Tonight we had a pretty awesome way to wrap up the week, a moonlight hike through the marsh in La Crosse courtesy of Summit Environmental School and WisCorps!  In addition to the hike we had a great story told about how the loon got its white coloring and why the moon goes from new to full and back again each month.  We learned a lot about the giant cottonwood in the middle of the marsh and got to see the results of an awesome photography project in which a picture was taken of the same tree every single day for a year (hmm…  sounds kind of familiar!).  Some snacks and hot chocolate and the event was wrapped up.

The weather was awesome, tons of families were out, and it was an excellent time with Gavin (Dominic was over at a friend’s house).  It was so entertaining to see him interacting with his classmates while we hiked.  His personality was out in full force and all we could do was smile as we listened to the conversation.

Today I’m so thankful that we have a school that focuses on both the outdoors and family events.  Principal Hunter is an incredibly outstanding man, I’m always so impressed with how well he knows EVERY kid and EVERY parent – it’s impressive!  Even more than that, you can just tell that he has a passion and love for watching those kids grow and having a positive impact in their lives.  His smile at events like this lights up the room and all the kids love him.  To have Gavin in a school like this makes me so thankful.

The week is a wrap and it’s on to the weekend, I can’t think of a better way to kick it off!

Thanks!!!

When we got home from work tonight there was a pretty cool letter in the mail addressed to Dominic.  It took us a while to place the name and we kept scratching our heads trying to figure out who Bill Leonard is.  We weren’t sure at first if it was a teacher or someone from Scouts.  After a while Becky stopped and said, “isn’t that ‘the guy’ from church?”  If you remember way back to Day 329 from last year you might be thinking of “that guy” that reminds me of my dad, but it’s not him (that’s Dennis).  Bill is the other “that guy” from our church, the guy who, coincidentally, almost was the topic of my post on Sunday.  The only thing that got in the way of that post was this really awesome newspaper clipping about Dominic being Student of the Month…  Which, oddly enough, ends up front and center again today!

Bill is quite the guy, one of those individuals you can just tell right off the bat is a great man.  I still remember hearing him do a reading in church for the first time and wishing he did it every single week.  His voice is tailor made for reading from the bible, it has a raw power that commands attention while at the same time having a calm and soothing undertone that helps you hear the care in his words.  Over the past few years we keep bumping into him and we’ve started sitting pretty close each week depending on what time we get there.  He and his wife are always at the 9am on Sunday in the second section in on stage left, about 5 rows back, and we’re somewhere nearby.

Every single Sunday there’s at the very least a nod and a big smile, but most of the time he goes out of his way to shake hands and talk with us a little bit.  Now all of that in of itself is great, but the thing that really makes me appreciate Bill is how genuine he is.  I don’t know how to describe it, but you can tell he is exactly who he says, and he’s as great of a guy as he seems.  This past Sunday as he was walking by at one point he placed his hand on the back of my neck and gave me a good squeeze.  As I type it I know it might sound kind of weird, but there was something that was just so loving about that squeeze, a personal connection, something that either of my grandpas, my uncles, or my dad would do.  It was a personal connection of approval, of caring, and it brought a smile to my face and warmth to my heart.  That’s what I almost typed about on Sunday, this simple gesture of love that was out of the blue and very much appreciated.

Now fast forward back to today…  “Isn’t that ‘the guy’ from church?”  Yes, it had to be.  While we didn’t have any proof, we both just knew.  It was totally something that he would do.  So as Becky drove to yoga I pulled up a Google search of his name and saw this face smiling back at me from my iPhone screen…

While today I am thankful for Bill and how he not only took the time to recognize the photo, but then sent a handwritten note, I’m also thankful for all of the happiness he’s brought me each week over the past several years.  He has no idea, but there have been many smiles created by him and many mentions of “I really need to take that guy out to coffee and get to know him better” after church.  Bill, thank you for all of the happiness you’ve brought into my life and the life of my family.  Each of those smiles bring me joy and remind me of how important it is to really connect with our church family.  They also remind me of how important it is to smile at others, you just never know when it might warm hearts that need it.

Thanks!!!

While today is only Day #134 of this blog it marks the 500th Day of being thankful each day.  Holy crap!!!  500 days in a row of doing something, that doesn’t happen very often!

