Use the Power of Contrasts to Drive Yourself Forward

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. Richard P. Feynman, Nobel-Prize Winning Physicist

When my father was growing up, his father used to spend occasional Sunday afternoons driving him through expensive neighborhoods around Detroit and showing him the expensive houses in these neighborhoods.  My grandfather was a newspaper man and never made a lot of money.  When I was growing up, my father also didn’t make a lot of money and did the same thing with me.  It was often uncomfortable cruising three miles an hour down these streets.  A major reason I was uncomfortable with this had to do with the fact that I knew a lot of the kids [Read more]

How You Deal With Problems Will Determine Quality of Your Life

One of the things I have learned over the years is anyone can be up when things are going well. However, the real challenge is when things are not going well. All businesses and all relationships go through problems, and how you deal with problems will determine the quality of your life. Far too few people know how to effectively deal with problems, and they end up having their lives sidetracked by them. The more you delay dealing with problems the more they build up. The more problems are allowed to build up the more difficult your life ends up [Read more]

Choose Your Frames of Reference Wisely

I spent the summer following my first year of law school working at the Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) in Washington, DC. The entire summer and the events leading up to it resulted in one of the strangest experiences I have ever had. After I got the job with the DOJ, I was required to undergo a security clearance with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. After contacting and questioning many people I knew in the past, the FBI also required me to take a physical and a drug test. In late spring, I went in for the physical [Read more]

Never Measure Yourself against Perfection

When I was in high school, one of the happiest kids I knew was an excellent athlete whom I’ll call Bill. He was very intelligent and always had the best looking girlfriends. He eventually ended up marrying his high school sweetheart. Bill was from a relatively small town in Michigan, and he ended up going to our private boarding school, where he was surrounded by a lot of very high achievers. I think the type of people he met there really must have changed his perspective. Some of the kids he played baseball with in high school [Read more]

Life Supports What Supports Life

A few months ago, I was invited with my wife to a couple’s very nice home. I am sure the home cost at least a few million dollars, and I remember speaking with the owner of the home as we listened to some music. The man was telling me that he was in the legal industry, and there was a possibility he was about to lose his job. He told me that his income was down substantially, and that he was fairly frightened about the future. I was not sure exactly what to say because it did not seem like [Read more]