I consider myself to be a pretty analytical guy. When I make decisions, I like to look at my options, gather as much information as I can, and then make my choice logically and rationally. If I can get my hands on a nice juicy, data-rich Excel file, I love to slice, dice and crunch it and see what it tells me. And sometimes, I like to do the complete opposite of analytical thought. Every once and a while, I like to go with my gut and choose the option that just feels right. O

You’ve talked about quitting your job for ages—and now you’ve done it. The resignation letter was handed in. The goodbyes and the well wishes are done. “Now the hard part is over,” you think. “On to the fun stuff of making a new career for myself!” Hard part—hah! Quitting is the easy part. It’s everything after that’s hard. The euphoria of leaving behind the 9-5 lasts for precious few weeks… maybe precious few days. Then reality sets in like a ton of bricks. Here are the fou

I choose to be encouraged, not discouraged. You can always count on getting encouragement from the people who are close to you. Friends, family. You can also count on getting discouragement from those who are bitter, or unkind. Or worse, those who resent you because you chose to do something where they choose to do nothing. But there’s also that third group that’s really interesting: the acquaintances, the people who know you a little bit, but not much. The reaction here is u

One of my first gigs as a consultant was rewriting a sales deck. The client was a veteran entrepreneur with a ton of experience. We had an initial call to discuss the kind of improvements he was looking for and then he sent me the document. My first impression of the sales deck was that his offer was great, but the writing was poor. His style was a bit chunky and awkward. Of course, I thought I could do much better. So I rewrote most of the deck, and sent him a first draft. H