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In December of last year, I began blogging and sharing my thoughts on personal growth. The process began with my New Year’s Resolutions and picking an annual theme to examine my life, reassess areas of growth, and have others call me out on my blind spots. It was a painful process where I had to acknowledge all my shortcomings and failures. But the constructive criticism helped me get better, and I’m thankful for that. There’s a stigma about asking for constructive criticism…

The Growing Disparity Between Tech and Humanity Takeaways from SXSW, the President, and the Homeless This past weekend, I had the chance to catch President Obama’s keynote at SXSW. Amidst the line of supporters and festival-goers eager to catch a glimpse of the leader of the free world in Austin, I stood in awe and silence at the transformation of  my hometown. This was the commander-in-chief of the most powerful army in the world, a man who could force the…

For as long as I can remember, I’ve struggled with loneliness and depression. It’s an ongoing cyclical pattern in my life that correlates with overcommitment and burnout; it’s also one of the reasons I have such difficulty experiencing joy. I think that each person battles their own version of being alone. For some, it’s the entrepreneur whose identity is bound to a company that never seems to succeed. For others, it’s the single mom who’s overwhelmed by juggling the pressures…

This past weekend I completed my first month of writing Letters of Thanks. I’m proud to have reached this benchmark. It’s been 31 consecutive days of sitting down and writing a letter to an individual who has impacted my life. The result has been 31 more intentional and deeper relationships that have helped me grow and mature. I’m thankful for the experience and I’m thankful that they’ve helped me discover a truer and authentic version of myself. Here are the…

Last week was one of those weeks that drained me both physically and mentally. On paper, it sucked. We lost a client, postponed conversations with a big-time lead (perhaps indefinitely), and put out fires left and right. My to-do list, which had been meticulously prepared at the beginning of the week, remained untouched. It was one of those weeks where I felt like I was running in circles doing things that I didn’t want to do. Perhaps you’ve experienced it…

When do you know when to say no?

You win the morning, you win the day.

Do you ask your friends to hurt you?

“We set to-do goals instead of to-be goals where success is measured by what we accomplish instead of who we become. Making resolutions convinces us that all we have to do is roll up our sleeves again and get to work. The problem with this practice is that it encourages us to put the power of life change in our hands with a game plan to change our habits and then turns us loose. This approach ignores the most important…

At the end of December, I set about ways to challenge myself and grow in the upcoming year. In the past, I used to create a list of new years resolutions and cross them off as I completed them. This had proved fruitful in some areas, but in many instances — like countless others — I realized that the end of the year was spent looking at all the items I had left untouched. Instead of enjoying my achievements, more…