I ended 2021 with some weird posts about the general apathy most people are feeling towards the new year. We’ve been burned before. Maintaining hope for positive change in the face of practical concerns takes more effort. One of my favorite phrases, from Moby Dick, is the call to “Lower the conceit of attainable felicity.”
Quick Answer Starting over is not about having nothing — it’s about having the experience to know what actually matters this time. (Updated May 2026.) Nearly 2 decades ago, only a few streets over from where I live now in Tainan, Taiwan, I had a panic attack about my future. What will I do when
For years I’ve been wishing for some kind of automated, daily accountability to keep me inspired and motivated – and I’ve heard a lot of other authors asking for the same thing. The problem is, writing can be a very personal goal, and sometimes it’s hard to self-motivate, especially if nobody else really cares about
I started this blog in 2011 and did nothing for a year except read all the books on creativity. It was research for a manifesto, but the more I read, the more fascinated I became with the subject. After another 5 years of freelancing, building digital products and working as a creative professional (my income
I was taking a look on my blog for early posts and discovered I have HUNDREDS of saved drafts for post ideas I began but never finished… I started this blog in 2011 and didn’t actively start using it until 2014 – what’s interesting is that my focus and ideas haven’t changed much, but I
For the past 2 years I’ve been procrastinating on my PhD program. Classes were hard, but I finished my credits with a high GPA. That’s not the problem. One of the requirements for graduation is submitting an article to a peer-reviewed journal and getting it published. This was a major hurdle for me. In part,
I just read a blog post from a self-styled “international marketing expert” that rubbed me the wrong way. It was basically a rant against helping other people for free, when she had courses for that, and they should pay her, dammit! I understand that people want to be protective of their content… but I often
You are being called to greater things, feel stifled in the mundane and boring roles society has carved out for you, and want a grand adventure. You want to follow your passion but somehow make enough money to survive on. If you start talking with people about all your ideas, you’ll inevitably come across three
I started listening to positive affirmations/motivational mp3s and recordings years ago; my favorites are Kelly Howell and David McGraw. But I wanted something that was just for authors and writers, so I made my own. I made this first video to help authors struggling with finding time for their writing. Sometimes subconscious fears are the
Most of the people I know who are working online are selling hot air. In other words, they fill people with hope, motivation and inspiration. They get them charged up and excited. They tell them “You can do anything you want, if you just BELIEVE in it!” They say, “Just follow your passion and the
Most people have goals. They want to write more. Produce more. Start a business. Do the chores. And if you really want to do something, and you enjoy doing it, you may not face too much of a motivation challenge. Except that the things worth doing probably involve some stuff that’s not too much fun.
Given my decade of living overseas and moving around pretty regularly, I didn’t think relocating to Tainan (Taiwan), a city I’ve already lived in for many years, would eat up too much of my productivity time. It only took a day to find an apartment, another day to pick out and order furniture. What I
