I remember the day vividly. I was 10 years old, and had my heart set on someday becoming the third member of Kris Kross. My father and I were on our way to a hockey game at the Montreal Forum in what I remember was one of the worst snowstorms in the city’s history—in my lifetime, anyway. The snow was blinding, the wind was fierce, and the highways were covered in fresh ice. The wind was so ferocious, in fact, it pushed our car into the next lane numerous times.

As we approached a bend in the highway, we were met by a fresh patch of black ice. The car in front of us was thrown into the side of a big rig in the right lane, unleashing a flurry of sparks. It quickly began to slide back into the left lane, but didn’t appear to be stopping. The car slid past the lane, onto the narrow shoulder, and ended up on a slant — the left wheels driving on the cement barrier.

Problem: there was nothing on the other side of the barrier except a few hundred feet to the ground.

I clutched the seat, my eyes glaring in disbelief at the scene occurring right in front of me. I was praying to every god of every religion I ever heard of. Please let us be okay. Meanwhile, my father kept his cool, driving along as if this were any other day.

The car in front regained control and a few minutes later my father took the next available exit. We took the long route, driving through city streets until we reached the Forum. We got to the game a little late, but we got there—safely.

A few days later, after I calmed down about the incident, I decided to ask my father about it. I wanted to know how he was able to remain so calm throughout it all. How did he know we’d be okay?

“I was very worried.” he told me. “When the driver in front of us hit the ice, they hit the brakes too hard and didn’t steer the wheel. I was worried, but I kept calm, and took control of the wheel. We were fine. If you panic and let go of the wheel, you’ll lose control, just like that driver.”

Life obviously continued on from that day, but I remember those words as if they were spoken only yesterday. He kept calm and took control of the wheel. To this day, I replay that sentence in my mind often. It makes perfect sense. It’s not just about winter storms or driving on icy roads—it’s about our everyday lives.

You want to move to a new city, but you keep putting off the decision. You are unhappy at your job, even though you do it very well. You want to change your field of study, but you are afraid of what your family and friends will think. You are offered a promotion for a job you don’t even want.

How do you react when faced with these situations?

Do you continuously delay making decisions because you always need more time to think—pressing cruise control and becoming a passive spectator to your own life?

Do you run to others, depending on them to make decisions for you—jumping into the passenger seat while someone else drives you to an unknown destination?

Or, do you remain calm, analyze your situation, listen to your own gut, and make a decision—taking control of the wheel and driving yourself to your intended destination.

No matter what the situation in life, you’re always on the road, and you’re always driving. The question you have to ask yourself is—am I in control of the wheel?

This post was originally published by Moe Arora at Taking Control of the Wheel

This post was originally published by Moe Arora at Albert Einstein

The idea of branding has become extremely buzz-worthy over the past few years, especially when discussing the world of personal branding. There are many contributions to its recent rise in popularity, however, one of the primary reasons is the zero-barrier-to-entry public exposure provided by social media. Now everyone — and every business — can be heard and seen.

But, while we’re so busy publicizing our brands, perhaps we should take a step back and first define what that even means.

In this video by branding firm, VSA Partners, Jon Iwata, IBM’s Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications, discusses the company’s mentality in defining the IBM brand character:

We don’t try to manage the IBM brand, we try to manage our character as a business. And we’ve never defined IBM by what we were selling. We’ve learned that at some point in the future, if you make that mistake, you will have to go through a lot of expense and trouble to take out of people’s hearts and minds that definition… if you’re not going to define our brand by what we make — what defines us?

So… how do you define your brand?

This post was originally published by Moe Arora at What Defines Your Brand’s Character?

As someone who’s been publishing on the web, in one form or another, since 1996, I’ve always had some form of digital platform to write and share ideas: GeoCities, Blogger (pre-Google), custom FrontPage-designed sites (don’t laugh), custom Dreamweaver-coded sites, email newsletters, Posterous, Tumblr, WordPress, and about a dozen others. I’ve even experimented with an SMS-exclusive newsletter that sent summarized articles via text message, and a call-in telephone “hotline” that provided a recorded rundown of stories. In the years since `96, I had never gone more than 2 months without some form of digital platform.

I took a much longer break than 2 months, since retiring MakingTheMogul.com. Partly because I was going through my own transitions — personally & professionally — which needed to focus more on self-reflection/development; and partly because in the age of social media and microblogging, tools like Twitter and Tumblr help satisfy the temporary itch of public expression (this can be a little too effective for some people, but we’ll get into that at a later time).

Still, I knew I eventually wanted to write/blog/publish again, once I was ready.

I’ve gone back-and-forth with the idea of launching another niche site, but would usually scrap the idea after a week or two. I couldn’t settle on a particular niche that captivated me enough to blog consistently. Then, I began to toy with the idea of starting something right here on moearora.com. Logically, it made sense, but I could never fully settle on an approach to organize all the topics I want to discuss. Also [a.k.a the real reason], I was unsure if I could write about anything other than the music business.

I mean, I knew I could, and I knew I wanted to, but would I be able to articulate my thoughts the same way I can about the music business? Would anybody even care what I had to say if it involved anything other than how hit music producers and artists crafted their platinum careers?

I wanted to test the waters a little, so for the past year I’ve written a few articles and published them as a contributor to different websites under a nom de plume. I’ve written about productivity, technology, minimalism, Buddhism, social media, branding, and health & wellness. At one point, I even wrote about politics when asked, but as I learned, something is only worth writing about if you are genuinely interested or passionate about it. For me, anyways.

