When you prune a plant, you trim away unwanted branches or stems. Usually, it's because they're dead, dying, or overgrown in the wrong places. Cutting away these parts isn't damaging to the plant. On the contrary, you support its growth in the right direction. You accelerate its fruitfulness. I myself have been in a season … Continue reading Pruning and Personal Growth

In this series, we’ve discussed 10 common beliefs that may be holding you back from achieving—or even pursuing—your goals. Some of them are about tangible changes; others are about a matter of mindset. Some are hesitations based on the past; others are worries about the unknown. Some require garnering approval; others involve accepting yourself. Ultimately, … Continue reading Challenging Your Self-Limiting Assumptions

“If you’re at the table, there’s a reason why you’re there," I told the audience at a school's diversity career conference, "You have something to contribute.” When I started working, I always deferred to my managers in meetings. I looked to them for answers and didn't offer my thoughts until I was asked. A couple … Continue reading You Don’t Need Another Invitation

Many people are contemplating a career decision—to leave their jobs, to change professions, to start a business, and so on. But they're hesitant, because those around them seem to discourage it: "It's too risky.""You need to think this through.""Are you sure you're ready?" So they agonize over the decision for months. They read more books, … Continue reading You Don’t Need Their Permission

For many things in life, assessing quality can be tricky. Often we can’t tell whether one product or service is better than another. So we rely on reviews, brand names, where the product was made, how it is priced, and so on. I will refer to these as proxies—indirect, often subjective, predictors of quality. In … Continue reading You Don’t Need to Check All the Boxes

Nerds, jocks, emo kids—these are a few archetypal social groups in high school. These labels categorize students of similar characteristics, distinguishing the “cool kids,” for example, from those less popular. But this doesn’t stop when we graduate high school. Throughout our lives, we must deal with ingroups versus outgroups. In each social setting, we seek … Continue reading You Don’t Need to Fit the Label

As a society, we love tales of determination. They are prevalent in our novels, movies, and news. We enjoy hearing about those who persevered and succeeded, who faced great adversity and numerous setbacks yet—through their tenacity and hard work—emerged victorious. Against all odds, and often at the eleventh hour, they prevailed. These stories make us … Continue reading You Don’t Need to Stay the Course

Entering college, I didn’t know what to expect. High school counselors had warned us how difficult college would be—how everything we knew up until that point would be child’s play in comparison. My first quarter at UC Irvine, I earned a 4.0 GPA. That came as a surprise. In high school, I never had a … Continue reading You Don’t Need a Perfect Record

Our society has an unhealthy obsession with novelty. Individuals and organizations chase opportunities to be the first—or at least the first among their peers—to do even the most trivial things. So when it comes to their careers and businesses, it’s no surprise that they’d want to stand out. This has certainly led to many foolish, … Continue reading You Don’t Need to Be the First

When I started recording music 15 years ago, I joined several online communities to get feedback and learn the tricks of the trade. On those forums, I encountered people of all ages and experience levels. In general, they fell into one of several groups: The first were industry professionals. They had access to thousand-dollar microphones … Continue reading You Don’t Need All the Pieces in Place