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“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
The quote is by the poet Mary Oliver (1935-2019, Pulitzer Prize winner) and the elegant beauty of it always spoke volumes to me. I live…
April 23, 2024Practice is a Skill
Or more fully stated: ‘effective practice is a learnable skillset’. It may sound like heresy, but not all practice is good practice or at least…
April 9, 2024Will is a Skill
For many of us and for much of our lives we have absorbed the concept that willpower, along with its close cousin, self-discipline, is an…
April 4, 2024Baker’s Dozen
Recently, I was asked: “What is the most valuable piece of advice you would give to anyone new at TCC who is looking to grow…
April 2, 2024Only the Best Obsess
Obsession has gotten a bad name in some circles but directed and managed, it is the gift of the gods. I think of obsession (and…
March 21, 2024Elevate Your Identity
Your identity, your self-concept, is who you think you are, the story you tell yourself about yourself as well as the standards you hold yourself…
February 29, 2024Build the Chain
We are so much the product of our habits. So how to form habits that take us where we want to go? And break the…
February 13, 2024You Are The Project
You are the most important project you will work on your entire life. Think of yourself as a work in progress; approach your life as…
February 8, 2024Plan Your Future in Advance
Hey, the future is going to come and if you want a better future, you’d best start doing something about it today. The most basic…
February 6, 2024The Intolerable Cost of Myopic Perfectionism
Myopic Perfectionism: An excessive focus on a single topic to the exclusion of other important topics; an obsessive interest or preoccupation with a particular subject…
January 16, 2024Hoping to Match Up Against a Lazy Rabbit is Not a Plan
We all know the parable of the ‘Tortoise and the Hare’ where the turtle beats the rabbit because the rabbit takes a nap. While a…
January 11, 2024It’s Never a Good Idea to Count on Prosperity Lasting Forever… Good Times Are in Part Opportunities to Save up for Bad Times
Okay, here is a crazy idea for the New Year… live beneath your income. That year-end raise you hopefully got? Stick it in your 401K…
January 2, 2024Creating Change That Lasts Throughout the New Year
The life expectancy of most New Year’s Resolutions can be measured at best in days, some even mere hours. So how to create lasting change?…
December 28, 2023This Quote is Only Half True
“Progress doesn’t come from early risers — progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things.” – Robert Heinlein Robert Heinlein…
December 19, 2023Little is Large
Folks, there is no mystical key, no hidden secret, no big, concealed trick to success, happiness, or prosperity. Thomas Alva Edison’s famous saying applies in…
December 7, 2023Boring, Boring, Boring
What gets a triple boring headline? The Path to Success. Yep, you heard me right: the pathway to the mountaintop is full of ordinary routine,…
September 12, 2023Pressure is a Privilege
What does “pressure is a privilege” mean? Yes, it is a post-game quote from Novak Djokovic and the title of Billy Jean King’s memoir but…
July 27, 2023Top 25% is the Top 1%
Everyone on Wall Street wants to be the “Alpha Dog”, the best of the best, top of the heap, the Top 1%. Well, I want…
July 25, 2023The Easiest and yet the Hardest Thing
Rome was not built in a day and many an “overnight” success was decades in the making. We all have the same 24 hours; it…
July 20, 2023Can You “See the Work”?
To “see the work” means can you see what needs to be done without being told. It further means do you have the ability to…
July 6, 2023Did I Do My Best?
I was doing my early morning reading one day and this inquiry popped out at me. The question “Did I Do My Best?” resonated deeply…
June 6, 2023Have You Talked to Your Future Self Lately?
We tend to put a lot of emphasis on our present self and label ourselves as this or that and in doing so we restrict…
May 23, 2023Not to Do List
Distractions abound in life: detours and delays that fritter away our time and energy, beguiling diversions that dissipate our focus. A “Not to Do” list…
May 18, 2023Forget “To-Do Lists”, Instead Create a “Success List”
The fatal flaw of “to-do” lists is that they tend to attract the mundane. When was the last time you had something earth-shattering on your…
May 16, 2023Questions from a Mentee, Part 2
Do you believe in luck? If so, how would you explain it? Luck is simply the intersection of preparation and opportunity combined with the courage…
May 4, 2023Questions from a Mentee, Part One
Good morning Mr. Collier, I’ve been pondering the below questions, would love your insight. How do you keep good team members? How do you keep…
May 2, 2023