Dan J. Harkey

Master Educator | Business & Finance Consultant | Mentor

Personal Growth & Development

A practical guide to getting better results in your work, your time, and your life.

If you’ve collected enough advice to fill a bookshelf but still feel like your calendar owns you, you’re in the right place. My articles focus on the successful practices that move the needle: goal setting, time management, sales and relationship-building, negotiation, more intelligent time allocation, and reinventing yourself when the old version stops working. Less inspirational theater. More execution.

Most people don’t fail from lack of talent—they fail from drift. I write about how to build clarity, protect your time, strengthen relationships, negotiate better outcomes, and create a repeatable system for progress. Practical, direct, and occasionally funny—because growth is serious, but it doesn’t have to be grim.

Search Results

Slouching Toward Gomorrah: Key Terms in Robert Bork’s Book- Part II

Exploring the Mind of an Intellectual Giant: His level of thought is Captivating.

Slouching Toward Gomorrah (Robert H. Bork): Part I

The Thoughts and Opinions of an Intellectual Giant.

Why Do Shiny Cars Sit Outside, While Accumulated Junk Dwells In the Garage

Park It Inside: Why Reclaiming Your Garage in 2026 Pays Off (and How to Do It)

“(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life”:

The Duet That Became a Cultural Shortcut for Joy

Dirty Dancing (1987):

The Movie Everyone Remembers for the Lift—And Should Remember for the Stakes

“Spinning Truths and Narratives by The Institution of Government” Part II

Affects Government Public Policy (and Why It Matters) Crises Supercharge Spinning, and Spinning Supercharges Crises

Where is America’s Democrat Party Heading? -Quick Read

—Success, Capture, failure, loss, or Self-Inflicted Collapse? Will ordinary people accept systemic fraud? At the beginning and the end: A party can win power by a well-lubricated machinery, but it keeps power only by earning trust. Trust is absent from any equation other than the usual systemic frauds that are pervasive.

The NGOs’ Paradox: A Well-Organized Path to Engage in Fraud

Why Mission-Driven Organizations Attract Fraud—and Who Actually Polices Them, And How Do They Get Away with It?

Loaded for Bear:

The Power of Over-Preparedness in Life and Business

“Respect”: Aretha Franklin

The Two-Minute Masterclass That Changed Pop Culture, by the “Queen of Soul.”

From Sock Hops to Spring Break to Summer Vacation

How 1960s Teen Romances Rewrote the 1950s Playbook

America’s Favorite Memory: Teen Romance

How the 1970s Built Nostalgia into Myth

Teenage Movies: From Mythic Past to Messy Present:

How 1980s Teen Romance Replaced 1970s Nostalgia

Footloose (1984):

When a Small Town Tried to Outlaw Joy—and a Teen Refused to Sit Still In Herbert Ross’s pop-cultural lightning bolt, dancing isn’t just fun. It’s freedom with a beat.

“Slick”

The Linguistics of a Loaded Word (and Why It Becomes a Label)

“Spinning Truths and Narratives” How it Affects Public Policy (and Why It Matters)- Part I

Spin is the strategic shaping of perception—through framing, selective facts, loaded language, timing, and repetition. In the policy world, spin doesn’t just change what people think about an issue; it often changes what gets proposed, passed, funded, enforced, and later defended.

Welfare Safety Net Becomes a Hammock: Show up Illegally and Strap on to a Permanent Retirement Gig

Welfare should be a bridge to stability—not a destination. Recognizing this can inspire policymakers and social workers to focus on pathways to independence.

Spin Doctors: When They Spin the Narrative (Instead of the Facts)

Legacy Media, Social Media, Agencies, Institutions, and Corporate Actions about the Spin. If facts are the skeleton of reality, spin is the costume that can make anything look heroic—or hide the monster underneath. And when a spin doctor chooses narrative over truth, the public doesn’t just get misinformed. They get managed. “Spin doesn’t persuade you with evidence—it seduces you with certainty.”

“Hit the Road”

Origin, Meaning, and Why This Three-Word Idiom Still Travels

Spinning to the Public: Conveying information or Propaganda?

Social media serves as an Amplifier, but its Impact varies with crisis type, severity, and context, which is essential for understanding its multifaceted role in crisis communication.