Gavin had a double whammy at Scouts this afternoon. As the SPL, Senior Patrol Leader, he’s the emcee for the Court of Honor, the meeting in which Scouts receive their new ranks and merit badges. This meant that he was the scout in charge and up in front of the group the entire time.

Seeing him present to a large group and do a little public speaking makes me very happy. Experiences like this really help us get past the nervousness and fear of presenting to a group, I’m glad he has the opportunity to grow like this.

It was also a lot of fun seeing him move just a little to our right to collect his Star badge. He’s put in a ton of hard work and only has a couple of ranks to go, Life and Eagle. Super proud of his progress.

There was one point in which he called Dominic up for an award, talk about an awesome moment! So proud of both of their experiences!

Thanks!!!

LOL – I remember the first time I hit a “big” number blog post I wanted to make it even more special than normal. After 2,365 times I’ve gotten over that. Each day I’m alive should be seen as it’s own milestone.

Definitely going to be short on details, I’m exhausted and ready for bed. Here’s the short version, concise, if you will.

LuLu made the trip with me up to Mom’s today and was an awesome travel companion. She let me listen to my audiobook as long as I occasionally rubbed her belly.

What a great day at Mom’s! Two walks, outside time, great food, excellent conversation, and total chill. Was so nice catching up, relaxing, and hanging out. So glad we were able to reschedule our planned time together from last weekend so quickly. I had an awesome time 😁

Over the last handful of days I’ve received updates from Dominic on his New Orleans trip for band. Hearing about his adventure has me smiling often, so glad he had the opportunity to go on this adventure!

Thanks!!!

No wonder I’m feeling exhausted as I am now laying in bed! One of my normal blogging routines is to walk through the day step by step to consider all I’m grateful for. I’m a little shocked at just how much happened since I woke up this morning. Here’s a taste of the list:

• Morning run with the smell of rain in the air
• Driving Gavin to school for a change
• Getting text updates throughout the day from Dominic on his NOLA adventure
• Presenting my upcoming talk to someone for the very first time
• Receiving thoughtful feedback and wonderful ideas from a trusted friend and advisor
• Seeing teammates continue to grow
• Taking an opportunity to tag in and help some teammates
• Seeing the stitches on the curveball as it left the pitcher’s hand
• Experiencing firsthand the benefits of making friend me before you need them
• Helping to connect friends for their mutual benefit
• Living some of the difficult moments my teammates regularly work through
• Seeing a great idea one to fruition
• Decompressing with Becky after we’ve both had ridiculously busy days
• Spending time with friends at a bar and enjoying excellent conversation
• Having the guts to order my first official mocktail
• Watching a little Seinfeld with Becky & Gavin while snuggling with LuLu
• Knocking out a few games with Gavin before bed
• Laying in bed exhausted, satisfied, and feeling a strong sense of purpose and joy

What a day it’s been!

Thanks!!!

One of my all time favorite business thought leaders is Jim Collins. I’ve read almost all of his books at least three times… except for the one I didn’t realize existed! Somehow I missed seeing this book when it originally came out which still blows my mind.

What’s been especially insightful in reading this is the way he uses this book to tie so many of the concepts from last books into The Map for growing a truly great business. Not only am I receiving new concepts and ideas, I’m getting an awesome review of so many of his past concepts. Seeing the integration of all the ideas cultivated through the last two and a half decades has been profoundly insightful!

Thanks!!!

We’re all still getting used to things be different in our home with Skywalker gone. It hits each of us at different times for different reasons. She was definitely very loved and will be missed for a long time.

This evening we’re heading up to greet Matt at the airport as he arrives back in Wausau. No big deal usually, but now it would have meant leaving LuLu home alone during the work day and again the majority of the night. Rather than leave her home alone we decided to adjust. Look who’s riding along with us tonight?

It’s going to take a while to figure out our new normal, but we’ll keep adjusting until we get there.

Thanks!!!

