The Fire Within

If you've ever studied how lions hunt you will see a pretty simple pattern in their hunting style. Their goal is to separate one of the slowest and the weakest from the rest of the herd. A lion facing a herd of water buffalo will easily be killed. But if he can scare the herd into thinking about self preservation, they will scatter and the slow and weak members of the herd will be left behind. While it may seem like we aren't in a survival mode like in the wild, we do face the same tactic. Bullies at any level try to separate and take people on one-on-one. If you are the biggest kid in the class you can probably beat up anyone if they are by themselves. But it is highly doubtful you will see someone take out multiple people at once. When the herd unites and turns to face the lion, the lion will back down. The divide and conquer strategy is one of the oldest tricks in the book, yet we continue to fall for it. We should always be aware. There are extremely serious situations

It is easy to want problems to just go away. We've all faced some problems where our answer is if we ignore it or put off dealing with it maybe it just ceases being a problem. Sometimes that can be effective, but it all depends on what type of problem you are facing. The area where it almost never works is when there is interpersonal problems between you and another person. You are never going to get along with everyone. At work or school there are people that just have different ideas from you and you will always be like oil and water. Recognizing the fact that you aren't going to be best friends is one thing, but ignoring issues that make it hard for you and another to work together is completely different. If you are in a leadership position it is important to identify areas where team members just don't get along. In sports you will often see it where a member of the team is traded because they just don't fit in with the rest of the team. Generally there are eno

This post was first published on Christmas Eve. Can we even call it that anymore? We live in a world where we are all striving for political correctness. We either don't want to offend or are told we must not offend. Christmas has become the time of year where we take the notion of not offending anyone to an extreme. Society seems to believe we can no longer say Merry Christmas for fear of upsetting non-Christians. We simplify it as generically as possible to "The Holidays". I understand that not everyone believes in Jesus Christ, but even if you don't believe, it doesn't change what the day is, Christmas. We haven't renamed December 25th as Consumerists Day to celebrate the massive amount of retail spending that we do, though maybe we should considering what we focus on. It is called Christmas. Even if you don't believe chances are you work for a company that is closed on Christmas Day. My hope is never to offend anyone, but I'm also not going to

We have many words that we use to describe how we want people to behave at work and in life. We want people to be accountable, to be responsible, to take ownership or take the lead. Often I feel that gets misinterpreted as control. Take the word ownership, when we think we own something for some reason we think we can control it. If you own a business you are in charge, and there are pieces you can control. You can control who you hire and fire. You can control your pricing. You can control the features your product has. You have no control over how the people behave, if your customers like your product and if anyone will buy it. If you own a house you can control the temperature and the color of the walls but you can't control a storm breaking a window. If you own a car you can control how often you wash it but you can't control if someone hits you in the parking lot. Being accountable or responsible can be viewed in a similar fashion. It is important to find the right w

There are times when changes need to be made, as a leader this is one of your most critical times and it will probably define if you are successful or not. It doesn't matter what the change is. It could be having to lay off a bunch of workers, bench your player that has started all year, or implement a new process or policy. The way you handle communication during those moments of transition are vital. The most common mistake people make, they think they are clear. They explained it once, sent out a memo or told their direct reports and told them to pass along the information. Whatever method you used I guarantee you it wasn't enough. Change is hard and you need to repeat the message to make sure it is clear, consistent and everyone is actually on the same page. The other factor that most often gets overlooked is how much people will talk to each other. You can end every email, speech and memo with an invite to ask any questions, yet people will talk to each other more than

There is a concept in personal finance coined by Dave Ramsey as the Debt Snowball. The concept is pretty simple, you make a list of all of your debts from smallest to largest and you pay the minimum required on each item except the smallest. You then make as large of a payment as you possibly can on your smallest debt until you have paid it off. Once it is gone you take everything you were paying, plus the amount paid for your second smallest debt and work towards paying it off. You continue until you are debt free. I did this earlier in my life when I had some credit card debt, a student loan, a car loan and my mortgage. First step was to make sure I had a budget so I didn't accumulate new debt. After that I was able to pay off everything but my mortgage in about 15 months. The key with the Debt Snowball is that you need to recognize there are mental games we can play to reward us and motivate us. The strategy isn't to identify the highest interest rate debt or which one g

