Preparing for a meeting, when done correctly, seriously increases the productivity of the meeting and leads to significantly more success. Thanks to the prep with today the meeting escalated right into deeper topics providing more productive insights.
Appreciation:
Today has been ridiculously busy! Nonstop from 4:35am until about 8:30 when Gavin and I busted out Yahtzee to wind down. While it’s been crazy full I can’t help but smile at how much of the busyness was lived towards a bigger purpose. I don’t want it this busy all the time, but when it is I’m always happy when it is a purposeful busy.
Presence:
The sunrise and gunners today were incredible!!! So many variations of pinks and purples, the sky’s color painted the Mississippi River in similar hues – such beauty!
Re-reading Ender’s Game continues to pay off huge leadership dividends! As I read more today I was struck by how many insightful leadership lessons can be pulled away from this book. For sure, it is a fiction, but there are some concepts which are easier to grasp specifically when they are in the vacuum of fiction. Today’s points focused on helping someone to struggle in the purpose of growth and help them become stronger, sharing everything openly – even with competition, remembering and acting towards the true purpose rather than a petty goal, and the importance of building trust as a leader. So many nuggets from this awesomely entertaining book!
Appreciation:
When we went to Mom’s church this morning they shared a prayer I’d never heard. It was written by one of my favorite spiritual leaders, Thomas Merton, but somehow I’d never heard this specific prayer before. Rather than analyze and add my voice to it, I’ll share it in its entirety and allow you to enjoy.
The Merton Prayer
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude
Presence:
This evening I knocked out a bunch of tasks on my seemingly never ending list and the sense of accomplishment felt wonderful. What made it all the more enjoyable was happening to stumble upon some new music to set the mood and and provide the right ambiance. ILLENIUM & Skylar Grey’s song – From the Ashes started things off and then I went down the rabbit hole from there. What I was thankful for was the perfect music to keep my brain focused on the tasks at hand while also brightening my efforts.
Been an awesome day full of smiles, laughter, and time with family. Heading to bed much later than normal, so this is a short one.
I’m thankful for so much time with family today! We watched Dominic’s rugby match (our first time at a rugby match) and were joined by Mom and Brad. Time as a family on the drive up, time as a family at the game, time as a family at dinner, and time as a family relaxing at Mom’s. Such a great day!
Last night I read an epic quote from a book Dominic introduced me to and it’s been resonating in my soul all day.
“Death is tragic but, no matter how brief one’s years are, living without a purpose is the greatest tragedy of all.”
When two people are actively working together in a growth mindset the results are very productive. There is no judgement, no frustration, no ego, or any other types of obstacles. Only possibility, open dialogue, open and constructive conflict, and productive dialogue exist. So much positive progress when the growth mindsets are aligned.
Appreciation:
There’s a balance to be found between play and planning. Over the past 6 weeks or so I’ve been working out in the gym quite often and it’s been a wonderful mix of all types of new exercises. I’ve had the opportunity to focus on lifting for strength, for muscle, and for endurance in an extraordinarily wide array of all kinds of exercises focusing on pretty much all major muscle groups. This was exactly the play I needed to help me see weightlifting as fun again. There’s not really a clear goal other than just getting back into the habit and stoking my passion for fitness again. I’ve already seen some awesome results and have been feeling great!
Now it is time to focus on my long term goals. I want to be in the type of physical condition so I can be a 94 year old dude hiking and backpacking eight plus miles per day in the mountains. To get there I’ve got to get myself in fantastic backpacking shape now complete with a very solid base of skeletal muscle mass to keep me moving. Now is the time to take what I’ve learned from play, set a clear objective for the short term (3 months) and then set the clear path to get there.
Without play I wouldn’t have been motivated to work on the long term plan and would not have had so many more exercises to choose from. Without the plan all the play is great, but I would likely keep gaining muscle mass in places I don’t need for backpacking and hiking and would have a lot more weight to carry – all of which actively hurts progress towards my goal.
Today is all about balance – play and plan – a dichotomy that leads to success.
Presence:
Lots of road time for Becky and I today! Not only our long car ride, but we also had road time on our morning run. Throw in some trail time we had while we took Leia for a walk and it was a day of many moments shared together. I’m grateful for the extreme moments of presence shared together today – especially when we had exactly two seconds of sunlight peek through as we neared the exit for Lewiston. Even when we are doing some not so exciting adulting we can still be present and enjoy time together – and plan future vacations 😉
This was from a trip to San Francisco – we happened to catch a sunset in a low tide on the ocean!
