Today was the last day of the “Christmas Wish Express.” This was an event put on by our Winona team with the intent of helping others in our community. It was an opportunity for family, friends, and coworkers to nominate someone who needed a helping hand this Christmas. My teammates had an awesome idea for this Christmas season.

I can’t even begin to express just how incredible these past couple of weeks have been. Not just because it’s our team, but because of the increased Christmas spirit it brought all of us and so many others. It grew and blossomed into not just helping the handful of people we were hoping to help, but in so many other beautiful ways. While it wouldn’t be right to share all the details let’s just say I am moved to tears by the generosity, giving, love, and passion of my teammates, our associates, our clients, and all of their families. The Christmas spirit is alive and well within all of us.

This morning one of my teammates shot me a text with a quote that his wife had just sent him. It totally hit the nail on the head…

I’m so thankful that we have had the opportunity to give. The warmth and joy in our hearts is the best Christmas present we could ever hope for. I’m forever grateful to have had the opportunity to play a small role in this incredible experience that touched so many in so many beautiful ways.

Thanks!!!

Today one of my teammates asked a great question.  “Mike, if you’re incentives are based on hitting goals and you set the goals, why do you always choose crazy high goals that aren’t always realistic?”  I couldn’t help but smile and remind her that we’d just hit the “crazy high goal that wasn’t realistic” this year.  But then it got me thinking and I shared my thoughts.  My apologies to the team for getting on my soapbox at the time, but the more I think of it, I’m pretty thankful for the way I think I like that.

When I dream or set goals I almost always go to the extreme.  Take for instance running. Haven’t run more than 15 minutes at one time in over a decade?  Screw it, I’m training for a marathon.  Why settle for one office when I could shoot for twenty?  You get the point…  I’m not one for setting easily attainable goals.

Over the past few months I’ve been able to do some awesome things that I’m super proud of and they were only possible because of crazy big dreams and goals I set for myself.  Had I settled for mediocrity they may have kind of happened, but not with nearly the same intensity or joy.

I don’t want to live an average life, do the normal things, and settle for being good.  I want to do great things, live incredible experiences, and leave crazy wide path of joy in others in my wake.  Why be good when I can be great?

To do great I need to push insanely hard.  I need to be willing to fail.  Not that I want to fail, but I’d rather fail forward while pushing towards an excellent cause than hit some lame goal that didn’t stretch me.  I want to grow and learn and become better.  That means taking educated risks, but risks nonetheless.  I refuse to live in fear of failure, I live in fear of wasting my life and squandering my short opportunity to live a life I’ll be proud of when it’s my turn to go.

Fail?  Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.  As soon as failure hits I pick myself back up, dust myself off, and remember to keep making relentless forward progress.  I remind myself why the goal is so important to me.  I learn from my failure and set a new path.  I persist.  Failing will happen, but I will not quit.

So if the fear of failure is non-existent why not shoot for the stars?  As I said, my biggest fear is letting myself down, not living a great life, not doing all that I can, not doing all of my loved ones and mentors proud, and having regret.  With those fears I have to push the envelope and straddle the line of possible and improbable.  Sometimes I over step and have to reset.  Sometimes I under step and need to push further forward.  At the end of the day I really don’t know what is possible until I’ve reached failure…  but even then I won’t quit, I’ll find a different way or work harder.

Whew, this has gotten to be a bit of a ramble!  The long and short of it is this…  I am thankful for setting goals and dreams that push the boundaries and straddle that line of what’s possible and what’s not.  I fear not taking advantage of this wonderful gift of life I’ve been given and doing something great with it.  If I dream big I can more easily avoid the pitfalls of playing it safe.  The bigger I dream the more I live.  Wow, that’s really it in a sentence, isn’t it?  The bigger I dream the more I live.

And that’s why I’m thankful for blogging to work these thoughts out sometimes…  All those earlier paragraphs can be condensed into those seven words.  That’s why I’m thankful for dreaming big…  The bigger I dream the more I live.

Thanks!!!

At the risk of getting a little too sappy this will probably be a little bit of a shorter blog post.

Today I’m finding myself being more and more thankful for my Christmas role models. Between my mom & dad, Becky, and my boys I’m so blessed to have so many people who help me celebrate Christmas and live the Christmas spirit. Each of them has inspired me in so many ways.

My mom taught and still teaches me to appreciate the magic of Christmas.

My mom and dad showed how to enjoy giving more than receiving.

Becky inspires me with the way she truly lives the Christmas spirit.

My boys remind me to appreciate the moment and are little mirrors that reflect back how well I’m living what I’ve learned from my parents and Becky.

Through all of them I’m reminded to appreciate the reason for Christmas. I’m thankful the ultimate in Christmas role models, the one who gave everything for all of us.

I am so blessed to be surrounded by so many people who exemplify the Christmas spirit.

Thanks!!!

When I’m driving several days a week it’s tough to pause and enjoy the journey. I’ve recently been able to cut back to about one long drive per week which has been great!

