OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO

This week I was cleaning out some bookshelves to make some room for some new books. I’ve had stacks of books on my home office floor for some time… I imagine myself as an old man living in a cabin with every wall being bookshelves, and stacks of books everywhere. We’ll see if my wife keeps me.

TIME IS A MEMORY

As you choose to spend uninterrupted time with your children, or choose to eat a meal with loved ones without interruption from phone or email, we confirm in our minds that this is who we are. We are the type of person that blocks out time for that meal or blocks out time for that movie with the kids or blocks out time to read that book. We are the type of person that has the time and makes the time.

LEARNING FOR DOING

So many of you who consistently read this weekly blog just love to learn. I appreciate you reaching out, commenting, and sharing your thoughts about each post. I come back to the keyboard each week to really recount what I have learned over the past 7 days and put in writing something actionable I can do based on that learning… your reach-out’s, comments, and shares allow me to continue to learn from your individual perspectives as well.

ON THE NIGHT AFTER THE MARATHON

“I had the worst competitive run of my life today.” … I had some time - and by “some time” I mean an extra two hours during the race - to think about what I learned through failure and thought I’d share those lessons with you today.

ON THE NIGHT BEFORE…

So tomorrow I finally get to run the NYC Marathon. The past couple months of training have been an awesome learning experience on quite a few levels. I am certain that most of the learning will be experienced tomorrow, but that will have to be left for next week. I spent some time this evening reflecting on what I’ve learned on the journey.

IT’S AN AND

When I got married, I never thought I’d love someone as much as my wife. And I didn’t want to. Then I had my first daughter. I realized that love allowed for an “and”. I could love my wife and I could love my daughter. I didn’t need to choose. Then I never thought I’d love a little girl as much as I did Kelanna. And then we had our second daughter. I felt the same love for Kaililly that I had felt for our first. Once again, I realized that love is an “and”. It was a lesson for me. 

5 LESSONS FROM A WEEKEND OF HARD WORK

… I knew nothing about grapes or vines or wine. But I’ve always believed that what we don’t know we can learn - if we want to. I also am convinced that we learn the most when we get completely outside of our skill set, think completely differently, and do new things. So I set about reading some books, talking to some vintners, getting my hands dirty, and then reading some more books. 

FOCUS ON THE PRESENT

The Milwaukee Bucks forward - Giannis Antetokounmpo - is a two time league MVP, 6 time All-Star, one of the league's most decorated athletes, and is recognized as one of the most humble players in the NBA. 

TWENTY-ONE YEARS LATER

This week I sat on my balcony looking down about forty stories at the 9/11 memorial site. I then looked up some 94 stories to the top of One World Trade Center with the tip just barely recognizable in the clouds. I decided that I finally felt prepared to visit the September 11th Memorial Museum. It had been just over 21 years since the day that seemed to change so many people’s perspective on life, safety, family, community, and the future. I decided it was the right time to bring my family to experience what in small part I had experienced while living in New York decades earlier on that day.

Four Lessons From a Conversations With Michael Phelps

This past week I had the opportunity to interview a man with my partner that definitely thinks differently. Michael Phelps earned himself 28 Olympic medals in his career - 23 of which were gold - on his way to set 39 world records during that time. No other Olympic athlete has even come close to that level of performance.  

GET YOUR GO BAGS READY

The ninth tropical storm of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season has formed and is currently picking up strength in the central Caribbean Sea. As news of the storm builds and threatens to make landfall, most begin preparing their homes and their family in case they need to mobilize quickly for the storm.  

SHAPE YOUR FUTURE. CRAFT YOUR OUTCOMES.

There’s something beautiful about walking the grounds of a University. Besides just the manicured lawns, the architecturally interesting buildings, the well planned landscape, and the wandering pathways, it is the energy in the air.

TAKE OFF YOUR BLINDFOLD

Remember those childhood backyard games of pin the tail on the donkey? Or those parties where someone brought the pinata? It was always a bit comical to watch your friends walk around in circles or swing aimlessly in the air while blindfolded - clearly without any spacial recognition or idea of where they might be.  

BUT FIRST, LET ME TAKE A SELFIE

This week I was flipping through some old photographs. No, not swiping through photographs, but actually flipping through some old photographs that I had in a cabinet under my bookshelf.

FIND DIFFERENT

Why do we  gravitate towards people that are like us? We often find ourselves in rooms and on teams with people similar to ourselves. Why?

I Love That Pain In My Side

I went out for my long weekend run this morning at 6:00am. At exactly 6:04am I began to feel a pain in my side. I thought to myself, “man, there is no way I’m going to get through these 15 miles if I’m hurting already.” Naturally the thoughts of the marathon a couple months away crept into my mind while I continued to run through the pain.

THAT’S A GOOD LOOKING BACKPACK

… The true definition of durability is the ability to “withstand wear, pressure, or damage; able to exists for a long time without significant deterioration in quality or value.”

COME ON. BE HONEST

Honesty is a non-negotiable for me. Relationships are built on trust. It doesn’t mean that relationships are over when mistakes are made or bad judgment is used. But honesty is the non-negotiable. Whether it’s a big deal or a little deal, a big mistake or little mistake, a big opportunity or little opportunity, a big win or a little win - honesty is key.

A LIFE LESSON FROM YOUR PELOTON

“Excuses are like junk food - they are always there when you need to grab something.” - Matt Wilpers

START WITH THE END IN MIND

… I don’t specifically love puzzles. I may not have the patience for them. But I love what they represent. The four of us around the table, searching for the right piece, laughing about nothing, complaining about how ridiculous the puzzle might be, or perhaps having a deeper discussion that comes up purely because we are all together. This particular evening no one was super excited about the puzzle.