Truths, tidbits, and time-tested advice

Five and a half years ago, inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci and his prolific journaling, I started a habit that has since changed my life. I started tracking and writing down one thing that I learned every day.

I know that sounds simple, but as Nielson explains, “American adults spend over 11 hours per day listening to, watching, reading, or generally interacting with media.” As such, we have become expert consumers. We intake ridiculous amounts of content and data each day. But for me, the vast majority of that content was going in one ear…

This article is about two of my favorite things: setting and accomplishing goals and building healthy relationships. I spend a lot of time thinking about both topics and looking for unique and helpful ways that they might overlap and be useful for you and your significant others.

I want to break down the title of this article before jumping into the practicalities because there are a few things to point out. First, these are ideas, not laws. As such, I hope you use these ideas as reference points and not as an instruction manual for success. This leads to point…

If you ask most leaders how many books they read last year, they’ll likely be able to give you a quick answer. However, if you ask those same people how many books they deeply understood and actually absorbed, they’ll likely look at you with a confused expression.

We live in a culture where it’s more important to be able to say that you’ve read a book than it is to actually have a working knowledge and understanding of what that book contains. …

“Now, a person's faults are largely what make him or her likable…Preoccupation with self is good, as a tendency towards procrastination, self-delusion, darkness, jealousy, groveling, greediness, addictiveness. They shouldn’t be too perfect; perfect means shallow and unreal and fatally uninteresting.” — Anne Lamott

It’s time to change the narrative and flip the script on the fairytale stories of princes and princesses.

It’s time to move away from the heroes and move towards the people that all of us can relate to in one way or another: the villains.

Because here’s the truth: as much as we may want to turn…

I love Netflix Christmas Movies. Despite what is often horrendous acting and incredibly predictable plot lines, I love when November rolls around and the advertisement flashes across that black and red screen that “Christmas Prince 5" is coming out in two weeks.

I’m a sucker for Romantic Comedies. For my wife and I, it’s always been one of our go-to fun facts whenever we’re really getting to know new friends or another couple. You know those moments when someone says “tell us about you guys,” and you rattle off three or four pre-rehearsed things as if you’ve never been asked…

The idea first started over the summer.

I had just finished reading a book by a musician named Andrew Peterson where he talked about the creative process and why it was important for adults to retain the imaginations of their youth. He quoted two of my favorite authors, C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. That day in early June, in my daily journal, I wrote down a question that was starting to creep into the background of my brain:

What would it look like to try to write a fiction novel?

I’m an avid reader and have been writing for years now…

Many of us have sat in the tension of this moment; we get a text from a friend or group of friends that reads something like this: “Hey, we’re all hanging out. Wanna join?”

Of course, you want to hang out. That’s beside the point. You’re thankful to have been invited and included, as many of us know too well the feeling of being isolated from and forgotten by those around us. But the reality still stands: is it safe to hang out? …

In 2011, one man had more LinkedIn connections to the 640 Powerful People on Fortune’s list than any human being on the planet. This man had more connections to the top Fortune’s 500 CEO’s, Fortune’s 50 Smartest People In Tech, Fortune’s 40 under 40, and Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women than anyone else at the time.

That man was Adam Rifkin, an entrepreneur who some people call Panda, and who built his vast network despite being a shy engineer.

You’ve likely never heard of Adam Rifkin. He’s doesn’t often come up in major press releases or appear on the covers…