Day 3,062

Growth:

When traveling I find it so much easier to chill, stay calm, and be totally okay with not being in control of anything outside of the attitude I choose.

I don’t manage the airport, I don’t fly the plane, and I don’t decide how the people around me on the flight act. All I can control is my choice of attitude.

Usually this lack of control leaves me twitching and anxious. When traveling I seem to find a way to flip the switch and go into chill mode. I need to harness this mindset shift more often!

Appreciation:

Flights are such a magical opportunity to have some forced downtime. My options for activities are very much limited.

Today I spent much of the first flight (& the bonus downtime which showed itself as de-icing, a broken de-icing truck, a new de-icing truck, and more de-icing) consolidating all of my favorite passages and notes from New Seeds of Contemplation. Going through my notes to create a short document for each book I read has been something I’ve found huge value in this year, but it always takes a little bit of time to complete. The first flight was almost exactly what I needed to get that done, perfect timing of the forced downtime of the flight! Rather than going completely mindless I was able to create value from that time.

On my next flight I finished reading See You Tomorrow, a deeply moving nonfiction about a young man who disappeared attempting to snowboard Mount Everest. Dominic referred it to me and I’ve been knocking out a handful of pages each night before sleeping. Today I was able to take in the last 2/3’s of it and I enjoyed it immensely. Such a better use of my time than playing a game or watching a movie.

Cheers to using the forced downtime in a positive way!

Presence:

After finishing my notes from New Seeds of Contemplation I put in my AirPods and proceeded to have a wonderfully chill musical meditation. It was awesome!

When Becky and I got to Phoenix she found an incredible restaurant for us to hit for a late lunch. We were both starving, feeling a little wore out from the flights, and that really hit the spot. Nice having excellent conversation with the two of us on vacation and enjoying a delicious meal together!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,061

Growth:

Sometimes we need to think way back to what has worked in the past. Coupled with my in the moment coaching discussed yesterday I was reminded of how powerful it is hearing our on voice on sales calls. As such the recorder was on and helped me work with another teammate today. Very useful!

Appreciation:

With Dominic in college we’ve gotten into an awesome rhythm. We FaceTime each Wednesday and Sunday night to catch up. It has quickly become something I look forward to! Spending time with Dominic while he’s afar has helped us keep up our relationship and updated on all the fun stuff he has been up to. So glad we’ve gotten into this rhythm!

Presence:

This sunrise…. Wowza!!!

So glad I did the right thing and pulled over to enjoy it!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,060

Growth:

When an opportunity to coach in the moment happens, be sure to take it. Nothing quite like something happening real time to help with training! Sure, it is off the cuff and a bit unscripted, but it can be so much more useful when there are real life examples fresh in the memory to work from.

Appreciation:

The pre-vacation jitters are starting to kick in! Nothing like getting everything organized, packed, and ready to get into the vacation mindset early. It is definitely coming at the right time, bring on the travel! Still got a couple days to wait, but nice to see it coming closer and closer.

Presence:

This afternoon’s drive was an awesome one! From Nelson to French Island there were so many bald eagles seemingly everywhere in the Mississippi River Valley. At one backwater there were at least a dozen eagles either on the ice on the water or in the trees, it was wild! Yet another reminder of why I love living in the Driftless.

Thanks!!!

Day 3,059

Alright, here goes nothing. We are going to try recording my blog via voice recording again. Should be interesting. 😉

Growth.

What I’m most thankful for today from a growth standpoint is the acceptance of the fact that I need rest. I am exhausted. I am worn out. It has been a wild couple of weeks. One of the things I track every night is how much sleep I got the previous day. I’m usually in a beautiful zone of seven to eight hours of sleep per night.

Over the past six nights, it’s been less than seven, which is a huge red flag for me. I am definitely feeling it.

It’s been well worth it. I’ve been staying up late to do things with Gavin. Still waking up early to get my workout in with Becky.

And it just seems like it’s always so worth it. It’s so much easier to sacrifice a little bit of sleep knowing that there’s something else I could be doing, a different project to work on, some fitness to get in, some of those types of things.

At this point though, it’s sleepy time for me.

What I’m most thankful for is the fact that I’m realizing that I need some rest tonight. I’m going to sleep like a champ, and that’s okay. I skipped my workout over lunch today, just to give myself a little bit of extra rest. I’m getting my blog done early, and I plan on being in bed immediately following yoga tonight.

It’s not a good thing to be tired all the time, and it’s a good thing to know when it’s time to get caught back up. Here’s to some great sleep this evening.

Appreciation.

I’ve started reading Thomas Merton’s, The New Seeds of Contemplation, for, I believe,the fifth or sixth time, and every time, it just leaves me feeling completely uncomfortable in a wonderful way. While I’ve read it a handful of times, there’s certain concepts that just need to be revisited over and over again in order to try to fit. There are other concepts that I just wasn’t ready for in the previous reads, that now I’m picking up on, and I hear, and they cause me to want to change and to grow, and there’s still so many times when the words of advice and wisdom that Merton is sharing cause me to feel very uncomfortable, because it challenges me, it challenges my mindset, it pushes me out of my comfort zone that I like to kind of turtle up in sometimes, of being able to

have some quiet and some solitude, when really, the right thing to do is to spend time with people, to push myself past that discomfort of spending time with people, and to be with others. And that’s one of the big things that I’m taking away from this time through the book.

