Articles (29)
24 Leadership Principles From The Greatest Business, Military, Political and Sports Leaders
People think that leadership is something that just happens. One is anointed a leader. One is promoted to leadership. One is born into leadership. And of course, this is not the case. “Leadership,”
You Can’t Succeed In Life Without This Skill
Preparation is important. Planning is important. Reflection is important. I mean, I wrote a whole book called, Stillness is the Key, because it’s true. And I was just saying earlier this month that I
If You Want to Be Smart, You Must Do This
There are lots of smart people. There are not a lot of people who can do this smart thing. The poet John Keats called it “negative capability”—the mental fortitude to be able to entertain multiple
Everything I’ve Learned From My Small-Town Bookstore
My wife and I were sitting at a cafe in Bastrop, Texas, looking across Main Street at an empty historic storefront. “You know what would be amazing there?" she said. “A bookstore.” We started
This Strategy Is The Key To Every Victory
It is easy to confuse strategy and boldness. “Given the same amount of intelligence,” Clausewitz dictum goes, “timidity will do one thousand times more damage in war than audacity. It was a favored
10 Habits That Will Help You Live And Be Better
There aren’t too many of us who are satisfied with the person we currently are. That is, we know we could be better. We know we should be better. And by better, we don’t mean at our jobs, at lifting
Books You Should Read This Month
I had to go to Maui last month. I had to. Really, I tried to see if I could push it until a later date, but both my wife and my publisher told me I was out of my mind. There was a certain lady famous
18 Little Stories That Will Have Massive Impact On Your Life
When I was 18 years old, I was a research assistant to Robert Greene. My job was to find stories he could use in his writing. Nearly seventeen years later, I still use so much of what Robert taught me
37 Pieces of Career Advice I Wish I’d Known Earlier
My first job was working at a small deli and grocery store in Lake Tahoe when I was 15. It was a job that came full circle some twenty years later when my wife and I bought a place called Tracy’s
Don’t Go To Business School. Read These 18 Books Instead
Warren Buffett considers the foundation of his multi-billion dollar empire to be a book. At 19 years old, he bought a copy of The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. We don’t know exactly what he
These 14 Small Mindset Shifts Will Change Your Life
For the most part, we can’t change the world. We can’t change the fundamental facts of existence–like the fact that we’re going to die. We can’t change other people. Does that mean that everything is
The Diet That Is Making You Miserable
A few weeks back, I was down near Phoenix and swung out to talk to the Chicago Cubs and the Arizona Diamondbacks who were in the middle of Spring Training. These are elite athletes. Preparing for the
34 Lessons From Writing Every Day for Two Decades
I remember driving home from my high school graduation, excited. I was excited not because I was done with school but because of what I was about to start. I’d been working with a friend to put up my
The Secret To Avoiding Burnout
Two years into writing my latest book, Discipline is Destiny, I hit a wall. There is no word other than “despair” for what I was feeling. Doubt? One always has that. This was deeper. No, this was a
This Is Why You Don’t Want To Tell Yourself Stories
The thing about success is that it messes with your brain. It messes with other people’s brains, too. I’m not saying that it gives you amnesia, but it does change how you see yourself and the events
Always Try To Do It The Hard Way
I was coasting on fumes when he asked me the question, so I don’t think I got the answer right. To be fair, I was 90 or so minutes into being on stage for my talk in Sydney when I was asked: “If
You Must Avoid Getting Corrupted By This
My study of history has led me to believe that there is a kind of dark matter inside the human race. It’s some combination of evil, cruelty, ignorance, cowardice, mob-ness. It is a kind of dark
You Slipped Up. Here’s How To Get Back On Track
It was a long winter. You got sick. You lapsed on a resolution. You slipped up. You’re tired, distracted, out of sorts. So you’re going to write off the rest of 2026? That’s crazy. In one of my
Please Don’t Do This To Yourself
It wasn’t exactly a nervous breakdown, but it was something close. Around the time I was finishing Ego is the Enemy, I ran into a wall. I had just watched American Apparel implode. I had lost a
How To Declutter Your Life This Spring
It doesn’t exactly keep me up at night, but like most people, I have a low-level suspicion that I’m paying for a bunch of stuff I don’t need. At the beginning of the year, I went through all the
11 Books You Can Finish In One Sitting
Ok, so I have a secret that I use when I am in a reading rut: I read something really short. I love the feeling of sitting down and finishing a book…in that sitting. I get the whole rush of cracking
This Hobby Can Change Your Life
I have a hobby and it’s weird. It started in a pretty normal way. I’d always liked taking walks and then I had young kids. Because it was often the only way I could get them to sleep–or to keep them
This Is A Lesson I Hope To Pass Down
Poems have always been earnest. That’s why some of them are so cringe. Rhapsodizing about nature. Pouring out your heart to a lover. Finding deep meaning in small things. Brooding on mortality. But a
31 Lessons I’ve Learned About Money
–It’s important to remember what once seemed like a lot of money to you. When I dropped out of college to work as an assistant in Hollywood, I took a salary of $30,000. I remember saying to myself–no
Are You Noticing This?
Honestly, it’s been so bad for so long, I didn’t even notice. When we moved out to rural Texas in 2015, there was basically no cell phone service at our house or on our dirt road. We tried to fix it
Things Heavy Metal Taught Me About Life
I can no longer remember the first heavy metal song I ever listened to, but I assume it was something by Metallica. I can tell you the first album I fell in love with: Brave New World by Iron Maiden.
How To Recover When The World Breaks You
There is a line attributed to Ernest Hemingway — that the first draft of everything is shit — which, of all the beautiful things Hemingway has written, applies most powerfully to the ending of A
This Is Why You Can’t Wait Until Later
At 6:45pm on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2014, I got an email from my friend Seth Roberts, the pioneering and peerless scientist. I opened it, saw that it was to be the first of a long awaited column
This Is What You Should Read Every Day
Reading is not just something you should do on vacation, or when you have free time. It should be, like all important things in your life, a daily practice, something you’re working to get better at.