Last night, I found myself at a house party with a handful of friends. While people all around me chatted away in the kitchen, my mind drifted to the fact that the next morning I would be flying home from the three month sabbatical that allowed me to circle the globe with my fiancé Tehillah.
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The 3 Most Unexpected Outcomes from not using Social Media for a Month.
In early June while on my sabbatical I realized that I still wasn’t fully disconnected. Yes, I was thousands of miles away from home and work, but my connection to that life through social media still brought it to the forefront of my mind. Part-experiment,
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...
Over the past year, I’ve quietly told people about my plan to take a three month sabbatical. If this is the first you’re learning of this, starting April 21st I’ll be away from email, calls, meetings and texts until late July. I’ll be traveling through South Africa, Europe and SE Asia with my fiancé Tehillah in search of the most meaningful experiences we can find around the world.
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The Secret System I Use to Manage Everything in My Life.
Over many years, I’ve developed a series of systems and shortcuts to manage my life. For the first time, I’m going to write them all out and share not just what I use, but how I use them. A few simple tweaks to each secret system allows me to address emails, remember tasks,
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How getting engaged changed my views on gay marriage.
Seven weeks ago, on the greatest night of my entire life, I asked the woman I love with every ounce of my being to marry me. The night took months of preparation, and in a moment of absolute perfection, she said “Yes."The next morning the gravity of it all began to hit me, and I just couldn’t stop smiling.
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Three years ago today, I wrote the scariest email of my life. It began, “To my Bain family, it’s been real. It’s been great. It’s been really great.” I was saying farewell.When I pressed “Send”, the four paragraph email was delivered to more than 400 employees across the Bain & Company system- The entire NYC office, international partners, managers, mentors and friends.
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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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3 Essential Steps To Uncover Your Purpose & Become Unstoppable
Years ago, I asked a young boy begging on the streets of India what he wanted most in the world. His answer was simple: “a pencil.” I reached into my backpack and handed him one of my own, and immediately saw his eyes light up with possibility. In that moment, I felt a sense of purpose that has driven my actions ever since.
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One of the first video games to really blow my mind was Contra. The Nintendo classic came out when I was just a kid, but in modern culture it’s more famous for its cheat code than the actual gameplay.
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This morning I woke and for the first time in ten years, I was no longer a 20-something. Today is my 30th birthday. I'd like to share the most important things I learned in my 20's.For those who know me, you’re aware of my love for introspection. And there’s no better moment to consider the lessons of the “defining decade” than today.
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...
Last night, I found myself at a house party with a handful of friends. While people all around me chatted away in the kitchen, my mind drifted to the fact that the next morning I would be flying home from the three month sabbatical that allowed me to circle the globe with my fiancé Tehillah.
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...
The 3 Most Unexpected Outcomes from not using Social Media for a Month.
In early June while on my sabbatical I realized that I still wasn’t fully disconnected. Yes, I was thousands of miles away from home and work, but my connection to that life through social media still brought it to the forefront of my mind. Part-experiment,
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...
Over the past year, I’ve quietly told people about my plan to take a three month sabbatical. If this is the first you’re learning of this, starting April 21st I’ll be away from email, calls, meetings and texts until late July. I’ll be traveling through South Africa, Europe and SE Asia with my fiancé Tehillah in search of the most meaningful experiences we can find around the world.
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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...