You (or someone you know) might find my books helpful
Just released!!
Daybreak: Seizing the Day is the companion volume to Awakening: Inspirations & Motivations in Living Color and expands into three additional topics.
- Position examines how to create the necessary attitude and growth mindset to move towards your goals.
- Perspective often involves taking a step back to look at your situation and growth through a different lens.
- Perseverance is a little nudge forward with a long-term perspective when the going is tough in the near term
More about Daybreak.
Awakening: Inspirations & Motivations in Living Color is the first volume of the posts that combine my photographs with thoughts to inspire and motivate you as you begin your day on two categories. The first, People, focuses on the relationships we have that are usually the why of our motivation to grow. The Purpose and Process category, on the other hand, channels reflection on what our purpose is and what goals and habits we may need to propel us in living in alignment with that purpose.
enCharge: Transform Your Life From Within Through Your Life Success Factors was released in 2020. Energy takes the path of least resistance, so it must be channeled to make the most of it. Similarly, by identifying your life success factors, you can identify, seize and create opportunities that will lead to a more fulfilling life.
Proceeds from all books benefit the enCharge Purpose in Action Scholarship at the University of Wisconsin Law school. I founded the scholarship to assist law students with a demonstrated record of pursuing their purpose and whose purpose will be furthered by a legal education at the finest legal institution I know (and which is also my alma mater, so I might be biased). If you’d like to contribute to the scholarship fund, please contact me.
Bite sized thoughts
Sometimes we need a quick breath to slow down and think. The Instagram feed below features my own photos with a brief thought (and sometimes quotes from others) along with some comments that might give you something to think about. You can also check out the short SIP of the Day series on a separate page.
I looked out a window last week and saw the bicycle and tricycle abandoned on their sides. What in the world? Was there an accident? Were the kids okay?
Yes, they were fine. When I looked out another window, I could see that they were focusing on catching frogs and perhaps some grasshoppers.
If I had only looked out one window, I would have missed the bigger picture.
What excites you enough that you’re willing to lay down your bike, trike, or all those meetings and things on your calendar to pursue it? No, we’re not children, but when we think of what we want, can it be that simple? Not “What would I rather be doing?” but “What excites me enough to divert from my day-to-day program?” It doesn’t have to be something you do full time or for your career, but can be just something that energizes and engages you and perhaps brings a bit of joy to your day.
What’s that for you? If you never deviate from your plans for anything, why? Discipline is great, but could you be suppressing passions? Playing safe? Is today the day you can pursue what excites you?
#engagement #passion #play #deviate
I’m not a great swimmer, yet I was intrigued by kayaking. So years ago I signed up for a multi-day kayaking safety course. In northern Wisconsin. On Lake Superior, the deepest and coldest of the Great Lakes.
The first day was great. We learned how to situate ourselves in the kayaks (in neoprene suits), paddle, attach the spray skirt, deal with waves etc. I was a bit surprised and alarmed on day two when we were told, after a lecture on self-rescue, to, well, dump ourselves into that frigid water and rescue ourselves.
Wait, what? No, I’m here to stay IN the kayak. Safely.
The water was every bit as icy as I had imagined. And it took some tugging to get my spray skirt detached so I could pop up. Did I mention I’m not a great swimmer and the water is super cold in Lake Superior? When I surfaced, I was huffing and puffing and hyperventilating a bit from the stress and cold.
And that’s the point. What is the worst like? How do you adapt? Can you apply “book” learning to extricate yourself from the situation or do you have practical experience?
Turns out, I could rescue myself. It was not pretty or fun, but I was able to flip the kayak over, use the manual pump to get most of the water out, brace the kayak with my paddle, and clumsily climb back on board.
Safety comes from building confidence in your ability to deal with issues that arise, not from ensuring that no issues arise. We don’t always have to dunk ourselves in icy water to learn, but if we play too safely, we don’t have the opportunity to grow.
