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Friendiversary

Your next best customer, best friend, or best adventure could begin with a simple comment.

Today I am celebrating my one year friendiversary with Dan & Caity.

They are gigantic dorks — which is probably why I love them so much.

Our adventure began with this video intro:

That then led to this tweet:

That ultimately led to me crashing their wedding:

The power of social media is in listening, not broadcasting.

If Dan never sent that tweet and I never responded, a friendship would have never been born.

Don’t take my word for it, here is Dan’s Perspective & then Caity’s Perspective.

Authentic relationships can be birthed online (in fact 1/3 of all marriages now originate online).

Focus more on starting a conversation than selling your commodity. You never know where that next adventure will take you and more importantly who you get to share it with.

The Pixar Series: Zombie Apocalypse Edition

Part 3 in The Pixar Series

Tales from a dinner party.

I was intimidated. These guys were at the top of their game. They work at freaking Pixar. It also didn’t help that they were all friends and I was the new guy.

So I did what anyone would do in my situation — I threw out a question to kickoff the conversation: “Zombie Apocalypse – what are your first three moves?” [Read more…]

The Pixar Series: Priority

Part 2 in The Pixar Series

Nobody at Pixar is busy.

There is a zen-like quality through the halls — but I wouldn’t call it laid back. Equal parts tranquility and intense focus; an unusual combination.

I was exploring the campus reminiscing with my long time friend about his first week at Pixar. We had started our first company together (pre-internet boom and before schools taught digital animation). We would stay up all night animating to the Mortal Kombat soundtrack.

We prided ourselves on hacking the status quo, setting impossible records, and making strange bets. The most coveted: how long you could work without going home to sleep (or take a shower). I still hold the record at 102 hours. [Read more…]

The Pixar Series: Getting Fired Is Tough

We all have perks. One of mine is that I get to hang out at Pixar.

Pixar isn’t a building. It’s a campus. If there was a dream collage, Pixar is it.

Their movies define wonder. After one afternoon walking the campus I became more inspired with what happens in the corridors then what shows up on the screen.

Getting a job at Pixar is really hard, but what is even more surprising — getting fired at Pixar is even tougher. [Read more…]

Garbage In, Garbage Out

Everyone wants to live an incredible story — the fulfillment of a great destiny. The problem is that we pursue destiny as if it was a late night infomercial. We want riches or the abs without the work or in this case, without working backwards from your destiny > to your character > to your habits > to your actions > to your words > all the way back to your thoughts.

To change (or fulfill) my destiny, I must first change the way I think about the world around me. Before your first memory, your brain started making connections and these hundreds of thousands of connections (interactions and experiences) have become your world-view (the way you think about the world works and how you relate to it). Your world-view is based upon a complex series of assumptions — some good and some very false. The core of all your insecurities are just bad assumptions. Your assumptions are what is holding you back. Impossible is really just a way of thinking.

[Read more…]

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