I am really glad that I’m okay with re-reading a book that makes me feel so uncomfortable. It’s difficult, there have been a lot of moments when I’ve paused and rewound and thought through and just sat in silence to take in, but it’s all helpful because I can feel that in that discomfort is growth. I’ve still got a long ways to go, I have a feeling I’ve got dozens more times to read this book before it finally, truly starts to fit and to maybe feel right, but for the time being, I’m embracing the discomfort and just leaning right into it.

Presence.

My moment of presence this morning was the moment my alarm went off and I knew I had to get out of bed. I was exhausted, I was half asleep, but I knew it was time to get up. Every ounce of my body and my head wanted to go back to sleep, but I had to run to get in.

I am so glad that I made the decision to get up and run, I am so glad that I had the fun that I had last night hanging out with Gavin watching the Super Bowl, but I’m really also glad for the sleep I’m going to get tonight as I talked about earlier. That moment reminded me and was essentially what kick-started my mindset of realizing

I need to get some sleep tonight and start to get caught back up.

Here’s to that moment of waking up when we really don’t want to, but we know it’s the right thing to do.

Thanks!!!

Day 3,058

Growth:

While driving up north with Becky today I was listening to one of my favorite books, The New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton. Even though I’ve read it a few times I was still picking up some deep insights on this read through. From time to time I had to pause the book, turn on some fitting music, and then let my mind mull over the points made in the book.

There was a beautiful balance of quiet, reading, music, and stillness on the drive this morning. Very peaceful and wonderful way to kick off the day!

Appreciation:

One of the key insights from reading this morning may seem rather simple, but there’s definitely a complexity to it in practice. It seems as if the moments of greatest joy are those in which we are living into the person we are called to be and the moments of frustration are when we are going against the grain. Live into our true selves and joy is plentiful, live into a non-authentic self and feel unfulfilled.

This insight has been in my head all day and I’m grateful for this seed of wisdom which continue to blossom.

Presence:

Today I took some time to knock out a handful of projects. One of which was writing up a shout out for someone who has had an awesomely positive impact on others. Taking the time to write that was very engaging and was a moment of extreme presence.

Thanks!!!

Day 3,057

I’m breaking from the usual format tonight. It has been a very full day, and definitely a +2 day (at the end of each day I rate my overall joy from the day on s scale of -2 to +2). Here are a handful of reasons it was a +2 day (& the notes I’ll add in my daily journal):

• Woke up at 5am on a Saturday specifically to get a solid workout in
• Knocked out almost 400 floors on the stair machine in just under two hours
• Love, love, love reading Speaker for the Dead while exercising. So many insightful ideas
• Broke up Gavin’s powerlifting meet by hiking in the bluffs with Becky in between events
• Saw Gavin achieve all of his powerlifting goals from this season
• Enjoyed conversation with great parent friends
• Chilling out and eating pizza while laughing with family as we wrapped up the night.
• Hearing Dominic had an excellent rugby match

An awesome day all around!!!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,056

Growth:

It’s okay to create a short & concise blog post. Success isn’t measured in number of words. There is no one to impress. There is only the process, living into purpose. Don’t create something unnecessary due to external expectations you are actually putting onto yourself. Be authentic.

Appreciation:

Today I took action towards closing the gap between who I am and who I am called to be. It felt so wonderfully right! An idea which has been growing like a bamboo seed for quite some time appears to be just about ready to explode from the ground. Is there a better feeling than living into one’s purpose?

Presence:

Wow, the moment of typing up my Growth section tonight! That was not at all where I expected to go. I was aware of my mindset / inner monologue…

“ugh, I want to keep this short because I’m tired, but then I need to write a disclaimer about why this post is going to be short.”

My awareness of my thought process helped me quickly see just how stupid and ego driven I was acting. First off, who am I writing this for – others or myself? Second, who cares how long the post is? Third, why would I care about someone’s opinion of what I type? Last, why am I not focused on the single most important reason I utilize this practice daily – its intent, its purpose?

In that moment my true self started typing, I allowed “me” to come out and be truly present. That might be one of my favorite paragraphs yet!

Thanks!

Day 3,055

Growth:

Last night as I lay in bed my head started to drown in negative thoughts. Worries, fears, stress, and all of their friends started to flood my brain. Funny how when one negative thought finds its way in just before sleep it is so easy for so many others to follow, one after another. My heart rate spiked, I laid on my back with my eyes wide open, and I felt crushing stress.

…and then I had a thought. Then I paused and soaked in the thought, shaped it a little, and then pulled up my Notes app on my phone and typed a little note to myself.

“How quickly all the fears and worries snowball in the mind when one little seed of fear is allowed to find purchase. Why is there seemingly a gravitational pull of negativity and fear once it is first allowed in?”

