Author: Jim Mitchem

I’ll be 50 next week. In thinking about my accomplishments so far in life, it recently dawned on me that I currently have no “goals” to shoot for. It’s not that I’m anti-goals, but rather that I’ve done everything I’ve ever set out to do. Quit drinking? Check. Go to college at 30? Check. Buy a house? Write a book? Help grow a brand in 5-years from scratch to the #120 fastest growing company according to Inc. Magazine? Check check check. I don’t want…

I’m currently on plane heading home from two weeks in Belize. A third-world country filled with poor people who do not know the luxury of driving to a Walmart to purchase a 50-pack of Angel Soft toilet tissue and five-pound packs of beef jerky. The person next to me is American. We’ve been sitting together for an hour and the only time she’s acknowledged my presence was when I had to pardon myself to pee and she rolled her eyes…

My mom called from Texas today to make sure that we were going to survive the hurricane. She’d heard that NC was under attack from God. It was the second call this week about it. I told her that we had nary a drop of rain in the forecast, and that NC is a very wide state. Just not as wide as Texas. “Well I’ve been watching the news and they’re talking about how bad it’s going to be there–so I…

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – seek balance in life. Working until your fingers bleed to get the people in power to notice you so that you can climb the corporate ladder and earn the money necessary to attract a spouse and buy a big house and have kids who you’ll have to work even harder for to put through college so that they can have what you consider a good life – this is unsustainable. Learn…

Frankensteining (verb) – to take two or more dissimilar concepts and make them into one.  If you’re an advertising creative, you’ve no doubt been asked to be Dr. Frankenstein at some point in your career. You know what I’m talking about – when you present three concepts to a client and they ‘love them all’ – then ask you to pull elements from each to create one super logo or tagline. This is called Frankensteining. Avoid it at all costs. Instead, it’s…

The first thing you hear is screeching tires. Then you turn in the direction you think it’s coming and you hear breaking glass. Then everything spins and spins. The next thing you remember is waking up with tubes in your arm. And a jackhammer in your head. And blurred vision. Then you go to sleep. You eventually open your eyes to find your husband standing next to you. Behind him, your parents. They’re all smiling. They start talking to you, but…