When I was ten I loved to write down who liked who. “David liked Joanne”. “Lori liked Jimmy”. Then I would write down why. “David would laugh every time Joanne would make a joke in class.” I had a spiral notebook, about 8×11, and I pretty quickly would fill up all the pages and then… Continue Reading

Here are the rules: I’ve been at zero a few times, come back a few times, and done it over and over. I’ve started entire new careers. People who knew me then, don’t me now. And so on. I’ve had to change careers several times. Sometimes because my interests changed. Sometimes because all bridges have… Continue Reading

One time the Federal Government Shutdown came into an apartment I was sharing with a bunch of roommates. It tied us all up and blindfolded us and made us do things to each other. It made us call it “Ted” but I don’t really know if that was its name. Another time I was riding… Continue Reading

I was scared to death. I thought I was going to cry. Polls say people would rather be dead than speak in public. Seinfeld joked that a guy giving a eulogy would rather be in the coffin. I’ve given 100s of talks but last week I wanted to die before I went on stage. I… Continue Reading

It is not easy for me to be honest. I grew up thinking I had to lie to people to get them to like me. I needed to somehow be someone I wasn’t in order to burn away invisible scars that I was sure everyone could see. I thought I had to, for instance, get… Continue Reading

On June 3, I released “Choose Yourself!” and I put on the very first page an offer that has never been put in a book before. I offered to pay people back if they proved to me that they bought the book and if they can also prove that they read the book within the… Continue Reading

Martin Luther King nominated Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967 and he’s a buddhist monk and peace activist. And when he was standing right in front of me tonight I was blown away by what he said. We went to an opening for an exhibit of his calligraphy. He looked like… Continue Reading

An actual ghost came into our room while we were sleeping. It was the fourth night of our vacation. The ghost opened up the DVD player and closed it for about a half hour. First I kept dreaming about the noise. Finally we were both sort of half awake and we were like, “what is… Continue Reading

I’m breaking all the rules. I’m at a silent retreat for the week. No talking! My wife is two doors down. She said to me before we went silent for the week, “put your computer on airplane mode.” It’s in a beautiful area. There are paths and trees and birds and flowers and benches to… Continue Reading

I’m taking a day off from writing about crying on the floor. I feel like I’ve written 600 posts about either failure or naked people. Instead, I’m going to share two things I’ve done that have changed my life for the better and I don’t know anyone else who does them. A) Get yourself 1000… Continue Reading

I called up my favorite writer, William Vollman, and told him I had AIDS. He had just written a book (this was around 1994) about a guy who went to Thailand who got AIDS. I didn’t have AIDS. I wanted to somehow connect to Vollmann. I didn’t know anyone with AIDS. I didn’t know any… Continue Reading

I will tell you. Step one. Figure out an area that is “hot”. For instance, Facebook marketing is inning one. Better tests  for personalized diagnostics of age-related diseases is in inning one. Understanding the root causes of depression is in inning one. Combining mobile with social is in inning one. Self-publishing your book and marketing… Continue Reading

Marc Cuban on how to become a billionaire in a bubble: Get as many press releases going as possible, sell as fast as you can

One day I was so scared, I couldn’t get out of bed. I felt empty because everything I had ever worked for and ever wished for had gotten me to this point: lying on a mattress with no job, no money, no friends or family. But I wasn’t scared about the past. I was scared… Continue Reading

I stopped a ten million dollar robbery last week. For various reasons, including Claudia is slightly worried I could get killed, I am changing all of the names. All of the other details are intact. A few weeks ago, a guy claiming to be related to Middle Eastern royalty, (call him “M”), had a representative… Continue Reading