Today was pretty much a great microcosm of why I do this blog.  It was filled with many little moments and events for which I am thankful.  Some of the highlights include:

• Becky’s intensely happy mood in the morning
• Being able to get the boys on the bus and get to work on time
• Demonstrating a sales call for a new teammate
• Meeting with a client over a delicious cup of coffee
• Taking time to think
• Getting some incredibly insightful feedback from a team member
• Receiving some very awesome praise fro another team member
• Hearing some of the backstory of one of my teammates
• Seeing several emails in my inbox from teammates praising other teammates
• Great training that is helping me with a tough conversation
• Having the $10 extra bucks to be able to impulse buy a lava lamp for Gavin
• Preparing for the scout meeting in advance
• Becky gently reminding me several times to prep for the scout meeting in advance
• Being able to help Dominic learn how to make a tough decision (ask Becky for advice)

And then to wrap up the night (at least until this point, there’s still a good hour until bed) I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to lead Gavin’s scout meeting.  The boys were full of crazy energy as always and it was awesome.  While I had a beer at home to relax afterwards, it is so awesome that I’m able to help the boys out and create a memory for them.  One of the things I love the most is being able to create something and there’s nothing better to pull together out of the aether than a memory.  Tonight we made a tornado in a bottle, Alka Seltzer lava lamps, and glittery slime.  The boys were smiling and it was AWESOME!!!

Day 500 was a fantastic day!  The funny thing is that now that I take the time to think about what I am thankful for it seems that the fantastic days have grown exponentially and the crappy days are few and far between…  And even they have their silver lining if only I take the time to look.  500 days is a long time, and it’s also a great first step!  Here’s to the next 5,000 days of gratitude!!!

Thanks!!!

When I take time to think it is sometimes amazing to see just where my thoughts will take me.  Once in a while my brain somehow makes a beeline to the right answer and life is awesome!  Most often my thoughts come dressed as Indiana Jones, ready to stumble through the jungle in search of a golden idea, narrowly avoiding traps and having a grand adventure that ends in treasure.  Other times my thoughts are more like a long tangled extension cord that keeps wrapping up upon itself and turns into a vicious cycle of frustration in which I finally give up and throw it in the corner knowing that’ll I’ll have to untangle it someday… just not today.

Today I was in the early stages of fighting an extension cord of thoughts.  Once I realized what I was in for I threw it aside and moved on.  During a coaching call with a friend I had the urge to throw it out there and see if he could help me unwind it.  There were many great questions asked and an idea or two thrown out that started to point me in the right direction…  talk with a sounding board who knows me very well, someone who can listen and help me unravel it.  And that’s exactly what I did.

Later in the afternoon I called on of the best professional sounding boards I’ve ever met.  Listening intently and asking pointed questions they helped me lead myself through the clutter to see the issue more clearly.  After looking at it a little differently I was able to piece together how this was meant to be wound.  I thanked them for their help and then started to wind the thoughts back up into a more structured concept.

Today I’m thankful for the sounding boards that are all around me.  They help me through the chaos and have an excellent balance of listening, asking, and sharing that help to keep me sane and on the right path.  Thank you to each of you, you’re appreciated greatly!!!

Thanks!!!

One of the things I really appreciate the most about my career choice is the ability to help people.  At the end of the night I can sleep well knowing that I am helping to make the world a better place by helping people find meaningful employment and by helping businesses find excellent employees.

Today my Menomonie team got an incredible gift and card in the mail from the family of an associate that they helped out a while back.  He has a couple of challenges that made it difficult to find the right job for him, but neither he nor my team quit.  Knowing that there is always the right job for the right person they persevered together and they found that right career for him.  Not only did he do a great job, he did such an awesome job that he was recently hired by the client we placed him at.  A couple of weeks later he is still loving the job and his family wrote an incredible and heartfelt thank you that brought tears to my eyes.

I am so thankful that my team had the opportunity to see such an excellent reminder of the impact they have on people every single day.  They’re continually busting their butts to make their community better, a thank you like this is an incredible motivator to keep them going on the tough days.

Thank you to my team for living the vision and values, I am so thankful for each of you!!!

Thanks!!!

While there’ve already been quite a few things I’m thankful for (a couple of moments at church, time at home, an easy repair job,  saving a chunk of cash on my cell hill, and watching the Super Bowl with the boys) there is one that easily rises to the occasion today.

Maybe you missed the La Crosse Tribune or the Logan Middle School newsletter…

I’m so proud of Dominic on this accomplishment!  While he doesn’t need accolades for us to appreciate him it is pretty cool for him to know just how great of a kid he is.  He busts his butt in a daily basis and it’s awesome for him to see some great results.  

So awesome to see his hard work and energy paying off!

Thanks!!!

Today I was able to spend some time tuning up the bandsaw and hacking through my first run of making a real puzzle box.  In this case I wasn’t worried about finish and details, I specifically wanted to test out the basic concepts.  Not gonna lie, I was happily surprised with the results!

After this one I moved on to the next level and ended up with a pretty excellent advanced version of this.  Due to time constraints I wasn’t able to get pics of it, but it worked out way better than I expected.

It’s funny how quickly I went from starting to frustrated to actually doing, and it gave me a greater appreciation for just how much of an art there is to doing it right…  I’ve got a very long way to go!  That said, I’m pretty stoked to have been able to make a couple of working beta models today.

Nothing like that feel of creating something, it made my day!

Thanks!!!

