Last year I was restructuring my company and eventually selling it.

I obsessed about doing the best possible work I could. I scheduled every minute of my day for anything that seemed useful — anything that would make me feel worthy and help me avoid any shame for being lazy.

But at some point, it didn’t matter how hard I worked anymore.

I was exhausted. My sense of self-worth was dropping, and my motivation plummeted. Once in this cycle of doom, it was hard for me to get out.

I wanted the confidence and clarity of whether I was on the right track with my tasks at work and in life. Like a hiker who needs to go to a peak to orient themselves, I needed to stop, breathe, and check my route. …

Copyright lawyers have this joke: “A picture is worth a thousand words, but a copyright-protected picture is only worth three words: cease and desist.”

I didn’t laugh when I first read it because I am a chicken when it comes to taking legal risks.

But, as a writer, I still have to use images in every article to support my storytelling and to reach my audience. And for my recent post, I needed pictures of five entrepreneurial celebrities: Ben Horowitz, Gary Vee, Seth Godin, Cal Newport, and Darren Hardy.

I could grab some pictures from Instagram, Twitter, or a Newspaper and then splash them into my article. But my inner chicken was clucking me to do some research into copyright beforehand. …

Modern neuroscience provides answers to how our minds work.

But what if neuroscience could teach us to attain our full potential as entrepreneurs and ultimately succeed in any business we want?

Neuroscientist Gregory Berns gives us a glimpse under the hood of revolutionary thinkers. In his book “Iconoclast,” he explains how great minds create unique art, spawn revolutionary inventions, and build successful businesses.

His key secret to thinking like an innovator comes down to an abstract image you see on this article’s front page.

The Kanizsa Triangle, Our Imagination, and the Lazy Brain

When you glimpse over the title image, you will likely notice a floating white triangle in the middle of the figure. …

After my company survived financial turmoil and eventually got bought in 2019, I realized that hard work and struggle were indispensable in achieving this goal. Not giving up is worth it, and hard work does pay off in the end.

But why bother with inspirational lessons if you can motivate yourself?

I mean, if you work all the hours needed to succeed, never doubt yourself, relentlessly resist all distractions, and always finish your tasks on time, then you made it — you are perfect. Here, have a cookie.

But for all others out there like me, it’s helpful to have a set of motivational boosters to keep us going. Avoiding hard work and falling prey to doing the easy stuff instead is just so tempting. And at times, we can use any inspiration we can find to keep showing up and working hard. …

One of the most popular job interview questions is:

“Why do you want this job?”

Although we love poking our interviewees with this question, I wonder why we managers don’t ask the same question months or years after hiring them. Your employees grow and develop, and their priorities evolve. So it seems reasonable to challenge their motivation from time to time.

So I started provoking my staff by asking them:

“Why do you work for me?”

To avoid sounding condescending, I try to convey curiosity: why do they get up every morning to work for us and not for somebody else? …

One day, my friend asked me how I managed to remain calm after one hell of a hot-blooded dispute with my boss. The truth is, I was keeping a cool façade, but I was burning on the inside.

A nasty argument with a partner, friend, investor, or co-worker could get under my skin, leaving me irritated and angry for the rest of the day. But I could also get offended by someone just because they did what I thought was unjust or unappreciative.

‘Don’t take things personally’ is the advice I heard many times. Well, I did take things too personally. Call me sensitive and fragile. …

One day, I watched a sparrow from my office window. The bird would pick bread crumbs from the ground while anxiously hopping around and watching out for predators. Doing several things at the same time was its strategy to survive.

Birds do it; bees do it: they multitask.

But we humans got ahead of birds on this planet, right?

Like every young and ambitious entrepreneur, I wanted to be super productive. But like a sparrow, I was hopping from one meeting into another, while making customer calls and anxiously checking for new emails in my inbox.

I am busy, I am everywhere, and I am on fire was my message to my team. …

Every morning we wake up and hope for a great day. Life should feel great.

But in the evening, we often find ourselves soaked with fear, anger, and frustration. Trouble at work, setbacks in business, and a fight with a spouse can easily leave us feeling upset and depressed when we go to bed.

So when life strikes a rough tone, how can we make ourselves feel better again?

Over a year ago, I discovered an incredibly powerful technique. It combines daily journaling with the virtue of self-compassion to form effective self-therapy. …