Unparalleled
This is an essay from my popular 100 Days of Leadership Series. If you would like to learn how to become a leader in your organization, your community, or in your personal life, sign up here to receive these short essays directly to your inbox. Leaders who seek to lead are no leaders at all. Leaders who seek to…
“It's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”Abraham Lincoln I recently turned 30 years old. Yikes. I remember turning 20 like it was yesterday. It’s hard to believe 10 years has passed in such a flash! I’ve been told that time seems to move faster the older you…
Greatness is a nebulous word. Greatness is not tangible. You can’t hold it, you can’t touch it, you can’t transfer it. It’s a word you know, yet cannot neatly define. It’s only when you see someone embody greatness that you get a sense for what it really means. For me, that somebody has always been…
“Prioritize your life, or someone else will.” -Greg McKeown You are replaceable. According to your employer, that is. If there is anything pandemics and technological advances have taught us in modern times, it’s that the above statement is truer than ever. And even if it weren’t true, you have to ask yourself why you are…
In preparation for the upcoming launch of my Unparalleled Live course, I will be publishing a series of principles that form the foundation upon which it is built. Over the next few weeks, these posts will include additional principles on my philosophy, as well as my principles of running the course itself in an effort…
Be kind to your future self. If you feel stuck, the best thing you can possibly do for future "you" is to make time to reinvent present "you." Six months ago, I was totally out of answers. It was a chilly, dreary January day in Denver, Colorado. I had just left my job at a…
If you are having difficulty discovering your purpose in life, start by defining your favorite problems. We often feel lost in life when we lack purpose. Traditionally, we have been trained to rely on our ideas, our passions, and our skills to find direction. While this puts us on track to find something, this mindset…
If you are unhappy or dissatisfied with the work you do, you are working by default. Jobs in the 21st century can be summed up into two distinct camps: work by default, and work on purpose. Work by default (WBD) is by far the most common, and is characterized by the absence of passion, purpose,…
Writing is where all human action, connection, and persuasion begin. When they say “the pen is mightier than the sword,” it’s not just because it sounds good, sounds contrarian, or that it is a rallying cry for all introverts and nerds. It is because it is true. There is a deeper, visceral, intrinsic value to…
Your ability to be creative is as much a part of your nature as playing and running is for a dog. When a dog trainer begins working with an upset or misbehaved dog, the first thing they ask the owner is “do you take it for walks?” This one question gets to the heart of…
If your goal is happiness and meaning in your work, you must make room for the work that matters to you. Pre-pandemic, focus was hard to come by. I used to be all over the place. Checking email here, texting a friend there, catching a glimpse of the TV here, checking the fridge over there.…
Stop Chasing Money and Status. Build Wealth and Meaning Instead. You'll Never Look Back. I recently left my high-paying job as a restaurant manager with the intent on creating my own destiny. But why? Being in charge of such a large organization had all the trappings anyone might want: money, power, status, a comfortable two-bedroom…
How to Keep Your Soul and Find Meaning Using the Paradox of Value "Everything in life is truly free, if you keep your soul.” This was the vivid and profound message in my head when I woke up from a dream the other morning. The message itself was engrained in my brain, no messenger. I…