Being Nice Makes Good Business Sense

Several years ago I was getting ready to interview with a law firm in New York. It was my first interview ever as a law student and I was pretty nervous. I was trying to get on an elevator as the door was closing and I saw a woman rushing towards it. I reached quickly for the button to open the elevator and was able to get the door to re-open at the last second. The woman got on and told me which floor to push, and I did this for her as well. The woman was very heavy and was not particularly well-dressed. We were going to a very high floor and there [Read more]

The Most Important Thing You Can Have Is Faith

Several years ago I was practicing law, and over Christmas I went home to Michigan from Los Angeles for a one week vacation. At the time, I was also a law professor and I had brought a stack of papers to grade with me. For several days I read paper after paper. After about a day, it occurred to me I was unhappy with my life. I was unhappy with my job. I did not like where my life was headed and what my career was like. At the time I was making a very good living and doing everything [Read more]

Never Focus on the Money: Focus on Your Higher Purpose and Contribution

People fail far too often in the working world because they focus too much on the money they earn at their jobs. The money you are paid is generally commensurate with your contribution to something more important, more meaningful, and much larger than yourself. When you focus on what you are doing for the world and the value of this contribution, you become energized. Being energized by your work brings more and better work your way, and ultimately leads to greater earnings. The money is a byproduct of your contribution to your job. You will be paid in any organization at a rate matching your contribution to the bigger picture. What is your particular contribution to the bigger picture? Every job makes a contribution to a bigger picture. I started delivering papers when I was 10 years old. By the time I was 13, I was getting up at 5 a.m. every morning to deliver over 175 papers in a prestigious suburb of Detroit. High-ranking auto executives lived in most of the houses. When I delivered these papers, I found myself energized by the thought I was providing them information they would be using [Read more]

People Around You Can Shape What Happens to You: Avoid the Negative Affirmations of Others

Although there is a great deal of historical debate about the specifics, legend has it Hermes Trismegistus – one of the most important sorcerers of ancient Greece – had a tablet in his tomb with the greatest secret in all of history written on it. When the tomb was opened centuries later, it was said people waited with a sense of wonder for the wisdom of the tablet to be revealed. The secret written on the tablet was: As within, so without; As above, so below. This statement has been made in one form or another by others, such as Buddha, [Read more]

The Power of the Positive

I believe that one of the most powerful things in the universe is the mind. Through our minds we can change the world. Skyscrapers, rocket ships, submarines–everything that exists has been conceived in the minds of men and women. If you think about this, you will quickly realize the power of thought and how profound it is to your life. If you can conceive of something it is quite possible that you can achieve it. I would like to tell you a couple of stories about the power of the mind. Much of this [Read more]

Being Able to Start from Scratch is a Gift

One of the hardest things for any of us to do is to relearn something and become infinitely better at it the next time around.  Few of us ever allow ourselves to do this because we are in a comfort zone, which often does not allow us to move, improve and change. People are motivated primarily by two things, pain and pleasure.  The desire to avoid pain is very strong and keeps most of us from going outside this comfort zone. When I was around 14 years old, I was exceptionally good at tennis.  I was on [Read more]

Carpenters, Fancy French Restaurants, Backstage, and Your Career

One of my favorite stories is about a man who has a creak in his house. For years he has tried one way or another to fix the creak, but every single time he walks through the old house it still makes that annoying squeaky sound. No one has ever been able to fix the problem, and the man does not know exactly what he should do. He has been living with the creak for years and it just seems to get louder and louder. He has been told the only way to get rid of [Read more]

Look for the Cause

Everything that occurs in our world and to us has a cause.  The cause may not be immediately obvious, but it is always there waiting to be found.  The result of anything you see always contains its cause, and everything that happens is the result of either good or bad seeds that have been planted at some point in time:

• If some people are living in poverty and alone, spend some time with them and you will understand why they are in their situation. They are most likely in the position they are in not just (1) due to bad things that have happed to them, which were caused by other people (i.e., bad seeds), but (2) due to bad things that they themselves have done (i.e., planting of bad seeds), which have come back to haunt them. The condition they are living in is the growth that has occurred due to the bad seeds they have planted.
• If some people are living in opulence and are surrounded by people who love them, spend some time with them and you will understand why. They are most likely in the position they are in not just (1) due to good things that have happened to them, which were caused by other people (i.e., good seeds), but (2) due to good things they themselves have done (i.e., planting of good seeds) which have grown the persons rich and full lives. The condition they are living in is the growth that has occurred due to the good seeds they have planted.
• If some people have good careers and are happy in what they do, spend some time with them and you will understand why. They are most likely in the position they are in (1) [Read more]

Surround Yourself with Positive People

A few years ago I made friends with a guy I met at a self improvement seminar. It was his second time attending the seminar; apparently he had gotten incredible results the first time around. According to the guy, he had lost 50 pounds, had given up drinking and drugs, was cured of his ADD, stopped working 14 hours a day every day of the week, started exercising daily, dramatically improved his marriage and family life and started a successful new career–all after attending the seminar. He credited this massive and profound life turnaround to [Read more]

Sympathy, Morale and the Importance of Being Organized

In every job I have ever had, I have been happy for the most part. When I was an attorney, for example, I liked many aspects of being an attorney. When I worked in the asphalt business, I loved many aspects of that business. Most people are able to find some level of enjoyment in every job that they do. What is interesting, though, is that in every job I ever had, there were always people around me who were more than happy to stop by my office and go out to lunch with me, just [Read more]

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