During a walk this afternoon Becky and I somehow brought up Aerosmith.  There were a couple of their songs that played in my head while we walked but I didn’t think too much of it.  Later in the afternoon I went up to my workshop and decided to turn on some music.  Aerosmith was still top of mind so I fired up their greatest hits album – Big Ones.

As I sanded my latest project I caught myself singing along with some classic Aerosmith tunes.  I chuckled when I realized that my sanding was to the beat of the songs I was listening to.  After a while I was totally drifting off while sanding (one of the reasons I kind of enjoy the basic task).

My mind was back in 1994.  On a Friday morning my buddy Garwood and I headed out of Phillips.  We took his white Ford Festiva on road trip to go see his brother in La Crosse.    so much great music was played in the car on the way there.  I still remember us singing along to so many songs.  It was awesome!

The visit was a short one, we immediately left La Crosse and headed off with one of his brother’s friends to Milwaukee to watch Aerosmith.  Quick side note, one of my all time favorite road trip memories happened on the ride from La Crosse to Milwaukee.  I was pretty exhausted and have a tendency of falling asleep while riding in a car.  I must have drifted off because I remember waking up to Garwood’s brother, Mike, screaming at the top of his lungs, “OH MY GOD WE’RE GOING TO DIE!!!”  That certainly caught my attention and my head jerked up and was on a swivel trying to figure out how horrible our deaths were going to be.  That’s about when the laughter enveloped the car.  It was AWESOME!!!  I’ll never forget that!

The concert was amazing and my first huge concert.  What an experience!  Jackal opened for Aerosmith and played The Lumberjack; the song involving a chainsaw.  From there Aerosmith provided an incredible experience.  Song after song of hits.  The energy that Steven Tyler and the rest of the band put off was wild.  Almost everyone song was sung by the entire crowd.  Of the entire night I think that Dream On was the song that stands out.  The entire event (and the road trip home) were surreal.

We headed back up north on Saturday morning and enjoyed another few hours of listening to great music, shooting the bull, and talking about some of the more important things in life like D&D.  How awesome to have so much time hanging out one on one with one of your best friends?  Just thinking about that road trip and the others like them leave me smiling ear to ear.

It’s funny, that’s another piece of the concert experience that I think I don’t take time to appreciate nearly as much as it deserves.  The prep, drive, road trip, pre-game, and after party of the concert are just as important as the concert itself in many ways.  I’ve got many great concert memories, but there seem to be even more awesome memories from the road trip to the show and the ride home.

Garwood – can you believe that was over 25 years ago???  Holy crap!!!  Dude, thank you again for the invite to the show.  What an awesome experience that I’ll always be thankful for.  Great times road tripping with best friends, it doesn’t get much better than that.

Thanks!!!

This morning we took our family hike out at the Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge.  Talk about some near perfect weather for being outside as a family!  While hiking we saw so much wildlife including ducks, woodpeckers, frogs, snakes, turtles, a caterpillar, and a muskrat.  Being outside in the sun, outside of the house, and wandering around an area we haven’t gone to often was great.  Even better was the time spent as a family enjoying all of this together.  Throw in some exercise through the 15-ish mile hike and it was a wonderful start to the week.  Looking forward to the 20 miler next week!

One of the insights I picked up from the Safer At Home situation was very much unexpected today.  For some reason I was thinking of making meatballs for supper.  As luck would have it we had plenty of ground turkey, but no eggs, no tomato sauce and no spaghetti noodles.  Throw in no mozzarella and most of the natural go to’s I would have done with meatballs were out.  Sure, I could run to the store, but we’re doing our best to only go once every one to two weeks.  This left me with a an interesting decision that led to the insight.  I could run to the store and grab what we needed for the traditional meatball stuff, I could switch gears and make something completely different, or I could still have my meatballs but create something completely different.

As soon as I chose to create something different I was working with limited resources.  I had to cruise through the kitchen to see what we had and figure out a way to make a complete meal using only what we had.  Practicing creativity like this was a blast!

