After bipolar disorder? Yes. There can be an after. Some learn to manage or eradicate it. I eradicated it. Troy Steven shows how he manages it in his latest book "After Your Bipolar Disorder". Troy is also an aeronautical engineer and the owner of Battle Press, a private book publishing company.

Without the gym, I start feeling very bad. In all ways. About all things. So, on a personal level, I simply need to be regularly training. But to also succeed as a businessperson, I HAVE TO be in the gym! It’s very simple: healthy body equals healthy mind equals successful life.

Gird your loins. Protect your psyche's delicate parts. Because there's always hard shit. And there's always gonna be hard shit. How you react, or better yet, how you develop proactively to deal with the never ending hard s**t, is what separates the men from the boys. Two life-altering sources of growth helped me see this clearly, many years ago. And the fact only becomes more true, the longer I march down this personal development road. It’s not that your problems go away. It’s just that you become a more highly evolved person, one who has the tools to better handle the problems that would have normally destroyed the old you.

This is for you “way outside the box types” who may have yet to begin.

You are meant to let your freak flag fly!

Don’t hide what sets you apart from the rest of the world.

Because your very differences are what will bring you fulfillment.

And your particular flavor of eccentricity is what’s needed to save some certain part of the world, in a way no one else can.

Perfection is a myth that keeps you from attaining greatness. You strive for it but accept whatever comes from that effort. Improve when and where you can. And give yourself grace by not punishing yourself for no good reason, every time you start to doubt in your mission's success. You got this. You're with me, for crying out loud! Relax. You're already winning!

A couple months back, I had a great interview with Kevin Stafford on the "Conversations with Coaches podcast.

I'd had ample sleep, prior to our talk, which had me in a lively state. And Kevin was pure joy to speak to, right from the start!

He later told me he wished I was his coach and that he was freaking out with the need to do something awesome just from talking with me!

And I shared that I wished he and I were neighbors, so that we could have deep and powerful conversations at will!

Part of why I do all this is so I can cross paths with people like him. They make my life more fulfilling.

Kevin wanted to know what makes me so great. Yet I found that meeting him was one of the greatest things I'd done in awhile!

People are funny.

I used to be called "The Fixer" while working with a fantastically deranged, evil and completely delightful lunatic of a dream builder. He used me to calm those who got overly emotional by something we did or didn't do well, under his direction. I had a way of calming the upset, of appeasing the angered, of inspiring the dejected so they'd fall back in line with our play. I still do this but for honorable reasons. Yet I never want anyone to think I can actually fix them. I can only inspire, share resources, guide and give hope. The fixing? That's on you.

For many years now, I've struggled with the presence of the word "bipolar" in my brand. This was because it's critical to all I offer yet not the actual thing I offer service for anymore. And past experience had taught me that people I couldn't possibly help, who couldn't pay me for that help were what came my way the most when I put myself out there as a bipolar advocate. Well, it seems I've played with this convoluted clay long enough to realize that whatever I'm now saying and however I'm saying it, has properly defined who I am and what I offer, in a way that negates my need to worry about who it is that eventually shows up looking to do The Big Work with me. It's a relief!

One must understand and use wisely, one's available energy reserves, based on how much there is to give in any one area, and still do an effective job. Or better, yet, to still live a fulfilling life. If you try to push too hard or too long in areas that aren't even your sweet spot, you will crash and burn. You might succeed for awhile. And it might be necessary to actually drive yourself more than is healthy for a certain amount of time. But don't make it a habit. You'll just die faster.

16 tons of coal a day. Tennessee Ernie Ford clearly defined why having a job sucks. You need to dream bigger and believe in yourself more. Having said that, am I implying that running your own business ISN'T hard work? No, of course not. But the potential rewards astronomically outweigh the, honestly, heavier initial workload present upon startup. And, done well, your family will one day thank you vociferously for making the attempt in the first place!