Inspiration

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Today I Celebrate And Give Thanks…

By Tom Ruwitch

I’m sitting in the kitchen, sipping a hot cup of black coffee and enjoying my breakfast of… A big chocolate brownie. Not my ordinary morning pick-me-up. But, of course, I had to start TODAY with a brownie because it’s December 8, which, as everyone knows, is… National Brownie Day. Really. That’s a thing. Says so…

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Why a Would-be Subscriber Transformed from Hesitant to Happy

By Tom Ruwitch

The meeting with my new friend, Erica, was rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ along.   We agreed to promote each other’s businesses. We discussed ways we might work together. We hit it off. But when I asked Erica if she’d like to join my daily(ish) email list… …we went from rollin’ to reelin’.  We went from “Yes!…

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Invitation: Stand Out Above the Trash-generating Crowd

By Tom Ruwitch

The email from longtime subscriber “Scott H” landed in my inbox last week with a “thud” It flashed as a notification on my iPhone’s home screen, revealing just the first line… “I have a problem with your…emails…”  “Uh-oh!” I thought.  I took a deep breath, sat up straight, and clicked the notification to open the…

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How to Know if You’re Sending Too Many Emails

By Tom Ruwitch

After sending my daily email yesterday (subject line: “I didn’t punch Chad in the face, but his email tempted me” — which you can read here) I received a reply from a surprised-to-be-happy subscriber named Kimberly. When she signed up for my list earlier this month, she was hesitant. Daily emails? Not her thing, she thought. …

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You Know The One About “the company you keep?” What do you think?

By Tom Ruwitch

I love it when high-quality people call B.S. on me… …hold me accountable… …get me out of my rut… …share a perspective I hadn’t considered… …inspire me to implement, not dawdle… …encourage me to be my best… …and then guide me to be even better. And I love to offer peers all of the above. …

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How C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien Collaborated Despite Conflict

By Tom Ruwitch

I just started reading a book called “Bandersnatch.” It’s about the writers C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien and their relationship as colleagues and competitors. In the 1930s and 40s, Lewis and Tolkien were members of a literary club called The Inklings at Oxford University.  Members critiqued one another’s works-in-progress.  “Bandersnatch” explores how Lewis and Tolkien…

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You Won’t Believe What This Top Executive is Willing to Do For The Team…

By Tom Ruwitch

Last week, I toured EPCOT at Walt Disney World with my friend Vance Morris who used to work there and now is the planet’s leading expert on how to “Disnify” your business. As a surprise, Vance invited his pal Dave to share some insider secrets about how Disney World operates today. Dave is a top-dog at Disney.…

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How Intention and Action Lead to Beautiful Creations

By Tom Ruwitch

My friend Caren Libby posted a beautiful photograph on LinkedIn last week — a meadow with Black-Eyed Susans in full bloom. (That’s the photo above.) In her post, Caren wrote, “I stumbled across this lovely burst of blossoms in the John F. Kennedy trail in Forest Park.” I loved the post, and I shared it.…

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How an Impulse Buy Led to a Legendary Business

By Tom Ruwitch

While on vacation in 1986, a future legend bought a coat in Jackson, Wyoming that changed his life. John wasn’t a legend yet. He was a sales consultant, vacationing in cowboy country. The coat was a full-length “duster.” The kind of coat real cowboys wear. John saw the coat, hanging in the back of Schaefer…

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How Yoga Can Help You Become a Better Storyteller

By Tom Ruwitch

I attended a yoga class last week. First time ever. I worked muscles and tendons that hadn’t stretched since the Reagan administration. Some of those muscles protested mildly. Others screamed, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Our instructor, Jessica, asked us to bend at the waist and touch the ground. She spotted me in my…

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