After completing my round of “content experimentation”, I decided to go ahead and start things up over here.

Have I finally figured out an approach to organize all the topics I want to discuss? Not even close, but that’s okay.

If I were to ask you ‘what are you?’, how would you answer? You could say you’re a writer, a digital marketer, a musician, or whatever other title you have on your LinkedIn profile — but that’s just what you do, not who you are. You’re a dynamic person; your skill set spans multiple disciplines, and your interests are widely spread out across the board — you can’t be pigeonholed into a single category. As an extension of me, neither can this website.

While the topics I discuss here may vary, they are joined together by the idea that the world is changing, and it is up to all of us to help each other understand the change, and help guide it for the better.

I hope you’ll join me for the journey.

♫ Soundtrack: Still D.R.E.

This post was originally published by Moe Arora at Bloggers Gonna Blog

This post was originally published by Moe Arora at Theodore Roosevelt, Man in the Arena

Every year, on my birthday, I find myself reflecting on many of my life’s journeys. This year, is no different, however I find myself digging a little deeper into these memories, and finding meaning in all of these experiences.

As I reflect on these life lessons privately, I’d simply like to share with you a video I find myself watching on a consistent basis, which always helps keep my energy positive, my motivation high, and my focus clear.

“Don’t ever let someone tell you, you can’t do something.”

This post was originally published by Moe Arora at 31

Photo courtesy of Flickr.com/NedraI

We want to cut out the junk food. We want to eat healthier. We want better overall health. So why do we always find ourselves grabbing that bag of chips, when we really intended to have a salad?

Handy Candy

One of the biggest advantages of junk food is its convenience. It’s right there. In your pantry. Waiting for you. It’s also pretty conveniently packaged for individual consumption.

If you want chips, you reach into the cupboard, open the bag and snack away. When you’re done, just toss out the bag; or if there’s still some left, put a rubber band on that bad boy, and toss it back in the cupboard.

If you want a salad, on the other hand, you have to gather all the vegetables you want, wash them, spin-dry the lettuce, peel the carrots, and slice the cucumbers. Let’s not forget the dishes and utensils we just added to the towering pile taunting us in the sink.

When you’re tired after a full day of work, and just want to relax while watching some TV, which option are you most likely to choose?

Be honest. You want to choose the salad, but instead, you tell yourself “just this time”, while reaching for the chips.

Junk Food Has Better Product Design

Individual servings, easy access, and no-fuss clean up are all reasons why junk food is so tempting to us. It’s convenient. Convenience is not an accident, however. It’s design.

If we want to eat better, we need to do more than clean out the fridge. We need to turn the tables, and make healthier choices convenient. More convenient.

“Convenience is the success factor of just about every type of product and service that is showing steady growth.” – Charles G. Mortimer (former chairman and CEO, General Foods Corporation)

So… How Can We Fix This?

There are many ways, but I’ll share my approach with you.

Pick up a few containers from the store and package your food in a way that makes sense to your eating habits. Instead of bags of chips, pour some almonds or mixed nuts in a few small Ziploc bags. Maybe make a few pre-cut, ready-made fruit bowls. When you get back from a grocery run, try washing vegetables right away and cutting them up so they’re ready to eat, out-of-the-box. Take slices of sandwich meat and cheese out from the packaging they come in, and place them in thin containers. If you like eating baby carrots, take them out of the flimsy bag and place them in a container you can easily pop open and close. If you prefer snacking on sweet red bell peppers, slice them up on the spot and throw them in a container, so you never have to question doing the work when you’re tired or lazy.

Package these healthy choices in a way that makes sense to you, but the important part is that they’re convenient (and – of course – that you actually want to eat healthier).

I began this experiment earlier this year, and it’s made a significant difference. A few friends have since adopted this approach upon seeing my results, and it has helped them make radical changes to their diet, as well.

A bag of chips is no longer the most convenient option. How about a single-serving bag of almonds, or a small container of pre-washed strawberries, instead? Making a sandwich for lunch is like an assembly line operation. Even cooking dinner is almost like hosting my own private cooking show, with ingredients already prepared in their own little containers.

Convenient packaging just makes everything… easy.

While my container approach may appear a little OCD to some, you can design an approach that makes sense to your life.

The idea is that when you recognize your behaviour patterns are not aligned with your desired result, you can – and should – adjust them so that they are.

“If what you are doing is not moving you towards your goals, then it’s moving you away from your goals.” – Brian Tracy

This article was originally published on Medium.com

This post was originally published by Moe Arora at Packaging a Healthier Life

Now, 4 years later, Scooter can be found dominating the cover of Billboard’s Forty Under Forty issue… and I think it’s safe to say that you’ve also heard about this Justin guy, by now.

Congrats to Scooter and everybody on the SB team for all the success thus far; I couldn’t be more proud.

Continue to inspire millions around the world!

This post was originally published by Moe Arora at School Boy Mogul

Frank Ocean‘s debut album, channel ORANGE, releases today – a week ahead of schedule.

Congrats to Frank and everybody who worked hard on this album… what a brilliant album it is!

Above is a free (and legal) stream of the entire album.

You can purchase Frank Ocean’s “channel ORANGE” on iTunes.

This post was originally published by Moe Arora at Frank Ocean – channel ORANGE

How committed are you to your own personal success?

Do you want it more than you want to go out?

Do you want it more than you want that new gadget?

Do you want it more than you want to breathe?

Don’t just say you want success – commit to it.

This post was originally published by Moe Arora at Commit To Your Success