This quiet mantra has soothed hundreds of jealousies in my own mind.

Having attended a number of weddings over the past few years, I’ve noticed something peculiar and sad. 

My friend once told me I ruin all her pictures because my bright orange water bottle is always there. I'm a hydration freak. But for every sip I take, millions more take sips of contaminated water that spreads disease. 

The way I communicate is perfectly clear! If you don’t understand me, that’s on you! 

“My profession is hostage negotiation with reality. Reality says “I’m gonna kill it!” and I say “no, you’re not. Listen, put down the gun, let’s talk.”

Instead of trying to convince someone on your team to stay, what if you found someone who’s fully present with their work somewhere else? 

This is something I started telling myself when I realized I couldn’t be everything for everybody.

I have a personal vendetta against the phrase “I couldn’t be happier.” This also goes for “I couldn’t be more excited.”

Please remember there are levels to taking a stand. There’s a difference between sharing a slide of a carousel post on your Instagram story, which disappears in 24 hours, and sharing it to your main feed, where people can comment.

“You’re a minnow. They want you to be a minnow, so the sharks can feel good. The sharks pay for everything.”

A special day is as fragile as an egg.

I see people often ask ChatGPT questions like “do you think this marketing idea is cool for Gen-Z?” Or they’ll ask “does this company have a big budget?”

As a freelancer, I often run into people who tell me they’re thinking about making a change in their career. When I check back in to see if these folks have quit their jobs, they haven’t.

Where does your job fall on this graph? Do you find yourself wanting to trend toward a different corner? Why is that? 

This is something I’ve been thinking about as I prepare to write the first draft of my second book in a few weeks. I know it sounds obvious.

AI art is not, by definition, art. The definition of art is “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination.”

If everyone has access to the same ambiguous, potentially incorrect information, it’s no longer an advantage.

As a younger person, I loved compromises. What’s not to love about people agreeing on a plan they can both accept? Why does one person always need to win? 

Most art can be enjoyed long after it’s created. Not so with food.

Trying to motivate myself to lift weights is difficult. I get legalistic about it. I make bargains and cut deals with myself to do fewer reps, to lift less weight, and to stick to lifts I’m comfortable with.