Before I knew it I had cooked up two type of meatballs.  One was Mexican themed with black bean quinoa and the other used a box of Stove Top.  The Mexican meatballs got dunked in taco sauce.  The stuffing meatballs were cut in half and added to a pizza.  Not just any pizza – like I said, we didn’t have pizza sauce or mozzarella.  This was a ranch, meatball, red & banana pepper pizza with rinsed cottage cheese.  Yup, talk about something totally ridiculous, but it ended up tasting great!  Sure, I could have picked up just anything from the store to complete it the normal way, but having to improvise and utilize creativity was awesome.

It really got me thinking…  One of the things that has happened a lot recently is that there are resources that are now much more limited to “the ‘Rona.”  How can I find ways to turn those limited resources into a creativity based game?  Sure it’s always nice to have unlimited resources, but there’s such a challenge to working with you hands cuffed a little.

Thanks!!!

Early this morning Becky and I went out for our normal run.  I’m not sure if I was still half asleep, just not paying attention or what, but all of a sudden a giant crack ripped open in the earth and sent the blacktop ahead of me heaving up in the air by well over 12 inches!!!  Or…  I somehow managed to not pick my foot up all the way and caught it in a pothole…  I guess we’ll never know for sure (though I am kind of doubting the spontaneous freak geological event).

Regardless of the reason I found myself hurtling through the air with my torso further ahead of my legs than they could ever hope to catch and re-balance.  In a flash I realized I was going to fall and I accepted my fate.  By the way – isn’t it crazy how time slows down in moments like that?  Pretty sure there’s another blog there for a different day 😉

In a flash my thinking brain defaulted to my limbic brain.  Without any thought I brought my arms up around my head as I tucked my chin to my chest.  Instead of trying to catch myself I rolled into the motion so my body rolled as I hit the ground.  My weight was spread out over almost maximum surface as to not cause serious injury.  Once my body came to a halt I paused and did a quick systems check.  No issues, no pain (other than pride), and no issues.  I sprang back up to my feet and was off and moving again right away.  All of this in a flash, and all of it requiring almost zero focused thought.

As a lifelong uncoordinated clutz I’ve had more than my share of spills and falls.  I’ve tripped over painted lines, fallen without moving, and missed putting my foot where it was intended.  Honest to God, one time I fell into our basement window well after tripping on the landscaping.  Falling is something I’ve done quite a lot.  You know what else I’ve done just as often?  I’ve gotten back up.

When I fell today the lessons of past falls kicked right into gear and helped me get back on track.  As we took off running afterwards I couldn’t help but see the similarities to recent life.  Throughout life there’ve been many falls.  This is another one to add to the list of experiences.  As I have from all the others I am confident that I’ll rise from it (and if I don’t I guess it means I’m not around to worry about not getting back up!).  I started thinking about the reflexes I went through in my fall and realized I have already done some of these same steps in this fall as well as others in the past.

1. Tuck my head and protect the most vital parts.  If the most important parts of me are broken I can’t get back up.  Protect the core, even if it means sacrificing a limb.
2. Roll with fall.  If I would’ve tried to stop the fall I would’ve landed right on my face and the impact would have been sudden and abrupt.  By rolling with it I was able to keep my momentum.  In an extreme version of this I had one of the greatest trail running experiences of my life.  I was wrapping up the last quarter mile of a long marathon training run and decided to run at almost a sprint to finish it out.  A tree root obviously decided to humble me and took me out while I was at full speed.  I tucked and rolled and somehow, I swear, I rolled all the way through, ended up back on my feet, and was right back in stride.  God as my witness, it really happened.  I took advantage of my momentum and the fall and used it to my advantage instead of fighting it and was successful.
3. Do a quick systems check.  It is so important to quickly pause and make sure you’re okay after a fall.  Check what got hurt and seek medical attention if needed.  Know how you’ve been impacted from this.
4. Get back up right away.  Period.  Even if hurt getting back up moves you forward.  Always get back up immediately, don’t overthink it, just get back up.

This morning while running I was so thankful that the tuck, roll, check, and rise routine had been pounded into my brain.  Whoever would’ve thought that each of those falls were lessons for me to grow from?  In my life I am thankful for each of the falls I’ve risen from in the past, they’ve taught me how to roll through and rise from this one.

Thanks!!!

Good evening everyone!  Yes, I’m totally going in a slightly different direction than normal today…  kind of.  The first thing I’m thankful for is something that hasn’t happened yet.  Crazy right?  Not really!  Tonight’s blog is both gratitude and an ask for your help.  First I’ll set the stage and then I’ll ask for your help.

