My relationship to writing dates back to my early teens when I started to write my first novel, a ripoff of Tom Clancy’s special forces novel, Rainbow Six, on an old Palm Pilot during a family vacation to the Caribbean — and it was a poor ripoff, at that!
Years later, my writing was what helped me help me find my voice for the first time; my self-confidence as a young adult; and my sense of personhood throughout.
That’s the big reason why I continue to teach writing as a powerful resource for self-hood and personal development: the practice of writing can show us back to ourselves.
As a writer, author and coach, I’ve now published over 550 essays and stories on my blog since 2009. Suffice it to say, there’s plenty to choose from!
That’s why I’ve curated a couple of lists of pieces for you to choose from below, including some of the most popular pieces on my site and my own personal favorites from over the years.
You can always find most recently published pieces here, and sign up for my newsletter, Chronicles of a Self-Storied Life, here.
Happy reading!
10 Reader Favorites
1. 34 Things You May Not Know About Me. And, an invitation to write and share your own.
2. 7 Writing Prompts for Mindfulness (That You Can Journal in 7 Minutes or Less). Simple self-reflective prompts to help you slow down, reflect, and write by hand.
3. Lifestyle Design is Over. Enough of the over-embellished look-at-me side of personal development. It’s time to evolve.
4. At 5:38 AM, We Stood on the Highway and Shared Chai Tea. My first hours traveling in India took a challenging turn.
5. 16 Fill-the-Blank Prompts to Recap Your Year (in 30 Minutes or Less). A year, an experience, or a chapter of life.
6. 100 Days Unbored. What I learned by challenging myself to try 1 new thing every day for 100 days
7. How Are You, Really? Things to Say Instead of ‘Busy’ (And, Why ‘Busy’ Bugs Me). We why all tend to overuse the most self-flattering complaint in the English language today.
8. The Easy-Big Rule (Or, Why Big Change Must Begin Small). Choose one or the other, but probably not both.
9. Why You Do and Don’t Want to Quit Your Job, from a Guy Who Did. No, you shouldn’t quit your job. But maybe you should, anyway.
10. Be Unapologetically You. These three words have spoken the most loudly to students.
Dave’s Personal Top 10
Here are some of my favorite pieces from over the years. (Last updated: April 2020)
1. Confessions of a Young Republican. Why my good friend in college never told me her secret, and what changed when she did.
2. Be Seen: Why It’s Scary. The real terror of being seen? That “something” comes next.
3. How to Choose Your ‘Words’ Year. Build your proverbial house with intentional words.
4. “Did You Mean to Invite Me to This White House Reunion Party?” An email invitation brought up old memories from my past career — and a question about my future.
5. I Quit My Job 10 Years Ago. A Decade Later, I Finally Understand Why. I thought it was about endings, but it was really about beginnings.
6. What I Learned from My (Not-So-Great) Great British Bake-Off. I take a dose of my own medicine.
7. The Wave of Change. I want to find light within the darkness, not despite it.
8. Your Attention Has Been Commodified (+ What To Do About It). How to value your attention span more than advertisers do.
9. How to Deal with Overwhelm. The tools upon which we have come to rely hijack what precious little space we possess.
10. If You Want Things to Get Better, You Have to Risk Them Feeling Worse… at First. Coming together for the better of the whole means surrendering some ego and accepting uncertainty.
There you go, happy reading!
And hey, while I have your attention, what kinds of curated reading lists would you like to see in the future?
Would you like to see most popular or reader-recommended posts curated by a specific genre, a subject-matter or date range?
Let me know in the comments section below, and thank you for your suggestions!
Happy reading, my friend.
