Month: July 2014

Can’t win if you’re afraid to fail…#fearless

“An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.”-Edwin Land “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.”- Michael Jordan My story of failing at my first workshops was cited in this highly useful article by A. Michelle Blakeley: 6 Epic Business Failures and the Lessons Learned (Those…
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July 29, 2014 0

Ambitious Mondays: “A Place in the Sun” Edition

When I was a melodramatic teenager (#redundant) in high school, one of my fave films was the 1951 over-the-top George Stevens melodrama, A Place in the Sun, staring the impossibly gorgeous Monty Clift and Elizabeth Taylor. It’s loosely based on the novel-that-time-forgot An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser. (Seriously: the book is 800 pages but…
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July 28, 2014 0

Life a funny thing

“Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.”- Peter Ustinov Last night I appeared on writer/singer/comedian Lynn Bixenspan’s (@lynnbixenspan) “Relationshi! The Fourthening” in the capacity of an expert, along with Wilson McDermut (@WilsonMcD), who is an actual psychologist/professor, in the midst of making the transition to full-time comic, giving life advice to comic/good-soul Charles…
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July 26, 2014 0

Ambitious Mondays: Anton Chekhov edition

“If ever you have need of my life…come and take it.”- Chekhov’s The Seagull I’ve been obsessed with Chekhov since I first read him as a teenager. God, that sounds so corny and melodramatic, but the heart wants what the heart wants. I remember so clearly spending that first weekend simply devouring his plays. Much…
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July 21, 2014 0

Are we addicted to fear?

So, earlier this morning, I’m running errands, getting groceries, and in the checkout line at the supermarket, I notice the latest issue of Reader’s Digest with the if-it-bleeds-it-leads cover, “TERROR At The Beach”…and I sort of chuckle, bitterly. I, after all, spent almost a decade of my life working in TV news–years I’ll never get…
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July 20, 2014 0

A matter of timing.

So much of applying for a job is timing. Assuming you’re sending out concise, intelligent, relevant cover letters, assuming that your resume is relevant to your skills and to the people you’re sending it off to, then a great part of getting your ideal job is making sure that the people who make the decisions…
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July 17, 2014 0

Ambitious Mondays: Hunter S. Thompson edition

I’ve been a huge fan of Hunter S. Thompson, since I was about 14, first reading his book, The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time.  I love his humor, his honesty, his intelligence, and his general joie de vivre.  He committed suicide in 2005, and I still mourn that crazy mofo. I’m…
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July 14, 2014 0

Brainstorming

“Creativity takes courage.”- Matisse Yesterday, I spent about 4 hours sitting in my office, brainstorming with 3 different clients. I was helping them flesh out their ideas, on a variety of topics from unorthodox ways to get funding for medical school when you’re not a US citizen, to structuring and organizing a potentially groundbreaking book,…
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July 12, 2014 0

True grit

 “I am ready to fight for what I want, and you may see it as nagging but I see it as someone who cares about me and I can’t thank you enough.”-A.  I received the above sentence in an email this morning from of the exceptional students I coached yesterday in an all day boot-camp……
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July 9, 2014 0

Advice to a college grad

“I guess at this moment of my life what I mostly need is direction. Coming from a family of immigrants we have never really seen past high school. College was a new frontier for us, so the road ahead is all new. I’ve done some research but I am still not sure of what I…
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July 7, 2014 0