Category: Email Archives

“Michael, you’re so confrontational, negative, provocative, you’re being unfair to us, you’re triggering us, you’re being mean…” No. Look what’s actually happening here. All of you think one way. I, an individual, am showing up and saying something different. Who’s the one with the power here? I have zero power. Nothing. I have this keyboard and this…

Why do we have a fight-or-flight response when there is no physical danger? It’s just a musical performance. How bad could it possibly get? Yeah, I get that it’s confusing when you understand logically that nothing horrible is likely to happen, and still there’s a deep anxiety response. Shouldn’t you just be able to talk yourself out of it? Why…

Several years ago, I was doing a solo piano recital. Not a high-stakes thing (just my friends and family in the audience), but super-stressful for me. Horrible stage fright, negative thinking, low self-esteem, worrying about how I might screw it up. I was sitting backstage, waiting to go on. I had maybe 15 minutes before showtime. Playing every negative…

I don’t know if you have a regular meditation practice. Either you do, or you don’t. If you do, fine. I’ll get to you later. If you don’t, I want you to meditate. Today. Before the day is over. I want you to sit down for at least 5 minutes, and just pay attention to whatever happens. There’s…

Yes, #30daysofthesefuckingemails is almost over. 😢 Believe it or not, I’m already receiving questions about what I will do next. Before this morning, I wasn’t planning on doing anything next. But now I am. One idea that appeals to me is trying to piss off one friend every day for a month. I’ve already been doing this “accidentally”,…

Time can be your best friend. Stop fighting against it. Time can teach you everything you need to know. It will help you learn any skill you want to learn. Instead of trying to make it perfect, make it time-limited. For example, instead of practicing the piano until you can play perfectly, practice for 30…