People often tell me, “I’m a business owner, not a speaker.” “I’m a consultant, not an author.” “I’m a non-profit leader, not a social media influencer.”
I reply back with, “I hear you! AND, if we want to impact more people, we must be all of these!”
Captain Ray Ashley had a dream of building a replica ship, the San Salvador, as a project for the San Diego Maritime Museum.
He made a brilliant decision to build it in PUBLIC (right by a busy freeway near the airport) instead of in PRIVATE (where it’d be out-of-sight-out-of-mind).
People talk about finding their calling as if it exists out there somewhere. I think our calling – doing work we love that matters – emerges from doing and pursuing things that matter to us. It’s not found, it’s forged.
What a joy it was to be interviewed on John Lee Dumas’ pioneering podcast Entrepreneurs on Fire. John and I talked about how having something specific on our calendars gives us IKIGAI, a Japanese word for “purpose, a reason to get up in the morning.”
The first year of the Maui Writers Conference, a woman walked out of her pitch meeting with tears in her eyes. I walked over and asked her, “Are you okay?” “’No, I’m not okay…”
The day my son Andrew left for Virginia Tech (his brother Tom was already there), I went for my morning walk around Lake Thoreau in Reston. A neighbor joined me, and when she heard both boys were at college, she asked…
Years ago, I was exploring the Morro Bay waterfront on an Easter Sunday. Three of the most famous restaurants were packed—lines out the door.
Someone got in touch with me recently and said she has wanted to write a book for years.
I said. “What’s been keeping you from writing?”
“Well you know, I’ve been busy and
At a recent event, a founder told me she was feeling lost after selling her company. “I had a nice exit… but now what?” she said.
I asked, “What used to light you up?”
Have you ever driven California’s spectacular Pacific Coast Highway? If so, you’re familiar with its many hairpin turns.
In the day, you can see what’s ahead and adapt accordingly. Unfortunately, I didn’t get there during the day, I got there at dusk.