While I often dive into details about my gratitude tonight it doesn’t seem necessary. I’m grateful and proud of my sons, they understand that it is okay to have and show emotions. So proud of them and the way they are handling the loss of Skywalker.

I just wish there was away I could ease the pain and hurt they (& Becky) are feeling. So many memories back to losing Dad, this feeling of powerlessness is brutal. Times like this become so difficult to focus on gratitude rather than hurt.

Thanks!!!

Early in the day there was quite the surprise awaiting my entire team and I. With no notice our email server and all our Express specific websites went down. Out of the blue one of our most heavily used tools was removed from our tool belt for the majority of the day. This was exceedingly frustrating for a couple of minutes as I quickly re-calibrated my plans for the day. Once I had a new plan set I went to work.

What quickly hit me was how relaxing it was to not even feel the gravitational pull of the email inbox. There was no option to check it or even be tempted by it. My mind had more capacity to focus on my task at hand, the extra brain power was greatly appreciated and immediately put to use. The forced focus was awesome!

Throughout the day I was able to keep making progress on a huge project. With my door closed, phone off, and no email I was able to put long strings of focused time into the project and even had a workable prototype by the end of the day. Not too shabby! Always feels great making progress.

And now I’m off to bed. Not gonna lie, I am ready to crash. After the crazy schedules over the past week I’m ready to get back into the swing of things and my normal routine. Ahh.. early bed times, how I hated you as a child and adore you as an adult. 😉

Thanks!!!

There are times to rest and relax, and there are times for action. Sometimes the rest is a little extreme (taking a two week vacation) as are the times for action.

Over the past handful of years I’ve gotten better at running in “sprints.” Those are the times when there’s a lot to get done and a very finite amount of time to do them. They force me to run at a sprint pace, but they also provide extreme focus and a clearly defined finish line. In sprinting I can work incredibly efficiently and effectively, but only for so long and I’ll need extra rest afterwards.

I’m currently mid sprint and have my finish line set clearly. I’ve got my periods of rest both behind me and ahead of me. Blinders to distractions are on, focused on the finish line. I’d say the champagne is on ice, but I haven’t had a drink yet in 2022 so I guess that metaphor doesn’t really work too well 😉

Time to rest – read and sleep – before waking up to sprint for another day.

Thanks!!!

Way back in the day I would head to the Express International Leadership Conference and walk out with pages upon pages of notes and would then attempt to implement all of the good ideas immediately upon arrival… unless, of course, I attempted to implement them before I even got back. All of the possibilities seemed so awesome it was only fitting to execute all of them.

Slowly, I’ve learned a valuable lesson. There will always be more great ideas than there is time to implement all of them.

Just as I drive Gavin nuts by reminding him that restrictions are what make games truly fun I’ve got to drive myself a little bonkers by knowing I can really implement only a small handful of ideas. Like three at max. This means there will be a ton of great ideas I need to set aside until we get the first few up and running.

Today my brain is feeling very full. Over the past 36 hours or so it’s been loaded up with so many best practices, I’ve got at least eight pages of notes. Probably a few more will be added tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will begin to cull the herd to figure out which are the top 2-3 ideas to take action on. I’ll walk through all of them, let them ferment and settle, see which ones are going to make the biggest impact, and then figure out how to get them rolling. I’ll save the long list of other great ideas for another day.

Even that condensed list will then be set aside for one week. The ideas will need a little bit of time to age to perfection.

Sure, I’d love to implement all off the great ideas, but I know I’ll be able to follow through on the small handful successfully more so than a huge pile.

Thanks!!!

I think I’m going to let the title do the majority of the talking tonight. The day was so much fun that I’m totally exhausted and ready to crash for the night.

Long story short, the day had been jammed with great times with long time friends. Each and every step of the way were people I’ve worked with for years, many of whom I haven’t seen in a couple of years. Together we had great training, experienced an awesome motivational speaker, and even rode on rollercoasters.

So many smiles!

Thanks!!!