About a decade ago, I wrote a book called Between Trapezes…Flying Into a New Life With the Greatest of Ease. Right before it was to go to press, the editor called me and said there was one too many “white pages” at the end of the book and asked me if I could “write something”… read more

One of all-time my favorite clients was a guy who worked for an asset management company. His CEO had told him to beef up his communications skills. Well, this became one of the easiest assignments I’d ever had. Early in our conversation, Roger and I started to talk about sports. It turned out that Roger… read more

Seriously, you really don’t. We might think we do, might want to act like we do, might knock ourselves out to prove it…but it’s just not necessary. (You want to let go of something for the New Year? Let go of that!) We’ve got better things to do than to be everybody’s go-to person on every subject all… read more

The question of what to bring with us into the New Year - the future,  the next great segment of our lives – and what to leave behind is not a frivolous one. Nor are the answers necessarily obvious or all that easy. As I was packing last week for a ten-day family holiday sojourn at our old farmhouse in Connecticut, I realized I’d done… read more

I’ve always been a little bit crazy when it comes to finding special Christmas gifts for our daughters, Kate and Abigail. But when they were little, I got totally carried away. The thing is, there always had to be something alive…I mean it could be anything. Seriously. It could be parakeets, tropical fish, hamsters, rabbits, baby chicks, kittens, puppies…as… read more

We picked out our Christmas Tree yesterday. “Picking out the tree” is just about my most favorite moment of any year…but this year it was also more than a bit nostalgic. You might remember my writing about last year’s tree. (I think it won the prize for most popular “Motivator” for 2013…) She (it was definitely… read more

GONNA FIND OUT WHO’S NAUGHTY OR NICE… Actually, Santa could be tempted to take a major shortcut to doing his job this Christmas. “Makin’ a list and checkin’ it twice” could already be done for him, thanks to a controversial “behavior-tracking app” called ClassDojo that lets grade school (and even pre-kindergarten) teachers award points (or subtract them) based on each child’s conduct.  The points are posted on an “interactive… read more

THE WAY YOU WEAR YOUR HAT… Riding down Fifth Avenue last week (well, one doesn’t really “ride” down Fifth Avenue these days, it’s more like crawling with fits and starts – mainly “fits,” whatever they are - thanks to the endless construction/destruction of NYC streets, but never mind), I saw a great looking guy crossing the street… read more

CELEBRATING ABUNDANCE There are lots of things to be grateful for at Thanksgiving: You don’t have to go shopping (except for food), you don’t have to wrap gifts, (or return them), you don’t have to do a lot of decorating, (okay, pumpkins, and gourds, and maybe those dried corn husk things, but it’s no big deal.) In the end, it’s… read more

RIPPING OFF YOUR STRAIGHTJACKET… Seriously, it’s time to unbuckle the wretched thing once and for all. You know that “straightjacket.” It’s the one we strap around ourselves just about every day. Its buckles and straps are made up of our insistence on outlining, categorizing, detailing, and meticulously reviewing our flaws, weaknesses, shortcomings and “just not… read more