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.

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A Chorus of Personal Liberty

People experiencing poverty and the middle class beat their drums, A chorus rising—“This freedom is all that comes.”

The Poor & Middle Class Beat their Drums:

A chorus of voices crying: “We are as free as we’ll ever be.”

“Tip of the Iceberg”: Overview, Origin, and Usage

A popular idiom, "Tip of the iceberg," refers to the portion of something immediately apparent, which obscures the deeper complexity (i.e., the underwater portion of the iceberg) of the subject being discussed.

Our Dilemma in Life and Learning about Those Who Lie: From Coercion or Conviction?

It’s a widespread and distressing trend: in some cases, up to 90% of college students feel they must provide false feedback to their professors. This is not just to avoid being labeled as adverse to the ideological leaning and indoctrination of their professors, but to protect their academic future.

When He Came Out of the Closet, his beliefs constituted a Radical ideological transformation of America, His Goose Was Cooked.

“Goose is cooked” is a fun idiom that originated from a 15th-century story about a man, Jan Hus, a Czech priest, who was burned at the stake for heresy. It means that someone has strayed and found serious trouble in the land of hopelessness. In the Land of ordinary citizens, he stood out as a reactionary with a radical departure from all prevailing cultural norms.

His Son Is A Bump on a Log: He Referred His Son For Employment. What a Mistake for Unsuspecting Employers.

My friend asked me to hire his unmotivated and uncaring son as a personal favor to him. The son's attitude is a product of family upbringing and today's public education establishment that promotes entitlement and collectivism, rather than individual accountability and self-sufficiency. I declined.

When people asked me for advice on achieving success, I was more than willing to offer it. Here is my advice.

Unsolicited advice to others is a waste of resources, which irritates those who didn’t ask for it. But when people ask for your advice, be charitable.

We like to Spend A lot Of Family Time Just Horsing Around.

We spend our time engaging in meaningless activities, mischief, and a lack of seriousness.

As the Public Discovered That The Response to COVID-19 was a Fraud, and wearing the Mask Was A Political Statement, Gaslighting was the Government’s, Large Corporations’, and Big Pharma’s Answer to Avoiding Responsibility

Gaslighting is “psychological manipulation,” causing the public to question their reality about the effectiveness of the phony vaccine. They relied on “phony, illusory science” because most of the testing was on mice, not human beings. The reality was that the phony vaccine was a gene-modifying mRNA substance.

Wimpy, Buy Now, Pay Later! A Lesson in Government Spending

Like Wimpy, who practices getting things today and deferring payment until later, the government subscribes to the same principle.

Honey, We Both Have Professional Level Jobs and Earn About the Same

When we return home, the lion's share of household chores falls on my shoulders, while you're comfortably seated on the couch.

How To Reinvent Ourselves, Part II

When Failures Are Within Our Control

Systemic Failures Outside Our Control: Part I- Reinventing Ourselves

How To Respond When Systemic Failures Are Outside Our Control

Legacy Media as an Arbiter of Truth Is Dead, and No Time Too Soon

Since the days of Edward R Morro, the media has served as an establishment propaganda arm. Their pay was power, access, and advertising dollars while they sold out the American public.

Treating Others with Dignity and Respect Starts With Us

A peaceful coexistence with others is part of our cultural heritage, encompassing interactions with nature, government, institutions, businesses, personal relationships, strangers, and our beloved pets.

Private Money: Procedures and Strategies for Loan Originations

How do brokers and lenders locate hard money loans?

When I Was Much Younger, Having Differing Opinions was a Minor Irritation.

You jabbed at friends who thought differently, suggesting they had inferior intelligence or were uneducated, laughed about it, and had a beer together, essentially getting on with life as it should be.

A Text Message Arrived on His Birthday From the Kids, “Hi, Dad, Just wanted to Wish You a Happy birthday. See You Later!”

No update on the kids, no mention of the grandbabies, no pictures, and no reinforcement proving the strength of family ties. Dad’s heart sinks and suffers a big thud, with a feeling of disappointment, depression, and isolation.

“Skate By”: Means Sliding by Without Doing Any Visible Productive Work or Expending Any Effort.

Have you met people who accomplish little, make little, or no progress, but seem to meander through life and appear as normal?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not an Unbiased Arbitrator of information.

The compilation of codes is written by people who are biased and have ideological leanings.