If you are a fan of college football, you have to like seeing the story playing out at LSU this year, especially for their head coach, Ed Orgeron. Orgeron got into coaching as soon as his college playing days were over and after 20 years as an assistant got the opportunity to be the head coach of Ole Miss in 2005. Things didn't go well and he was fired after just 3 seasons. Back to being an assistant he worked his way back up as a top assistant and in 2013 was named interim head coach at USC after their head coach was fired during the season. At the end of his interim season he thought he would get a second chance to be a head coach, but it didn't work out that way. After being passed over for the head coaching position he resigned and took a year off. In 2015 he was once again an assistant with LSU. Little did he know that one year later, part way through the 2016 season he was back in a familiar position, his head coach fired and acting as the interim head coach. This time th

What people want to do is a question we start asking people very early. We ask kids from an early age what they want to be when they grow up. My first grader already answers very confidently that she wants to be a teacher when she grows up. I believe it comes from her admiration she has always had for her teachers. As kids get older we start asking what their plans are after high school, are they going to college, what do they plan on studying. When we talk with someone in college or a parent of a college student we ask what their major is. Sometimes in those conversations kids and young adults don't know. My dad joke response is usually, "That's okay, I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up." I'm in my 40's and I think I am finally pretty clear about what I want to do in my life. Maybe it means I'm finally all grown up. I recently heard a stat the average millennial has had 7 different jobs in their life. The irony i

Are you clear about what your role is? I'm not talking about your job or position, because that should be pretty clear. But your role can change project-to-project or game-to-game. I'll use a sports analogy because it is pretty clear, if you are a wide receiver, that is your job. But your role can change depending on the game, the opponent, the score and the play called. If it is a running play your role as a wide receiver is to block down field. If you run a route on a running play trying to get open to catch a pass it doesn't help your team at all. Everywhere else is it is the same. My job is a project manager, but at times I have to be a business analyst, systems architect, tester, trainer, etc. It changes by project and by what is needed in the moment. The clarity that is needed is by being on the same page with the other people on the team. At the start of the project if roles are defined you don't just decide to change unless the whole team is clear with the c

Stereotypes bug me. As a society we tend to be lazy when it comes to understanding people as individuals. We put labels on people based on age, generation, race, sex, class, or political stance. Sure it is easier to think in generalizations, but do we even know where these generalizations come from? Simple, they are taught to us. They are handed down, spoken from person-to-person. Often as whispers, but too often they are shouts in propaganda from media disguised as news or from anonymous social media posts. Stereotypes are not naturally occurring, they are a man-made problem we need to teach our children about. We need to come up with new stereotypes. Rather than the way society causes us to often group people, lets come up with our own new stereotypes. Lets start labeling people as hard working, creative, problem solvers or free thinkers. I guarantee that you can find people that are hard workers regardless of their age, race, or gender. You can find examples of every combination

Too often I see managers, or people in a leadership position, avoid having a hard conversation. I get it, it is hard to be the person to tell someone they aren't performing or behaving in way they should be. When you finally do address the problem, did you do it in a way that was clear to the person? Do they really understand what they need to be doing differently? If you feel like you've had the conversation with someone multiple times and it seems like they still aren't getting it, the problem isn't with them, it is with you. You might think you've had the conversation, but you aren't clearly communicating it. The longer you let things go the more difficult the conversation becomes. If there is a problem, deal with it. If you have a water leak in your house, the earlier you address it the less damage you actually have to deal with. You can mop up the excess water, run a de-humidifier and maybe not have to spend a dime. But ignore it, hope it goes away or h

For years I've known about the concept of working remotely and had even managed people who worked remote in the early 2000's. I thought it was a great option, but not anything I would enjoy. I felt like I knew myself, I liked being in an office environment and the social aspect that comes with it. Turns out I was wrong. Five months ago, exactly, I accepted a new position working remote. It hasn't been near the obstacle to overcome as I thought it would be. Sure there are things I miss about being in the office, but there are some benefits as well. What I've learned five months in: I was prepared for it because I have spent the better part of my career working with people not in the same building as me. Even when I worked in an office I spent as much time on the phone or in chats as I do now. Just because you are not in the office doesn't mean you can't feel like any other member of the team. Technology today is amazing. The tools allow you to interact with

