As some of you may know, this week I began interning with the marketing and business development team at sFBI, a venture builder just outside of Tel Aviv, Israel.

sFBI stands for “Small Factory, Big Ideas” and it’s incredibly unique – I’ve never encountered anything like it. In short, it’s a startup studio that creates businesses around human-centered innovation (“B2H: Business to Human”). Think: An accelerator, but the startups are built internally. sFBI provides each company (5 currently) with seed funding and plenty of effort to get it off the ground. Once each company becomes self-sustainable, sFBI theoretically transitions into a consulting role, but none of the companies have matured to that point yet.

sFBI operates in a villa – a house, in a small village called Rishpon just north of Tel Aviv. There’s a living room, kitchen, and backyard. Mango trees are not uncommon and more...

Developing gratitude is essential to reclaim our sense of awe and wonder that generally diminishes with growing older. How? Like my friend Maytal experienced, one way to re-cultivate gratitude is by enduring loss. But there is another way: When you feel even the smallest inkling of gratitude, express it.

We’ve all been told to say “thank you,” by our mothers, fathers, and kindergarten teachers. But what were they really teaching us? Just like how what we think influences what we say, what we say influences what we think. Our parents and teachers were capitalizing on that reciprocal relationship. In other words, they were teaching us to be grateful. So, is just feeling grateful enough?

Imagine a child having his first ice cream cone, he’s excited. Now imagine it has multi-colored sprinkles. It’s awesome, and in that moment the child’s entire world consists of that cone. That child was...

Freshman year. It seems like just yesterday we were moving in, and now we’re finished. It’s alright though, this is only the end of the beginning. Below are ten things I learned this year, ten things I learned the hard way, ten things I wish I knew at the beginning. Enjoy.

1) Academics should be a priority, but not your only priority. Those tuition dollars don’t only pay for classes, they pay for the college atmosphere, the community. This community is vital, and takes effort to build if you really want to make college your home away from home. And the character of any community depends on the people in it, so nurture your friendships and be there for others. It will take time and energy, but cultivating a love for human connection is one of the most crucial parts of college, and life.

2) Reach out. A college campus is a remarkable place. Throw together a bunch of young, diverse...

A total stranger at a New York train station taught me a priceless lesson about the power of choice. Read how.

“[K]indness cannot be evaluated in dollars and cents. The only way to measure it is in the weight of compassion the act itself carries forward into the life of another” -Adam Braun. And another, and another.

I was waiting for my train home from New York on Monday morning when I heard a stocky African American man asking if travelers needed help with directions. He was sincere, and his smile exuded warmth and happiness. After a few minutes, I approached him, “I gotta say, I love your positivity.” He responded with joy, “Thanks man! What’s your name?” I proceeded to tell him my name, and I learned that his was Jamay (JA-may). I told him I was traveling to Boston, and he excitedly told me he’d make me first in line to board. He directed me over to a few other college students...

Because without curiosity, the world is boring, and we neither learn nor grow. But when we’re curious, we’re driven towards knowledge.

Cultivating relationships is a byproduct of this pursuit. Simply because much of this knowledge rests in the minds of people with experience we lack. Having experiences ourselves is also vital. How do we gain experience? Seizing opportunities. How do we perceive if something is a good opportunity? If we’re interested in it, and it sounds engaging. We. Us. I’m not talking about anyone else.

The other day I discovered an article about hustle. The author mentions that he read “every single Paul Graham post.” So I clicked the link and boom, found this gem. It’s a brief post, just two paragraphs. But I learned something invaluable – the importance of writing.

Here’s what he wrote:

“I think it’s far more important to write well than most people realize...