“THAT’S NOT FAIR!”

In life when things don’t go the way we expect, the way we want, or the way we would design it, somewhere we have this trigger that pulls out the “that’s not fair” card. 

LOSE INTEREST. FIND COMMITMENT.

…interest can either grow or wane.  We’ve all dated that person that became more and more interesting as time went on.  And we have all dated that person that we lost interest in.  Our goals can be just like dating.

NO FALSE EMERGENCIES

What do we allow to be emergencies in our life? Perhaps more important, what do we individually define as an emergency? The true definition of the word emergency is a “serious, unexpected, and dangerous situation requiring immediate action”.

THE SECRET IN-BETWEEN THE PAST AND THE FUTURE

Our minds wander to the past for regret. Our minds wander to the future to plan.

KEEP ON FILLING. YOU WON'T GET FULL.

We are often searching for jobs, careers, relationships that fulfill us. Or maybe we feel we found that. We tell ourselves that we go to bed each day fulfilled. But what does that mean?

A STORM IS BUILDING

As terrible as a tropical storm is in nature, we want our business to be as powerful as a category 5. 

*Photo courtesy of NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory

LET ME SAVE YOU THE TICKET PRICE

The path to your preferred future will be hard and boring all at the same time. If it was easy, then everyone would be at the same level of success.

GO SPEND TIME

As a New Yorker, I often heard the expression “time is money.”  It’s easy to buy into that and make sure every minute of every day is accounted for. The fallacy however lies in the fact that that expression is an equation. It means that time is equal to money.  When in reality it isn’t.

VERY LITTLE

We need very little to survive. We need very little to be happy. We need very little to live experientially.

BRING THE BOAT IN

Leadership is bringing people down a path to their preferred future. As you jumped into the rough water and began bringing the boat in, the unexpected happened.  

“YOU HAVEN’T CHANGED A BIT!”

Unless we have a picture from the past to compare to our present, it will be difficult to know if we are different. Change needs to be detected so that change can be controlled.

TO SOLVE OR TO RESOLVE?

Your biggest business opportunity is creating a simple solution to a complex problem. There are simple solutions all around you.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A YAK SHAVER

I came across an expression this week while reading that I had not heard before... “Shaving a yak” was meant to relate to doing a bunch of tasks, or many hours of work, that really didn't contribute to what you set out to do that day.

PLACE YOURSELF IN THE RIGHT ENVIRONMENT

As humans, when we try something new we tend to stay on the outside, dipping our toe in the water perhaps. We need to play all-in. We need to dive into the middle of the pool. We need to jump into a new environment. Environment is a choice. Place yourself in the right environment.

THE PANTS FROM PARIS

People often times fall into a trap which they labeled as the “sunk-cost effect”. Humans tend to continue down a path or stay committed to a behavior if they have invested money, effort, or time into that path already. How do we break this sunk cost bias and assure ourselves that we aren’t continuing down a path simply because we already have too much money, effort, and time attached?

RUN THE PLAY

I’d put five average players on the court executing the perfect playbook over five All-Stars running on enthusiasm and high energy any day of the week.

IT’S TIME TO ADD SOME HEAT

What are the entrepreneurial lessons from fire?

Have the best fuel.
Apply a heat source.
Keep your oxygen flowing.

IF THE WORLD WAS ENDING

If the world was ending, would we think differently, act differently, be differently?

BE A CHILD AGAIN

At some point this week I realized that one of the most commonly printed, stated, and used words of the year has been RESILIENCE. As I stopped to think about it, I can certainly see why. It also made me realize that I was building a team, a group of friends, and a family that used that word consistently. It reminded me that I had placed myself in an environment that gravitated towards or focused on “resilience" in lieu of “pandemic” or “recession” or “social unrest”…all words that have also been quite popular in the media and the world outside…just not inside. More on that later.

A WALK IN THE WOODS

I spent some time in the woods today. And by “some time” I mean the entire day. I walked in the woods, I ran in the woods, I read in the woods, I climbed in the woods, I ate in the woods, and I slept in the woods. If you tried to reach me today, I apologize. I was only taking calls from the woods today. There were a lot of those, as long as I listened and was willing to take the call. Being in the woods wasn’t necessarily on the agenda for today but certain days you need to clear the agenda to open your mind in order to solve some problems.