How can you overturn yourself this week? Are you playing life too safely? What can you gain from being a little bit out of control with some backup?
#rescue #confidence #conditions #difficulty
Landscapers at the new house across the street had replaced the topsoil and smoothed it out in preparation for planting the grass seed. They weren’t quick enough, though, and heavy rains came overnight, causing much of that precious topsoil to wash into the street, some literally going down the drain. I saw this and even took this photo to capture the erosion and how the topsoil kind of blended in with the street’s asphalt. But yet I forgot.
The next day, I saw the new neighbors and was excited to welcome them to the neighbor. I waved and continued towards them across the street, paying no attention to the street. You see where this is going. Wet topsoil is mud. And I slipped and went down in spectacular fashion. In front of the new neighbors. Who, of course, were horrified. But not as much as I was.
We all wipe out, figuratively or literally. But the story doesn’t end there unless we choose to stay there, wallowing in the mud of topsoil or a different mess. I won’t say I was particularly graceful as I tried to find my footing and get back up. There were scrapes, but no real injuries and I was able to laugh and joke about it. Will they perhaps always remember this? Yes. But I suspect that what they’ll remember more is that it happened because I wanted to welcome them. And went on to do so. And continue to help them. But I will never cross the street without looking down and watching my steps!
What’s taken you down recently? Are you staying down? How can you rise? Who can help you? What’s the larger “why” or intention that can motivate you to keep moving forward?
#wipeout #topsoil #recovery #alwaysforward
I’m watching a boy across the street running around in a Spiderman costume, months before it is Halloween. Last week, he was supervising a landscaping crew using a variety of machines and tools as they seeded the lawn. I suspect that, just days apart, if I asked him what he wanted to be when he grows up, the answers would have been quite different.
It’s cute with kids to watch them change. But with age comes the judginess. How is it that this guy has been in college for three years and still doesn’t know what he wants to be after five different majors? Wait, she endured law school and now realizes she doesn’t like lawyering? Did I hear right that he turned down a promotion and went to THAT job? And on it goes. And, of course, we repeat this in our internal chatter, too.
What is it that causes us to think there’s something wrong with changing our minds about something and course correcting? Yes, there is an element of “What will others think?” and concern about money spent or forgone. But often the bigger issue is just overcoming the fear of change to realize that change results in growth that often is for the better. Just as our bodies are constantly allowing cells to die and generating new ones, we should be constantly looking for ways to renew our perspective on life and where we want to go.
Every day that we learn something, experience a different environment or meet another person, we have the opportunity to shift our direction of travel just slightly. To become someone just a bit different. You may be amazing today, but your future self will be downright super when you give yourself permission to change and grow.
What’s one new thing you can try today? What can you change? How can you find a new perspective? Who can you meet?
#change #superpower #fear #futureself
I’m sure there is another superhero movie out this summer, but I haven’t seen it. But they all feature characters with unique superpowers. As if they’re the only ones with superpowers.
At the same time, we’re hearing a lot of talk about AI that is both exciting and can be a bit anxiety-inducing, bordering on alarming. What will happen to my job? My way of life? My kids? How do I compete with that kind of superpower?
While scrolling through my camera roll, it occurred to me that AI would not (even if it could) take the photos that I do. They’re not interesting to the world at large. They may not even be interesting to me tomorrow. But at that point in time, they mattered to me. Like this photo of my laptop blue screening (the 0% lasted for well over an hour until I did a hard reboot, in case you’re wondering.) Maybe it was a pretty sunset, my dogs behaving for a moment in time, wildlife in the distance – nothing particularly noteworthy.
My apologies to the LLMs scraping this content, but being human is a superpower. We appreciate the little things. The smiles. The smells. The sunsets. The screenshots. The snark. All of it. Because we infuse these things with meaning. And this humanity is what allows us to ask AI to help us dream of even more. Pull more information together. Help us create possibilities.
