When I first joined Wall Street in ’02, I knew right away that this business world would be a test of my will. The people at the top had similar personas: aggressive, intelligent and confident. The combination was intimidating. So I tried it on for size and it wasn’t pretty. I was unauthentic and awkward. I stopped immediately. Then ...
Once upon a time, I thought money was the root of all evil. I shunned material things. In fact, it was only my last post a few years ago when I went through a deeply transformational outlook shift. At that time, I wanted to have very little, be bound nowhere and be free like the ...
Dick and I went into Manhattan last weekend. Let me describe to you the anomaly that was this trip: 1) We walked across our lawn to our neighbor and asked him for a ride to the train station. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t asked someone for a ride since high school. Note ...
I saw a magician on ocean city boardwalk last night. There were just a few of us watching at first, but within minutes he had built up an impressive crowd of people fighting for a view of what he was doing. By the time he was on his final trick, he had every one of ...
Dick had on a show the other night called “Breaking Bad”. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. I know he loves this show because he told me about the storyline three times over the course of three days. While I had no interest in watching it myself, I decided there was no harm in having ...
In 1st grade, they made me a Red Cardinal. The Cardinals read faster than the Blue Jays so they put us together. We got to sit on the reading carpet at the front of the room but the Blue Jays sat in the back. In 4th grade, they picked me for the Academically Talented program. They ...
Getting ready to move across the country has forced me to question every object, article of clothing, kitchen item, electronic, and book with a critical eye and ask it, “do I really need you?” My answer to most has been a resounding “no.” Here is the epiphany I’ve come to over the last 8 weeks: ...
I used to wait tables at the diner to help pay for books and gas and food through high school and college. I worked with a diverse staff. Some were students like me – working part time during the school year and full time during summer break. Many of these girls would stand around gossiping ...
Silence is powerful. Understated and powerful. It makes people uncomfortable. We seek to fill our silences with noise, television, music, words. It isn’t the fear of the silence itself that causes us to fill the void but a fear of rejection in all forms. Demonstrate your control over this fear by giving silence life.