The day starts well enough. You’re energized. You’re ready. You get up. You go. You make your way to the hotel, where even outside the room, you hear the hustle and bustle that is the bridal preparation. You take a breath, you knock on the door, and there it is. The darkest, most cluttered room history ever knew. You force a smile. You give the bride a hug. And you assess. The windows are small, the lights are a bizarre, exceedingly warm variety beamed directly down from sunken holes overhead, and every wall is busy in the most distracting and unfortunate way possible.

The penetrating darkness leaves you with little more than the rhythmic zhshh-zhshhh-zshhhhhh of your lens hunting for … Read more...

The workshop is shaping up! We have a great group assembled with people from all over the continent. It’s going to be amazing! If you’re considering it, get those applications in. I’m leaving 3 more spots open, then I’m closing admissions down.

Read about the workshop … Read more...

One of the great ironies of life is that we place destination over journey. We think about the money, the reward, or the recognition. We justify in terms of worth, cost, and sacrifice. It’s all about the ends and not the means. And, yet, it’s in the journey we find experience. That’s where we learn and grow. In the journey, there are no errors. There are no mistakes. There is only trying. Destination, on the other hand, is evidence of our existence. Something to let us know where we’ve been. It’s great on paper, it’s great as a shorthand, but what really matters is how we got there.

At its best, destination provides the motivation to create journey. It gets … Read more...

Learning what you need to do to run a business isn’t hard. But learning what works for you is. The real culprit is time. It’s easy to put together a list of every idea and task we need to pursue. But we’ll never have the time to do them all. We think of the challenge as a matter of doing. We talk about motivation, inspiration, and effort. And these are all key. But there’s another side to it. Being good isn’t just about what you do. It is every bit as much what you decide not to do.

The Italian economist Pareto observed in 1906 that 80% of the land was owned by 20% of the population. He later found … Read more...