What is a thought?

“A thought is a….” I froze after typing that. I don’t know what a thought is, but I know what a thought is not.

A thought is not a belief. Beliefs willingly ignore conflicting evidence.

Real Artists Aren’t Tortured

There’s a common belief in the phenomenon of the “tortured artist.” That if you hope to make it as a creator, the price you have to pay is madness. You’ll cut off your ear like Vincent Van Gogh, or succumb to suicide like Sylvia Plath.

The Curious Illusion of Perfection

Something amazing happens when you follow what you’re curious about. It creates an illusion of perfection.

When you’re first following your curiosity, you look scatterbrained. Your friends urge you to focus, and you may even lament your…

Process Before People

When business gets busy, one of the first instincts is to add more people. There’s lots of work to do, and people do work. It then follows that lots of work means lots of people.

I prefer processes over people. If there’s lots of work to do, how can you make that…

Story idea: Golden Flow

In the final years of the Vietnam War, President Nixon initiated what the soldiers came to call Operation Golden Flow.

Opiate use was normal amongst soldiers. They could get good quality heroin, and they were in an environment that was conducive to drug use…

The Art of the Word

It’s good to write many words. If you make it a habit to write every day, you start to develop a mindset of there’s always more where that came from. You get good at busting through the fear that often stands in your way.

Say Everything

Sometimes people ask me how I write so much. Where do I even come up with so many things to write about? When they try to write something, they don’t even know where to begin.

I tell them that if they don’t know what to write about, then they should write about the fact that…

You Do Your Best Thinking When You Aren’t Thinking

When did your best ideas come to you? It was probably when you weren’t even trying. You solved a problem in the shower, or your gained clarity on a beach vacation.