Philip Martin, Author at Philip J. Martin

Business Personal Growth

October 12, 2020

6 Tips for Improving Your Focus

The year was 1976. One young actor was about to bring things to a crashing halt. The Pioneer Memorial Theater was filled to the brim for a production of the show Kismet. As Warzir sang his song “Was I Wazir?” the young actor behind him let his mind wander. He had…

Philip Martin

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September 24, 2020

Limited Skill Isn’t a Liability

“Irving Berlin has no place in American music. He is American music.” - Jerome Kern September 22 marks the death of one of the most influential composers in the history of American Music: Irving Berlin. In the first half of the 1900s, Berlin was able to capture America’s burgeoning energy…

Philip Martin

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Business Family Featured Personal Growth

September 10, 2020

Opportunity in Restriction

Hollywood gave into pressure and agreed to censor what they would show in motion pictures. In the 1930s the Catholic Church saw itself as a moral compass and presented Hollywood with the Production Code, a document with drastic restrictions for movie production. They said ‘it’s my way or the highway’…

Philip Martin

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Family Personal Growth

August 28, 2020

Being Grateful and Making it a Habit

Captains log: quarantine date 156. In facing monotony and the mundane, I am grateful. No I haven’t rewatched the entire original Star Trek series… but by now I could have! I have, though, ventured out of my house with my colorful personalized PPE, and driven past my favorite restaurant, drooling…

Philip Martin

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Business Personal Growth Quotes

August 13, 2020

The Gift of Rejection

It was Sunday morning when I got to know Jim Gaffigan. Well… I got to know him by reading the Parade Magazine in our local paper. I already knew that Jim (we’ll use a first name basis) was both hilarious and likable, but I found out that he’s quite insightful…

Philip Martin

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Business Family Featured Personal Growth

August 3, 2020

Do Not Move

Your big idea is waiting on you. You might have the greatest idea the world will ever see, but if you do not act on it, what good is it? You might have a vision—a dream— that could change the world, but if you are not willing to share it…

Philip Martin

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Business Personal Growth

July 17, 2020

How to get the BEST input from your team

On the first day of rehearsal I stand in front of the assembled group of talented and diverse actors and crew. Each has their own strengths, weaknesses, methods, and idiosyncrasies. My job, my responsibility as the director, is to mold the group of individuals into a high functioning cohesive…

Philip Martin

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Business Featured Personal Growth

June 22, 2020

Become Brilliant at the Basics

In December of 1960, the Green Bay Packers played in the NFL Championship game against the Philadelphia Eagles: and lost 17-13. Author David Maraniss, in his best-selling book, When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi, explains what happened when the team gathered on their first day of training…

Philip Martin

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Business Featured Personal Growth Risk

April 30, 2020

Plans Change – 6 Ways to Find Opportunity During Uncertain Times

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net During the Great Plague of London in 1665, Isaac Newton decided that he should leave his studies at Trinity College in Cambridge and head to his family farm roughly 60 miles away. Here, far from the horrors besieging the big city, Newton placed…

Philip Martin

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Business Personal Growth

April 9, 2020

This Is Why We Rehearse – 5 Major Lessons Taught Through Practice

I was pushed out on stage. I couldn't remember my lines... or even what play we were doing. The lights were bright and it was a packed house. As I stumbled through my placement and fumble through my first line I realized something terrible; I didn't even have a…

Philip Martin

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Philip Martin

You succeed by choice, not by chance.