Success comes from doing the hard part. When the hard part is all you've got, you're more likely to do it. And this is precisely why it's difficult to focus. Because focusing means acknowledging that you just signed up for the hard part.

No more than six words on a slide. Ever. There is no presentation so complex that this rule needs to be broken.

I've never once met a successful blogger who questioned the personal value of what she did.

Networking that matters is helping people achieve their goals.

The job is not the work.

The best creative solutions don't come from finding good answers to the questions that are presented... They come from inventing new questions!

I wonder why anyone would hesitate to be generous with their writing. I mean, if you really want to make a living, go to Wall Street and trade oil futures ... We're writers. We're doing something that is inherently a generous act. We're exposing ourselves to the muse and to the things that frighten us. Why do that if you're not willing to be generous? And paradoxically, almost ironically, it turns out that the more generous you are, the more money you make. But that's secondary. For me, the privilege of being generous is why I get to do this.