The Uncommon Life

If you’re a regular Uncommon Life reader you’ll know that each year I reflect on the previous year. The process helps me internalize lessons learned and appreciate progress that I would otherwise overlook while setting my sites on new goals in projects. As with any year, there were smooth seas and challenging seas. Overall, however, the year was fantastic… Read More →

Roughly three times per week I share concise advice alongside a colorful, thought-provoking image or as I call it, “paradigm bending pop-art.” Below are some of those posts (all titles are links) I have shared in the past few weeks that may help you lead an uncommon life… Read More →

Take a quick gaze into the world of non-fiction literature and there is one word that cannot be ignored: passion.

Authors, speakers, leaders, and gurus use this word with a near religious application – as though it’s the alchemist’s secret to wielding the famed Midas touch. They preach that passion is an indispensable part of personal success and happiness.

Based on this introduction, you might be surprised to read this next statement: I agree with them. Passion is one very important element (of many) that produces extraordinary results.

What frustrates me (and many people who read these statements about passion) is that the process to attaining this ‘transformational’ passion is often overlooked or described as though the Gods endow it. Either way doesn’t help. Read More →

You may not be able to account for and design everything that happens to you in life, but planning for excellence and adventure indisputably increases the odds of both. Realizing this, I have grown accustom to performing a year-end review and creating a plan for the year ahead. And this is some of the most important thinking I’ve ever done. Read More →

Advice about the “real world” may come with good intentions, but that doesn’t make it accurate. Don’t “get real” in light of someone else’s definition of the “real world.” What someone else finds true need not become your dogma. Read More →

It seems that most people act as though they are either preparing for the “real world” or attempting to escape it through mindless entertainment, drugs, denial, etc. I can’t help but ask, “If we’re preparing for the ‘real world’ or trying to break free from it, then what reality are we in?” Read More →

We are often led to believe that knowledge creates a better life. This is not entirely so. If knowledge were all it took, there would be many more happy, wealthy people. The reality is: Knowledge is only as valuable as the degree to which it is applied. Read More →

As humans, we are fully capable of labeling any personal decision or behavior as justifiable. And this rationale can easily detain us a in a pattern of comfort and convenience, slowly and clandestinely keeping us away from our goals and our ideal life. This is why it’s important to pursue adventure… Read More →

Too easily and too often we assume our perspectives are the best, most logical, and perhaps only way to interpret the world. But this train of thought is not only fallacious, but perilous. We shut doors of opportunity and growth that we didn’t even know existed. Read More →

Common: When assuming the negative becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Uncommon: Before you started reading this article you had to assume at least one thing: That reading this would be worth your time.  Before you brushed your teeth this morning you … Read More →

The sources of our greatest problems are two fold: 1) Lack of information and perhaps, most importantly, 2) Wrong information. Yet, here we are, supposedly the wittiest species on Earth making fundamental erroneous assumptions that undermine our ability to triumph over our more inherent human flaws. But ignorance need not be one of those flaws. Read More →

When asked the question, “Where do you go when you really need to get something done?” people do not respond in ways businesses expect. For a boss or company owner, the ideal answer would likely be “work.” But it seldom is… Read More →