Helping people go from 😰 to 🚀 — A few friends behind Experience Institute & Brand Deck are working on a new deck of cards that helps people discover what’s worth doing in life and work (pre-launch info here). Next, we’d love your feedback. Here’s the scoop: Have you felt it lately? There’s something in the air. A…

Building new projects and programs for high schools, colleges, and the workplace 🚀 — Have you ever worked on something you love for so long, you’ve forgotten to check the time? Well, it’s past the halfway mark for 2018 and that’s how the Ei team and I have felt lately. Here’s a glimpse of what we’ve been building lately: Coming to a Middle School or High School near you Over the past six months…

If love and relationships seem overly complicated, here’s a new starting point… — It’s February 7, and you know what that means: T-minus 7 days until Valentine’s Day. Single people hate it. Loving couples celebrate it. The relationally progressive ignore it. And everyone else just deals with it. Romantic love is complicated — much more complicated than a random day in February makes…

After my December break, and reviewing my own Wednesday Words from the past four years(!), I’ve decided to take a longer pause from these weekly writings to try a slightly different direction. I’ll be studying, writing more poignant pieces around higher education, career navigation, and storytelling, and sharing those writings on a more infrequent rhythm. By doing so, I hope to create more researched pieces, helpful downloads/tools, and richer stories that nudge you forward. Personally, I hope to grow into a better writer, educator, and communicator throughout the year.

The famous philosopher and education reformer John Dewey once said: “We do not learn from experience… we learn from reflecting on experience.” That spirit of reflection is what guides how I start each year. And though I have no interest in anything “presidential,” I do appreciate taking a collective moment…

It’s hard to believe how much has happened over the past 12 months. Experience Institute took our largest leaps to date. Some things landed better than expected. Other things hit the ground and shattered. On the personal front, I lost my father to cancer, settled into my first real home…

Last Friday, I co-hosted a friendsgiving for the new group of incredible Masters students I’ve been been working with at Stanford. Everyone chipped in to help. The Executive Director and I planned the event. The staff organized the turkey and the space. …

Nearly every day, I write. I sit down at a desk. Or on a couch. Or in a cafe. Or on a flight. And I take 10–30 minutes to write about anything and everything. What happened that day. How things are going. What things are working or breaking. …

Last week, I was off my game. It’s too soon to write about what happened. But something I’m putting a lot of effort into took a wrong turn. I retraced all of my steps to make sure I fully understood how I got there. I talked to friends who’d been…