Dreams Do Come True

BY Brett

On Wednesday, March 30th, 2011, my dream came true.

Everything I had worked for, all that I believed in, all the days of suffering and dreaming of the day when I’d finally be able to leave my hometown and live in a better community, among smarter, more ambitious people… It all came together that night, at about 5:40 PM.

So, what was the dream that came true? I got into an awesome college – the University of Pennsylvania (not to be confused with Penn State), one of the best schools in the country and the world. For years and years I’d been dreaming of the day when I’d get into an amazing school so I could pack my bags and leave my hometown forever (needless to say, I’ve hated growing up here, but I’ve learned a lot of important lessons along the way). That was the dream of my childhood – I can still remember my brother calling me “Harvard boy” when I was 7 years old, and, ever since then, I’ve viewed college as my way to escape the mundane,...

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Just Breathe

BY Brett

This may seem like a strange topic to talk about, but it’s been proven (to me at least) to help in any and all situations.

It’s extremely simple, but the simple can help us a lot in many situations – as we tend to overcomplicate our lives by bending over backwards to fulfill little productivity quotas with techniques. Sometimes the projects pile up, and we are left with the stress weighing us down. But we can just dissolve into the moment and snap ourselves back to reality with one simple thing that you do nearly every moment of the day: breathe.

When you’re doing anything, and you start to feel your mind wander, just pull your attention back to your breath. When you feel the pressure of a deadline coming down on you, pull your attention back to your breath. When you are faced with a task that you really don’t feel like doing, just pull your attention back to your breath. When you just want to relax, just pull your attention back to your breath.

...

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Closing the Gap: Transforming Consumption Into Creation

BY Brett

How often do you create on a given day?

For me, creating is leaving an impact on my environment and leaving it better than I found it (otherwise, it’d be destruction). Thus, creation is adding value to the world. Nothing more, nothing less.

So – how many times do you add value in a given day? How long does it take you to add that value?

Unless you’re a creative professional, I’d wager that, for most of us, our “creation:consumption” ratio is way out of wack. We live in a consumerist society where we’re encouraged to take value over and over again through consuming other people’s products and services, but we’re not encouraged nearly enough to create value on our own. Yes – your job, if you have one, is to literally create value (that’s why you’re paid a wage) – but I’m talking about creating value everywhere, not just at the office. Being creative and adding value doesn’t stop at the office – it’s...

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The Gift of Life

BY Brett

If you’re reading this post, you’re not dead.

That means that you are the recipient of the best gift that the world has to offer – no, not the lottery, but the gift of being alive.

As I covered earlier in my post on gratitude, it’s imperative that we recognize our lives for what they are – a gift.

A gift with incredible potential. A gift that we’re free to use, however we wish. A gift that captures all the beauty there is to be had in the world.

But are we maximizing our gift’s potential? Why do we let day after day after day pass by unceremoniously, without being thankful for what it brought us? Why do we let the days pass without capitalizing on the opportunities within us to experience true emotion, from soaring joy to gut-wrenching sorrow?

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Where Has All the Passion Gone?

BY Brett

Note from Brett: this post is as much for me as it is for you, the reader. Enjoy!

Where has all the passion gone, man?

Where did it go?

Odds are – it hasn’t gone anywhere. You just choose not to feel it, because you’re scared.

Scared? Yep. You’re scared. You’re scared of showing your passion to the outside world, scared to show that you’re passionate about anything, because you’re too “cool” and “understated” and “minimal” and “stoic” to show how passionate you are about things. Things like this blog, self-development, your health, living a good life, giving yourself the tools to build a business in the future, and, yes – just having fun.

Why are you scared? Because no one else around you (in real life) is clearly passionate and you’re afraid of attracting attention?

You need to show your passion precisely because no one else will. It’s an act of defying the status quo – and...

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The Self Development Conundrum (and My Mission)

BY Brett

Here’s the problem with self-development as a quote-unquote “industry”: the entire success of the “business model” depends on people being stuck and not making any progress whatsoever. That means that, to sell more books/ebooks/courses/seminars/coaching sessions, people have to remain ‘stuck’ and never feel totally ‘developed’ to the point where they can get rid of personal development material completely.

So what happens? The self-development gurus of the world promise more, more, more, more, and more. They come out with new seminars full of “groundbreaking” new ideas that are going to blow your mind and make you into a successful, rich, attractive, smart, savvy, and fun person. They launch their new books that are based on the ideas in their seminars, so people who can’t afford the $500+ price tag to attend the seminars can still get the ideas in book form (and so the author can get on the New York Times Bestseller list). And then there are the people...

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Open Your Mind: Anything Can Happen

BY Brett

A huge part of the beauty of life is its randomness.

When you wake up in the morning, are you ever even close to 100% of exactly what is going to happen in your day? Probably not – and if you are, then you should read on.

Life is incredibly dynamic – so dynamic, so unpredictable, that we can never know exactly what’s going to happen in a given day before it happens. Sure, we have schedules that dictate when and where we’ll be for large parts of our days, but our schedules don’t tell us what will actually happen while we’re at our doctor’s appointment, having coffee with a friend, or sitting at home alone. Maybe your doctor will tell you that you have a debilitating disease, maybe your friend will tell you that they are thinking of starting a business based on a really cool idea and they want you to help, and maybe you’ll come up with a really cool idea of your own while you’re watching the football game on TV.

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99 Things I’m Grateful For

BY Brett

Gratitude is something that I’ve overlooked my entire life; I’ve always wanted more than I’ve had, and I’ve always strived to be my best in everything that I’ve ever done.

However, when I’ve been in dire straits – like my emotional breakdown from last week – I’ve always ended up being grateful for the small things that I have the pleasure of enjoying when I’m feeling my best. As they say – you don’t know what you have until it’s gone, and I certainly have learned to appreciate the good times more and more as I’ve hit my lows over the past year or so.

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Lessons From an Emotional Breakdown

BY Brett

I have to admit – a few days ago, I had something close to a complete emotional breakdown.

The world felt like a hostile, dark place. I felt like I didn’t deserve success, I felt like I was being stretched thin since my energy is being spent in so many different ways, and I felt like there was no way out of the darkness and sadness that I felt for myself and the world.

The breakdown started when I couldn’t bring myself to do any work. I was paralyzed by anxiety. Did I try to fight it and push through? No. I’ve learned the signs of an impending breakdown over the years, and I’ve also learned that the best approach is not to fight the breakdown, but to welcome it with open arms and be swallowed whole by it. Resisting does no good. Only by embracing all emotions can we feel their impermanence and let them go.

I’m sure you all are thinking – “As a personal development junkie/blogger, you still have emotional...

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Going From Good to Great

BY Brett

Inspired by two awesome posts – one by Jonathan Fields and one by Seth Godin – I’ve had yet another epiphany.

At its core, it’s this: always be willing to go the extra mile, to do what others might deem ‘unreasonable’, to do the right thing.

Why? Because, my friends, that’s just what you do. Doing what’s right and spending the extra energy to make sure it gets done should be a part of you, something that’s just part of your identity. It should be automatic.

Now – getting to that point isn’t easy. In fact, it’s incredibly difficult, since you’ll be fighting the temptation to give in and only give what’s deemed “good enough”.

But you have to tell yourself that being “good enough” just isn’t...

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