One Guy's Truth
My name is Dan D’Agostino. On my birth certificate, it says Daniel in place of Dan. For most of elementary school, I signed my name as Danny on book reports and other assignments. In 4th grade, I decided I had matured sufficiently to begin signing my name as, “Dan the Man.” While I wish “the […]
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For the past year, my primary occupation has been that of real estate investor. To date, I have invested in two mobile home parks and my partners and I will be closing on a small apartment building in April. I have taken the methodical approach to starting up this business with a “slow and steady” […]
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With the help of my weekly men’s group, I have recently refined my life’s mission statement. It is – “I create a world that is unified, free, and curious by speaking my truth, exploring new opportunities, and leading by example.” If you’re anything like me, you may have read that statement and thought, “holy big […]
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When I was 25, I got a call from a friend who was working for a prestigious consulting firm in the DC Area called, Booz Allen Hamilton. My friend informed me they were hiring and asked if I would be interested in coming in for an interview. Needless to say, I was honored to be […]
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For Part I on “What To Do If You’re Fired,” click here. Part 2 addresses what to do to find your next job. For readers who currently have a gig, but are looking for something “better,” this post is for you too. Day 3 Post Firing – Your New Job Even though you just lost […]
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Recently, I had two friends who were “let go” from their jobs. Knowing something about getting fired, I thought it would be helpful to share my experience on what to do if you ever find yourself, “looking for your next opportunity.” If you are fortunate enough to be currently working “for the man”, don’t forget […]
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When I see that Barista at Starbucks and greet them with a “how’ya doin man?” I’m not expecting Millennial Mike to answer, “you’re the 500th f*cking customer today to ask, “how I’m doing,” I wish everyone would stop f*cking prying into my life. How do you think I’m doing? It’s 6:45am, I’ve been here since […]
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I recently finished the book, Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari. In my humble opinion, this should be required reading for all humanity. Harari provides an easy to read summary on the 200,000 year old history of our species. Throughout this time, these ancestors were nearly identical to our present selves in terms of cognitive and […]
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I’m not usually someone who thinks about birthdays. However, for those frequent readers of the blog, you have seen a mention here and there that I will be turning 40 in a couple of months. I’m not freaking out about the big FOUR OH, but it has given me an awareness that a middle point […]
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On Saturday, I achieved a feat so remarkable, they should probably write a book about me (or a blog post). For 30 straight minutes, I “played Legos” with my 5-year-old without checking my phone, glancing at a magazine or talking to another person. My daughter had my complete focus and attention. I was fully present […]
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I’ve never been one to make New Year’s resolutions. My thinking has always been, if I need to make an important change, then I should do it today, rather than wait for an imaginary moment on the calendar. Therefore, I completely surprised myself when I spent nearly 6 hours on Wednesday planning out 2019. I […]
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My last post, Craving Community, wasn’t the most uplifting to write. Maybe you are someone who enjoys reading about the loneliness of a random blogger, but it didn’t feel great admitting to the internet that I’m a bit lonely during the hours of 9am and 3pm (when my kids are at school). With that said, […]
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This post probably won’t be funny. It might not teach you much. But, I promise this post will be real. I have been off track. No, I’m not spending my days drinking beers, playing video games nonstop, or wandering around town like a zombie. I just haven’t been using my time with purpose. I’ve been […]
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When I proposed to my wife, I wasn’t sure I loved her. We had been together for a little over a year and gotten to know each other pretty well. I enjoyed spending time with Jenny, but did I really truly madly love her? In hindsight, I probably rushed into proposing to her, but at […]
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You might not know it if you met me on the street, worked with me in an office, or read my blog posts, but I’m an introvert. Going to parties and bars make me sweaty, public speaking requires a lot of pre-speech pacing and pump up talks, and I always seem to make introductions and […]
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I haven’t written a post in a while mainly because I haven’t been feeling creative. Even now, I worry that this attempt will turn into yet another draft in my MS Word docs that never sees the publish button. Where has the creative juice gone that brought you such epics as Last Life and Marry […]
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The first self-help book I ever read was Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Without overstatement, this book changed my life. At the time of my first reading, I was in my early twenties trying to determine what I wanted to get out of my existence here on this planet. I’m still wrestling […]
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Have you ever heard something so profound that your life was changed on the spot? Maybe it was a powerful sermon in church or a motivational speech from a coach. Or, maybe it was the first time a crush said they, “liked you”. Or, maybe it was the first time you heard, “Luke, I am […]
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This is the sequel (or maybe it’s the prequel) to “What Do You Do All Day.” One of the by-products at being terrible at living in the moment is my brain is usually off thinking about some big question or idea. These thoughts are usually along the lines of, “is there a guy on this […]
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“What do you do all day,” is a question I get asked somewhat frequently. If I had to speculate, I’d guess friends and family are curious what one does all day long when there is no job to attend and no real retirement to enjoy. It’s not an unfair question and I’d probably ask the […]
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Fired & Free 