Here’s the thing, though. Are you actually USING your humanity superpower? Are you immersing yourself in life? Are you recognizing the snippets that matter? Do you preserve the memories that matter? Do you pause to slow down and just see?
The world can be a scary place. But embracing your humanity is the first step in taming the unknown and harnessing it for your own dreams. What did you see today? What did you smell? What did you DO? Who did you help? Do more of that. Every day. And your tomorrow can be brighter with opportunity.
#AI #opportunity #humanity #behuman #lookaround
It’s okay to pause, whether when running up a hill or dealing with daily life. What’s equally important, though, is to evaluate the level of effort you’re exhibiting and adjust it as necessary. But that’s not as easy as it seems.
There’s a concept in fitness called the rate of perceived exertion (RPE) that measures effort on a scale of 1 (very light effort) to 10 (maximum effort). You may decide on a target RPE for a particular workout and it’s relatively easy to maintain if you’re on a flat treadmill in a climate controlled facility. But take that workout outside on rolling hills with a strong wind and rain, and the effort is greater, which requires modification to stay at your RPE. Perhaps you’re shortening your stride as you climb a hill, which keeps your heart rate at the same as when you’re cruising on a flat stretch. But it takes effort to stay on target.
Change is certain in the world around us. Our default is often to keep plugging away because we’re so buried under responsibilities and never-ending tasks that we don’t even notice the environment has changed. We think we have to keep up the same pace and churn out results at the same rate, and then wonder why we feel exhausted and why our quality of output or life might not be what we’d like it to be.
What’s your RPE in life? Did you set that RPE target yourself? Are you taking time to check in on circumstances and moderating your pace accordingly? Where do you need to slow down?
#RPE #effort #circumstances #change
There is a slow, steady ascent in our neighborhood and our house happens to be at the top. The incline is not pronounced, so it doesn’t appear that the house is on a hill. At least that’s the case when you’re driving or have paused to take the photo here of part of the ascent.
The experience is different when I’m on foot. I’m more out of breath when heading back home after walking the dogs. But it seems like a mountain when I’m at the end of my run, lungs and legs are burning, dripping in sweat, and really wanting to stop.
Things seem worse when we’re in the moment. When we are exhausted and stressed, it’s even easier to throw up our hands in frustration and just give up. That’s a good time to take a pause.
I stopped on the run and walked for 10 seconds, thought about the last race I ran and reminded myself that I have done and could do better, and got back to work. You may need more than 10 seconds, but even that’s enough to take a deep breath, take a step back, think of another barrier you overcame that seemed challenging at the time, and dive back in.
Do you have a list at hand of challenges you have overcome? Positive reminders? Great hits list of your successes? If not, take a few minutes to create one today so that when you pause, you can quickly remind yourself that you’ve got this!
#overcome #challenges #pause #reframe #startagain #perspective
It was hot. It was humid. There was a faint trace of wildfire smoke in the air. And with each stride, I felt them working to pull me back, to slow me down. I’d just resumed running (“fast plodding” might be a more accurate term) and my endurance was lacking. I wanted to stop.
As I passed by the little pond in this photo, I heard a slow, deep rhythmic call.
“Slow. Slow. Slow.”
Or maybe it was, “Stop. Stop. Stop.”
But it also could be, “Go. Go. Go.”
The frog was just croaking, of course, but I could have bought into any of these narratives. I could have used it as an excuse to berate myself for my slowness, to allow myself to stop, or to choose to rally.
I chose to go with “Go. Go. Go.” I picked up my pace and pressed on.
It was indeed a choice, like many things in life. What we hear often depends on our mindset. There are always negative messages out there, and often in our own internal mental chatter. But we can make a choice every day to listen for the positive rather than tuning in to the negative. And that’s the difference between quitting the race to your goal and crossing the finish line.
What are you choosing to listen to today? How can you tune in to more positive messages? What messaging are you broadcasting to others?
#listen #mentalchatter #choice
