There was another one in my inbox yesterday. A rejection from yet another literary agent.

As a writer, I suppose I’ve been conditioned to expect and even accept these rejections. But it also was Rejection #211…on the same book. Most literary agents tell people to stop querying between #50–100.

Is this a demonstration of positive grit? Or is it evidence of deep, negative denial?

The Key and the Doors

The differentiation between grit and denial is critical to finding happiness regardless of what field you’re in or the goal you have. Let me use an analogy to show you why.

Take a second and imagine…

About a week ago, I was fuming at the mouth over something my son said to me.

Then I got frustrated because I honestly didn’t know if a new project I have going was worthwhile despite putting hours of time into it. It was just not a good day. My husband noticed. He came over and hugged me.

“Do you want to pray about it?”

The last thing I wanted to do was pray about it. In fact, I wanted to punch something. Anything.

So I walked away and cried.

When I finally got it together and could think straight…

How to approach your calendar to do more, better

Whether you’re pumping out a regular blog or schmoozing with CEOs of multi-million-dollar companies, there’s no resource more valuable than your time. Scheduling well enables you to reach enviable levels of productivity and recharge for your health. As the saying goes, though, there’s more than one way to skin a cat, and you can use different strategies to make your calendar feel good to you.

Strategy #1: Do a little bit of everything every day

With this strategy, you block out small amounts of time — for example, 30 to 60 minutes — for individual tasks. The schedule is relatively consistent…

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard that gratitude begets success and joy. I can’t go into the grocery store without seeing a magazine headline about keeping a gratitude journal, making time for gratitude-based reflection, or telling someone they’ve made a positive influence. It takes me about two seconds to find articles or podcasts online that explain how positive thinking wires the brain for more positive thinking. It’s the meat and potatoes attitude message of the culture now, especially among the business types I’ve made a living writing for.

But in a particularly dark week, I’d gotten into…

In early February, my husband and I saw Valentine’s Day quickly approaching. Like so many other couples, we were eager to celebrate each other. Under normal circumstances, that likely would have included a nice evening out, ordering plates from a local restaurant. After all, almost a default script, not just for a date, but also for more platonic or family-oriented time together.

But these are not normal circumstances. For more than a year, people around the entire world have been in the grip of a global pandemic. The usual venue we use to interact is has taken an enormous hit…

If you’ve been paying any attention lately as a marketer, then you’ve probably noticed that membership/subscription programs are booming. In fact, an article from Terry Nguyen for Vox pointed this out and claimed that some membership programs, such as Netflix, are now so integral that people see them as utilities. So as business gets more global and increasingly competitive, and as companies have to think more critically about how to attract a larger number of people, why do membership programs — especially tiered membership programs — work so incredibly well for sales?

4 reasons tiers are effective

There are four main psych-based reasons tiered memberships…

I’m a writer by trade. But sometimes when people ask what I do, I jokingly tell them I Google for a living, because so much of the work includes research. That’s true whether I’m writing fiction, an article, or a comment on Twitter I want to make sure is accurate. Linking feels so familiar now that it’s like brushing my teeth, and when I was finishing my most recent novel, I spent almost a week researching exactly what happens with different types of gunshot wounds.

I know plenty of other writers who are in the same boat. But the question…

Disagreements are part of life, as are mistakes. And sometimes those issues can involve deep resentments that make it extremely difficult for someone you’ve hurt to believe that you have changed. In those cases, you cannot be passive about convincing them you have learned, grown, and become better.

Your starter: A heartfelt apology

An apology opens the door for another person to take a second look at the situation. But is far more than simply saying “I’m sorry” because that’s what society expects to fall from your mouth. To make it effective, you must demonstrate that you genuinely understand why what happened was hurtful, considering…