Alleys are valuable because they're in-between and out of the way, but still easy to access. They're not the beautiful, aesthetic part of a building — the glorious facade or cozy living space — but they're close by, adjacent to loading docks and kitchens and the other utilitarian spaces that are necessary to life.

As a person who prefers to bow out of hopeless situations before they become excruciating or life-threatening, I have never related to a reality show competitor more. Or at all, really.

It’s pretty common knowledge by now that sleep is important, and that we should make an effort to get the right amount of quality sleep.

Sleep’s little sister, rest, doesn’t get so much attention.
But rest is important, too. Getting enough good rest can make your days and evenings, help prevent burnout, and reduce mistakes and accidents.

Humans are fallible — we get distracted, we forget, we have competing commitments which subconsciously pull us away from doing what we value.

Structure is the antidote. If something is important, it's absolutely okay to create structure around it — no matter how awkward, unspontaneous, or weird it seems.

There's a myth of the lone artist, the reclusive genius, and sometimes withdrawing, temporarily, can result in great art. But much more often, Mozarts need their Haydns. Group of Seven members need their other six.

There's more to your mind than just the grey stuff inside your skull. In fact, your mind is a complicated system that includes and relies on all kinds of external resources. These resources help with every aspect of cognition: remembering, focusing, analyzing, and more.

Sometimes it takes a profound shift in mindset for someone to make a change in their work or life. An epiphany, a whole new perspective, maybe even hitting rock bottom.

And sometimes, it just takes a new trick.

Over the course of the last week, I attended nine seminars and workshops at the International Coach Federation Toronto Chapter's annual conference. I learned about the brain, the body, and myself.

Gatekeeping gets in the way of sharing work, which is bad because you have something of value to share. The solution is to do an end run around gatekeepers by self-publishing.

I think everyone is creative. Creativity is the act of imagining something that doesn't exist and making it real. It manifests in everyday life and it’s how we change our lives, and the world.

I was tired and stressed and felt bad all the time, because it turns out you can't actually take responsibility for everybody's feelings. And the reason why is that you can't control how other people feel.

Coaching is adjacent to the world of self-help and personal development, and that world is full of woo. There are pages to be written about why that is, but not today. For now, I want to tell you what I don't believe in.