the initiative in starting conversations with total strangers. It’s something that comes naturally to me, but when I started getting questions about …
Play: Frivolous or Fundamental?
Like many cities, Las Vegas has an annual Housekeeping Olympics with teams from different hotels competing in challenges such as laundry folding, bed making and the ever popular obstacle course. The coveted prize? The dirty toilet brush.
This …
6 Free & Easy Ways to Build Your Business
Here are some obvious and not-so-obvious ways to build a better business.
Study with the best. Writers need to be readers; speakers need to be students. You get to pick your own faculty. Whatever your field is, find people who …