In re-reading Ender’s Game I’m reminded of why I so enjoy diving more deeply into the most impactful books I’ve read. Today there were a few points in which I had to pause to re-read and reflect upon a sentence or two. When I’ve read it in the past those points were glossed over in my brain, but now they’ve awoken and have me thinking.
A specific example of this was a short line talking about a confrontation between Ender (the protagonist) and a terrible leader he had to work with. Ender talks about the hot anger of the bad leader vs the cool anger Ender held himself. His anger was able to be used for his benefit, the hot anger used the leader. Short and sweet reminder of controlling our emotions rather than allowing them to control us.
While I just wrote about it recently I’m still thankful for remembering the importance of diving deep into books over and over again to truly suck the marrow from their bones.
Appreciation:
Throughout much of my career I’ve led client meetings of all types. These were often to dig more deeply into how their productivity and profitability could be increased, to help them find ways to better engage their talent, and in learning how we could provide better value and service to them in the future. I scheduled, planned, prepared, and led those meetings.
Today was quite different, I was a participant of the meeting and thoroughly enjoyed the freedom of being able to listen and think. Throughout I was listening at a deeper level, seeing otherwise invisible connections, and then considering future solutions and opportunities. I was writing notes feverishly, afraid the thoughts might vanish before I had time to take stock of them. By the time the conversation was over I’d written several pages of notes and captured so many ideas and insights. It was AWESOME!!!
I used to find joy in the ego rush of leading a meeting, today I found a greater satisfaction and joy in listening and thinking. This is something I will work to do more often.
Presence:
Often our brains and fears and egos get in the way of having the difficult but necessary conversations we need to have. When we find the courage (or, more likely, the wisdom) to talk through the difficulty we find a deep sense of joy and connectedness, even if the end result is not what we desired. Today I was reminded that within these conversations when we open ourselves up completely and are fully vulnerable we often find a wildly deep sense of presence.
Thanks!!!
Presence is easily found in nature, but is also just as easily found in a difficult conversation.
Taking time to define the true issue is time well invested. It is easy to shoot from the hip and guess, but so much more successful to pause and make sure the right challenge is being solved in the first place.
This came up in two different ways yesterday, and both were handled better as a result of clearly defining the issue. Much research was involved, many different factors were examined, and once correlation it was found it was much easier to solve.
Appreciation:
While it may not be the most exciting thing to most people, I am very thankful for my list of books I like to read at least once per year. Each of them hit me for different reasons and are excellent reminders to dig deeper rather than just go wide. This month I’ve already read the following for the umpteenth times:
Awareness by Anthony de Mello
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
Today I started re-reading Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card and I have the following books all ready to go next:
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
Die with Zero by Bill Perkins
New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton
The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama and Bishop Tutu
Though the books are the same each time the me who reads them is always different and happens to learn new things from each. Their depth and complexity seem to increase with each read and the nuances catch me at different levels than the times before. Throw in some excellent reminders and I’m always so excited to read and re-read these books.
Presence:
This weather is AMAZING!!! The moment that really sticks out to me today was when I took my lunch cooler back out to my car a little before noon and soaked up the glorious Spring feeling weather – in late January! Later in the evening Gavin and I snuck out to the park next door to throw the football around while also taking in the unseasonably warm fresh air.
Very interesting insights from two different books today,
From Essentialism: We can multi-task, but we cannot multi-focus. We can accomplish multiple tasks at one time so long as they are so simple as to not need focus. We can only truly focus on one thing at a time. Choose what needs to be focused on.
From Atomic Habits: This is one I’ve likely mentioned before, but each time I read it the light bulb still lights up. You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems. Big goals without appropriate systems in place will not be accomplished. Dream big, put time into building the system to help you reach the dream.
Appreciation:
The song Winners and Losers by Social Distortion is one I like to load into my playlist from time to time to remind me of our ability to choose. Such a gritty gut punch, there is nothing to soften the blow of the lyrics. The music is so intentionally rough and reverberates through you while the lyrics cut deep into the choice we each make each moment of each day we are alive… ”Which one will I be today?”
Will I be the me who lives into the person I am called to be or will I be the me who makes the wrong choice, is pulled by temptation and ego, and lives further across the gap than I normally would be? Each day we struggle within ourselves to choose how we will live, how we react, how we see the world.
This song is a reminder of the struggle we each have every single day, the choice we have to make on how we will live our lives in each moment.
