Do what you love

Blog reader Dan left a comment Tuesday.
He loved the idea of doing what you love.
But, for Dan, an income has to come first.
I realize it takes time to find what you love to do.
Then more time to figure out how to make it pay.
He’s not alone. A lot of us went through a search.
I’ve driven trucks and ground optical lenses.
I’ve bagged groceries and shelved stock.
I once ran an alcoholic beverage warehouse.
In the Army, I ran the 7th Division hotel in Korea.
My guests were visiting celebrities and other VIPs.
Each one of those jobs taught important lessons.
One important lesson: They weren’t what I love.
They were jobs until I became the next Hemingway.
I gave up that dream. I didn’t have the gift.
God gave me another gift: A newspaper job I loved.
Now we own two publishing companies.
We publish books, newspapers and magazines.
I coach, consult, teach and speak publicly.
God gave me a great life with a wonderful mate.
Dan, you’ll find your passion. Keep looking.
Be patient. Learn all you can whatever you do.
Try my book "Your Life’s Great Purpose".
It will show you the way in your search.
For more about that, click here.
P.S. I’ll send info on our Great Book Sale today.

Be a hell-raiser

Fresh from the Army, my dream was to create great literature.
My models were Ernest Hemingway and Thomas Wolfe.
While preparing to become a great novelist, I had to earn a living.
My father suggested working at our hometown newspaper.
The minute I walked into the newsroom, I felt I had found a home.
As a journalist, I wanted to publish the truth and raise hell.
My new models were muck-raising journalists.
They comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable.
We have exposed political, corporate and union corruption.
We have exposed institutional injustices and industrial pollution.
We have uncovered the abuse of political and corporate power.
We have exposed malicious caregivers who abused the helpless.
We have been sued four times — unsuccessfully.
No one who has sued us has yet to win a dime in settlement.
Now it is my privilege to teach others how to raise hell.
Our world needs more hell-raisers.
People who are satisfied never contribute much to progress.
Change is constant. You either grow or stagnate.
You’re either green and growing . . . or ripe and rotting.
That’s my challenge to you. Deal with change.
Stay green and growing. Raise hell. Make things happen.
For more about hell raising, please click here.

Experts communicate clearly

Last time we talked about building credibility as an expert.
Today we’ll talk about communicating clearly.
Experts limit their value if they don’t communicate clearly.
Today I’ll share a secret we give student journalists.
Lisa Giles invited Ed Henninger and me to Richmond.
We spoke to the Virginia High School League conference.
Ed showed them how to communicate through design.
I talked with them about writing and editing clearly.
We discussed Rudolf Flesch’s ‘Fog Index’.
Dr. Flesch believed short sentences were easy to read.
Ann Landers and Winston Churchill wrote short sentences.
So did Nobel Prize novelist Ernest Hemingway.
To find your average sentence length, take 10 sentences.
Count the total number of words. Divide by 10.
When next you write, be aware of your sentence lengths.
Write without commas. Use lots of periods.
Think active voice. Use active verbs.
Turn clauses into separate sentences.
Today’s blog has 195 words in 26 sentences.
The average sentence length is 7.5 words.
If high school journalists can do this, so can you.
Next we’ll talk about another Fog Index clarity test.
For a tip on sharpening your focus, click here.