"It's not the years in your life, it's the life in your years that matter." - Abe Lincoln It's now been more than a decade since I first spent my birthday on the Mexican coast. I first did it when...
Revenge Bedtime Procrastination
Revenge Bedtime Procrastination: Why Do We Do This? Have you ever been tired but just don’t want to go to bed? You know you should, but instead, you stay up—scrolling, binge-watching, or just sitting there. The next morning, you regret...
TikTok is expected to shut down in the U.S. tomorrow. We don't know if it will be enforced even though the law remains in place, but TikTok has stated it will go dark. We also are hearing there may be...
How "I AM" statements can fix your focus
The Exercise That Set the Tone for My Year: "10 Statements" I want to see your life progress, so I'm going to share an exercise with you that helps me each year - it applies to anyone. It's called “10...
I’ve never been a fan of New Year’s resolutions. They’re all or nothing. If you miss the mark, it feels like a failure—and let’s be honest, most resolutions fail. Studies show that about 80% of people abandon their resolutions by...
Goal setting and direction can be difficult—especially if you don't feel like you are in an environment that aligns with your vision, skill set, and passions. I grew up in a big city that was all about money. No mountains,...
Shoot for the moon! There are plenty of blogs and videos giving tips on getting your life together, but I find them to be generic. Yes, there are some absolutes like, "learn from your mistakes" and "only worry about what...
Last week I delved into the topic about "stop talking and start doing". It got me thinking about how someone gets into that mindset, or even why we sometimes can feel stuck. Feeling like you're in a constant cycle or...
"Productive" is a word that haunts those around me. It's idolized and overused. I say it, often unaware that I've completely lost track of its meaning. Is it productive to just sit with my laptop open, looking like I'm working,...
"Do What You Love And You Never Work" Is A Lie
"Do what you love and never work a day in your life." That statement is bull shit. If anything, it highlights how miserable people are in their jobs. Besides, love is too often associated with feelings derived from short-term pleasure....
Have you ever thought about punching a baby in the face? Wow, you're a horrible person! I'm kidding - stick with me. Maybe it's not baby-related, but have you had a thought cross your mind that stopped you in your...
Content creation and filmmaking are senses of art. It can be therapeutic to get out of your head and be able to manifest them into something real. Think about painters and composers, they understand this notion on a core level....
How To Work Remote And Travel In A Car
https://youtu.be/DbglHmbh374 In the last several weeks, I've traveled all over for both client and personal work all while sleeping in my car. I also took a one-week break from the newsletter to rest and to plan for the rest of...
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines folly as the "lack of good sense or normal prudence and foresight." Dictionary.com defines folly as a "lack of understanding or sense." There is an entire book in the bible (proverbs) dissecting what a fool is, and...
Announcing Grumpy Bear Coffee!
Too many of us are often waiting for the perfect moment. The perfect moment to travel, the perfect camping scenario, the perfect photography gear. You can overthink things as long you want, but there will never be a "perfect moment"....
Take Your 5 Year Plan. Do It In 6 Months.
Imagine you are on your deathbed. What would you regret? Let's pull that back a little bit. What's your 5 year plan? Is this the same 5 year plan you had 2 years ago? And will it be the same...
This Is The Youngest Day You Have Left
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "Today is the oldest you've ever been, and the youngest you'll ever be again." This is one of my favorite sayings because it shows a lot about perspective. Age can be subjective and most adults 30...
Time is the most valuable asset, and it also is in the shortest supply. Jim Rohn, one of the pioneers of personal development once said: “Time is our most valuable asset, yet we tend to waste it, kill it and...
When you think of those who made an impact, who do you think of? Maybe it's someone like Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., or William Shakespeare? Think about a musician selling out massive stadiums around the world. Now, think...
Comparison Is The Thief of All Joy
Doctors don't start learning by performing surgery. It can take 12 years or 4,380 days to become a doctor after high school. They started with basic math and science like us. When I'm asked by aspiring creative entrepreneurs how to...
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Focus on the step right in front of you. Don't overwhelm yourself, start with what you have right now. Don't focus on what you don't have. The Kiazen Method,...
