No, I’m not THAT Jessica Simpson, though I do have a connection with Britney Spears — About My Name Though I may have the same name as the celebrity Jessica Simpson, I’m older than her, so it was technically my name first! To add to the coincidence, I’m from the same hometown as a girl named Britney Spears, and once upon a time, we took dance lessons together. I’m…

Nellie Bly’s inspiring quest to have all the adventures — “If the writer of the communication signed ‘lonely orphan girl’ will send her name and address to this office, merely as a guarantee of good faith, she will confer a favor and receive the information she desires.” The editor of the Pittsburgh Dispatch wanted to track down the author of…

Getting lost in translation, but finding unforgettable flavor — a food adventure story — I’m headed to jail. That was the thought in my head. We’d lingered for hours in that restaurant, enjoying an extravagant dinner, but now we had no way to pay for it. It was my first night in this foreign country, and it wasn’t off to a great start. I…

You can do it with the Good Will Hunting method — Will couldn’t afford to go to college, but he didn’t let that stop him. Instead, he became a self-educated man. In the movie, Good Will Hunting, Will used the library to give himself the same education that a college student could have. If you’ve ever seen the movie, you know…

More output, less input: why is it so hard for us? — “Congratulations! You have a new streak record of 108 weeks!” Though I wasn’t surprised by the numbers, I didn’t know that my Kindle was tracking how often I read. I knew that I read over 100 books last year, with a huge focus on the self-improvement/productivity niche. …

His creativity is still inspiring today — “Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”* Leonardo da Vinci always walked with his eyes turned skyward. …

Arthur C. Brooks shares wisdom from the Dalai Lama — “The most important thing about contempt is that it is bad for us.” — Arthur C. Brooks, Love Your Enemies Why are we always yelling at each other? Every day people spew hatred towards each other, rather than having respectful disagreements. The wedge between us grows larger each day. Arthur…

Gold could never replace his only daughter — When someone has great success, we say that they have the “Midas touch”. King Midas was a man who could turn things into gold with a touch. We use his name to refer to anyone with good fortune. It seems as though they’ve been blessed. You might be surprised to…

And he did it not once, but twice! — There is nothing worse than coming home from vacation to find that you left the refrigerator door open, and everything has spoiled. Unless maybe it’s when you’re getting the groceries out of the car, and you accidentally leave a bag in your trunk. No big deal, until you open the…