Ewwww. That thought makes me squirm. I don’t really want to think about my behavior in relationship to money. But admitting my problem is the first step in solving it, right? My relationship with money certainly has evolved and taken many forms. I can tell you that, just like when I was married, I have dragged money to therapy so it can find out how it needs to fix itself. […]
Great-Grandma My great-grandmother had a cross-stitch sampler on her kitchen wall, that read: Use it Up Wear it Out Make it Do Do Without This was her ethos. She had always known scarcity and hard-scrabble. Her grandparents were all pioneers – one of her grandmothers traveled from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains on foot. She was born into poverty, the middle of five children. Her father died when she […]
Is money the goal anymore? Or, in the age of insta-famous self-helpers, is personal fulfillment and living “on purpose,” the goal? What has finally become clear to me is that the goal is actually both, and the particular mix of money and meaning that is right for each of us is personal. There is no formula. All one way, cash is king. The problem with putting dollars at the pinnacle […]
Truong Tran lives in San Francisco and teaches at Mills College. He received his MFA from San Francisco State University in 1995 in the field of writing. He is the author numerous volumes of poetry. He is a self taught visual artist whose work has been exhibited in venues including the California Historical Society, California Institute of Integral Studies, SOMArts Gallery, Telegraph Hill Gallery and The San Francisco International Art Market Art […]
Did you know that the original marathon runner from ancient Greece, the guy who ran from Marathon to Athens to announce victory over the Persians, delivered his message, keeled over and died? True story. So why did we “modern” humans insist on taking a bad idea—running obscenely long distances— and turn it into a competition? Not only did we turn it into a race, we decided that running 26.2 miles […]
A question I get a lot is: “How do I pitch myself to ___________ podcast, article, investor, etc.?” And this for many people is the holy grail of attention. If you can get someone to share your ideas with their audience or invest in you it certainly does help. But I see many people going about this process all wrong. So here is my most important rule about pitching anything: Create […]
Our culture informs our world view. It informs what we know, how others see perceive us…often even before we speak. In a way, identifying how our culture and diversity make us unique has been at the core of my teaching philosophy, in my decade(plus) working with clients and students from around the world. Helping people find and use the “expert within” to create an authentic personal brand has become my […]
Many years ago, a wise friend gave me a crucial piece of wisdom. He said, “Incompletions sap your energy: but completions actually GIVE you energy.” A light bulb went off in my head. Because I’ve been one of those who sits around thinking of all the things I’ve got to – and not doing any. So what’s the problem with incompletions? On their own, nothing. But incompletions often tie up […]
The Road to Realizing Your Dream is Littered with Haters “If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery–isolation. Isolation is the gift.” – […]
You don’t get to be the phoenix rising without the burn. It just doesn’t work that way. For every successful business owner, entrepreneur, or founder, there’s a story of walking through the fire. Transformation, both personal and professional, comes at a cost. The price you pay is presence and perseverance on the journey. Joseph Campbell was an author and scholar renowned for his work in comparative mythology. He identified universal […]