Pete, the sound engineer for my recent Audible book, pulled me aside after recording and said, “I wish I could tell stories like you, but nothing interesting happens to me.”
I told him, “Everyone has interesting things happen to – or around them – that can be turned into stories.”
He smiled and said, “Like what?”
When I submitted my book proposal for SOMEDAY Is Not a Day in the Week to my agent, she told me, “Sam, you’ll get a better deal if you have a bigger platform.”
In other words, my book deal depended less on my track record or the topic’s relevance and more on my social media following.
So, I did something I have never done…
Last year, we went around the table at Thanksgiving to share highlights of the year and to express our thanks.
When we finished, Andrew said, “Why do we only do this once a year?”
Good question! Why not start every meal with each person taking a minute to express appreciation for something good that happened that day?
I had the pleasure of visiting the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit at the Denver Art Museum with my son, Tom.
As we enjoyed an afternoon exploring da Vinci’s multi-faceted genius (e.g., think flying machines. The Mona Lisa. The Vitruvian Man. Scuba gear.), I kept thinking…
“What if someone had told Leonardo da Vinci to PICK A LANE??”
Years ago, I read an article by Shankar Vedantam in The Washington Post about genocide and famine.
Rather than leading with data, Vedantam shared a story about an oil tanker that had caught fire off the coast of Hawaii…
Challenging times invite us to study the Stoics. Many of our greatest philosophers – Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Epictetus- dealt with life challenges, and all arrived at enduring wisdom – which we can access & integrate.
I’ll always remember walking Wailea Beach with National Geographic photographer Dewitt Jones. We’d go about 100 yards and he’d stop, whip out a little notebook and pen from his pocket and write something down. I finally asked, “Dewitt, what are you doing?”
My friend Maria passed her state’s real estate exam and obtained her license. After many weekends of open houses, Maria hadn’t made one sale.
A while back, I was talking to my friend who was moving on from a relationship. She sighed, “I guess it’s just a trust fall…”
Years ago, I had the pleasure of sharing breakfast with Ivan Misner, founder of BNI. After hearing about my full calendar of speaking, consulting and traveling, he asked, “What do you do for fun?”
