Everything in my closet matches every other thing in my closet. What can I say? I love navy blue. Each morning when I scan my closet for something to wear I get to skip the part where I have to decide if these pants go with that shirt. Anything goes with everything. In a world where we spend our days … Read More

Here’s one way to get more of what you want, even if you don’t want to do the work required to get what you want: become so disciplined that you do the work in spite of how you feel and in spite of your environment and in spite of the pain you experience.  If you believe this is the ONLY … Read More

That feeling that the work you are producing isn’t as good as it could be is a gut punch of disappointment.  Here are three reasons why it is happening, and how to flip the script… You are trying to keep too many plates spinning. Everyone I know is competent at piloting a vehicle. Everyone I know is also adept at … Read More

I used to think doing it all myself was how I needed to prove my value and validate my worth as a small business owner. Asking for help felt like an admission of weakness or failure.  And then I got really, really busy. Suddenly I had to renegotiate terms with my ego, because doing it all myself was no longer … Read More

Almost everyone with whom I have worked has overestimated how busy they were. It’s not that they weren’t busy, it’s just that they felt much busier than the work demanded because they were disorganized. How many surgeons enter the operating room hoping that the right tools will be sterilized and ready to go? Zero. That kind of organization and preparation … Read More

Here are the two things that made it difficult for me to accomplish my goals: The pursuit of interesting goals is not like taking on a challenging afternoon hike, after which you will essentially be the same person you were before you began.  The pursuit will force you to change. You won’t have to betray your deepest values, but you … Read More

For small business owners, email is a blessing and a curse. Your inbox is likely a place that could contain exciting opportunities (they said “yes” to my pitch!) as well as time-consuming, but necessary tasks (please fill out this 40-page form to renew your worker’s comp insurance) that distract us from our highest and most valuable work. That’s why I … Read More

I’m firmly convinced that I do my very best thinking on planes, but that doesn’t mean air travel is without its share of complexities that can really stress you out. And since I spent the majority of yesterday at 30,000 feet, here are my favorite ways to make travel days less stressful… Those are my favorites, but what about you? … Read More

You probably assume that feelings of overwhelm are a reaction to external factors. My employees keep interrupting me… The market is changing and I need to adapt… I have so much to do and there aren’t enough hours in the day… There are certainly plenty of external factors that will make things more difficult for you, so it’s time to … Read More

It’s so easy to find yourself unsure of what to do next, or overwhelmed by how to get started, so you put off the work for an hour, a day, a week…  Which gives you plenty of extra time to worry. Somehow the worrying always gets done. But what if you did the opposite? What if you chose to put … Read More

When I reflect on the myriad calls I have shared with overwhelmed small business owners, the one thing that surprises me the most is that nothing has ever been particularly surprising. Sure, a few circumstances have been a little more exotic than others, but the underlying themes are ultimately the same: I’m stuck and I don’t know what to do…  … Read More

The two things that are most likely to prevent you from having good ideas are simple: You don’t have to be the smartest person on the block to have good ideas, but you do have to invest time to think AND be willing to generate a stack of ideas that won’t work.  Here are some things you could try… How … Read More

Does anyone remember a professional basketball player named Michael Jordan? Look him up. He was really good. Rings on rings on rings good. He was an iconic, generational talent, and is regarded as one of the top two NBA players of all time on every list I could find.  And he was very terrible at baseball. Minor league baseball. I … Read More

I grew up in the 80’s and learned a lot of valuable lessons from sitcoms. Unfortunately, these shows also drove home a subconscious message that still haunts me to this day: nothing ever changes. That massive promotion that would change everything for our fictional heroes? Yeah, it never materialized. The winning lottery ticket? Yeah, that got lost in a series … Read More