When I was a twenty-year-old aspiring musician, I met a man in his retirement named Jon who would become my musical mentor, and even more importantly, my friend. — He lived in Paris and I lived in North Carolina (then Ohio, then Texas, then Germany, then Texas, then Louisiana, then Texas, then…Norway!!). So, by necessity, we became email penpals. Jon was and is an exceptional teacher. I never apprenticed with him formally, but I visited him several times in…

Steven Covey’s classic framework for prioritizing your time. — Time management is not just a productivity hack to make more money. It’s a philosophical topic that asks big questions about the long arc of life and career. Without managing our time and energy, we end up having our life sucked up by people-pleasing, external stress, and internal fear.

How to process the emotions that arise from denying the ego — It’s so easy for ego’s ambition to veer us off course from the path to becoming who we truly are. Luckily, our personal, core values remind us that we do not have to be distinguished to be useful and happy. As an anonymous book says: “Serving others, meeting obligations, accepting…

Author Chetan Bhagat’s words of wisdom about the perils of putting people on pedestals. — I love the writer Chetan Bhagat! Many of you have never heard his name, but in India he’s the equivalent of Danielle Steele, Tom Clancy, Stephen King, Nicholas Bark, etc. His wheelhouse is coming of age stories for young guys and basically helping young men navigate the waters of university…

An acronym for navigating life. — Sometimes life skills can come from seemingly unrelated places. For example, one of my favorite skills to use in my business dealings comes from The Gentle Parenting Book: How to Raise Calmer, Happier Children from Birth to Seven. The book’s author, Sarah Ockwell-Smith, gives an ingenious framework for how to…

You cannot become your authentic self and compare yourself to others at the same time. — It’s so tempting to compare your life with the lives of others, especially in a modern society that features exorbitant celebrity homes on reality shows and where everyone is putting their best foot forward on social media. However, falling into this thinking trap — which is very insidious and seductive…

Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” is is the best known, most visited, most written and sung about work of art in the world. But for me, finding her was like searching for a needle in a haystack! — On my last day of seeking creative inspiration in Paris, I hopped on the RER train to Chatelet des Halles to seek out Mona Lisa, the most famous painting in the world. Well, life had other plans. The train route had changed. Rather than trying to find a bus…

“The seeds of great discoveries are constantly floating around us, but they only take root in minds well-prepared to receive them (Joseph Henry).” — Have you ever encountered a stroke of serendipity, where, by some happy accident, you felt privy to access some power greater than yourself that led you to the next right thing in your life’s journey, even if you weren’t seeking it? Do you think serendipity is a strock of…

How the portals and keystones of Chartres Cathedral facilitated my inner journey — For almost a thousand years, Chartres Cathedral has attracted pilgrims and tourists alike who marvel at this masterpiece, considered to be the high point of French Gothic architecture. As we approached Chartres Cathedral’s exterior, my breath was taken away. It is truly awe-inspiring. Cathedrals were the skyscrapers of the…