When you're struggling to find clarity avoid these three things - comparing yourself to others, not understanding your why, and second guessing yourself. ...
Continue readingTommy Boy And Deep Work
(Originally posted on LinkedIn today) David Spade’s character in Tommy Boy was prophetic. When he told Chris Farley’s character Tommy “Let’s say the average person uses ten percent of his brain. How much do you use? One and a half percent. The rest is filled with malted hops and bong resin.” How often do...
Continue readingThank You, Selma
There are moments in life where I am touched by something so deeply that it immediately makes me wish my mom was still alive to see it as well. They bring me to tears just as she used to be brought to tears by Maria Callas, or a story about her father, or sometimes...
Continue readingIce Cube Trays
Is inconvenience really a bad thing? Sometimes there is value in being more closely connected to the process and final product. You might have to do more work and wait a little longer, but you’ll value the end result much more. ...
Continue readingA Barrow Full Of Pumpkins
This weekend we went to Shuh Farms in Mount Vernon with the cousins. We bought 154 pounds of pumpkins and carted them back to Seattle today. I’ve been thinking about the experience. The kids ran into the pumpkin patch and were quickly carrying back any and every pumpkin they came across. Little discernment or...
Continue readingSlices Of Life
There are a lot of “experts” out there. Trying to tell you how to win at life in just nine easy steps. So much of it is nonsense. They don’t know you. But they sure want to help you solve all your problems for a small fee. I am no expert. Sure I’ve done...
Continue readingStuck
Change your scenery. Change your energy. If you’re feeling stuck go somewhere new. Get up. Move around. Breath deeply in and out. It’s such simple advice. But for some reason we stay stuck. Rooted in place doing nothing and indulging ourselves. Go to the woods. Go to a river. Ride a bike. Get up...
Continue readingSlow Down
Eat fast. Exercise fast. Do the dishes as quickly as possible. Driving over the speed limit. There are endless ways humans are obsessed with going fast. And a lot of times doing things quickly ends up badly. A tummy ache. A pulled hamstring. A broken plate. Or a speeding ticket. To what end? Most...
Continue readingRon Swanson
Do one thing really well. Or two things crappily. Seems like an easy choice right? And yet we often choose to do two things not very well. Is it fomo? Stubbornness? Wouldn’t doing one thing really well feel better? I have a hard time with this. I want to do it all. But I...
Continue readingDrastic Cuts
Kady’s grandfather once showed me how to prune roses. He was ruthless. He’d point at something and say “that’s just junk. Get rid of it.” We’d prune until the bush was a fraction of what it was. But low and behold the next year it would be full of roses. It might feel harsh...
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