I still remember way back in the day when I was trying to decide what I wanted to do for a career.  Through a high school internship I had the opportunity to learn form an engineer.  In college I remember learning from several of my managers on how to run a business and what a career in sales and management looked like.  I still remember meeting with someone who was a sales rep in the paint industry and learning more about sales.  That contact was one thanks to a relationship Dad had with the rep and I’ll never forget that conversation, advice and help.  I remember many conversations with business owners early in my Express career that helped me see the in’s and out’s of owning a business.

Long story short, there are so many people who’ve had a very positive impact in my career and career choices.  I am thankful for each and every single one of them.  Without their coaching, conversations, influence and time I would not be in the career I am in.  I am so grateful for the time and advice they gave me without ever asking anything in return.

And that’s where all of you come in today 😉 

I could use your help in helping someone who has helped my family.  Gavin’s basketball coach is a college student and is going to school for a double major of Finance and Accounting.  He’s got a few more years until he graduates and is looking for an opportunity to reality test his career path.  He is mature beyond his years and he’s one of those people you can tell has the Grit, Growth Mindset, and Gratitude to do something very special in his career.  The leadership he showed and his ability to rise to the challenge when facing adversity were on full display as he coached. I am grateful for the coaching experience he provided for my son.

Would you or someone you know who has or had a career in finance or financial planning have an interest in talking with him about the Finance and Accounting career path?  He’s not necessarily looking for a job (though he is most likely available this summer); more of someone to talk with or possibly someone he could shadow once social distancing is lifted.

As you can imagine, I wouldn’t be reaching out to everyone if this wasn’t someone I believed in whole heartedly.  Personally, I’m still hoping to persuade him to consider a career in business ownership via Express.  If that was his interest I’d hire him in a heartbeat!  I can’t wait to see the great things he does in his career.

If you’d like to talk with him please let me know and I’ll be happy to introduce the two of you via email, phone, video conference, or LinkedIn.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide him!

Thanks!!!

When I think of the phrase I’ve used a lot recently there’s a piece that I maybe didn’t quite realize was crucial to the success of that specific phrase.  Over the past few months I’ve been very much focused on “controlling what I can control.”  I’m a long ways from perfect at it, but in spending as much time focusing on it as I have there’s been a significant difference in how I’ve been viewing the world and the corresponding increase in my joy.

Over the past few years there’ve been many lessons, both personal and professional, that have led me down the path of controlling what I can control.  I’ve used the term “letting go of the whee” in a very similar fashion.  There’ve been several times when I’ve reminded myself that an even itself is neither good nor bad, it just is.  It is I who add the context of “good” or “bad” to the situation.  The event itself is out of my control, but the decision of how I respond is 100% my choice.  When I remember to pause and think about what’s actually under my control and how I should choose to act there’s an underlying foundation that I haven’t really focused on as much as I should have.

What is at the heart of all of these thoughts?  Simple…  acceptance.  In my head and heart I would love to wish away the situation and have a different one.  I would love to find a way to negotiate a different challenge than the one I face.  I can bury my head in the sand and refuse to see what is truly in front of me.  There’s always the option to just disbelieve the reality around me and live in a delusional dream world.  In all of those cases I’m still controlling what I can control, but in such an unhealthy way.

In order to find the right path, to choose the right attitude and actions, I must first accept the situation in its entirety.  That’s not to say that I will just rollover and be run over by it, but there is a point in which I have to accept that this is, or may be, reality.  Once I truly accept it I can then control how I respond.  I can only choose the right attitude after I’ve accepted what’s happening.

This is a tough one for me.  I’m overly optimistic much of the time which can lead me to think that something isn’t as dire as it may truly be.  My ego is strong and I feel confident in my ability to use negotiation to shift a situation in my favor.  Accepting something at face value isn’t something that comes naturally to me.  In a weird circular logic kind of way I have to remember that I control whether I choose to accept the situation first and then determine my response to the situation.

If I accept the situation I can move forward. I can find a way out.  I can find the bright side.  I have hope to use it as a point of leverage to become stronger.  I can bear the short term suffering as I know I will be better for it in the long run.  Once I accept it I know I can find a way to leverage it into becoming more of the person I am called to be.

