This morning I read a post written by Chris Brogan called The Painter and His Window. As I finished reading this parable, I found myself immediately drawn into a contemplative arena in which I sought to find the parallels between the painter and myself.

It’s funny how often our lives are seen by other people in a way that is so much different than how we see ourselves. I don’t know how to determine who’s actually seeing the truth, because our souls are so consumed with the search for significance.

To be important. To feel important. To think that others think we’re important.

I’m a firm believer that we close our windows 95% of the time – that we fail to allow others to look in not nearly as much as we should. We have beauty. We paint beautifully. We are beautiful people. But we tragically make the mis-diagnosis that we’re unworthy in the eyes of others.

So we paint pictures that we think other people want to look at. We use colors that we feel others want to see, and deliberately go out of our way to appease them.

How many songs have you written that remain unheard? How many times have you crumpled up the sketch that others did not see?

I can tell you from personal experience that there is an infinite amount of themes that have not made it to the StudioPress website. Ones that I felt would not have been liked by others, so they ended up where so many of my creative works end up.

Behind a closed window. For no one to see. Ever.

I deeply encourage you, like Chris did, to open up your window for others to look into. You might meet some interesting people. More importantly, you might discover yourself while it’s open.

On August 6th of 2010, I will once again lace up my shoes for the Chicago Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk, and start an emotional journey that will take me 60 very long and grueling miles. This walk will be hot, this walk will be painful. There will be sweat, and there will be tears.

By the time that you finish reading this, two more women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and another one just died from it. In fact, while I am walking those 60 miles, 110 women will die from this horrible disease. 110 families will lose a mother, or a daughter, or a best friend.

That is why I walk. I don’t walk to get recognition. I don’t walk because I want people to think of me a hero. I walk so that a little girl can grow up and spend time with her mother. I walk so that a mother can watch her daughter walk down the aisle at her wedding. I walk so that I don’t have to console another friend while a part of her life was taken too soon. I walk because I am physically able to, while others are not. I walk because I have been given so much, and I want to give back as much as I can.

I walk, because I cannot walk away… and when my time on earth comes to an end, I want everyone to know… I was here…

Click here if you want to make a difference in this world

Many people fall into the misconception they can achieve success with little effort. I find a lot of truth in the saying that you reap what you sow – really, should you expect life to be any different?

I’ve been asked many times how I became successful online – going from an office job to making a living on the internet. Yes, I’ll admit that right now I wouldn’t trade my life in for the world. I get to wake up when I want, work from where I want and can see my wife Shelly any time of the day. But I worked hard to be where I’m at.

Part of reaping what you sow can be explained by the simple fact that what you do will come back to you. Think of a boomerang. In order to catch it, you must throw it.

Too many people think that life will be handed to them, as though they should expect to receive without giving. I’m guessing that Smith Barney will tell you the same thing I am.

If you want to make money, do it the old-fashioned way. Roll up your sleeves, get dirty…

…and EARN IT!

One of my favorite Rush songs of all time is one by the name of “Time Stand Still.” Particularly, one line resonates with me undoubtedly on a daily basis – you know, this one:

Freeze this moment a little bit longer…

I realize that the song wasn’t written about a guy in the 21st century who has plenty to do. In fact, it’s a whole lot more than “plenty” – rather an abundance of ideas, thoughts, emails, support, opportunities and so on.

How often do you find yourself saying… “If I just had one more hour to finish this up”… or “Hang on kids, I’ll be down in just a few minutes”…

The bottom line for us all is that there are 24 hours in the day – and there will NEVER be more than that. I supposed one option is to sleep less, and many of us are capable of doing that – until it catches up.

I’ve learned that the only way to get more done, is to get more people involved – which ultimately takes you from a “do-er” to a manager. This past year I’ve seen myself radically undergo a metamorphosis which has placed me into much more of a managerial role at my company that I had planned. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not complaining, nor saying I wish I wasn’t in this position.

After all, the visions I had for my business are being carried out much quicker than I thought – and it’s not because I found more time. Rather, I found more people…

I’ll be willing to bet that before you even took a moment to look inward, you’ve already begun to make fun of me. How easy it is to point the finger elsewhere, when in fact, you’re probably well past the initial stages of your own denial.

The truth is, we all have guilty pleasures…

And mine’s Twilight. Call it what you want, I consider it being culturally relevant.

Whether or not we want to admit it to ourselves, or even publicly, they do exist. Most of them are too “guilty” that they make us feel, in fact, guilty. And that leads to the notion that we should feel ashamed and therefore we seek to hide them from anyone we know. Or don’t know.

Welcome to my personal life.

I’ve vowed to share my world with you – the little voices that I hear inside my head and how they affect my business world.

So here I am, confessing the fact that I love the Twilight saga. And yes, I listen to the Twilight soundtracks throughout the day when I work, and have the movies on at night when I’m still working. That means every theme I develop has been hand-crafted to the sounds of Paramore, or while watching Edward saving Bella from being hit by a car.

I don’t feel the need to defend mine – I’m secure with that. But I will challenge you too seek inward and consider sharing what your guilty pleasure is.

This past weekend was quite different for me – rather than inundate myself in more work, business to-do’s and other entrepreneurial brainstorms, I took some time for myself. I quickly came to the conclusion that hanging out by oneself isn’t as overrated as I thought.

Quite nice, actually.

For the better part of 3 years now, I’ve self-admittedly been a workaholic. Which isn’t all that bad, considering I love what I do, can do it from home and it doesn’t take me away from my family as much as it does other workaholics. With me, it’s more about the mental workaholicism – even when I’m not in front of the computer, I’m still working.

I think this weekend was a case of reaching maximum capacity, and deliberately taking a break. I’ve forgotten how much I actually like to do “normal people” stuff on the weekends, rather than saturate my already-saturated mind with work.

Saturday morning at my son’s baseball practice I heard his coach utter the cliche, “Kids, there’s no I in team.” For me this weekend was all about there being “no Team in I”. I learned that it’s ok to take time off for myself, because I actually feel more refreshed than I have in quite a while.

Funny how life works…

Three and a half years ago I started my blog, and today marks a day in history. I am self-destructing my personal (which became business) blog and starting fresh with a new lifestream. Call it an experiment, but it’s been something I’ve wrestled with for months now. Seems like years, actually.

I suppose that mass destruction is a bit harsh. In fact, now that I think about it, really not that accurate. It’s only being moved, to another place for those of you who want to read what I’ve written over the years. I’ve struggled with wanting to write about my personal life – so today marks the day where my personal site becomes, for lack of a better phrase… personal.

If you want to hear about what’s going on with my business and StudioPress, you can read all about that here. But if you want access to the little voices that I hear inside my head, feel free to come here daily or get it delivered to your inbox.