This past weekend I spent Saturday and Sunday meeting with clients in Philadelphia. That’s about four hours away from where I live in Pittsburgh. Along with writing books, blogs, hosting podcasts, and advising college students, I also work in sales. Life insurance actually. It’s something I love to do because of the leadership in the company and the people I have opportunity to associate with. Also, the money doesn’t suck. The flexibility in schedule and travel is a plus and

Thank God I have a choice with who I get to have in my life. Because, at the first sign that someone sucks, I can just stop texting them back! It’s amazing and simple! It’s also somewhat shocking when you start something new with your life and out of no where come the doubters and straight-up haters. It’s especially shocking when they come out of your own corner. At one time they were cheering you on and a source of incredible encouragement. Now… they sap you of energy and wa

All of your day’s potential power lies in the first couple hours of when you wake up. If you get yourself up rather than hit snooze for those first couple hours. That’s one of the powerful points in the morning. Getting up when you say you will. That small, seemingly minuscule acts plays huge on your character. Your character is determined by doing what you say you’ll do and following through when no one is around to see if you’re actually doing it. When you say you’re going

First, put this track on in the background before you read further… (I always listen to either classical music or movie scores when I read. Steve Jablonsky is definitely a go-to for me and this track is about as epic as it gets.) Can you fixate in your mind a time where all that you wished for, all that you dreamed for, comes, finally, to pass? I walk in the cafe and see strangers upon strangers all buried in a book with my name on the cover. I walk in slowly and see their fa

Sounds like a pretty self-serving title doesn’t it? But it is also kind of catchy, maybe that’s just because it’s me. But the thing is, I didn’t think of it. And that’s what’s kind of unique about it. When I was working voraciously in the community college to climb the rungs into leadership, one of the deans said to me sort of jokingly, “Its the Craven Effect,” when I’d tell her about something new that was happening in my life that was taking me to another level. But every l

So, I don’t know anything, and I mean ANYTHING, about sports. Don’t let my big shoulders confuse you, I know nothing about sports. It’s just not something I’ve ever really been interested in. I mean, I can get sucked into watching a football game if it’s on or a good sports movie about overcoming crazy adversity, but I never go out of my way to catch a game. I don’t even have much interest in going to live sporting events. I did go see my cousin, Aaron, play basketball when h

When I wrote my first book I was almost embarrassed because the page count was barely over 100. And the same thing happened with my second book. But, the stories I’d written were over. I wasn’t going to write just to write and add nonsense content just to reach a page number goal. So, when I set out to convert my blog into a book, I did set a goal of at least two hundred pages. Because this content was somewhat different than my previous books, I was able to continue writing

Something I’m noticing as I’m studying these various people that have become successful is that they’re still running after their mission. It’s seems like no matter how much success they’ve experienced, they’re still going after something. But what is it? I believe when we’re truly experiencing a life that we’re doing the things we were made to do, there’s never an end. There’s never a level of arriving where we can leave the remainder of life to a state of sedentary. Life is

It was Wayne Dyer that I was listening to when I heard this idea. This thought that life is a mirror. Dr. Dyer was saying if you’re constantly expressing, “Give me, give me, give me…” Life’s response will be, “Give me, give me, give me…” But if you change that to, “What can I give? How can I be of service?” Life will say, “What can I give? How can I be of service?” This works. Life is a mirror. “You don’t get what you want, you get what you are.” In my own life, I have so man

When we put only ourselves first, nothing good ever comes of it. Especially when we allow our comfort to determine the decision to leave another out in the cold or to join them. I need to be after helping others constantly. My work, all that I do, should hold at it’s core the service for other people. Others are more important than ourselves. There’s a verse in the Bible that says, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” That’s very powerful.

It’s easy to give up when you’re young. You have that mindset of immortality. You can always do something new. You’re only 23, you can do something new. That isn’t working. It’s hard. Well, you’re only 27, you can do something new. That finds rhythm in your life. Now, you’re 33. Well you’re still young, you have time. You’re only 38, you can do something new. 46… 52… 60… 81… 100 What if you die at 30? What if you’re not immortal? What if you don’t have time? What if there isn

Where to Start The practice of setting and achieving your dreams can be ultra-rewarding and ultra-stressful, and even more so if you are dealing with mental health issues. Whether your goals are centered around academic progress, career advancement, relationship improvement, or financial growth, as you begin outlining them, it helps to write them down and then break them into smaller, more attainable steps. Further, have patience with yourself during the process and allow you

When I went back to school in 2008 to start working on a bachelor’s degree, I joined the rank of cafe dwellers. I started going into Barnes & Noble every day to get homework done and study for exams. That was ten years ago and I haven’t left since. I found that old habits die hard and after spending five years to get my degree, I realized I wasn’t done with learning. I loved it too much. Sitting in cafes, I’ve finished degrees, as mentioned, graded papers from classes I taugh

“Love is madness… I knew the moment I looked into your eyes.” Those are lyrics from the new Thirty Seconds To Mars album, which is amazing by the way. Isn’t it crazy what happens to us when we let a person take center-stage of our desires? Infatuated, enamored, or enraptured fall from adequate in describing what really seems like worship. Think about the weight of that word. Worship is described as reverence for a deity. Wars have been waged and lives have been taken in the n

Is change really something we believe can take hold in someone’s life? More importantly, is it something we believe can take hold in our own lives? I mean true change. Our persons, who we are, or who we believe we are, actually altered into something different. Thinking different, feeling different, believing different. Is it possible to become a new person when we’ve known ourselves in some way for so long? I was listening to a speaker yesterday and he said something very si

It’s easy to come to places along the journey of life where our focus becomes compromised. Setbacks and broken hearts do a great job at pulling your focus from your purpose onto them. Once your focus fixes on the problem(s), the problem(s) becomes unsolvable. Any problem can be solved by refocusing our attention on the intention of our lives. I finally have my focus back on the right things. The lens of my focus was fixed on brokenness the past year and a half to two years. N

This number keeps popping up. When I was finishing my degree I remember I had five weeks left before I graduated, and I was burnt out. I was almost willing to throw away the five years I’d spent working on it because I had five weeks left and I did not have a single desire to keep going. I think it’s that point that a lot of people get themselves to just before they choose a different path. One that’s less strained. (this is a bad idea) Recently, I’ve had a few friends coming

I met with a great friend earlier today to catch up. I remember a few years ago, we had coffee and she told me about her desire to open her own mental health practice. I remember the conversation was pretty laid back and as we continued talking she started to see how clearly it could come together. Today we caught up in her beautiful office in downtown Pittsburgh. What an amazing and stunning thing, to see someone speak their dreams into manifestation. She never let up on her

This is the breeding ground for discomfort and anxiety. This hesitant, no-side-of-the-fence place. This place where decisions never seem to be made. Should I do this? Should I do that? Should I start this business? Go back to school? Finish school? End this relationship? Begin a relationship? …. We can sit in this purgatory of decision for a very long time. Long enough that our lives and the opportunities to live better lives just pass before our eyes because we remain decisi

People ask me sometimes why I share things about myself so openly. When I was growing up, my favorite band was Korn. The reason I loved them so much was because Jonathan Davis wrote lyrics that were so personal and I could immediately connect some of what I was feeling to what he was expressing in the music. Music had a powerful impact on me and when I heard someone screaming about some of the exact same emotions I was feeling, I found a lot of hope and healing. I saw that I