If I don’t accept the situation I get frustrated.  There’s a dissonance in my brain because my reality and the reality don’t line up.  If I don’t accept the true challenge I will not be successful, I might miss the gravity of the situation, and I will end up frustrated and depressed.  I’ll never get over the hump until I accept that the hump is there.

With all that is going on I’m so thankful for realizing the power and beauty of acceptance.  Turning adversity into strength hinges upon acceptance.  If I accept the gravity of the current challenge I know I can be successful in finding a way to navigate these stormy seas.  If I don’t accept them I’ll disbelieve the tidal wave right up until the point that it crushes me.  I can only control what I can control in the right way once I’ve accepted reality.

Thanks!!!

There’s only one right way to start my blog tonight…

Some things in life are bad. They can really make you mad.

Other things just make you swear and curse.

When you’re chewin’ on life’s gristle, don’t grumble, give a whistle.

And this’ll help things turn out for the best… and…

Always look on the bright side of life.

Always look on the light side of life. – Eric Idle

If you suddenly have an itch you have to scratch you can scratch away here: https://youtu.be/SJUhlRoBL8M

Right after listening to that classic we shot chasers of Don’t Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin and Three Little Birds by Bob Marley. Talk about three songs that could make you smile anytime. Even as much as I dislike Don’t Worry, Be Happy I cant help but smile and sing along whenever it comes on.

As an added bonus there was also a bonus video that popped up on my YouTube app. Eric Idle on the Late Late Show from about a year ago. It was awesome! It started as very quaint lead-in for Bright Side of Life but then it took a much darker, and more hysterical, turn. Next thing you know they are singing a song that sounds the same musically but has completely different lyrics… We Are Probably All Going to Die. I know, it sounds morbid, but it cracked me up! https://youtu.be/tAPceUSVLKM

This evening I am so thankful for those great songs and funny video. While there is so much wonderful in the world to put a smile on my face the songs and video made it even a little easier to crack a grin. Being able to share them with my family, smiles included, made it all the better.

If you’re night isn’t going as planned or something is just off tonight please remember those great words of advice from the aforementioned Mr. Idle…

If life seems jolly rotten, There’s something you’ve forgotten

And that’s to laugh and smile and dance and sing

When you’re feeling in the dumps, Don’t be silly chumps

Just purse your lips and whistle, that’s the thing..

And…

Always look on the bright side of life

Always look on the bright side of life

Thanks!!!

This morning I got to make an hour long drive time take care of some business. Talk about the perfect morning to do it; the sun was out and there was a fresh coat of snow on the bluffs. The route to my destination led me through some small county roads up and through the coulees. A couple of times I checked for traffic behind me, stopped, and took a few pics of the beautiful snow covered paradise all around me. There’s a magic to the rolling valleys in the Driftless when they have a light coat of snow on their trees.

Times like this make me chuckle. I know my words don’t even begin to do the natural beauty justice but I still try. I’ve already written and rewritten the paragraph above several times to attempt to better reflect the vistas, but I know it’s in vain. Just as is taking pictures of it; they just aren’t the same as experiencing it firsthand.

One of the blogs I follow often talks of “alive” time versus “dead” time. Alive time is when we are productive and truly living life. Dead time is the opposite when we’re doing something that truly doesn’t matter and contributes nothing. To help show that point from a very different angle today the author used a scene from Fight Club to show the difference between the two – how crazy is that? Even more crazy was just how well it really proved the point. Is life truly worth living if you only choose dead time? Knowing that we all only have a limited amount of time why would we all not want to maximize our alive time? This will be in my thoughts often over the next few days.

Thanks!!!

It sure wasn’t a normal Easter Sunday, but it was a great day nonetheless. Much of the time was spent hanging out with each other at home. Becky made a delicious ham for lunch and we laughed the day away playing games and watching movies.

Interestingly, one of the parts of the day I’m most thankful for happened totally by accident. Due to some technical difficulties we had to pause our movie for a little while. In our attempts to fix the issue I stumbled upon some videos of the boys from a ways back.

Without a second thought we hit the Play All button and laughed at all the videos they’d created. It was wild seeing how much they’ve grown! Seeing them each day kind of numbs me to their growth but seeing them back then was a shock to the system. The best part was hearing their voices joke with each other and watching them do all types of crazy action as they ham it up for the camera together. What an awesome walk down memory lane! It was only fitting to find an “Easter egg” like that today. 😉

Happy Easter everyone!!!

