Day 3,753

Sometimes it takes a mental construct – like the reality of a year passing by – to help us pause and take note of the truly huge changes made in a relatively short period of time.

When I go back 14 months and compare it to now the changes are more overwhelming positive than I could have imagined. Each step to get from there to here has been difficult, but it has slowly compounded, bit by bit, until it caught the momentum it has now achieved.

So much further to go, but already a profoundly positive shift towards where I’ve wanted this to grow. This evening really struck that point home, the foundation has been laid over this past year.

Thanks!!!

Day 3,752

While certain daily habits are very useful and beneficial there are times when it can become too easy to chase the habit itself rather than the “Why” the habit is there.

This evening I was itching to check a few boxes when we had unexpected guests – Dominic and Caitlyn – and Dominic was in an awesomely talkative mood fresh off the heals of his adventure in Alaska. As we dove into conversation I let the checkboxes go by the wayside in order to focus on what I really have worked towards, being 100% present with family.

Remember what is really important and life is so much easier and more rewarding.

There were so many unexpected moments of connection today! From teammates to family to yoga friends there seemed to be a conversation waiting behind almost every door. Each brightened my day, I hope I was able to have s similar positive impact.

Thanks!!!

Day 3,751

So much of the stress of life seems so minor when viewed through the same eyes which have recently read Man’s Search for Meaning. All my challenges become anthills when compared to the Himalayas of Frankl’s experiences in the concentration camps.

My heart breaks hearing the trauma so may we’re forced to endure. My blood boils at the level of hatred expressed by people towards other people. My soul soars when hearing how Frankl and others found ways to overcome and grow through those atrocities.

This quote really sums up so much of the thought process:

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms-to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circuit stances, to choose one’s own way.


And there were always choices to make. Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom; which determined whether or not you would become the plaything of circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity to become molded into the form of the typical inmate.

Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

Thanks!!!

Day 3,750

Growth:

So many nuggets collected on this most recent read through, my 14th since 1/1/2022.

There’s only one reason why you’re not experiencing bliss at this present moment, and it’s because you’re thinking or focusing on what you don’t have.

Anthony de Mello, Awareness

Appreciation:

Another day of the long weekend thoroughly enjoyed all the way through. Starting with coffee and reading, moving on to working on a home repair project. Lunch followed by a perfectly chill winter hike in the woods. Relaxing at home, dinner with Becky, more reading on the couch, and a dash of time with Gavin when he got back from snowboarding. Throw in some pics from Dominic’s mountain hiking in Alaska, and it was a solid day for sure!

Presence:

Getting lost in the planning of a home repair project, so easy to get into a flow state – even when it is something I wis I didn’t had to do! I enjoy having to learn something new, using past skills in a different way, seeing a project come to life from ideation to the work itself. Amazing how quickly time can fly by on a project!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,749

Growth:

When you renounce something, you are tied to it. The only way to get out of this is to see through it. Don’t renounce it, see through it. Understand it’s true value and you won’t need to renounce it; it will just drop from your hands.

Anthony de Mello, Awareness

Appreciation:

Definitely nice to have someone in life who understands us well! As I was getting frustrated trying to figure out some college financial planning Becky realized I’d reached my fun limit. She knew exactly what I needed in the moment – a chill two mile hike! Within minutes of hitting the trail I felt like a brand new person. Super grateful for Becky knowing me better that I knew myself!

Presence:

Kneeling in the snow, getting close to the piles of individual snowflakes shimmering and sparking in the winter sun. Each side of each flake was perfectly clear, a work of art from falling out of the sky, incredible!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,748

Growth:

It’s okay to relax, it’s necessary to relax and recharge. Taking time to pause, relax, not have an agenda, and chill is one of the most important things I can spend time doing once in a while.

Appreciation:

What a wonderfully chill day! I finished my first book of the year, got two thirds of the way through the next. Slept in. Went to yoga and got a nice walk in. Played a board game with Becky and Gavin. Started the year living into my 2026 goals. Pretty epic start to the year!

Presence:

Relaxing, getting lost in a good book. Breathing, pausing to intentionally breathe prior to yoga. Walking, getting into the snowy outdoors with family. A wonderfully chill day full of moments of presence.

Thanks!!!

Day 3,747

Growth:

Existence on a mountain is simple. Seldom in life does it come any simpler: survival, plus the striving toward a summit. The goal is solidly, three-dimensionally there-you can see it, touch it, stand upon it—the way to reach it well defined, the energy of all directed toward its achievement. It is this simplicity that strips the veneer off civilization and makes that which is meaningful easier to come by-the pleasure of deep companionship, moments of uninhibited humor, the tasting of hardship, sorrow, beauty, joy. But it is this very simplicity that may prevent finding answers to the questions I had asked as we approached the mountain.

