Everyone knows how to be a good employee. You do what’s required of you. You do what people expect. That keeps your boss and others satisfied. Simple. Thus the way to become a better than good employee is to do more than what’s required. Obvious. That’s the way you get raises and promotions. That’s the…
Whenever I speak in front of people, I always say, “There’s the right way to do it, then there’s the way everyone actually does it.” So often, we think we need to do thing the right way. If we want to publish a book, we talk to a publisher, present our proposal, and wait for…
It was Wednesday night. I’d just finished speaking at a conference I was attending. I was looking forward to the next few days to connect with folks and further my career. I knew many of the people I’d meet over the next few days would be potential advertisers or content creators for my sites. But…
My wife recently quit physical therapy school. She realized she’s not interested in the field. So she’s following her lifelong dream of becoming a personal trainer. But she continually hears discouraging things from random people and even friends. They say things like, “You’re too smart to just be a personal trainer.” Or they say, “Why…
I have a Skype call scheduled in 24 minutes. And I want to get this blog post done. (This one right here.) Crap…now it’s only 23 minutes away. I’ve been wracking my brain for the last 15 minutes trying to decide what to write about. I have a bunch of thoughts, but they haven’t developed…
Pick the most interesting person you know—the one who posts their lives on Facebook and makes you wish you were them. Now consider this: their life is interesting because of about one or two hours of their day. Maybe even one or two decisions. No matter how cool your life is, you spend most of…
My favorite thing my dad taught me: It’s okay to go to a church whose theology you don’t agree with. Now, read to the end before you mentally check out. When we lived in Guatemala, we went to two different churches. We’d go to an extremely liturgical, English-speaking church in the early morning, and an…
In the last few weeks I’ve started two new projects (see below). I’m refining three other projects and working with a publisher to print my devotional for creative people. Yet I find myself knocking out my to do list by noon. I eat lunch, watch a show or two, then feel guilty that I have…
At the beginning of sixth grade, my family moved back to the United States from our missionary adventures in Guatemala. We moved to a tiny town in the Texas hill country and I began attending a public school there. My first day, I ran into a group of guys at orientation. They took one look…
I started a new business last week. Mopho.to is a simple concept: photos for bloggers and social media mavens. I tried not to get too much advice before starting it, because everyone has an opinion. With Sunday| Mag I got so much feedback I almost didn’t want to start the thing. In any endeavor you…