HOW IMPORTANT IS YOUR PROMISE

I believe strongly that everything starts with keeping promises to ourselves. We often approach this from another angle. We don’t want to let someone down, so we make sure to keep our commitment or promise to them - at all costs. As noble as that is, we aren’t nearly as committed to keeping the promises we make to ourselves.

LIFE’S RELAY RACE

Life is much like a 200 mile relay. There are fun legs and difficult legs. There are new relationships along the way. There are times to compete and times to just let it go. Some days you win and some days you don’t. And we are always able to accomplish what we truly believe that we will.

HOW AMBITIOUS ARE YOU

Ambition is built on our self esteem and compounded by our desire for achievement. For some the word ambition conjures up the thought of ego or competition. Foundationally however, ambition is rooted in a future that we deeply care about. It’s the “why” behind our actions. When we find ourselves questioning why we want something, why we are doing something, or why we care so much, it’s an early symptom of a drop in our ambition. 

THE SUMMIT IS SWEET

A leadership lesson emerges when we look at these Sherpas.  They don’t just point their climbers in the right direction and warn them of the hard work ahead. They start walking, hiking, climbing, and leading in the right direction. They carry their weight, and much of the weight from their expedition or team. They climb up ahead to check on conditions, pivot and reroute the group when necessary, and make the difficult decisions for those that they lead.

CLIMBING THE WALL

As I think of just the couple hours I spent tonight in that rock gym, I am certain they made me more willing. More willing to try something new. More willing to put myself in humbling situations. More willing to do difficult things. More willing to do things that I’m not sure I am good at. I am certain my time on the wall delivered that. 

HEY TAYLOR, I’M JUST GONNA SHAKE IT OFF

Swift will turn 34 years old later this year. I estimate that it will be the same month that the Eras Tour crosses over the billion dollar mark in gross ticket sales.  This year she will move from a net worth of $750M to probably well over $1B. She is not just a musician. She is a brilliant business executive.

THE SECRET TO SELF-RESPECT

Broken promises to ourselves breaches our self-trust equally as much as when a broken promise to a friend or a partner breaks down their trust in you. When we lose trust in someone - including ourselves -our respect begins to slip for that person. So keeping promises by doing what we say we are going to do builds incredible self-respect. Human beings need a dash or two more of respect for self. It will cause us to show up and do what we said we would do. It builds self-confidence and personal commitment. 

YOU HAVE A VOICE

I realized that I only have something to say at the end of each week because I am willing to listen to others throughout the week. The humorous expression that God gave us one mouth and two ears isn’t lost on me. At times I need to remind myself that my input and output should probably match that proportionately. Not always easy - as we all want to have a voice. We all need a voice. We all need to listen as well. 

OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR

When things seem far away we lose focus. We are less strategic. Yet, relatively speaking, they were very close. When we don’t have that warning inscribed on our “side view mirror”, we can begin to feel that what we are doing today isn’t having an impact on our immediate future. Discouragement can set in when our preferred future feels further away than it really is.

RYAN HOLIDAY: I LOVE YOU, BUT…

Many of us experience a constant drive to accomplish things. We like to use any time we have to knock stuff out, get things done, add a brick to what we are building. If there seems to be a block of time that is unfilled or unscheduled we like to fill it or schedule something. We are raised to believe that inactivity is a sign of laziness. If we aren’t moving the ball down the court or moving the needle on our goal, then we are wasting time. Research shows that the downtime or the whitespace leads to higher effectiveness in the workplace and in life.

PLAY YOUR SCALES

It’s a good reminder to ask ourselves if we are willing to put in the practice.  Do we want the outcome so badly that we are willing to sit in front of the keys of our piano and practice - practice the right questions to ask, the right responses to deliver, the right data points to pull from, the right scripts to use. Are we willing to do it every day?  Are we willing to do that in the morning, and the afternoon, and the evening. If we wait until the performance to play, we won’t ever want to be on stage.

GIVE ME SOME ENTHUSIASM

Achieving anything great is based on the enthusiasm we have. We can be brilliant and pedigreed and put in the hours and add in drive. But without enthusiasm none of those things matter. Conversely we could identify as average in all of those things, yet bring enthusiasm to any mission or challenge and still win. The secret to accomplishing anything is the level of enthusiasm the team has around the mission.

I ALREADY WON

The real awards in life are not when other people acknowledge you. The real awards in life are not given out on stage in front of an audience. The real awards in life are when you get to spend time with your loved ones, acknowledging how much they mean to you, and feeling that returned. The real awards are earned on random hikes through Park City or late night hotel room conversations or unexpected flights where you end up at random dinners.

CHOOSE POSITIVE

In any given week, there are many positive things that happen to each of us.  In most cases we notice them, might even acknowledge them, but we don’t often dwell on them, share them, have conversations about them, or stop and really feel them. They are forgotten almost as quickly as they arrive.

Oddly, the opposite is true of the negative things that happen to us in any given week.  For many, the negative things cause anxiousness, stress, and mood swings. They are what we remember at the end of the day, the following morning, at the end of the week. 

MORE ISN’T ALWAYS BETTER

Instead of doing more, we may need to do better. We may need to do different.

So why is it so much easier to just choose to work harder and do more? Put simply, it’s our programming.

HUMANS ARE NOT AVERAGE

We are all incredible. Every human is brilliant. Every human is creative. Every human is wildly resilient. Every human is beautiful. 

CONSISTENCY IS KEY

I can tie almost every win or success back to something done consistently, to a consistent thought process and mindset, or even a consistent schedule.

I can also tie almost every loss or failure back to something done inconsistently, an inconsistent way of thinking and mindset, or an inconsistent schedule.  

PERHAPS MY GREATEST LESSON

For those that have been part of my life for decades, thank you for being on this arc with me. For those that were part of my life in the past, thank you for being part of this arc, and I look forward to a future walk on this arc with you. For those that just joined this arc with me, thank you. I promise this will be an amazing arc.

MONKEY IN THE MIDDLE

There is no doubt that the world has a lack of leadership. People are starved for a source of good advice. They are looking to be led down the right path. The danger is when we find one source. We double and triple down on everything that one person says. Thats the monkey in the middle.

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH ASTONISHING PEOPLE

It’s that simple.  I have worked hard at pro-typing a life where I am surrounded by astonishing people.  I have architected and then engineered a life where I am surrounded by astonishing people. Those astonishing people are in Oregon and Washington and New York and Texas. They are in Utah and California and Florida. They are in Canada and Costa Rica and the Philippines. They are in almost every state and in almost every city in the country. And those astonishing people are doing extraordinary things.