I went back to the Tattered Cover in Denver last night. Love that store! Fun people. I remembered being there two years ago. At the time, The $100 Startup was selling really well and there were at least 150 people at every tour stop. I was feeling good. In Denver that night there were more…
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From my own 193-country journey to the stories of many other people who were kindly willing to share, The Happiness of Pursuit attempts to extract and convey the lessons of modern-day quests. This series explores some of these lessons. Lesson: Everyone has a calling. Follow your (own) passion. Pay attention to the things that excite…
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“To the discontented man no chair is easy.” -Benjamin Franklin From my own 193-country journey to the stories of many other people who were kindly willing to share, The Happiness of Pursuit attempts to extract and convey the lessons of modern-day quests. This series explores some of these lessons. Lesson: Unhappiness can lead to new…
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At the Hyatt Dulles, my shuttle driver was named Abdullai. He was extremely enthusiastic about welcoming his early-morning travelers on board for the ride to the terminal. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “Welcome to my shuttle. I’ll be taking you to the Dulles airport this morning. The journey will take exactly 13 minutes.” Then he…
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So many good things in this one. Best bet is to watch the video. “When you make something, you wonder: Will it stay at the top? Will it speak to people? Will it lose its relevance? But you can’t worry about those things. You have to create things that are truthful to yourself.” “Every…
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When you’re evaluating a big decision, sometimes it’s helpful to ask yourself, “What’s the worst thing that can happen?” Most of the time, the worst-case scenario doesn’t actually come to pass. But sometimes it does. Tera and Wes told us this story at Pioneer Nation: We got the dream job. The one our careers had…
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You don’t write a book because it’s a good thing to write a book. You don’t write a book to “build your platform.” You write a book because you can’t bear not writing a book. You have something to say and you’re willing to put in the effort, day after day, to craft that message in the best possible manner.
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Tom asked me what lasting impact travel has had on my life. I thought it was an interesting question. After I came home from Norway (country 193/193), I did a number of radio interviews where the host asked me similar things.
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Last week I mentioned a project that’s been in the works for more than six months: a comprehensive toolkit to help artists and designers of all kinds make more money and achieve creative freedom. We started by looking at the story of Jen & Omar, the authors of the new resource. They’ve built a fantastic…
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I wrote in the original Brief Guide to World Domination manifesto:
We overestimate what we can accomplish in a day, but underestimate what we can accomplish in a year.Read More
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Once upon a time I lived in the small country of Togo in West Africa. I was based on a hospital ship docked in Lomé, the capital, and the team I worked with had a project three hours’ north in a village. One of our team members needed to be there during the week, but…
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Last weekend I had the honor of speaking to 600 people at Frequent Traveler University, a conference devoted to the world of points and miles.
A longtime friend, Gary Leff, asked me to share a few lessons from the 11-year journey to every country that just wrapped up a few weeks ago in Norway. What have I learned? Good question. I thought about it for a while and here are some of the highlights I came up with. Read More
After producing a new project, I try to circle back and share a few of the lessons learned. Last week we had a small beta launch for Adventure Capital, a new business course, so it's time for another breakdown.
It's been a long time since I've released a paid product of any kind, and there's nothing for sale in this post. If you're creating offers of your own, or if you're just curious how things went with the beta launch last week, I hope the lessons are helpful.
Let's kick off the debrief!
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There's an old story about a salesperson who was disappointed in losing an important sale.
He talked with the boss about why it didn't work out. "I guess," he said, "It just proves you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."
"Maybe," said the boss, "But let me give you some advice: your job is not to make him drink. It's to make him thirsty."
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“People used to expect companies to take care of them,” he said. “Now you’re in charge of your own destiny, for better or worse.” -From a recent article about the decline of the app-making industry as a road to riches.Read More