Mar 7Book Guilt and the Shaming of Subjective ThoughtWe complain about school — then we make the same mistakes as adults. When I was in college, I already knew I wanted to write in some creative capacity for a career. …Reading9 min read
Mar 17 Steps to Hack Your Brain’s Filter for Success and Happiness“How stupid that he killed himself. All that money and success, wasted! What an idiot!” This was the reaction my then-boss had when news broke of Heath Ledger’s death in early 2008. …Mindset9 min read
Feb 25How the Corporate Approach Made Creators Lazy — and Killed Mainstream Creativity“Write a sex scene every 3 chapters,” they told me. Huh? There is intense debate on the internet these days about the quality of storytelling and media that is available, especially in the mainstream. On the one hand, you have the generational argument: that everybody grows up thinking their generation’s…Creativity10 min read
Published in Debugger·Oct 4, 2021How IKEA and Sonos Roped Me Into Their Sound SystemI didn’t grow up with money. I didn’t even get my driver’s license until I was nearly 18 years old because I had to save up for the classes myself. We didn’t have the “latest and greatest” anything. Our house didn’t have air conditioning. …Music9 min read
Jul 29, 2021Why I juggle 5 businesses at onceI started freelancing in 2007. By 2008, a month before my college graduation, I embarked on it full-time as a career. The years 2008–2012 were roller coaster rides that would give anyone gray hair (or in my case, make me lose my hair). Clients came and went. …Freelancing5 min read
Jul 22, 20217 Keys to Our Transition to a One-Income HouseholdI recently published an article on the unique and often-unspoken benefits of working from home. One reader commented on the struggles of having kids at home, and I realized I failed to mention that I have three small children at home as well, aged 7, 4, and 8ish months. It…Priorities8 min read
Published in Better Programming·Jul 12, 202111 Benefits of Working From Home Nobody Talks AboutThese are the things people rarely talk about — These are the things people rarely talk about. I’ve been working from home for 13 years now, and other than a brief stint answering customer service emails for a department store and a few months of bartending, I’ve been doing it full-time. When 2020 hit and offices everywhere were closed…Programming8 min read
Jun 14, 2021I’ve Used Android for More Than a Decade — and I Just Bought an iPhone 12 MiniI never thought I would live to see the day. I took a deep breath, sighing audibly to myself as I pulled the shiny white box out of the package — the familiar Apple logo emblazoned across the top. I can’t believe I’m doing this. My first smartphone, way back…Android8 min read
Jun 9, 2021Nobody has it “figured out”I tried not to sell the surprise on my face. I had spent the better part of the previous hour sitting in a local coffee shop with a gentleman that goes to my church. …Success4 min read
Jun 4, 2021More Isn’t Better: You’re Rich and You Don’t Even Know ItI wrote this a couple years ago, and it remains ever-relevant in both my life and in everyone’s. I never imagined I could sing by myself in front of a crowd of hundreds while controlling a crabby child in my arms. But last Sunday, I did that. My wife and…Gratitude8 min read