You might be surprised to read this, but one of the first goals I ever wrote when I created my first bucket list was to “learn everything”.
It’s certainly an ambitious goal – impossible even. With all the information out in the world, learning everything would probably take several lifetimes. And that’s assuming you could even pinpoint a finish line to the process.
But even if no one could possibly accomplish it, I still believe it is an extremely useful goal.
Read more »
We all want to stand out from the crowd. Even Oliver Wendell Holmes was once quoted as saying, “Nothing is more common than the wish to be remarkable.”
Still there are some common pitfalls to avoid when standing out. They’re ones we’ve all been guilty of from time to time. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t done a few of these in my past.
But if you’re looking to be just a little more memorable, you might just want to stay away from some of these.
Read more »
A few years ago, when I was preparing to travel to Belize, a friend of mine asked me what my plans for the trip were. Specifically she wanted to know if I had a place to stay arranged before I arrived.
When I told her no, she was aghast. What would I do if I got there and there wasn’t a room available anywhere? She wouldn’t have been able to handle traveling so far away without making those arrangements beforehand.
I guess that’s what separates me from a lot of people. I get a big thrill out of not knowing what is going to happen next; it’s adventurous.
Read more »
“I would never be able to do that.”
“I don’t have what it takes to get there.”
These are some of the excuses I hear from people who tell me they aren’t able to do things others are doing. For some reason, they see an insurmountable barrier between themselves and these people.
But one important question to ask is this: “why couldn’t it be you?”
It’s a legitimate question. Is there a good reason why you can’t do what some other people are doing or are you just making excuses?
Read more »
When is the last time you gave everything you had to make something happen? By that I mean putting a ton of time into a goal with extreme focus and determination. It means becoming so passionate that you start to obsess.
If I had to pick one personality trait that helps me succeed, it would be the ability to become 100% dedicated to make a goal happen. It’s amazing how much immersing yourself completely into a goal can help you reach it.
Read more »
Show me the person who has never failed and you’ll be showing me a person who has never accomplished anything.
Failure is a natural part of life. We all have to go through it at one point or another. It can’t be helped.
You may not be able to change the fact that failures and setbacks will happen once in a while, but you can determine how you react to them. And it turns out that how you react to failure matters a lot.
Read more »
A few months ago I got back from Morocco where I had been living and traveling for two months. Rather than quitting my job, I took a leave of absence so I could go back to my position when I returned.
This is the fourth time I’ve had an employer let me take time off to travel for a month or so at a time. I wrote about my first two times in a previous post.
However in that post, I didn’t go into much detail about how I negotiated the time off.
Since then I’ve asked more employers for extended periods of time off to travel. I’ve gained a lot of experience in the best way to ask in order to get travel time off.
So I want to go into more detail about what I’ve learned about getting a month or more of travel off from work.
Read more »
