Ditching the Draft Anxiety
People will tell you to write sh***y drafts. You don’t have to obey. The point is (should really be) not to let draft anxiety stop you from writing. I think it’s true that most writers don’t produce “great” first drafts. If you have draft anxiety, get over it, learn to self-edit relentlessly, and find editing […]
Against the Ideology of Stupid
I was bullied through most of school. A lot. Not just for being a non-conformist—eyeliner, torn clothes safety pins, as early 80s as you can imagine. Not just for being gay. Not just for coming from a single-parent household. There was a much deeper stigma… I was effortlessly, unstudiously, and unapologetically smart (i.e., good at […]
The Anti-Intellectual Cult of Writing Advice
Too much writing advice is just good old-fashioned tent-revival anti-intellectual crap. Writing experts intone their points with the cynical piety of anyone who broadcasts truisms—cynical because it positions those experts as having the solution to redeem people from their doomed attempts at thinking. I’m old enough to remember when dogma dictated we should write for […]
Eleven Years Ago, I Made a Move That Changed My Life
Eleven years ago today, a tow truck took my car and movers emptied my house in New Jersey as it poured down rain. It looked like another sad story of the brutal financial crisis. But, no. I was getting on a plane headed to Los Angeles, on my way to a new house I had […]
Authenticity in a World of Thought Leadership
Nothing is new. Nothing is true. This dictum may seem strange when advocating for thought leadership, but hear me out. Let’s take the Pythagorean theorem, for example. In one sense, what better “thought leadership” than having a fundamental principle named after you? But: Back to thought leadership, what does this all mean? If becoming a […]
Unveiling Thought Leadership’s Survival Guide
I’m doing something genuinely new and exciting—launching a newsletter on the ins and outs of doing thought leadership well. Thought leadership is on the cusp of extinction due to overpopulation. I’m here to talk about what it takes to survive and thrive as a thought leader with ease and grace. Of course, there are other […]
When Influence Becomes Ubiquity
I finally figured it out! I know why 90% of all the tips and truisms posted here sound the same, and I learned where they come from. It’s all from James Clear’s Atomic Habits. I’m very late to the game in reading it. It’s an excellent book. It’s also very obvious how many LinkedIn posts […]
Reflections on Life’s Unexpected Turns
Long before “work from home” was considered legitimate, the morning of 9/11/2001, I decided that I would stay home to finish an article I was working on for my employer at the time. Purely a personal judgment call. I figured the finished product would get me out of the hot water of showing up late. […]
Unconventional Perspectives: Marketing, Thought Leadership, and Writing
I fully admit it. It’s weird and maybe a bit alienating to talk about marketing through the lens of ethical philosophy, thought leadership through the lens of epistemology, and writing through the lens of formal aesthetics and phenomenology. It’s just the after-effect of coming at my current profession from a non-traditional path deep within the […]
Finding the Current to Sail Again
Sometimes, it’s the lack of turbulence that leaves you stalled. You enter the “horse latitudes.” Skies are clear, winds are calm. It all gets too easy. Smooth sailing, and then you are stuck. So stuck that you have to start throwing your horses overboard. You don’t have enough food or water for them. Or you […]