Around 2000, a buddy called to ask if I had ever played badminton. "Yes, about twenty years ago," I replied. "Perfect," he said. "Can you meet at the Y tomorrow at noon for a doubles game?" Next day, I was staring at Paul Newman across the net. He and my buddy played doubles every week, but this time their fourth was ill. I was now the
Do you ever feel you've got something important to say, but no one is listening? Have you written a book, a poem or a screenplay that no one has read? Have you painted or sculpted or composed, but so far you've only been able to impress your closest friends and family? The longer this goes on, the more frustrated you become. You read what
Last week I had breakfast with an attorney friend of mine. He was furious and he wanted to talk. A client that he had represented for many years had recently hired another law firm in the place of my friend's. When I asked for an explanation, he believed it was because he had not returned the ex-client's phone calls quite as quickly as his
One of the hardest things for me to do is to move past a dumb mistake or stupid comment. For example, after saying the wrong thing in a meeting or negotiation, I tend to obsess over my poor choice of words. Which, of course, doesn't help anything. I am a baseball fan and I marvel at the ability of professional baseball players to just
There is a well-known bromide that if you fall off a horse, you get right back on. The point, of course, is that you cannot let the negative experience of the fall control you. You need to immediately climb back on the horse so that the anxiety caused by the fall does not fester, and so that you erase from your mind as quickly as possible the
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