In recent months, I’ve found myself reflecting upon what I consider to be one of the most important and moral documents written in the history of civilization, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”. It comes up at the most unexpected of times; something in the back of my mind that makes…
In life and in business, you have to know who you are, what you stand for, what you believe, and how you will proceed. Trying to be all things to all people is a recipe for disaster that leaves no one happy and sabotages your success.
The older I get, the more amazed at I am at the power of compounding in all areas of life. Compounding is one of the most powerful forces at work in the universe. It exerts itself in all sorts of arenas, ranging from finance to farming. To illustrate: As I sit in my home study, publishing a few…
Having reached the end of the road in the third installment of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy, requiring 150+ hours of game play over a four year period to climb the highest levels of power in creation and culminate in a conclusion to the series, I’m struck how the entire thing is really a well-done repackaging of Plato’s Euthyphro dilemma. In case it’s been awhile since you delved into the classics, the philosopher’s famous question posed in Greece more than 2,300 years ago can be summed up as (made singular since a majority of world religions are now monotheistic): Is something “good” because God says it is good, making it dependent upon His will or does God say something is “good” because it is inherently “right”, making goodness independent of His will?
One of the greatest observations, and most empowering truths, ever penned, uttered, conceived by the human mind came into being when Alice Koller had the strength of character to admit to herself: I’ve arrived at this outermost edge of my life by my own actions. Where I am is thoroughly unacceptable. Therefore, I must stop…
Some of you who write me need to understand something or you are going to have a lot of disappointment in your future. Just because you are smart, just because you have talent, doesn’t mean anything. Your business, your career, your efforts can be left in the dust by someone who is driven to succeed,…
I was reading a film review by actor James Franco of the new Superman movie, which I saw at the midnight premier right before I hopped on the flight out to California for the weekend. My family wanted to go, and I’ve always like Henry Cavill’s work since the adaptation of the seminal work of Alexander Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo, so I thought it would be fun. When we were in the theater, the talk turned to the actual character of Superman.
After lunch at Club 33 and a ride through the Haunted Mansion, we all decided to head over to Disney’s adjacent theme park, California Adventure. The moment we walked through the entrance I was greeted by one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. If you don’t know what you are seeing, you aren’t alone.…
One of the few, big lessons I constantly hammer home is that money should work for you. It is a tool. You should not sell too much of your life for it in the form of time. You should not trade your integrity for it. In a prosperous society, money proper doesn’t even really exist;…
In 1927, Hugh Roy Cullen was approached by Jim West, a wealthy lumberman who had invested in projects with Cullen in the past. On a Saturday, West called Cullen to his downtown Houston office, where he made the following offer: I’ve got $3,000,000 lying around. And I’ve got the West Production Company, which don’t amount…