My early morning drive to Menomonie started in the black of night (in the morning) and really got beautiful from about 7:20 until 7:50. I was reminded of something Leonard da Vinci used to do – pay close attention to how the colors transform with slight changes to lighting. The sun was just right and I could almost see the colors of the sky slowly shift as the sun rose and caught the clouds and bluffs just right. To make it even better the white frost on the trees added no opportunity for the light to reflect the colors. The shift from dark blue to deep red to light pink to orange was awesome!

Seeing as cell coverage is very limited in that area I usually have an audiobook playing. Today was the same until I started to pay closer attention to the drive. At that time I fired up some great tunes and enjoyed 30 minutes of natural beauty.

I’m so thankful for an amazing start to the day!

Thanks!!!

Today’s been an awesome day all around.  From starting the day with a run with Becky on a brisk morning.  Getting the heart pumping first thing in the morning always feels great, but something about the frigid air actually felt even better this morning!

On my way to work I was listening to a wonderful book, Natural Born Heroes by Chris McDougal.  It’s a book that’s been motivating me to think about how and why I’m exercising and how to improve my level of grit in the meantime.  Taking the time to sharpen the saw on my drive was a great way to get my brain more engaged for the day.

Right off the bat at work one of my mentors helped me see a challenge in a different light and see how I can sometimes miss things when I don’t pause to consider other options.  It  was a great opportunity to learn.

During the day there were a couple of opportunities to make a difference and it felt great!  Nothing crazy, but just a couple of moments when I mentally paused, maybe did a fist pump, and felt pretty good about doing a job well done.

After dinner we busted out a new card game that I’d heard about from our friend Adam. There were many laughs as we played quite possibly the most ridiculous game ever, “We Didn’t Playtest This At All.”  It was great spending time with the family doing something we love, playing games.

While the game was being played we were also talking about our upcoming vacation.  One of the only things that is almost as good as going on vacation is planning a vacation! As George Bailey once said, “”You know what the three most exciting sounds in the world are? Anchor chains, plane motors & train whistles.”  I’d add a fourth, the whisper of vacation books pages turning and the conversations that ensue.

What a complete day!

Thanks!!!

Today Becky’s parents made a trek to La Crosse to see the sun…  and us!  We’re thankful they made the long three plus hour drive to hang out for a while.  It was great to hang out, shoot the bull, and just spend some time together.

As we were starting to wind down for the night I pulled up my Facebook memories from the past years.  Two years ago today the boys and I kicked off our Pizza Weekend!  Over the course of that weekend we had pizza for every single meal from Friday supper through Sunday supper.  Five years ago we were ringing bells as a family and we recorded this gem of a video:

Seeing how much his energy level has stayed exactly the same cracks me up!  Last night at church as we were the greeters he was helping to hold the doors while in between he was doing some of these same types of things – including running back and forth in the entry way.  So wild seeing how much the boys have grown in the past five years.

Thanks!!!

 

After a great night of hanging out with friends for dinner and a comedy show I couldn’t help but chuckle at the Facebook memories that popped up from the past two years.

Two nights ago I wrote about being thankful for things I wanted to keep to myself… check out the first couple of sentences from last year…

Then last night I wrote about Gavin’s fixation on a Johnny Cash song. Look at my post from two years ago today…

What are the odds of both of those being the same? That cracks me up! Isn’t it crazy how things like that work out sometimes? Gotta love moments like this. 😁

Thanks!!!

When the boys and I were heading home from hunting I fired up a little Johnny Cash for the boys and somehow one of the songs really planted a seed in Gavin’s brain… a couple of nights ago he asked me to play that song out of the blue and he’s listened to it countless times, often while singing along to it. It cracks me up seeing him get so into a song I love, and just kind of crazy how much he likes it as it’s not his normal type of jam (he’s more of an Imagine Dragons kind of guy). I totally understand how he’s stuck on the song as I often fixate on one song for long periods of time too.

On Sunday night we headed out for Steve’s birthday to play some games and chill. The game we played is The Thing, the same game we played as a group a couple of months ago. Just like last time we had a blast and had to play it a couple of times. Earlier in the week I had the following birthday exchange on Facebook based on the game:

Tonight as Kathy was cutting my hair we were still laughing about the game and just how much fun it was. While there are many board games that I enjoy immensely this is one that I’ve created so many fun memories with.

Even when Jeremy tells the story of how he came across the game I can’t help but laugh out loud. He was at Jimmy Jam’s and was considering Pandemic, a cooperative game Until Jeremy explained we’re more of a cut throat kind of gaming buddies. The owner laughed and said that he totally had to get The Thing. Boy was he right! So much fun has been had with that game and it’s not even starting to get old yet.

Thanks!!!

Throughout the day and over the past week I’ve had more than a few things come to mind that I am incredibly grateful for, but they are the kinds of things that are better left unshared.  Nothing mean or negative or controversial or anything along those lines.  They are pretty amazing things, things that fill my heart with great joy, and that bring a deeper sense of purpose to my life.

I share my gratitude very openly and publicly, but this is one of the few times in the past 1,165 days that there wasn’t a way for me to tap dance around what I’m thankful for.  As such you’ll just have to trust me that I’m taking the time to appreciate what they mean to me.  As the kids nowadays say, “#sorrynotsorry.”

Thanks!!!