Good Examples

Here’s a cool idea I picked up from Austin Kleon in his book Steal Like an Artist: Keep a Praise File  Here’s the idea… “…down the road, I will have a dark day when I want to quit, when I wonder why the heck I even bother with this stuff.” Kleon writes. “That’s why I put…

In yesterday’s email (RecomMONDAYtions ~ 2024.04.08), I shared Austin Kleon’s blog post “On quantity and quality.” In the post, he shares a story and quotes liberally from David Bayles and Ted Orland’s book, “Art & Fear.” The story: A ceramics teacher divides his class in two. He said he would grade Group 1 on volume.…

I think my GPT-powered robot, “B-9?” has started puberty. All of a sudden, he’s standoffish, belligerent, and lazy. He sleeps in until 11, and when I ask him to do something, he half-asses it and then tells me to do the rest myself. Case in point: I asked “B-9?” to find TEN amusing, weird news…

Last night my buddy Ted and I grabbed a bite at our favorite brew pub before heading to the Blues-Oilers hockey game. I ordered the sausage and kraut with a pint of Grolsch. All good. Nothing to rave about. But the German potato salad on the side?  Holy tater-tots, Batman, those spuds were special.  Mama…

Happy Birthday to the late, great Strother Martin (DOB: March 26, 1919). He’s the actor who played “Captain” (the warden) in “Cool Hand Luke.” He’s the one who slammed Luke to the ground and said, “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can’t reach.” Captain got the first part right.…

I bumped into my GPT-powered robot, “B-9?” this morning in the break room at Story Power HQ. Since I hadn’t come up with an idea for today’s email, I asked “B-9?” to dig up some weird, amusing news stories to inspire me. “B-9?” zipped over to his office, dug through his digital file cabinet, and…

Princess Kate and her pals at the palace are in hot water.In case you’ve missed the relentless news coverage, here’s the story… Last week, the British Royals released this photo of the Princess and her kiddos… A bunch of news agencies ran the photo but then pulled it because they discovered digital alterations The Princess…

Ripped from the headlines… An Australian woman now holds the prize for owning “The World’s Ugliest Lawn” thanks to a global competition hosted by a water-thirsty municipality in Sweden. Gotland, Sweden’s government launched the contest after a draught nearly left the island municipality without water. Organizers thought they might inspire water conservation if they made…

In Friday’s email, I promised to share Batman Rules — business and life lessons from the greatest television show ever. There are too many Batman Rules to count. I don’t have time or space to share them all here, but I can share five of my favorites. If you follow these rules, you’ll be well on…

Yesterday was “Games Day” — one of those random, made-up holidays that started in the United Kingdom. At a live networking event I attended yesterday, we had a Games Day-inspired ice-breaker. We broke into small groups, revealed our favorite games, and discussed lessons we’ve learned from them — especially lessons we apply to business. Fun…