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!!!

It’s been a great day, so many moments of joy, so much to be grateful for!

The morning started off as almost all Monday mornings do, an early morning run with Becky. Sure, I’d love to just roll back over and go back to sleep, but I’d miss the bonus “date time” we have with each other. The craziness of the week begins with consistency.

Seeing people collaborating to help each other grow makes me smile big. For so much of my life I’ve let my ego get in the way and try to stay in control. How dumb. How shortsighted. Helping people collaborate with others and then stepping back to let them work together within their strengths create so many more moments of joy for all. Today I got to see that on multiple occasions and each time I smiled.

Yoga. Ahh… yoga. Even on the best of work days there is a calm which yoga so readily provides. The focus on presence, the complete stillness, the peace, & the calm. Perfect!

At the end of yoga someone nearby asked if they could put my block away. Having someone offer a moment of kindness like that was perfect. It reminded me of how I should be more like that more often. It reminded me that an action like that creates two smiles – one for the giver and one for the receiver – and it takes both to make the moment joyful.

Consistency, collaboration, calm, & kindness… what a beautiful day!

Thanks!!!

There are sometimes when I just need to stand back and chuckle. Throughout the day there were a handful of moments in which I could sense my blood pressure rising a little bit. Something would happen which was totally out of my control. In nanoseconds I felt frustration building a bit and shortly there after I would almost have to laugh at myself. My brain would quickly realize that I had no control over the situation which I was grappling to take control of, but I had complete control over my response to the situation which I was letting run rampant with emotion rather than logic. How ridiculous!!!

What made it all the more crazy was the fact that the bigger the issue the more controlled I was while the smaller the issue the more I was letting emotion take control of the wheel. For instance, when my niece’s game was cancelled after we’d driven 75% of the way through crazy wind, snow, and ice I laughed it off and quickly let it go. Something infinitely smaller and less important – I got all bent out of shape and worked up. Again, how ridiculous!

While of course I’d like to have each day go perfectly smooth and without issue, days like today are where some of the most growth happen. I had several opportunities to grapple with my lack of control over events while also remembering to choose the correct response in knowing what I had control over. The Big Teacher Upstairs obviously saw the gap was a little too wide for me today and decided it was time for some lessons. I may have not done my best on the pop quizzes today, but I have learned many lessons which will help me out in my next round of exams. Not a perfect day of responses from me, but it was a wonderful day of practice, reflection, and growth.

Thanks!!!

We’re not really a house of Valentine’s Day celebrants. The importance of the day is pretty much lost on us. Rather than the usual dinner and flowers we opted for something that was almost 100% our style. The only thing missing was outdoor activity, but we got that early in the morning in our pre-dawn run.

Yesterday we picked up some bison steaks to grill up tonight. As luck would have it our gas ran out just as I was about to put the steaks on the grill. Thank goodness a couple of my teammates had recently told me about broiling steaks instead so I had a backup plan.

After eating we headed out to yoga to get all namaste and shit – and it was awesome! Excellent workout, very chill and relaxing, and I even got a couple of strong ideas for work based on Nick’s coaching.

Now I’ve showered up and will be off for an early bed. Not the most exciting of nights, but 100% a positive day all around. Forget the restaurants and flowers, yoga and bison at home sounds perfect to me!

Thanks!!!