The View from Fifty Feet

The View from Fifty Feet

Three pieces with a common theme. Observing a shift in perspective toward three aspects of work now that I'm doing my own work in a different way. Climbing the mountain of work-life balance pausing to take a look back from a modest 50 feet up. Answers not outnumbering...

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Be Here Now

Be Here Now

Once, soon after starting a job at an office I walked around the office's interior courtyard during my lunch break to stretch after being confined in my cubicle all morning, and I noticed little placards on everyone's desk that read: Be Here Now. I'm a sucker for that...

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Get a Life.

Get a Life.

The world was cruel and cold and unforgiving. He had very little. What he had was worn and worthless and dirty, and he had to fight for every tiny bit of it - for every pathetic bit of what he had, and he had next to nothing. A tanned, manicured hand with a delicate...

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My Joe Rogan Experience

My Joe Rogan Experience

"Then why was he eating horse paste?" The email was the latest in a series of back and forth emails between myself and a friend. This is the level of argument of two rational, educated individuals. Our discussions have gotten to the point of tension. And no one needs...

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Two Men Walk In The Woods

Two Men Walk In The Woods

Two Men Go For A Walk In The Woods This joke came to mind when I was trying to come up with something to write about. Here it is… Two friends go for a walk in the woods. At one point they spot a hungry grizzly bear charging down the mountain from above them. One guy...

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Early Lessons of the $1000 Challenge

Early Lessons of the $1000 Challenge

Take Aways From The First Week of the $1000 Challenge This week I lived with the commitment of a promise to do more of MY work at the risk of losing $1000 if I failed to produce. I think it's appropriate to just comment on the commitment to actually DO the creative...

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The Gift

The Gift

A while ago I wrote about how to cope when you're a freelancer and the phone isn't ringing. But I never considered how you cope when the doorbell rings and suddenly an abundance of work spills in. So, what do you do when something good happens? If you're a planner...

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Why I Work On Vacation

Why I Work On Vacation

First of all I LOVE my work. Don't tell my clients, but I would do it for free. (And, I often do.) So, vacation without work would be like vacationing without getting up early and going for a run. It would be like vacationing without sticking to my keto diet. It would...

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Walking Meditation

Walking Meditation

I love walking almost as much as my dog loves walking. So, after a long day of impatience and non-productivity I leashed up my dog who'd been very patient with me that day. We both needed a walk. But as we headed out down the sidewalk in our historic,...

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Not Noticing When We’ve Arrived

Not Noticing When We’ve Arrived

I began this blog, ADayOn.com, 10 years ago to encourage myself to quit my job and embark on a new way of making a living... and a life. I was trying to teach myself how not be afraid to step off the conveyor belt of job after job after job and into, what then seemed,...

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Double Your Income Now!

Double Your Income Now!

I stopped in to see my friend the other morning. He owns a little shop in the downtown where I live. He seemed rushed and reluctant to shoot the shit with me. Usually he welcomed me into his shop and and we would sit and b.s. until the first customer had to knock on...

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Never Go Back To Work After Vacation

Never Go Back To Work After Vacation

The worst part of vacation is returning and heading back to work. I just listened to the audiobook, Vagabonding by Rolf Potts. It's a philosophy book disguised as a travel book.  As I drove my family to spend a week in Chicago I listened as Potts described...

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Make Starving A Game

Make Starving A Game

So, I've been eating a Vegan Diet for the last week now. It's a little difficult and it requires thought. And that's why I love it. I used to work for a guy who was on a diet so restrictive that it actually made the dieter's body temperature drop a couple...

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Need Motivation? Write Your Own Obituary!

Need Motivation? Write Your Own Obituary!

A great story about artist's motivation comes from the life of the artist Salvador Dali... or, maybe it was some other genius. Really doesn't matter - we'll just say it was Dali.  It seems that, in his family, Salvador was actually Salvador #2.  Salvador...

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Caring

Caring

Sitting in a Chicago cafe looking out the window at a young man sweeping the sidewalk. He's getting each and every tiny piece of trash and cigarette butt out of each crack with his small, black broom to get every tiny crumb and fragment of paper. I'm impressed by both...

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Finalizing a Rough Draft Life

Finalizing a Rough Draft Life

It occurred to me that I'm a Rough Draft guy than a Final Draft type. I'm someone who prefers thinking of himself as an idea guy, a concept person but who has trouble digging down to the details. For example, I've come back to edit this post and others months after I...

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Sitting Sucks: Redefine Your Sitting Solution

Sitting Sucks: Redefine Your Sitting Solution

Sitting: Finding a Healthy Alternative So, while we're rethinking how the world fits us and how we fit the world, let's get real basic. Many of us make a living sitting in front of a computer and now that the medical experts of the world have determined that the...

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