Adventure Mindedness
I do not want to die having not lived. I don’t want to look back on my life having never mattered to the full extent of my potential. I want to take this life God has seen fit to provide me - my strengths and weaknesses, my insights and ignorances, my loves and my doubts - and do what I can to make the world a better place all the while having fun in the process. Is that too much to ask? When I think of adventure, I think of travel to locations you’d see in a magazine. A bucket list [...]
Idiot
Ok, so I’ve grown up a little. I have a long, uncomfortable history of saying or doing something that if I had a little more self-awareness, I’d have been humiliated. But somewhat fortunate for me, I’ve had the self-awareness of a tree stump. It’s only somewhat fortunate for me because I’ve come to conclude that I have hurt my trajectory in life with my immature mindset. I’ll explain that, but first some examples of embarrassment and my thinking that went with them. I’m highlighting my thinking from back then to see if you have similar thoughts. If you do, it might serve you [...]
What’s Your Integrity Worth
Over the last 3 weeks I’ve talked about life’s difficulties. Today’s Letter discusses one of the most challenging things you’ll face over your lifetime. Maybe not the sharpest pain, but one that is “long and tough”. It was 1987. I was 26 years old. I was living hand to mouth. Parking downtown in a lot cost $3 in some far away location from where I worked. Somehow I figured out how to avoid paying the $3. ….$3. Here I was sneaking around an unattended gate arm for $3. What a loser. After doing this the day before and coming [...]
“Never give in, never give in…” – Part 2
I'm hoping from last week’s letter that you gathered a little insight that might encourage more personal resolve in your life. In life you will encounter difficulty and ‘right-mindedness’ is essential to growing through that experience. I want to expand on each takeaway so that it becomes a little more real and less a bumper sticker slogan. Takeaway 1: Keep your eyes on the horizon. Life gets increasingly complex the older you get because you increasingly buy into things that matter and thereby take on more ownership of your life. Therefore the idea that something is difficult arises because [...]
“Never give in, never give in…”
"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense." Winston Churchill, 1941. On a plaque in my office I have the pith of that quote - “Never, Never, Never, Give In”. It has served me well these 25 years of self employment. I didn’t understand that philosophy in my twenties back when the smell of my freshly minted undergraduate diploma still tingeing the air. I began my career with little experience and less idea of the road ahead, only the certainty [...]
The Baton
Sunday the 10th marks the 11th quick long year since my dad’s death. I wrote this Letter in honor of him and my father-in-law Steig. I love them and miss them both. Life is short gents, so please don’t let small things get in the way. Do you have someone you could honor while they’re still here? And as a father, be honorable. To my Dad: The sweat dripped from his brow as he scaled the hill. His muscles were fit but lean from the years of training. No longer carried by the meaty limbs of his youth that [...]