Winners and losers turn the pages of my life We’re beggars and choosers, with all the struggles and the strife I got no reason to turn my head and look the other way We’re good and we’re evil, which one will I be today? There’s saints and sinners Life’s a gamble and you might lose There’s cowards and heroes Both have been known now to break the rules There’s lovers and haters The strong and the weak will all have their day We’re devils and angels Which one will I be today? Are you happy now with all the choices you’ve made? Are there times in life when you know you should’ve stayed? Will you compromise, then realize the price is too much to pay? Winners and losers, which one will you be today? There’s a light and a dark side Standing at the crossroads, there we’ll meet There’s prophets and fools there The lies and the truth will be at our feet I got a reason To turn my head and look the other way It’s heaven and hell here Which one will I live today? Are you happy now with all the choices you’ve made? Are there times in life when you know you should’ve stayed? Did you compromise and realize the price was too much to pay? Winners and losers, which one will you be today? Which one will you be today? Which one will I be today?
Social Distortion – Winners and Losers
Presence:
This evening when I got home from work it was already dark, but Gavin and I turned on the lights and threw the football around outside. Of all of the moments of the day it was the one I was the most present in. Spending some bonus time with just the two of us, outside, and joking around was exactly what my soul needed. Those bonding moments are amongst my favorite!
What is the one thing that would make the biggest impact? If there was only one thing to focus on in a given situation what would give us the greatest traction? How could we leverage that one piece the most while ignoring or minimizing the trivial which may be disguised as important?
Over the past week my thoughts keep coming back to this. I usually try to enact several solutions and add new things in an effort to improve a challenging situation. I’ve been reminded of a story working with Dad when we were remodeling our kitchen and he taught me the power of thinking about the one most important point to focus all the energy – when he easily moved something I’d been sweating and busting my butt on for well over fifteen minutes.
With that mindset the world has looked very different today. I’ve paused, considered, and thought through some challenges to find the most impactful piece of the equation. Once I found it I’ve started working on it to move the dial in a positive direction and I’m seeing fairly quick and significant progress.
What a wonderful reminder for Future Mike – pause to make sure you are focusing on the one most impactful thing. You can’t do it all, not all action will have a return, put all the energy in one unified direction rather than spreading it out.
Appreciation:
Tonight I’m grateful for two similar but different things – journaling and stories. I’ve been reminded several times of how important they both are to my life recently.
Journaling is such a simple yet powerful way to organize thoughts and experiences. The memory of a journal is flawless so long as we populate it immediately. Having the ability to “time travel” back to a specific day and re-live something important and relevant to our lives is priceless. Taking the time to unpack an experience and apply thought to it also helps us process the world around us and our experiences in it so much more deeply.
Stories have the power to ell us exactly what we need to hear from the safety of being 10,000 feet away while being packaged in an easy to open box we can carry with us for years to open and re-experience when we need it. A simple parable will stick with us in ways that bare wisdom will not.
Both of these tools have been of huge benefit to me recently and I’m grateful for them.
Presence:
Throughout the day my awareness has been at a higher than normal level – and I haven’t done anything to force it. I’m not sure if it has to do with getting a better than usual night of sleep (quality and quantity) or with the solid action plan for the day or the mix of several different activities which all hit on different strength sets. From my run to work to my lifting to dinner at home to yoga to riding with Gavin while he drove on a spare tire for the first time I’ve been tuned in very well. Not sure how to replicate it, but thinking the more I pause to be aware of presence the more well grounded I will be more often.
Early bedtime is an awesome treat! Can’t wait to get a full night of sleep. The better the sleep on Sunday night the better the week typically goes.
Appreciation:
Spending the evening with some of my closest childhood friends was so much fun! We shared so many laughs, talked through old memories, created new ones, and did what friends like us do so well – spend time together enjoying each others company.
Presence:
This morning when we went out for breakfast we were seated right next to a table full of some of my Express friends! I hadn’t seen a few of them in quite some time and it was an awesome surprise seeing them in person. Nothing like serendipitously bumping into great friends while hanging out with other great friends!
What a timely post based on reading Essentialism 😉
I’m in the couple minutes between Gavin’s powerlifting meet and hanging out with dear friends so this is short one. Here’s an abbreviated list of gratitude today:
Watching Gavin grow mentally and physically
Spending quality gym time with Becky and Mom
The look of joy when someone out lifts their goal
Spending time with childhood friends
Remembering the difference between intent and compulsion
Thankful for Forty 