After spending the weekend with a friend, I thought deeply about our conversations. He has 7 kids and 6 are still at home. I have 2 with 1 married and the other nearly self-sufficient. He is 2 years older than me with 14 more years to raise kids. I’m done. His challenge? It’s expensive raising kids and…

Consistency in any area of your life builds character, muscle memory, good and bad habits, and a foundation for creating just about anything. “Don’t break the chain” is a phrase used by Jerry Seinfeld when he described how he became a successful comedian. Seinfeld made a commitment to writing new comedy material every day and placing a…

The easy path is, well, easy. And it is rarely your best choice. Personal growth is not easy. It takes time, effort and focus. And it sometimes produces pain. Not the physical kind of pain, but the mental kind. To become “great” at anything, it takes consistent, daily effort. “Every-once-in-awhile” won’t do it. At least it won’t…

But that’s not possible. Ever. Doing something for the second time is possible, but re-doing or re-living a day is not. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. If you only give 80% today, you can’t give 120% tomorrow to make up for it. Today is gone and you can’t give more than 100% in a day.…

If it isn’t changing, I’m not growing. When I started working in my industry 26 years ago, my role was different than it is today. Back then, tactical activities filled my days. I fixed things with hammers and nails and other tools. Today, there are three people working for me that do what I did…

In his book, Are You Fully Charged?, author, Tom Rath, says “Work is a purpose, not a place.” He also says people want “work that will allow them to create meaning for others.” If the odds tell us more people dislike their job than those who like it, maybe it’s because they are not doing…

That’s a great question, and one Darren Rowse asks himself every night at bed time. He also asks this one: What did I do today that seemed to give other people energy? When we do things that energize us, it’s a good sign that we are doing good things. The right things. If too many…

Have you ever said that? It’s one of the hardest things I ever say. Going through life with an overburdened schedule is unproductive and, frankly, unhealthy. Saying “no” more often and asking for help are two remedies. It’s hard to say “no” when we feel we are letting people down. Especially people we care about.…

That’s a great question to ask before making any decision. If I am thinking about buying a new camera, for example, I need to know why. The flimsy “because it takes better pictures” argument won’t work. Or it shouldn’t. Why, really, does it matter if I do or do not buy the camera? If I…

When I stopped at the grocery store after work today, I noticed people, meaning, I actually took note of people. A young couple fawning over each other as they left the store. An older, lonely looking man with one bag of groceries. An aging couple, looking tired from what life had thrown at them. Across the parking lot…