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On Fear, Loss, And Being Called A Fartknocker

Thomas Frank Living

“Fartknockers!”

My cousin Nick and I stopped awkwardly trying to do pop shove-its in our grandpa’s driveway to see where the offending remark had come from.

At 12 years old, I was a formidable specimen of beauty and brutality, and I was ready to give my insulter the what-for if need be. Honor was on the line here. I knew, in the deepest pits of my soul, weathered and tempered with a dozen years of life experience, that I was not a fartknocker.

Nick silently echoed the exact same sentiment; I could see it in his eyes. An inner flame blazed.

“Oi there, you bloke! Now see here – we knock on doors with our fists, thank you, not mildly noxious clouds of briefly propelled methane gas! And we’ll come knock on your face with the same bloody things if you say that again, ya grotty nutter!”

…we completely failed to say, as we were neither knowledgable of the chemical makeup of flatulence, nor British, nor particularly good at fighting.

Executive Wisdom: 44 Inspiring And Useful Quotes From 44 Presidents

Thomas Frank Living

The men who have led our country over the years are varied and unique. Each has come from a different background, held different beliefs, and took different actions. Some are considered great, others are considered failures.

However, each of them can at least be commended for simply assuming the highest office in our nation. For that reason, I believe each of them has at least one quote that can be useful or inspiring to you as an individual.

Whether you consider each of these men great or terrible, a visionary or a fool, just remember:

“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.” – Bruce Lee

Words may carry more weight when spoken by a nation’s leader, but that does not mean they are defined by that person’s actions. So here I offer you 44 quotes by 43 of our nation’s leaders (plus one). If even just one helps you improve your life in some way, then I consider this post a success. Read More →

I’m Voting For Us.

Thomas Frank Living

Six different TVs are currently surrounding me, with most displaying a swirling mix of reds, blues, and percents. It’s just after 9:00 p.m. here in Iowa, and I’m sitting here with Anna at a campus dining center where we await the results (and, thank God, the closure) of this election.

Though I’ve remained quite silent about politics throughout this election cycle, I now feel compelled to write about my feelings at this point. This desire probably stems from me wanting to avoid working on actual projects – that, and my face hurts too much already to keep reading Axe Cop.

So, I’m going to talk about the election. Or not.

You see, while the election is important, I believe it’s not the only important thing. There’s something much more important that I’d like to talk about.

However, before I get to that, I’d like to preface it by talking a bit about myself.

Being a generally well-educated and outspoken person, it may surprise you to discover that I hold far fewer concrete political beliefs than the average person. I’m very, very neutral about most things.

Now, this isn’t necessarily because I’m lazy. Not at all. It’s actually because I’m conflicted.

You see, to me, most political issues create a power balance battle - should more power be given to the government, or should it be given to the people? (or the corporations?) Read More →

Trapped by Freedom

Thomas Frank Living

Here’s something to think about: I believe that the unbelievable level of freedom we have in this country actually traps us.

This is something I’ve been thinking about for quite a while, and I want to dump my thoughts about it onto a digital canvas. So just bear with me here before you start commenting about how we’re not actually free because we can’t go to Cuba or say certain words in a movie theater.

Regardless of what you think – most of us have a metric fuck-ton of freedom. And that’s precisely the problem.

Our freedoms can easily trap us in a net of mediocrity and complacency. These freedoms actually make it harder for us to be truly exceptional. Let’s take a look at what some of our freedoms actually give us… Read More →

Analysis Paralysis And How To Conquer The Fear Of Failure

Isaac Moche Living

This is guest post from Isaac Moche of The Campus Companion.

My roommate, Dan, is an inventor. At least he thinks he’s one. Funny thing is, I’ve never seen him actually invent anything. Every time I talk to him, I hear about the next big idea that’s “definitely going to change the world”. Some of his ideas are great. Others…not so much. But they all have the same thing in common: You’ll never get to use them, because these inventions will never see the light of day.

Dan has analysis paralysis, which means he overthinks ideas to the point of never taking action on anything at all. His analysis paralysis manifests itself as “market research.”

What does yours go by?

It might sound crazy, but you’re probably guilty of this too. You might not be contemplating ways to change the world, but chances are there’s some great idea hiding out in your brain, just waiting to break free. Read More →

Focus On Your Weaknesses

Thomas Frank Living

When I was in middle school, I remember receiving this piece of advice from some teacher:

“Focus on making your strengths even stronger rather than dwelling on your weaknesses.”

While I don’t think this is a bad piece of advice in a lot of cases, I’d like to argue against it today.

Telling people to only focus on their strength can have an unintended consequence – they might not discover a new passion or strength. They’ll just keep focused on what they currently know.

You see, what you think is a weakness might not actually be a weakness. It might just be something you have zero experience in. In fact, that’s the more probable situation.

The other day, my friend Leo posted a picture on Facebook. The picture was one of John Gurdon’s grade-school report cards, and it looked like this: Read More →

How To Be Successful

Thomas Frank Living

How do you determine whether you’re successful or not? How do you know if you’re on the right path?

The other day, a reader emailed me and expressed some concerns over what she saw as a lack of success in her life. These concerns were based upon how she though other people viewed her.

I responded to her with my thoughts on success, and I think they warrant being re-posted here. I’m sure there are other people out there who would benefit from them.

While I can’t give you the answer to making other people think you’re successful, I can tell you what my definition of success is. To me, success is three things:

Having the ability to do what I want, where I want, and when I want (sanely)
Having close relationships with people I love
Being able to help other people out without having to worry about how it’ll affect me

None of these things involve looking good to other people – and that’s just the thing.

Success is something you define. It’s not something others define for you. [Tweet this]

That’s one of the main things I try to teach people – you don’t have to have a $80,000/year salary, a big house, and a really nice car to be successful. You don’t need a corner office to be successful.

You could have $800 in the bank and be out in South Africa helping to build houses and be successful – if that’s what you want to be doing. Define your own vision and success and then pursue it – the expectations of others be damned. Read More →

21 Mega-Important Lessons I Learned In 21 Years Of Living

Thomas Frank Living

Huh. Weird. I’m 21 – or at least I will be by the time this blog post goes live.

As I sit here in the San Francisco airport waiting for my flight to JFK, it’s dawned on me that this age is really only special because of the country I live in.

Having just returned from Japan, where being 20 was A-OK for ordering a vodka cola in a classy Shibuya bar, I realize that turning 21 isn’t all that big of a deal. Were I anywhere else in the world (other than Fiji, Pakistan, Palau, or Sri Lanka), it would be just another birthday. Nothing special.

And yet it is.

Turning 21 marks the true transition into my 20′s. No longer can I sit around and say, “Oh, I was still a teenager a year ago.” Nope. Now is the time when I truly have to accept adulthood; when I must take up the mantle of maturity and leave my childish past behind.

Mmmm… Read More →