How to have a Better Conversation

8:54 AM Michael 0 Comments



1. Don’t multitask
2. Don’t pontificate: Enter every conversation assuming you have something to learn; everyone you will ever meet will know something you don’t; Everyone is an expert at something
3. Use open ended questions: How was that for you?
4. Go with the flow - thoughts will come, let them go out
5. If you don’t know, say that you don’t know
6. Don’t equate your experience with theirs; all experiences are individual
7. Try not to repeat yourself
8. Stay out of the weeds - people don’t care about the years/names/dates
9. Listen with the intent to understand
10. Be brief and be prepared to be amazed

Go Beyond

7:53 PM Michael 0 Comments

Set high standards for yourself
Always look to improve how you are now / what is already set
Go beyond what is expected of you
Model high integrity (High integrity is "beyond" behavior)

STAY CURIOUS, COURAGEOUS, AND DECISIVE

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10:16 PM Michael 0 Comments

There are chapters in our life. -And with every chapter comes new and unique challenges.

There was trying to break into fashion. Avidly pondering new ways to have an innovative portfolio and resume combo. How to make a website more engaging and for companies to want to know more. Going to events and dressing up with friends. But it was challenging, and sometimes I would get down. Head into New York in the dawn and wait on a park bench until it would get light enough outside that I could head to the interview location.

And there was trying to leave fashion - but really to find a new sense of purpose. To find something that I felt made me feel excited, valued, and in a way important - needed, that may be a better word. Fashion was and is fun. But I ended up sitting on similar park benches as before and just crying, bogged down with stress.

And now while that stress is gone. There are so many new and different stresses. I do believe in a such thing as positive stress. Or stress that motivates, "inspires" you to move, be creative, and solve problems. But it's the stress that is not pretty that's hard to deal with. And as we get older comes more. More responsibility to other people, the government, our creditors. And I feel fake, because alot of the time I don't know what to do. I really wish someone could help me. Maybe you feel like that too sometimes.

How do you balance pride and self-love. I think self-love is the antidote to so many problems, but I think pride, ego is the source of so many. Thinking I deserve the best. But doesn't self love teach you that you do? I don't know, I just need help.

You're all grown up now, Miguel.