Today I didn’t have any crazy work occurrences that changed my schedule.  There wasn’t any meeting that went longer than expected.  I remembered to bring all of my stuff.  Everything went right on time.  I had completely run out of excuses…  Excuses out of the way I headed into the gym to get back into lifting weights over lunch like I used to back in the day.

It was humbling, starting over pretty much from scratch.  I’d been putting this day off for a while and had been trying to come up with excuses to put it off even longer.  Starting over is never easy and sometimes the fear of starting over can be more overpowering than I’d like to admit.  In the case of today I finally faced down that fear, I got over the ego, and I faced humility face on.

I am not as strong as I once was and it will take some time to get where I want to go.  I’ve walked this path before and I know I will be successful.  I’m thankful that I finally ran out of excuses today!

Thanks!!!

Tonight is one of those nights in which I’m thankful that I waited until the end of the day to pause and reflect on what I am grateful for.  I have mentally composed and edited about three different posts for tonight.  While I’ve been thankful for Inertia, a Great Yoga Date, the Power of Focus, and a few other things long the way.  All that said, I called in a Hail Mary at the end that.  It is something that always puts a smile on my face and causes the awesomeness to well up a little in corners of my eyes.

For some reason the boys have suddenly started getting hooked on a couple of cooking shows.  So much so that Gavin has talked Becky into baking a cake this weekend – a cherry chocolate cake.  As we started wrapping up the night we turned on the TV and were watching another cooking show.  It has amateur chefs competing for $10k and they have limited resources – especially time.  As each round closes the contestants offer their food up to three critics who determine which chef will be eliminated that round.  After the second round of judging we all were on the same page, two of the critics were flat out snobby jerks.  It almost seemed as if they got a kick out of crushing the dreams of the contestant.  The growth mindset is core to who I am and I am always looking for a good dose of healthy criticism…  This wasn’t that, this was derogatory.

That’s when the smile crossed my face and I remembered one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite Disney movies, Ratatouille.  At the end of the movie the arrogant and seemingly heartless critic realizes the error of his ways and offers up the following insight:

“In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the “new”. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends.”

When I catch myself critiquing something or someone or some idea it is either this or one of a few other things that I can hear whispering to me in the back of my head.  This lesson and the others say this to me in a very kind way that cuts deep, almost the way that a parent expressing their disappointment in you, and saying it in a way that you know that they still love you.  That is one of the toughest stings to bear.

And that’s why I am so thankful for this reminder of the quote from Ratatouille tonight.  It sticks with me and when I listen to it whispering in my ear it hurts so much, but it it in that pain of self disappointment that motivates to keep trying to be better.  This one little line from a family movie has the power to rock me to the core and take time to reflect on my thoughts and actions.

Thanks!!!

There are many reasons I love going on vacation.  One of the biggest is that with the stresses of daily life removed things seem to be just a little more clear and visible.  There are these little lessons that can be picked up as my mind relaxes and I can just think, not think about responsibilities.  Inevitably as my brain starts to pick up on these obvious yet thinly hidden themes I start to weave them into lessons that I can remember.  It is in these moments I can see how a specific event, activity, or view holds a lesson for me to remember and hold on to for the rest of my days.

One of the examples that first that comes to mind is playing poker in Vegas for Steve’s birthday and learning about how important coaching is, the value of friends helping you through things, the power of patience, the reward for confidence, reminders of the sunk cost fallacy, and the power of logic over emotion.  There were so many lessons learned over the span of a few hours that it was well worth the $93…  I’m pretty sure there’s a future blog on this one.  😉

Other examples include the impact of being over committed, taking time to remember to look for what I should be looking for (a post from last year), and the inner peace that can be found sitting by oneself listening to the sounds of the ocean or Lake Superior.  Each of these hold a special place in my heart and remind me both of the vacation and what was learned.

The reason I’m thankful for this seemingly random concept today is because I used one of these lessons for an upcoming training.  The vacation lesson that I was thinking back to was the incredible difference in customer service level between Disney World and Lego Land.  Lego Land was pretty cool, but after spending almost a week at Disney it wasn’t even close!  Some of the differences were huge, like the difference in AT-ATs…

Other differences were a little more subtle.  Take a look at the family pics below…  Notice anything?

Yup, Disney had cast members everywhere to take pictures and Lego Land had none of that.  Even if the employees would have asked we probably would’ve said no…  they were almost like upper class carnies 🙂

Anyways, as I was getting that example put together it also gave me a moment to pause and remember the vacation and re-live all the fun we had.  As I share it in training it will be great to share, I’m sure it will spark several other experiences that others have had and will help prove the point.

Vacations are one of the cornerstones that Becky and I have built our family around, it’s pretty awesome when I’m able to use the experiences to not only relax and experience the world, but they also help me put the world in perspective and give me stories and examples to share with others.

Thanks!!!