Why Failure Is Inevitable When You Let Your Guard Down
“Failure runs parallel to letting your guard down.” – Eric Longenhagen & Kiley McDaniel, Future Value No matter how hard you try to prevent it, failure will happen in your life. It’s an unavoidable part of being human, especially when you have your guard down. Sometimes you think it’s safe to relax and let your […]
Butterflies and Rainbows
Life isn’t always butterflies and rainbows. For us mere mortals, life is often like trudging through a murky swamp. If there is an occasional butterfly flitting by, it’s only to remind us that not everything is pure misery. In our darkest moments, when we seek guidance from peers and loved ones, we’re insisted to do […]
How Revision Reveals the Artist Within
“The first draft reveals the art; revision reveals the artist.” — Michael Lee You know that saying, “the devil is in the details?” With writing, the devil and I have become good pals. There was a time when I felt like a failed writer, adrift in a sea of half-formed ideas and clumsy sentences. In […]
True Art Comes Naturally
The elusive and mystifying world of art inspires awe and wonder in many of those who prefer the practical and concrete.However, the world of creative expression is often grossly misunderstood, especially when it comes to the creative process. We’ve all had the experience of staring at a stark white piece of paper or the haunting […]
Imperfection is Beauty, Madness is Genius
There’s something almost poetic about stumbling across a quote that smacks you in the face with its sheer truth. It’s especially true when it’s from a woman whose life was a masterclass in walking the tightrope between brilliance and batshit crazy. Marilyn Monroe once quipped, “Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius, and it’s better to […]
Learnings of a Hapless Dreamer
Often I’ve seen myself as a hapless dreamer, stuck in a world full of seeming coincidences. Everyone is whining and wallowing in self-pity, making up all sorts of excuses instead of trying to better themselves. After all, it’s easy to get caught up in the rat race, running from one thing to the next, thinking […]
Do You Want to Be a Thought Leader?
When I first became serious about writing online, both in personal blogging and in freelance web writing, I read a lot about thought leadership. But, what baffled me was, despite everyone talking about becoming a thought leader, no one really talked about how one actually becomes a thought leader in your certain area of expertise. […]
Piercing the Mundane to Find the Marvelous
I’m quite fond of this quote from American journalist Bill Moyers: “Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.” No matter how mundane something may at first appear, creative efforts can find ways to make it not only interesting, but marvelous! How’s this done?Let’s explore how creativity can transform even the most ordinary aspects […]
The Dangers of Over-Optimization
The 2020’s have become the age of over-optimization for everything. While I respect people’s need for maximum efficiency, it’s quite possible to go too far. I’ve seen this be especially true in digital marketing, when people bow to the almighty search engine results to get new leads… only to be entirely unable to handle the […]