Integrated Entrepreneurship

Knowing yourself is the foundation of everything in life and business.

When you know who you are—and who you're not—you can stop criticizing yourself for being who you are, stop trying to fix what you think's wrong about you, stop doing things that don't work for you, and instead get on with doing the things that do work, that get you results, that make you feel fantastic.

There are so many people offering advice, strategies, step by step processes, and they can be useful, but are they right f…

I spent the weekend at Esalen at a Byron Katie workshop.

It was an amazing trip, even though I have to say I found Esalen to be a bit of a shithole. I’ve been wanting to go ever since Sofia Manning urged me to go in early 2011, but I didn’t make it until just now. My excitement and expectations were sky-high. And let down.

The food was crap, and I realized about a day in, that the entire place is literally amateur hour. Most people I talked to who work there come from some other background, an…

I'm very fascinated with James Dyson. I read his autobiography about ten years ago, and I very much connected with him, because of his renaissance approach to business and entrepreneurship.

He is both an artist and an engineer. He studied at the Royal College of Art and then later moved to engineering.

Back during the renaissance, the artist was the scientist, and the scientist was the artist. Leonardo da Vinci is a clear example. There wasn't this separation that we've gotten used to today.

We've all heard the phrase "Start with why" by now.

Truth is, it's taken me a while to get to my "why".

Interestingly, I've known it for a while. I guess I've kinda known it always. But that doesn't mean I've owned it, or consciously known it.

Four years, five months, and five days ago, I was living in Mysore, India. It was my birthday, and my wife had invited me for a walk around the lake near the university. She'd prepared a bunch of questions to ask me. Good, deep, inquisitive questions. O…

Sometimes when I sit down to write these newsletters, I feel blank. 

And I really don't like feeling blank.

I like knowing exactly what to say. I like having all the answers. I like having it all figured out and being able to tell it like it is. I love being right.

But right now I'm drawing a blank, and the best I know how to do is speak the truth.

The truth is, I'm worried that I might write something that doesn't connect. I'm afraid I'll write something, and you're reading it, and it ju…

I came across a quote from Gandhi this morning. 

God knows absolute truth. I'm a human, so I only know relative truth, and my understanding of truth changes day to day. My commitment must be to my truth, and not to consistency.

Who's with Gandhi?

The back story is that he's organized this big demonstration against England. And then a few days into it, he decides to call it off.

The people around him protest, saying lots of people have taken off from work and traveled far to join him.

An…

Hello!

I love the creative process. I love not knowing how things are going to unfold, and just trusting in life to guide me and move me to the right place.

Our lease is up at the end of the year, and we don't know where we'll move next. We've thought of moving to California, most likely west of LA near Malibu, but we've also considered Williamsburg or not having a place for a while and driving around California or traveling the world. I don't know what we'll do, and it'll be exciting to see w…

Hello!

I'm reading a book from 1975 titled The Courage to Create, by Rollo May. One thing in particular stood out, namely this passage about physical courage:

When I was a child in a small Midwest town, boys were expected to fistfight. But our mothers represented a different viewpoint, so the boys often got licked at school, and then whipped for fighting when they came home. This is scarcely an effective way to build character. As a psychoanalyst, I heard time and again of men who had been s…

Here's a Wednesday morning or afternoon truth for you: There really is nothing for you to do.

Everything you dream of, everything you wish to create, or to experience, is right there for your taking.

I'm not saying sit on the couch all day. I'm just saying, do what you feel called to do in the moment. Act from a place of inspiration. Do what you feel the impulse and the energy to do in the moment. And don't worry about anything else. Don't worry about all of the things you have to do or get…