For some reason, humans have some gene that wants to make simple issues complex. Over complicating. Making something bigger than it is. Creating a mountain out of a molehill.

Take my niece, for example, she dropped out of high school and now 2 years later she decided she wants to go the college. There are many successful people who had a similar path, right? I decided to help her in this process, so we started to look for the best resources.

There are several free websites that offer GED instruction, and I really like the video lessons from the websites BestGEDClasses.org and Covcell.com because they’re so visual and come with many explanations. This worked pretty well we were making a progress until my niece started to have doubts about everything, her ability to learn, her future plans, books, and websites.  She wanted to argue about everything!

Call it what you want, but there aren’t very many things that mess up situations in life more than making a problem or situation grow to disproportionately. Think of the last time you had an argument or disagreement with someone – did you find it escalate? Each side digging their heels in more?

I’m a sucker for a minimalist on a journey. Anyone who can walk away from a job that makes them unhappy, start a business with pretty much nothing, or pursue their art all with a creative strategy like minimalism is completely dazzling to me. While I wouldn’t call myself a minimalist, I embrace minimalist sensibilities, a desire to live with less and simplify. Living with less is subjective.

Some would think my carriage house in Brooklyn, NY is too small. Others way too big. For me, it’s perfect for what we want, and I don’t feel the need to fill every square inch with stuff. I’m comfortable with what I have and enjoy a lean aesthetic. However, I spent the first half of my tenure in New York with little more than a bed, dresser, love seat, and clothes and was quite happy with what I owned.

Everything else I used was generally a roommate’s or came as a free hand-me-down. It was enormously convenient when moving around apartments, spending less time on cleaning, and having more money at my disposal for travel and the things that actually mattered to me.

I read the other night an interview with Angelina Jolie and something she said rang a chord with me. When asked about her polarizing persona, she said “I think anybody that makes a decision about where they stand is going to cause strong opinions about them.

But I think that’s what you should be hoping for in life, so I take that as a very good sign. That some people support me and some people really don’t like me tells me that I’m making decisions and I’m standing strong for something I believe in.

I’m making choices in life. And that’s the right thing to do.”

Maybe to some standing up for what you believe in without fear of judgment or possible repercussions is not an earth-shattering thing. But to me it is. It’s like the climbing of Mount Everest of personality traits…so big, so hard, so unattainable. It’s also so beautiful.

I love people that are not afraid of taking a stand and saying what they believe in, especially if they know that their opinion will be unpopular. Angie (yah, we’re close like that!) is the extreme of this trait. She’s not only NOT afraid; she relishes it and counts it as proof of her success.

If you’re like everyone else who uses AdWords, you’ll encounter problems with Google’s Quality Score feature at some time or another. Improving Quality Score sometimes seems like the “Holy Grail” of AdWords – the ultimate goal that can never be reached.

Your Quality Score is Google’s rating of the relevance and quality of both your keywords and PPC ads. Google uses it to determine your CPC (cost per click), multiplied by the maximum bid you set for determining your ad ranking in Google’s ad auction process.

Increasing your Quality Score by just a single point for one keyword can make a huge difference to the amount you pay in bids on that keyword. It, therefore, comes as no surprise when people tell us about the frustration they feel when they spend hours working on their account for little or no return.

The fact of the matter is that this is really too big a subject to cover properly in a single post, but here are some general pointers that may be useful.

In many a yoga class I’ve heard it. “Play your edge.” What does this mean?

To play your edge means to always teeter on the brink of your comfort zone. I think of this like a circle. In the middle you’re warm, cozy, safe, not doing anything too risky (or fun). Step out a little further…and a little further and you’re at that painted yellow line.

You’re still safe behind that yellow line, but not quite as comfy as the middle. Go past the line, maybe stick your toes off the edge of the circle.

Here is where you kind of freak out a little, you’re not feeling safe, but you are doing something worthwhile. Eventually, the circle grows past your toes and there you are, ready to step out a little more, lesson in hand.

Two and a half years ago I was probably at my lowest point health wise. I had just graduated college, moved out on my own, and spent the summer living it up with my roommates. The shock of working full time, white not quite knowing if what I was doing was right for me was often balanced out by eating whatever the hell I wanted.

Constant dieting throughout high school led me to go on a tailspin throughout college and beyond. Around October 2007 my two roommates and I decided that we needed to do a cleanse. We chose to do the Lemonade Diet, also known as the Master Cleanse, for 10 days. I had done this before but found it extremely difficult emotionally.

This time I meant business. I knew that if I didn’t change my ways I would go on feeling the way I did forever. I was lethargic, unmotivated, uninspired, had digestive problems, and was just going through the motions. If “blah” was a feeling, that was how I felt. I needed a drastic change.