Mike Kreiling – Random Bedtime Thoughts

As I considered what I wrote something interesting happened. It was as if I turned on the light and all ghosts scattered with the darkness. In choosing to OBSERVE what was happening rather than BEING what was happening my stress all dissipated. I was AWARE of what was actually happening, my mind was stressing over completely foolish things which I either have no control over, are incredibly unlikely to happen, or were being blown way out of proportion. As soon as I was aware of my response/emotion/reaction the illusion was broken and I was able to laugh off the stress! I went back to my Notes app and added another snippet:

“Changing from ‘BEING’ to ‘OBSERVING’ allows a change of perspective to break the illusion of fear. By becoming aware of my thoughts and emotions I can see through them for what they really are.”

Mike Kreiling – More Random Bedtime Thoughts

The moments of crushing anxiety were pretty awful, no question. I am amazed at how one subtle shift in perspective dispelled the demons and helped me to relax and sleep like a champ.

Appreciation:

Due to a last minute cancelation I ended up with an extra 75 minutes this morning in the office before the start of the business day. This “Bonus Time” turned out to be one of the biggest reasons my day was as productive as it was! As soon as the cancelation happened I jumped right into a project I’d been working on for the past week. With no one else in the office and no phones ringing I was able to hit the jets and knock out not only that project, but I also got a hell of a start on another one! 

When the “Time Fairy” brings us a little surprise like that the best we can do is completely take advantage of it and make the most of it. I did just that and it made all the difference today!

Presence:

My office is in the corner of our building and there are two windows I can easily look out while I am working. While hammering through my bonus time productivity boost I couldn’t help but occasionally peek out and see an extraordinary sky with a handful of clouds slowly changing color as the sun rose. I so love the mornings when there are just enough clouds to catch the slowly rising sun to reflect a bevy of oranges and purples and pinks and reds, while there’s also enough blue sky to add an additional accent to the beautiful scene.

Thanks!!!

Day 3,054

Growth:

Sometimes it takes guts to point out an error someone is making. It takes even more guts to say it when that person is your boss. When someone says it as a matter of fact, a matter of caring – regardless of whether or not that person is your supervisor – they are a person of outstanding integrity. I’m grateful to have those people around me, they inspire me to be a better me.

Appreciation:

After finishing Ender’s Game I decided to follow the path into the next book in the series, Speaker for the Dead. It is one of my favorite fictions of all time thanks to the depth and complexity of the characters and their interactions. Throw in several insightful concepts of spirituality, mortality, and philosophy and it really has everything within its pages.

What leapt off the pages for me today was a quote from one of the protagonists, Valentine. She’s spent the past years moving from planet to planet taking time to write the history of each. In a flash of insight she realizes how much she has changed as a result of her experiences.

“And it’s true, thought Valentine.  I’m not the same person, really, from book to book, because each world changes who I am, even as I write down the story of the world.  And this world most of all.”

Orson Scott Card, Speaker for the Dead

It really struck a chord with me. I’ve recently and often written about “never stepping in the same river twice” or never being the same person who’s read the same book in the past. Life changes us and as a result we are not the same person as the day before. Even the process of writing each blog changes the me. Her statement was such a beautifully eloquent way of making that point.

Presence:

While my walk outside in early February over lunch was fantastic, the moment which stuck out to me today was during our monthly Star of the Month meeting. I had the privilege of sharing who the two recipients of this month’s Star of the Month were to our teams. The smiles on their faces when they realized they were the ones being bragged up were priceless! They both did an outstanding job of living into our core values this month and seeing the recognition on their faces was epic!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,053

Growth:

There’s a beauty to getting so lost in work when it is all towards a clear purpose. My task list today was very straight forward and I tackled the majority of what I wanted to get done and I still have much of tomorrow to finish. What I’m most thankful for is remembering just how important it is to have a clear focus and goals to help get myself into a flow state like I was in much of the day. In those moments time seems to disappear and all that exists is the work ahead of me. Tomorrow I will do my best to follow a similar pattern and keep the same rhythm.

Appreciation:

Over the past couple of months I’ve started carving out time over lunch to go to the gym and get a bonus workout in. Today I did the same as I was in between tasks. I paused to wrap up my current task, prepped a few things for the next so I could jump right in when I returned, and then headed out. After 45 minutes of a sweet chest and back endurance workout my heart was pumping, my head was clear, and I was ready to get back to work. Had I just chilled my energy level wouldn’t have been nearly as high and I would not have been as productive as I was. Here’s to quick middle of the day workouts to help increase productivity!

Presence:

This afternoon at work I was obviously deep in thought when one of my teammates made a comment and asked it I was doing okay. I couldn’t help but laugh as I realized just how I must’ve looked in that moment. I was in the midst of some deep thinking and work when I realized I needed to grab something. While walking I was still mentally going through the concept I was working on and I was completely oblivious to the world around me until my teammate made a comment. For sure, I wasn’t present in where I was walking in that moment, but the focus and depth of my thought process was wildly in the moment. Definitely an engaging project to work on for sure!

Thanks!!!