Jan 14, 2021Self-Destruction via Infinite GamesBefore Fight Club was a movie, it was novel. Before it was a novel, it was a seven page short story. Before it was a seven page short story, it was just a normal, slow, boring afternoon at the office for future author, Chuck Palahniuk. Before that afternoon, he didn’t…Life9 min read
Nov 25, 2020The Last Lecture Articles 04: The Parent LotteryRandy Pausch believed he was born with the Golden Ticket. No, it was not to win a trip to Willa Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. He believed that the reason he was able to achieve his childhood dreams was that he won ‘The Parent Lottery.’ His mom was a tough old-school English…Life3 min read
Nov 12, 2020The Last Lecture Articles 03: The Elephant in the Room“My dad always taught me if there is an elephant in the room, introduce it.” — Q: How do you show an audience how close you are to death? A: “Just watch!” was Randy Pausch’s idea. Here’s what he did to prove it. He stood before his audience, not in a leather tweed jacket with elbow patches to embellish the last words of his dying wisdom…Life5 min read
Nov 8, 2020Make the Call to AdventureHow Dan Harmon and Steve Jobs Revolutionized the World. — Dan Harmon is unique. The characters he writes in his shows, “Community” and “Rick and Morty” are also unique. But, what’s really special is the structure in which he writes his stories. That structure could revolutionize your world. I’ll explain how. Dan created the “Story Cycle.” It’s a framework used to create better stories…Life7 min read
Nov 5, 2020The Last Lecture Articles 02: My Life in a Laptop“Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.” This is the advice Stephen King gives to writers in his memoir, “On Writing.” Randy Pausch indirectly used this advice for his lecture, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” How many slides would it take you to present your life story in an hour? Randy Pausch started with…Life4 min read
Nov 4, 2020The Last Lecture Articles 01: An Injured Lion Still Wants to RoarIf you were to die tomorrow, what wisdom do you, alone, truly have to offer? What makes your story unique? In your last moments, would you talk about dying or living? Would you skip sharing your college sweetheart’s last birthday together to give a final talk to the world? Randy…Life2 min read
Oct 16, 2020Why Do We Lose Our Sh*t?Well, because your amygdala, an almond-shaped emotional specialist, can literally hijack your brain before all relative information is fully digested. Once your ‘neural tripwire’ is activated it will sound the alarm and will send tons of signals to the rest of your body at the drop of a hat. …Life2 min read
Aug 12, 2020Perhaps. Perhaps. Perhaps.Nike launched its initial public offering on December 2nd, 1980 for 18 cents a share. Ironically, 18 years before that, what started as a ‘Crazy Idea’ that came about after a routine morning jog in 1962 led Phil Knight to become a multi-millionaire seemingly overnight. I believe his memoir, ‘Shoe…Life2 min read
Aug 6, 2020You Gotta Have Outlets“You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” —Andre Gide In 1928, nestled between Venice and Milan, on the western shores of Lake Garda, a commune was united between two towns, Toscolano and Moderno. Sixty years before that Napoleon III and Victor…Life12 min read
Jul 26, 2020Why are we ‘stuck’ in our heads?In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book, The Great Gatsby, there is a moment in Chapter 4 when Carraway is walking back home with Jordan and the phrase that began to beat in his ears with “a sort of heady excitement” is as follows: “There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the…Life7 min read