Everyone has heard the famous line from Ralph Waldo Emerson “It’s not the Destination, It’s the journey.” And as cliche as it might be these days, there is some truthfulness in "trusting the process". The journey is where we spend...
Summer Burnout - Don't Do It. Summer is here, and with it comes warmer weather, and longer days. With more time in the day, it can lead to higher productivity levels, which I find leads to burnout. What is Burnout?...
I'm sitting on a river wondering, "what else do I need?" It's borderline nihilistic when normally I'm working around the clock. This is also why nature is a good reminder to slow down. We all need reasons for action, but...
The first thing you need to understand is that it's not just the camera, it's the lens. Don't spend your whole budget on a camera body if you don't have quality glass. You'll also want to budget for accessories, which...
It's summer, and you're outside playing basketball with your friends in the col de sac, drinking from the hose, your neighborhood friends are your community. Life was simple. 'Your friends are your future' was advice engrained in us as kids....
Do you ever find yourself asking if this is what I'm going to be doing for the rest of my life? If so, you’re not alone. According to Yale Medicine, as many as 70 percent of young adults are experiencing...
A few weeks ago, I discussed the different types of losses/ grief. I wanted to go deeper into this topic after receiving quite a few responses here and in my DM's. One topic stood out to me -...
Last week the United States Surgeon General released a new Advisory calling attention to the public health crisis of loneliness, isolation, and lack of connection that our country is currently facing. Everyone experiences loneliness in their life, but why is...
What's the point? You may ask yourself this question with even the smallest of tasks, but sometimes it goes deeper. Is it about gaining wisdom, serving God's kingdom, building wealth, creating good karma, or has no meaning at all? What...
I'm not a professional life coach or counselor, but I wanted to better understand what type of experiences we may encounter - So I did some research. Loss is a fundamental part of the human experience, and we all deal...
"Good Vibes Only" or "Just Stay Positive". There's nothing worse than hearing these when you're having a really bad day, because realistically how are the "vibes" helping you? There is such a thing of too much positivity or Toxic Positivity....
I get asked a lot about the world of content creation, so I wanted to take a minute and break down the creator economy. What is a creator? Today in the world of social media, the word "creator" is such...
You want one simple thing success: but you have to check a lot of boxes for them all to align to equal that success. Let's look at 4 "ingredients" to a repice for success. Hard work Good timing Network Luck...
Today's world is full of unknowns. We all face adversity, but how you adapt defines who you are. From the beginning of time, it's been about survival of the fittest, or how creatures adapted to their ever-changing environment. It's in...
Adversity is a universal part of life. It's easy to forget that when packages show up on your doorstep with the click of a button. Adversity is a state of serious or continuous difficulty. The higher you climb, the more...
We talked before about how introverts struggle to find the right words because of short-term vs long-term memory. I want to go a step deeper and show you how I have been able to write more while fighting off a...
The world is increasingly baffling and it turns us into toddlers. Today, we are going to look at introverts. Information comes fast, at scale, and makes no sense a lot of the time. Basic biology and English words are getting...
How To Get Into Flow State Quicker
I have days where I just can't seem to find the inspiration to start the big daunting task that's looming over me. Newton's 1st law of motion says an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object...
We've all been told how important sleep is, yet we feel like we can out-tough all of that, right? "Burnin the midnight oil" "Not everyone is as tough as me" Very FALSE. Science has officially given me nightmares on this...
We live in a world of instant gratification, and it has led to anxiety and unhappiness. Here's how to combat that. Play the long game. Long Game = Vision + Delayed Gratification First, what is the short game? The short...
Some days I look at my to do list at the end of the day and feel very underaccomplished. The one thing I really wanted to get done was to edit my YouTube video, but I didn't scratch the surface....
Creativity is something I'm constantly trying to optimize for, and there is one simple question you can ask yourself that will help improve your effectiveness in about 20 mins. Have you drunk enough water today? It seems like the most...
There's an old maritime saying "The captain goes down with the ship" meaning the sea captain holds ultimate responsibility for both their ship and anyone embarking on the journey with them. I work in storytelling and whenever I tell a...
I cheated this week while stuck in Yellowstone during a snowstorm. I was making s’mores by a fire when I heard wolves howling suspiciously close. I mentioned this to someone at the hotel and they informed me we were right...