Sara Blakely’s journey from selling office supplies to billionaire is one of modern business’s scrappiest success stories. For seven years, she pounded doors peddling fax machines for Danka and experiencing rejection at every no.

At 27, frustrated by pantyhose lines under cream slacks, she sliced off the feet—Spanx was born. With $5,000 in savings, no investors, and a self-written patent, she got shut down by every North Carolina mill until one owner’s daughters said yes. By 41 in 2012, Forbes crowned her the youngest self-made female billionaire.

But it’s her Dad’s dinner table rule that defined her passion to succeed:  “What’d you fail at today?”

“Failure is not the outcome. Failure is not trying. Don’t be afraid to fail.”

Hear Sara’s own words here.

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If you could have been in my NYU mental health for musicians’ class a few weeks back, you would have heard a vociferous answer to my question:  “what is the brain good for?”  They roared:  Safety.  And, indeed it is.  But we can’t expect to wake up in the morning happy – that is not its job.  What it is not good for is making us happy unless we train it.

That’s done by creating small micropractices.  To become more compassionate, when you walk past a few complete strangers each day, just say to yourself “I wish you well”.  To become happier requires more gratitude.  For that, think of three people you are grateful for each day and before getting distracted or hopelessly busy, close your eyes, see their face one at a time and say to yourself why you are grateful for them.  These are only a few of the micropractices that we can create to get our brains helping us attain happiness, gratitude and compassion.

Our brains are smarter when we teach them what we need.

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A first-generation college student graduating at the top of the class.

A small startup taking customers from a giant tech company.

An independent musician building a large audience without a record label.

A teacher in a struggling school getting most of the class into college.

A new author whose first book becomes a bestseller.

A small local business surviving while big chains close.

A junior employee whose idea saves a failing project.

A student overcoming anxiety to give a powerful presentation.

A neighborhood restaurant beating national chains on quality.

A young entrepreneur turning a side project into a company.

Underdogs succeed because they combine belief, relentless effort, and the freedom to try things others are too comfortable to attempt.

From Alicia Keys song “Underdog”:  “They say I would never make it, but I was built to break the mold, The only dream that I’ve been chasin’ is my own”

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Pete Carroll is one of only three coaches who have won both a college National Championship and a Super Bowl and yet he has been fired several times – mostly recently after this season by the Las Vegas Raiders after only one year as coach.

Carroll is a motivational force to be reckoned with.  He taught a course at USC called “The Game in Life” and one of his principles is that confidence is a skill, not a personality trait. It must be practiced through visualization and “self-talk” management to eliminate the fear of failure.

He structured the course to show that the “Game” (life) is won in the mundane, daily habits. He called this Always Compete, meaning the goal is to be the best version of yourself regardless of the external circumstances.

One of his best learning tools is to ask students to write down their personal philosophy in 25 words or less. If you can’t define your “why,” you can’t maintain high-level performance under pressure.

A most intriguing practice that has me sharing this with you this morning.

“The only way other than being lucky or just being absolutely gifted to being successful is you have to figure out what it is that makes up your core values because until you do, you don’t know who you are. And if you don’t know who you are, you don’t know how to be you.” – Pete Carroll from Win Forever.

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Most of my music business college student performers deal with forms of stage fright and imposter syndrome.  Even highly successful people can struggle with confidence and anxiety.

In 1967, singer and actress Barbra Streisand forgot the lyrics to a song during a concert in Central Park in front of about 135,000 people.  The experience triggered severe stage fright and anxiety. After that night she stopped performing live concerts almost entirely.

For 27 years, despite being one of the most famous performers in the world, she avoided live performances because of the fear of forgetting lyrics again.

Then in 1994, she decided to face the fear directly and returned to the concert stage in Las Vegas and later on a worldwide tour. The tour became one of the highest-grossing concert tours of the decade.  Streisand later explained what the experience taught her:

“I had stage fright for 27 years… I just had to face the fear”.

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Burnout specialist Marni Wandner spoke to my music mental health class at NYU last week – saying burnout isn’t just about working too hard. It happens when the work you’re doing doesn’t line up with your values, your energy, or the environment you’re working in.

Her approach helps people step back, understand their stress patterns, and build healthier habits so they can succeed over the long-term instead of pushing themselves until they crash. The goal is to perform at a high level without sacrificing health, balance, or well-being.

“Burnout isn’t when the lights go out. It’s when you stop noticing they’re dimming.” — Marni Wandner

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In the past few months, multiple mental-health researchers have renewed attention on something surprisingly simple: spending time outside significantly lowers stress and improves mood.

A growing body of research shows that even 20 minutes in nature can lower cortisol levels and improve focus.

… “just a twenty-minute nature experience was enough to significantly reduce cortisol levels.” (University of Michigan).

… “Spending just 20 minutes connecting with nature can help lower stress hormone levels.” (Harvard Health).

Employers and therapists are now recommending “nature breaks” the same way they once recommended coffee breaks.  In an age of screens, algorithms and AI — the antidote might be something ancient: sunlight, fresh air and quiet.

The cheapest mental health treatment in America might be a walk outside.

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It’s another inspiring trend emerging in the past year across many industries from journalism to healthcare to technology — professionals in their 40s and 50s are increasingly returning to school, learning new skills, or launching entirely new careers after layoffs or burnout.

Today an average worker may experience three or four careers in a lifetime – not just one.

Instead of viewing change as failure, many are reframing it as growth.

The future rarely unfolds in a straight line.  Sometimes the most hopeful moment in life is when you start over.

“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”  — C.S. Lewis

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Alysa Liu at age 16 was washed up or so it seemed.  She was a phenom who felt completely burned out, finishing 6th at the 2022 Olympics. And then she did something terrifying for a world-class athlete: she stepped away entirely. Many assumed her career was over.

Two years of self-reflection and healing later, she returned to the ice in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan winning the Gold Medal and ending a 24-year drought for U.S. women’s figure skating.

Her story proves that stepping back to find yourself isn’t “quitting”—it’s often a powerful  way to come back stronger.

She spoke openly about how her confidence this time didn’t come from being perfect, but from being authentic. As she put it after her win, “My program is fun and I feel really confident… I want to be a storyteller.”

She had to rebuild her belief in herself jump by jump over the last two years.

“I didn’t let anyone else tell me what to do or how to feel. I just did what felt right for me, and that’s why I’m here.”

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Lindsey Vonn risked it all for one more chance to cement her legacy and go for the gold at the recent Winter Olympics in Milan – not that she needed to as the most successful female downhill ski racer in history.

Vonn felt she was forced out of the sport in 2019 by pain rather than choice. The 2026 Games offered a chance to say goodbye while actually feeling like herself again. At 41, she wanted to prove that a “bionic” athlete with titanium implants could still compete at the highest level.

The gamble ended in a harrowing crash a few weeks ago. The impact was so severe that she suffered devasting injuries and nearly lost her leg to amputation.

Despite it all, Vonn spoke “champion wisdom” from her hospital bed – a thought everyone especially young people and those nurturing a comeback in confidence would value:

“…just getting to the start line was the victory.”

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