Thomas F. Hornbein, Everest: The West Ridge

Appreciation:

What an excellent day with my teams today! We closed up our offices to focus on training and walking through our plans for 2026. Throughout we laughed, asked questions, grew, bonded, and took time to appreciate just how much we’ve grown throughout the past year. 2024 closed up with a reckoning, the forests were clear cut and burned in early 2025, and now the seedlings have begun to sprout in the second half of 2025. Pausing to savor how much better it feels with a team of highly driven individuals who clearly live each and every one of our values was a mini victory lap, an opportunity to appreciate just how much we grew as a team and how much we’ve grown together. An excellent last work day of the year!

Presence:

Wrapping up the year on the couch, reading a book (finishing one and then starting another), relaxing with Becky, listening to the sounds of Gavin and his friends playing games downstairs, and while also getting the occasional text from Dominic of his adventure in Alaska. Is there any better way to close out one yeaar and prepare to bring in the next?

Thanks!!!

Day 3,746

The past weeks have been chock full of planning for 2026. My personal goals and plan are just about wrapped (just a couple of tweaks to make). Tomorrow we meet to walk through our 2026 goals for my teams, continuing the direction we set for ourselves this past summer. Planning on Gavin’s upcoming college career and all the things he needs to do in order to be ready for it. Setting a plan for future adventures and travels, all getting close to the point in which they need to be planned. Financial planning – multiple conversations with multiple people for multiple reasons on this one, it’s all more planning regardless! I almost feel like I need to start a plan to plan.

All joking aside, it’s great to see the combination of big dreams / goals and the inertia already moving in the right direction, momentum on my side. As I plan it’s easier to push the ever increasingly speeding flywheel.

Putting the plans in place for this next twelve months have helped motivate me, to help get my mindset going in the right direction.

Thanks!!!

Day 3,745

Growth:

I started tracking my books read in 2022, and according to those lists this is the fifth time I’ve read Atomic Habits by James Clear, an average of one read every nine months or so. Each time I go back to it there are news points I didn’t quite get at the same level, insights that mad more sense thanks to the life lived between readings.

In 2026 I have a list of 26 books I plan on reading three times each, an opportunity to go deeper than I have gone into them, a focus on learning through depth. Today I’m reminded of why this will be so beneficial.

Appreciation:

Throughout rhetoric day there were a handful of moments in which I was able to clearly live into my purpose, brightening lives through shared experiences. Work habits, financial planning, goal setting, and a few other nuggets of opportunity to live into who I should be. Very fulfilling!

Presence:

So many laughs with the boys last night, the memories are still rolling into today! We had a brief handful of moments together today, so grateful for the opportunity to be together as a family. Best moments for sure!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,744

Growth:

So often we can begin to manifest the dreams we have after we speak them into existence. This isn’t to say that they just magically happen, rather the opportunities to tackle them are so much more readily accessible and visible to us once we clarify them and breathe life into them. The more I’ve added to my 2026 goals and my 2026 board the more opportunities seem to arise.

Appreciation:

Today was the day of perfect calm I didn’t realize I needed so badly. In the morning I practiced my breath work, sipped delicious coffee while reading, and relaxed prior to a nice homemade brunch with the full family before church. The day consisted of a walk in the woods in the snow, relaxing and reading on the couch, and talking with family. No rush, no agenda, no task list. Only relaxation.

Presence:

Nothing quite like getting lost in an engaging story. This morning I finished reading No Country for Old Men for the second time this year while drinking coffee and was so lost in the book that I drank my coffee while standing up in the kitchen reading, I never even made it to the couch!

Quite possibly one of the best paragraphs to end a book, the Sheriff talks about two dreams about his dad to close the story… (not a spoiler, I swear)

I had two dreams about him after he died. I dont remember the first one all that well but it was about meetin him in town some-wheres and he give me some money and I think I lost it. But the second one it was like we was both back in older times and I was on horseback goin through the mountains of a night. Goin through this pass in the mountains. It was cold and there was snow on the ground and he rode past me and kept on goin. Never said nothin. He just rode on past and he had this blanket wrapped around him and he had his head down and when he rode past I seen he was carryin fire in a horn the way people used to do and I could see the horn from the light inside of it. About the color of the moon. And in the dream I knew that he was goin on ahead and that he was fixin to make a fire somewhere out there in all that dark and all that cold and I knew that whenever I got there he would be there. And then I woke up.

No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy

Thanks!!!