How we think about our jobs reflects how we think about ourselves.

And in return, how we think about ourselves determines how we work and what we create with our labor.

It’s a self-feeding vicious or virtuous circle, all depending on our daily “checkup from the neck-up,” as Zig Ziglar calls it.

It’s not possible to demean what we do by calling it “just a gig” and still feel good and secure about our future.

The original definition of the noun is “a light two-wheeled carriage pulled by one horse” or “a light, fast, narrow boat.”

A “gig” in its…

Did you know that you don’t need any paint to paint?

You don’t need a cumbersome easel, wet brushes, and all that mess either.

You don’t need a canvas.

You don’t need Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or any other expensive drawing/painting tools. You don’t even need free drawing software that has a steep learning curve like Inkscape or GIMP.

All you need is what you carry in your pocket: your telephone.

I stumbled on this painting method thanks to David Hockey. To me, he is the new incarnation of Van Gogh (even though Egon Schiel is famous for declaring himself one.)

…

The header (or the title) of a direct-mail sales letter, a brochure, a flier, or a display/classified ad is probably 80% of the message.

Headers are important even in the news business. That’s why some newspapers have full-time “title editors.” Their job is to make sure people will read the headlines because that’s only what most people read as they skim through news stories.

I know copywriters who write at least one hundred titles before they decide on one header for their direct-mail letter.

If you follow the following 4-U Method, developed by Michael Masterson and taught in excellent copywriting…

I wish I could say I was a child prodigy, blazed out of the starting gate of success early in life, and never looked back since.

I wish.

I was actually a slow starter and made a lot of errors, took a number of wrong turns until I found my stride.

However, whatever I learned I guarded dearly.

When I saw how well something worked, I repeated it instead of trying every new trend or idea under the sun.

And the results are not that bad at all, if I may say so.

Now I’m at an age when it…

Would you like to write great essays that are easy to read and retain? Then pay attention to the following seven time-tested writing tips of mastering essay writing.

(1) The Point

Why are you writing this essay?

What’s the whole point?

Are you trying to prove a thesis?

Or mobilize your audience for a worthy cause?

Defend yourself against an accusation and settle a score?

Or go viral and become popular?

You should know exactly why you are writing the essay before putting down even a single word on paper or screen.

If you can’t answer the question “what’s the whole point of…

Many famous people did not find their groove right away. They zigzagged for years, first trying this and then trying that, until they found their life’s work.

So if you’re still looking for what to do in life, don’t despair. It sometimes takes years to find what you love.

Here are a few selections from the Gallery of Famous Zigzaggers…

British Prime Minister Tony Blair before becoming the longest-serving Labor Prime Minister (1997–2007) was a long-haired rock and roll groupie and band promoter, with Mick Jagger as his role model.

Benjamin Franklin, one of the American Founder Fathers, was an…

PROBLEM

You are writing Medium articles like crazy and submitting them to a dozen different publications.

Then waiting… waiting… waiting…

You have no idea which stories are going to be published and when.

The publication guideline says “wait for 3 days and if you haven’t heard from us, that means we will not publish it.”

This (3 days) is a fairly common waiting period for a majority of Medium publications.

That’s great info, but now it’s your problem to track your articles to see if it has been 3 days yet or not.

SOLUTION

I developed a very simple Excel sheet for…

A 22-ton Chinese rocket is hurtling towards earth as I’m writing this.

The chances are it’ll land in the Pacific Ocean without any mishap. But there are no guarantees.

When disaster hit Space Shuttle Columbia during its atmosphere entry on February 1, 2003, at 18 times the speed of sound, it broke up into 84,000 pieces spreading out all over West Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. It’s a miracle the damage on the ground was minimal.

And such accidents are not as rare as one might think.

“In 1996, a French satellite was hit and damaged by debris from a French…