“Angry Owl” by Jason Kotecki. 16″ x 20″. Oil on canvas.Original is SOLD. Prints available here. I’ve always thought owls looked angry. That perception inspired this painting, as I decided to give him something to be angry about. But now I wonder if maybe they’re just focused. After all, perpetually being on the lookout for your next meal kind of requires your undivided attention. Likewise, in order to achieve a dream or accomplish anything worthwhile, you have to be incredibly focused. You can’t let distractions knock you off your game. One of the biggest reasons people are not as successful as they’d like to be – regardless of their definition of success – is due to a lack of focus. They keep chasing shiny objects and fail to follow through on any one initiative. As Steven Pressfield writes brilliantly in his book The War of Art, “The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.” Understanding …

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I got my first pair of glasses in eighth grade. “Oh great,” I remember thinking, “Now I’m going to be one of those people.” I figured the least I could do was select a style that would be cool. For some reason, I thought big, brown frames with lenses the size of dinnerplates fit the bill. Since then, I’ve gone through quite a few frames, including the horrible clear plastic cheapos that were the best I could find in an emergency late-night mall trip. I busted lots of frames early on. At the time, I blamed my aggressive, living- on-the-edge lifestyle, but it probably had more to do with the awkwardness of puberty (good times). In a cruel twist of fate, the nasty clear plastic ones lasted the longest (good riddance, sophomore year). I even went through a contact lens phase before ultimately deciding that glasses were easier and I got comfortable with the idea of being “one of those people.” One thing that hasn’t changed is that I’m still near-sighted. …

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It’s a natural human tendency to compare ourselves to others, especially to people who are in the same field we’re in. Comparison isn’t necessarily a bad thing if it leads us to discover areas where we can improve. But when it shifts into envy or jealousy, that’s a problem.  I often attend the annual convention for the National Speakers Association. I always have to brace myself for the “must be nice” game. In the speaker world, it goes like this:  Of course he gets booked all the time, he’s a former NBA player. Must be nice.  She’s got so many connections from working all those years in the corporate world. Must be nice.  I wish I could juggle fire and do backflips like that. Must be nice.  I spend so much time noticing all the things I’m not that I miss the things I am. One theme that drove itself home for me during a convention years ago was my talent as an artist. It’s something I’m good at, and it’s a skill that very few speakers possess. And yet …

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You can spend all day fishing and catch nothing: 2,375 casts; 2,375 failures.  But.  The next cast could be the one that changes everything.  Since I started my company in 1999, I’ve encountered many dead ends. We’ve had a lot of projects we were excited about, initiatives we were certain would deliver the breakthrough beyond our wildest dreams, that failed—hard.  We’ve lost money, time, and pride. Sometimes, it’s taken a long time to recover. After you’ve been hit by a car so many times, you start to wonder if maybe you should stop standing in the middle of the highway. But one thing that kept me going was a quote by Thomas Edison, who said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”  I guess I was more afraid of being a failure than I was of failing. And there’s a difference.  Dead ends happen. But hitting one doesn’t necessarily mean you’re dead or at the …

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In this light-hearted and vulnerable talk delivered at the 2019 Escape Adulthood Summit, Kim shares her experience with the "joyful haul" of motherhood. She recounts her hunt for wonder, what she found, and how you too can rediscover your wild heart in order to bring more peace, fullness and joy into your life. After you watch the talk, I'd love to hear your biggest takeaway. Feel free to share it in the comments! …

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I used to be so smug about not being a meth head.Kim and I have been watching the series Breaking Bad, about a mild-mannered high school science teacher with a cancer diagnosis who gradually descends into a life of crime as a ruthless player in the local methamphetamine drug trade. Good times.The psychology behind the choices that the characters make and consequences that come from them are fascinating, not to mention the look into the dark underbelly of the drug economy. During scenes that show people in the deepest throes of addiction, I’ve noticed myself judging the junkies.How stupid could a person be? What did they think would happen? What a loser...But I've come to consider that perhaps we are all addicted to something.Drugs and alcohol are the most obvious, along with porn, gambling, food, and tobacco. But we can also be addicted to attention, validation, drama, status, and even busyness.For example, I often find myself caught keeping up on the news. I browse my go-to sites and …

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What does it mean to graduate?It’s an accomplishment, a milestone that marks the completion of one part of a journey. Our common understanding of it usually involves an academic degree or diploma.But too often, it’s also just the end. Full stop.About a quarter of American adults (24%) say they haven’t read a book in whole or in part in the past year, whether in print, electronic or audio form. Other research shows that 47% of Americans didn't take all of their vacation time last year and 21% "left more than five vacation days on the table." That's time that could have been enjoying a new experience or exploring another city, state or country for the first time. Too often we associate learning as something we have to endure, and that it happens in certain places (schools and universities), and at certain times (also known as the “school year”). But learning is not something that stops during the summer, or after you walk across the stage with a funny hat to receive a diploma. A rich, …

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