YOU ARE EXTRAORDINARY

There is incredible potential in every single one of us. By definition, potential simply means “having capacity to become something in the future.” So what are we becoming?  Are we proving that definition accurate? 

A WALK THROUGH CENTRAL PARK

I recently came back from a couple weeks in New York. I went for business initially and stayed an extra week as the family came in to spend some time in the city. We enjoy experiencing New York with a few of our favorite routines - visiting our favorite museum, passing some time in my favorite bookstore, listening to some jazz, seeing a show, getting in a few runs. This time we packed a lunch and decided to take it to Central Park one afternoon to eat out on the lawn.

DON’T TAKE IT OUT ON ME

This year is setting up nicely to not hit many of your expectations.

A BALLOON AND A POLAR BEAR

Today’s blog post is brought to you by the word “appreciation”. 

A JAPANESE LESSON IN BROOKLYN

There is a bench in Brooklyn that has been there for at least twenty five years. I know that because I have been coming to sit on that same bench for exactly that long. Something tells me that it had been there for 25 year before I even started coming.

THE POWER OF POTENTIAL

We all have potential. Too often we find ourselves comparing our judging our own potential on our present instead of our future. We look at ourselves and where we are right now. We compare our present situation to that of others in their present situation. We feel behind.

THE PLACE… IS THE PEOPLE

Everything is what you make it. If you go to Disney with those that you love with the expectation of it being the happiest place on earth, it will be.  It isn’t the place. It isn’t the rides. It isn’t the parades or ice-cream or fireworks. It is the people you are with.  

WINNING AT ALL COSTS

There’s an exhausting undercurrent in the world that flows through business and entrepreneurialism. It is a mindset of winning at all costs. It is easy to adopt this - after all you are a driven human being. You set goals. You knock them down. You are willing to make sacrifices for what matters to you.

WHAT ARE YOU OVERLOOKING?

We are all overlooking something in our lives. Do you know what it is? Do you know how to determine what is being overlooked? What does it tell us about ourselves when we figure out what we are overlooking?

FORGET THE VIEW FROM THE TOP

We set out before sunrise to reach the top of Camelback Mountain. It’s not a terribly difficult climb. It’s about 3,000 feet in elevation over the course of an hour. We were told that the view from the top was just stunning. The sunrise from the top was incredible. It’s worth getting to the top, we were told.

IT’S NOT ME. IT’S YOU.

It’s so easy to find yourself disappointed in other people.

THAT WAS NO ACCIDENT

There are no accidents. And yet, too often we like to explain life that way. For better or worse. We use “accident” or “luck” to explain away our wins and push away our losses. We don’t take credit for what we’ve created, and we don’t take ownership of our mistakes.

OWN IT AND APOLOGIZE

“I have made a lot of mistakes…but this one has been the most painful.”

“I am truly sorry and committed to rebuilding your trust.”

“We made a mistake … and what is important now is that we fix it.”

NOT JUST ANOTHER HALLMARK CARD

I’ve been thinking about the reminders we get from our calendar, from society, from strategically designed Hallmark commercials. Special days, special weeks, special months. The reminder to do things we should have thought to do before the reminder.

“ARE WE THERE YET? ARE WE THERE YET? ARE WE THERE YET?”

Last week I took my kids on a drive. I didn’t tell them where we were headed - just that we were going to be spending some time together. I didn’t tell them where we were going or how long it would take to get there. I just told them to be patient. That may have been my first of many mistakes.  

YOU ARE NOT AVERAGE

New York, and most cities for that matter, can provide renewed focus on avoiding the average. The past couple weeks have given me three distinct reminders on just how extraordinary humans really are.

WELL THAT WAS A BAD IDEA

I have plenty of people in my life that will tell me when I have a bad idea. In fact, I hear that almost daily. I suppose that means I either have really bad ideas, or it means I just have a lot of them. Either way, what makes something seem like such a great idea to me, but can be so easily shot down or proven to be ill-contrived by others?

IN A WORLD OF CHANGE - HUMANS NEED NOT COMPLY

Sure the world has changed, but humans need not change with it. We may not all live out on acreage. Most of us may have moved closer to town, and closer to work, and closer to schools, and closer to amenities. Yet in moving closer, the underlying sense in all of the comments is that we actually moved further away - from each other. 

THE DARK SIDE OF COMPETITION

This week I got back on the wagon. Well, more accurately, back on the bike.