Recently, I read a social media post by actor and comedian Dan Aykroyd that I couldn’t stop thinking about: “Happy Birthday weekend to my Wild and Crazy older brother Steve Martin. There would be no Blues Brothers without the patronage of this generous, brilliant, magnificently talented master musician, comedian, author, actor and eclecticist … He
Much of politics and political discourse today seems to be a display of people imposing their will on others. Rather than diplomacy, reasoning, or the careful navigation of the law, we see force and pressure. Unsurprisingly, this only escalates tensions and mistrust. I’m embarrassed to admit the number of times I’ve imposed my own will
Twenty years ago, I used to run daily around a lake near my house. One day, I saw a man rowing on the water. Because I had been a rower in college—and he was the only person I’d ever seen rowing on this particular lake—I told my wife Kari that night that I was going
The past month has been a whirlwind with our twin boys graduating from high school. Amidst the endings and celebrations, my wife and I have reflected on our boys’ level of preparedness for greater independence. Specifically, we wondered how ready they are to elevate their executive function to make decisions and demonstrate reliability on their
By the time you read this, my son will have performed his guitar and vocal solo. It’s his first and final high school solo concert performed over three nights, in front of hundreds of people. He has been anxiously anticipating this moment on the stage since the tryouts months ago. That anxiety comes from a
“I don’t know how I’m going to get through this week,” I bemoaned to my wife recently. The demands on my schedule were surging. The week was stacked with back-to-back meetings, travel, and obligations. As I mentally scanned the mountain of tasks ahead of me, the load felt incredibly heavy. Then I stopped and engaged
What potentially meaningful thing are you avoiding right now? For me, it’s networking. Specifically, the proactive outreach required to open up new business opportunities. I’m naturally introverted, my schedule is already packed, and I certainly don’t get any dopamine hits from scraping through LinkedIn. I’ll admit, I even looked into using an AI agent to
Every Sunday through Friday night for 11 hours starting at 8:30 pm, and every Saturday for 24 hours starting at 12:00 pm, I refrain from taking part in what I call The Four Horsemen of Reactivity: Productivity: Getting items checked off my to-do list Achievement: Finding ways to accumulate and win Measuring Up: Engaging my
For a few months in my 20s, I struggled to leave my apartment. Depression and anxiety felt so heavy, it was nearly incapacitating. One thing that stands out from the fog of that period is something my mother-in-law told me (or maybe she told my wife to tell me): Just take the next step. Don’t
Last week the Indiana Pacers were trailing the New York Knicks by 14 points with less than three minutes remaining in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals. Then they did something no team that is losing by so many points with so little time remaining has done since the NBA started tracking play-by-play
Matt Norman is president of Norman & Associates, which offers Dale Carnegie Training in the North Central US. Dale Carnegie Training is a global organization ...READ MORE