Thanks!!!

What an awesome day it’s been!  Shortly after writing this I’m going to head off to bed and sleep for most likely a very long time.  Ahh…

Somehow we totally lucked out with the weather.  We headed out to Wildcat Mountain State Park just before 7am to knock out the next of the hikes for Gavin’s Hiking merit badge.  Earlier in the week we were nervous that the weather was going to be brutal.  Somehow we hit the timing just perfect!  The weather was sunny and warm the entire time we trekked up and down the bluffs.  No wind, no rain, and no clouds – it was awesome!

During the hike I was thankful for the opportunity to spend time with my family.  Not only was there time with all of us talking as a group, but there were many moments in which we broke into smaller groups on the trail.  Gavin and I would shoot the bull for a while, then Dominic and I would get into a conversation.  Being able to have conversations with everyone together and individually was a great mix.

There were a couple of interesting leadership lessons that came up throughout the day.  They both came from interesting and unexpected sources.  The first came from Point Break, the 2015 version.  Yup, I just admitted it.  We were talking about a couple of things and one of the lines and concepts from the movie came up out of the blue.  As soon as it did my brain processed it in a slightly different way.  I’m interested to see where my brain goes with it.  The second came from the second chapter of Becky’s PhD dissertation.  She used an example of resilience that included a visual that hit home.  As she used the visual of a ball and cup showing stable state change something my brain took it to the world of leadership and team action.  Interesting stuff that definitely will take some time and thought to flesh out.  Wild to see where inspiration can come from sometimes!

All day long my brain has gone back to the story of Easter.  Between the days leading up to it and the days immediately after my head keeps spinning on the event.  It seems as if each year Easter really hits home for me a little more than in the previous years. Each thought seems to help me see ways I could improve how I live my life.  Wrapping up the evening with Easter vigil was a wonderful conclusion to the day.  More food for thought and prayer.  Just a hunch but I’m thinking the topic will be on my mind more tomorrow also.

Thanks!!!

 

Speaking of family traditions I’m going to keep this one relatively short and sweet as we have something coming up in a little while.  I’m reminded of a post I wrote a while back, I write to bring more joy into my life, but not at the expense of missing life.

Yesterday we had an awesome conversation about how to communicate with all of our customers in these times and my head kept going back to an idea.  After getting off the phone the idea just kept growing and growing and then it hit me.  This morning I hopped online, found the video I was looking for and was amazed to see how it still holds up even almost a decade later.  If anyone wants to have a reading buddy for the book The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk shoot me a call, email, or text.  I’ll be firing that bad boy up again by the middle of next week.  To summarize the book, we must continue to find ways to out love our competition and go to our customers as opposed to pushing stuff at them.  Intrigued?  It’s a great book and it’d be fun to discuss as we read it together, just sayin’.  😉

I still remember getting care packs when I first went off to college.  There is one in particular that will forever live in my brain as the best care package ever with the greatest story about it – thanks again Grandma Lamping!!!  Today I got another care package courtesy of my buddy Grant – bread, beer, and puzzles!  How awesome is that?  Don’t worry, we totally practiced social distancing.  Grant, thanks again dude, the homemade bread was delicious!!!

Don’t worry, we’re not breaking social distancing or the safer at home protocols.  the pic above is from a couple of years ago.  One of the things that is so strange this year is staying home versus traveling to spend Easter with our family.  Instead of getting frustrated, we’re going to do the next best thing – hope online and do a Zoom Easter egg dyeing as a family!  Sure, it’s not the same, but I’m so thankful there’s a way for us to keep our family traditions.

Over the past four days I’ve spent time during my work day to give a quick video shout out to people I am thankful for.  Nothing fancy, no crazy graphics, and no scripts except the first one, but all from the heart and genuine.  This isn’t a plug for me or anything, but it is kind of selfishness.  It’s amazing how much better my attitude is when I do these.  Taking time to think about the person and why I’m thankful for them puts my head in such a great place.  Hearing the thank you’s back and the smiles just add to the joy I’ve felt from doing these.  If you’re in a funk this is one heck of a wonderful way to help raise your own spirits while also raising up someone else.  How awesome is that?

Thanks!!!