Last month, I noticed a few people on my Facebook feed sharing a link to a Reddit post that announced the launch of something called the Pineapple Fund. The person behind it wrote that they’d been an early investor in Bitcoin and felt as though at a certain point, enough money is enough, and he or she now wanted to donate $86M in Bitcoin to charities.
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Within the last year, I have moved across the country, immersed myself in a new industry, and launched a new company. But most notably, I became a father.With the joy of welcoming newborn twins into the world this past November, I experienced a tectonic shift. My personal vision, my professional rituals, and my overall life mission ceased to be certain to me.
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Bayla and Dylan, you may not know this but you surprised your mother and me when you arrived six weeks earlier than your due date. You both came out strong and healthy, but your mother almost gave her life to bring you into this world.
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Now that fall is approaching and kids are headed back to school I find myself fascinated with the act of motivation.When it strikes, suddenly you're eating healthy for the first time in months or working all day on a brand new idea you deeply believe in.
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Let's start by acknowledging that sleep deprivation is an awful experience, and not good for anyone. There are many reasons that people struggle with sleep, and there's absolutely no denying that a good night's rest is one of the most essential and important activities that we can undertake.But in certain circumstances, a night of bad sleep can be a good thing.
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You were deceived by our culture, by the good people at the institution of higher education you attended, and unintentionally by those who love you most. When you made the decision 4-5 years ago to attend the college of your choice, the prevailing wisdom of the day said that this was the best way you could spend your time and money to get ahead in life.
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12 Actions to Discover Your Purpose and Become Unstoppable
This is actually a guest post from Nick, a reader of The Promise of a Pencil:I just turned 30, am working in a well-paying but emotionally bankrupt job and have found my life lacking the purpose or compelling mission that I so desperately want.
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I'm gearing up for some upcoming travels and it got me thinking. As someone who's traveled relentlessly since my early 20's, I have a tremendous appreciation for great travel gear.
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We each know the sensation. You struggle to come up with that big idea that will solve all your current problems, and then one day it suddenly appears.I call them “lightening moments” and they’re one of the best feelings in the world.It almost feels like a bolt of energy hits you all at once, and suddenly you’re unstoppable.
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Millennials have been on my mind a lot lately, so I’m rolling out a series of posts about them and their leadership skills.You can read the first part in the series here: Social Consciousness and Why Millennials Prove InvaluableIn my career I have ONLY managed Millennials.
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3 Steps to Turn $25 Into the Company of Your Dreams
In October 2008, I opened a new bank account with just $25. In six years we bootstrapped that meager deposit into an organization that raises millions annually and has broken ground on more than 250 schools around the world. How did it happen? How do you turn $25 into the company of your dreams?
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The most important iPhone feature you had no idea exists.
Are there certain phrases, addresses, or numbers that you find yourself consistently typing into your iPhone? How many times per week do you enter your email into a form field, or send someone your office address including the floor number and exact cross streets?
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Last month, I noticed a few people on my Facebook feed sharing a link to a Reddit post that announced the launch of something called the Pineapple Fund. The person behind it wrote that they’d been an early investor in Bitcoin and felt as though at a certain point, enough money is enough, and he or she now wanted to donate $86M in Bitcoin to charities.
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When my friend Dan Teicher sent me the music video above, it did just that. For years he's been telling me about his desire to craft a music video using the years of footage he has of his grandparents' life together.
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The Most Important Daily Ritual You're Missing Out On
It's not every day that you have the opportunity to meet one of your real life heroes. Not a mainstream celebrity, but someone who you've watched and admired from a distance thinking, "Am I the only one who is so transfixed by this individual?"
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Every so often you come across a clip that's just so insane you have to share it. This crew of "urban skiers" prove that you can pursue your passion in any environment. Using wooden crates, cinder blocks and snow, they create ramps out of abandoned buildings, rooftops and anything else you can imagine.This clip is well worth all 10 minutes.
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Sometimes you see news headlines proclaiming miracles that seem too extraordinary to believe. “Man reunited with lost love fifty years later,” or “Child falls thirty floors and only suffers a broken leg,” they read. I’ve always questioned the truth of these tall tales, but for the first time in my life I read one of those headlines last night and when I clicked to watch the local news story, I saw a member of my own family being profiled.
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There's a graphic circulating around the internet that includes a quote from Elon Musk. He says, “My proceeds from the PayPal acquisition were $180 million. I put $100 million in SpaceX, $70m in Tesla, and $10m in Solar City. I had to borrow money for rent.”
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Let me guess- You have a big aspirational dream to transform the world in a positive way. Am I right?Maybe you’ve just returned from a trip that changed your life.
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As we move into the new year, in the spirit of new things I’d like to share three bold predictions about 2016. In addition, I’m excited to share some new things I’ll be working on to address what’s coming and help as many people as I can.
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Asking someone for money is one of many people’s greatest fears.We have a strange relationship with other people’s capital. For some reason we have no problem selling someone lemonade on the side of the road as a kid, but asking a friend to invest as an adult in ourbusiness is a horrifically daunting task.
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One of the most underrated elements in shaping our worldview is the power of perspective. How do we compare ourselves to others? Are we viewing our current position through an emphasis on all that we're missing or all that we're fortunate enough be?
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What if the Empire State Building was a Giant Pencil?
Earlier this year, I saw a video online that lasted only forty-eight seconds. Yet in less than a minute, the video perfectly demonstrates something that decades of research have proven about how global movements are created.In the video, a man lines up a series of blocks like dominoes, each one proportionally larger than the previous block. The next thing he does is pretty strange.
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Have you ever had someone directly criticize you in public? It’s humiliating right? Earlier this month I hopped on a flight to give a talk at a college that chose The Promise of a Pencil as the common read for all their students.
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Anytime you publish a book, there are many rounds of drafts, iterations and edits. If your book is put out by a major house, as I experienced with Simon & Schuster, you have several “passes” at the manuscript until there comes the daunting day when they essentially say, “Once you email your approval, there can be no more changes, the book will go to the printers and into the world.”
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Lately I've been thinking a lot about how much competition drives people. Would you describe yourself as personally competitive? How are you viewing competition?
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Which State has the Highest Concentration of Influencers?
In today’s culture, the phrase “influencer” is thrown around quite frequently. It usually describes an individual who has an outsized impact on the lives of others. These people are often quantified through the size of their followings on social media or the depth of engagement we see when they share a new piece of content.
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3 Lessons from an Unannounced Louis CK Performance Just Days before Hosting SNL
Three weeks ago I went to the underground Comedy Cellar in Greenwich Village with my fiancé for a Friday night of laughs. It was the week that The Promise of a Pencil launched, so I figured there’s no better way to take the edge off than with my lady and some laughter.
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The Common Place Where Everyone Draws Their True Strength
Yesterday I found out that The Promise of a Pencil will be spending its second week on the New York Times Bestseller list. It debuted at #2 last week and within five days completely sold out all of Amazon and BN.com’s stock nationwide.This week it’s at #8, joining a list of authors in the Top 10 that includes Arianna Huffington, President Jimmy Carter, Malcolm Gladwell, Bill O’Reilly, Chelsea Handler and Sheryl Sandberg.
Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2...