Max Living

It may be fundamental, but often the fundamentals are missed. In personal development, you have to know where you are in relation to where you want to go in order to make progress. How you get from “A” to “B” is where the growth comes. As the late Jim Rohn often said, “If you want [...]

By Mark Brown
It has been said that the only constant in life is change. One who doesn’t anticipate change of some sort—in careers, economics, home life, and more—is bound to be frustrated and possibly even angry when change comes his or her way.
Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your [...]

The bird let loose in Eastern skies,
Returning fondly home,
Ne’er stoops to earth her wing, nor flies
Where idle warblers roam;
But high she shoots through air and light,
Above all low delay,
Where nothing earthly bounds her flight,
Nor shadow dims her way.
—Thomas Moore, “Oh That I Had Wings”
How do fly above “all low delay”? How do you avoid “idle [...]

By Mark Brown
One of our recent blog posts asked “what is your recipe for success?” If success is a recipe, then it may also be true that constantly repeating that recipe will lead to stale leftovers. As we pointed out in that post, once you master the basics of the recipe, it’s time to “improvise [...]

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”
—Leo Buscaglia
How have a touch, a smile, or a kind word turned your life around? Share your thoughts by [...]

One hundred and fifty years ago this month, the American Civil War began when Confederate batteries in Charlestown, South Carolina, surrounding Ft. Sumter opened fire. The nation would not know peace again for almost exactly four bitter years. The war claimed the lives of some 620,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. Destruction, especially [...]

As fans of college basketball in the U.S. eagerly await the outcome of this weekend’s Final Four match-ups, and Monday’s eventual champion, one team is garnering the lion’s share of media coverage, Virginia Commonwealth University.
When the NCAA Selection Committee unveiled the tournament participants, the so-called experts questioned the reasoning behind including VCU. Some said they [...]

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup granulated sugar plus 6 tablespoons

Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? Five ingredients, easily obtainable at the local grocery store. With heavy cream, egg yolks, and sugar, no doubt it will be something rich and satisfying.
What’s next?
Obviously you have to know what [...]

“You’ve heard of people calling in sick. You may have even called in sick a few times yourself. But have you ever thought about calling in well?
It’d go like this: You’d get the boss on the line and say, ‘Listen, I’ve been sick ever since I started working here, but today I’m well and I [...]

By Mark Brown
It has been said that perception is reality, but too often deception ends up at the foundation of our outlook. The stories we tell ourselves become a recurring soundtrack. This can often be positive and motivating, but it can also be destructive and limiting. Not only can a poor perception of ourselves hold [...]