Misery in life is the result of living without direction. For a life of happiness, fulfillment, purpose, and meaning, you need a strong moral compass.

Alex sings "I am very special", melts my heart, and inspires me to write "so are you".

Failure and critics – ignore them both The following is one of my favorite YouTube videos. When you have a vision—when you really believe you can make a difference, do something great, or create something meaningful—you’ve got to learn to allow your critics and failures to motivate you. Neither one will go away. Both can …

Waiting for Superman Premieres this week http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKTfaro96dg The movie Waiting for Superman premieres this week in select cities. I’m gravely disappointed that none of those cities are near me. If you haven’t yet heard of Waiting for Superman, visit the official website here. In short, it’s a movie about how badly we’re failing with our school …

The key to living a life of fulfillment and happiness is ensuring that these ascending needs are met.

Change becomes biologically easier when facing personal disaster. Here's how you can take advantage of it.

Amazing things happen when you become extremely good at something.

Change is difficult, but by understanding the biology behind it, we uncover 10 powerful steps that can increase our chance of success, and even make it easier.

For us to find fulfillment and peace in life, it's critical that we regularly find time do this one simple thing. Stop.

Driving awareness and empathy to the issue of homelessness in America. Be aware, and help by sharing.

How great leaders inspire action – the golden circle The following TED talk, given by Simon Sinek, describes how it is that great leaders inspire action—why some people are able to achieve things when others are not. He explains the brilliant, biologically-based “Golden Circle,” a new way of looking at how people approach what they …

Ken Robinson gives a TED talk on "Do Public Schools Kill Creativity", and then makes a poignant argument about the failure of public schools.

The inspiring story of how a young man was saved by a simple expression of how important he was, in this touching story of “Who I Am Makes a Difference."

Finding fulfillment, purpose, and direction in life isn't hard, once you realize these four fundamental truths about the pursuit of mastery and personal progress.

What you need to know to find meaning in life and work It amazes me how many people I talk to, even those well into advanced, seemingly rewarding careers, are actually not happy. Just within the past four weeks I’ve had a number of my closest friends communicate this to me. These are people who …

4 keys to boosting creativity Creativity is an attribute that plays a substantial role in our ability to differentiate ourselves. In whatever you do, there’s a need to be creative. While certainly some people are more creative than others, there are a number of practical things we can do to increase our capacity to be …

Fault Tolerance – managing shame and self-forgiveness Background I’m a member of several psychology, neurology, and cognitive/behavioral groups on LinkedIn, where I’m able to participate in lots of great discussions. Today, I came across a study being conducted by Deryck Thake, a student researcher from the University of Leicester School of Psychology. Deryck is studying …

These three things will increase your chances of success, and you'll learn why airplane windows are round.

You remember the Mayflower, but what about Speedwell? On August 5th, 1620, the Pilgrims set out for America on two ships, the Speedwell and the Mayflower. You’ve likely never heard of the Speedwell, and for good reason. She never made it. Once the 60 ton ship got out into open water, she started taking on …

Service Ride Control The dashboard on my Yukon Denali XL (XL stands for extra long—to fit my six kids) has been displaying the message “Service Ride Control.” It’s been that way for six months now. Yes, I’m a bit embarrassed about how slow I’ve been to service my ride control, whatever that means. In preparation …

Important questions to ask for a successful job interview I’m a huge fan of bnet.com. They have some marvelous content, and I read nearly every new post of theirs. They’ve got a new post called “It’s a job interview, not a beauty pageant,” where they have some good advice on interviewing for a job. I …

Anxiously engaged Engagement. It’s a measure of how emotional you are about something, how much you care, how involved you are, and how active you are in the pursuit of achieving it. Being engaged is crucial to being productive. An employee who is engaged will work far harder and achieve far more than one who …

The pursuit of mastery and the mastery asymptote Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in his poem “A psalm of life” (here), wrote the following: Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,Is our destined end or way;But to act, that each to-morrowFind us farther than to-day. I think what he is talking about is the pursuit of mastery. The pursuit …

There is no secret ingredient! One of my all-time favorite movies is the brilliant animated film, Kung Fu Panda, by DreamWorks. It’s 91 minutes of pure awesomeness. In it, the overweight, clumsy, and kung-fu-less panda bear, Po, is selected to be the chosen Dragon Warrior, who will bring peace to the valley and defeat the …