30-Day Confidence-Building Challenge: When you are not the genius

And just for a fun Sunday afternoon, enjoy Elizabeth Gilbert's brilliant take on genius. It has everything to do with confidence. After all, we put pressure on ourselves to be the genius. But what if we weren't. Gilbert is amazingly articulate and compassionate. That's reason enough for a revisit of this post.

30-Day Confidence-Building Challenge: Try, try again

This is an oldy but goodie: Maya Angelou reciting her poem, "And Still I Rise."

The point for this challenge is that there are always second, third and fourth chances--whether you mess up, whether you could have done it better. So get up this morning and try again. And rise.

30-Day Branding Challenge: Authenticity and transparency as brand

Most of this video is this guy ranting and advising people to quit jobs and start something new (spoken like a trust fund baby), but if you scroll to minute 10:50, you'll start hearing some interesting things about what a brand is really about.



Here's the essence: Your brand is your passion--what you want to do forever--plus being yourself. Don't imitate other writers you love. Be the best version of yourself as a writer.

Serenity Tip: Michael Jackson, dancing and righting work stress

Last week, I was stressed and anxious. Work wasn't coming the way I wanted it to and I was cranky and discontented. Then it all changed.

So this is my tip for you for the week: Find some way to blow off steam and have fun.

The following is a video of the Michael Jackson Flashmob that descended on San Francisco the day the singer died. I'm in there a couple times. I'm the one with the light red, short curly hair waving my hands in the air like I just don't care. Because for a few hours, I didn't.



This moment reminds me of an idiom: Happiness isn't the absence of misery but the presence of joy. Getting out and doing something that's just fun injected my week with that joy. For those of us who are task masters with ourselves, getting out and having fun can be just as much of a challenge as marketing is for those who aren't in the habit of it.

The next morning I woke up feeling giddy and happy. And it's all thanks to some friends, a little exercise, some fun and ceasing to think about work for a few hours. It makes me happy just to watch this. Maybe that's part of why I'm posting it.

So I'll ask you: What can you do to inject fun in your day today? What's your hobby? And if your hobby is work, what did you used to do for fun? Can you do it today?

Inspiration Sunday: Writers We Admire: Jane Mayer

In a continuing effort to imbue you with the joy of our job, check out this Authors @Google interview and talk by writer Jane Mayer:

Inspiration: Getting Your (Authors @)Google On

If you, like me, strive for more narrative nonfiction in your work, you need role models. Here's one:

Bill Hayes, author of Five Quarts: A Personal and Natural History of Blood, The Anatomist: A True Story of Gray's Anatomy, and others. The following is a 47-minute reading and discussion by the narrative nonfiction and science writer Hayes. Happy Sunday!

Happy Memorial Day: Thinking about Genius

If you haven't seen this great talk by writer Elizabeth Gilbert on genius and the challenge of showing up and doing your work every day--with or without your muse--you should.

Enjoy, and happy Memorial Day!