A story you are starting to hear more about is the rise of robotics and artificial intelligence or AI. This isn't about Skynet or the Matrix, but some people see it as catastrophic of a change. The narrative in the media makes it feel like this is the end of civilization as we know it. There is a fear it is going to destroy a lot of jobs out there. It is true, it will destroy a lot of jobs. But you don't often hear about all of the facts that are a part of it. It will end up creating more jobs than it will eliminate. All of the technology and manufacturing that is needed will end up creating more jobs than it eliminates. Our country and society has a history of destroying and creating jobs. Look at farming, around 1800 farmers comprised 85% of the workforce. Today that number is 2.6%. All of those jobs were destroyed and replaced by something else. Every month jobs are destroyed but new jobs, between 10-20% more than those that are destroyed are created. Not everything can

One concept I have discovered in my career are plateaus of effectiveness when you start a new job. I have started enough new roles in my career as well as hiring and working with new people enough that I've seen these natural leaps people make in taking on something new. At 30 days, 90 days and 1 year any person will have a deeper understanding of what the job entails and take what feels like a monumental leap forward. When you analyze it there is an amazing feeling that happens where you legitimately feel things start to click in a way they hadn't before. I've been thinking about this because I'm a little over 4 months into my new role. When I think about how much more I can get done right now in comparison to where I was just a couple of months ago it is pretty crazy. I think just knowing there are these plateaus and breakthroughs that occur is helpful. It is okay the first couple of weeks it feels like you are drinking from a fire hose, you know it only lasts a m

Who you are as a person is primarily a product of the people you choose to associate with. If you spend most of your time with high character people, they are going to have a positive affect on you. Just like in the reverse when you choose people of questionable character it can lead you down the wrong path. We've all known people who have made bad choices and we say, "They just fell in with the wrong crowd." I'm sure there is some parenting guide somewhere that says we are supposed to let our kids make their own mistakes, and we can't tell them who they should be friends with. I obviously have never read it because I have no problem sharing my opinion with them. I've never had to tell them they have to stop being friends with someone, but we talk and I openly share with them who I think are good friends and who I'm okay with them not spending time with because I don't think they are a very nice person. Can we do that with ourselves or with our fri

We are all very capable of wasting time. Everyone has their peak effective time. Some can crank out work really well in the morning. Some do their best work at night when it is quiet and there are no distractions. For some of us it is very easy to get sucked into a conversation that isn't actually relevant to your job. Social media and binge watching Netflix are other obvious time wasters. When it comes to being at work, one of the biggest time wasters I've found is when you are trying to solve a problem but you don't really understand what the problem is. I love to solve problems, finding solutions is the most rewarding part of my job. But when the problem isn't understood, trying different solutions is just throwing things against the wall to see what sticks. One of the simplest ways to get to the root cause of a problem is using the 5 whys. The idea is to keep asking why until you get to the true root cause. They say 5 because at a minimum it forces you to dig de

You can never go wrong in life by being kind and generous. You may have seen this story as it has gone viral, about a girl who gave two hockey pucks to a couple of boys next to her during warm-ups, one of which desperately wanted to get a puck. At the end of the video you could see the admiration the young boy had as he told her thank you. A simple act of kindness, a story which could have ended there. However, with the power of the Internet, it was not the end of the story. The Minnesota Wild organization was able to track down 11-year-old Emily and they repaid her kindness by inviting her back to the next game, allowing her to meet some of the team and they presented her with a signed jersey and signed pucks from every member of the team. We don't act kind to others because we expect or even hope to get something in return. Emily didn't do it because she expected to become a viral sensation and be presented with some amazing gifts from her favorite team. She did it becau

I've been working through The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday this year, it is filled with nuggets of wisdom. Last week there was a passage that has been the highlight for me where it basically talked about how we need to not judge other people's behavior and only judge our own. If we are honest with ourselves, we get this backwards all of the time. Spend any time on social media and you will have endless rantings about something someone said, or did or thought about. When something goes wrong our focus goes immediately to what others need to do better. If we have to look at ourselves, our instinct is to defend our motivations. Explain why we were justified in our behavior. You will never be able to change someone else's behavior, only they can decide to change it themselves. If we all focused on worrying about ourselves what an amazing and different world we would live in.

I am just finishing up reading The Book of Five Rings  by Miyamoto Musashi. Musashi, as he is commonly known, is considered one of, if not thee greatest swordsman and samurai in Japanese history. In this book he wrote about his philosophy and fighting style. Musashi lived from 1584 to 1645, so times are certainly different now. Most of us aren't going to be going out and dueling other samurai to the death. Yet in his writing you can see concepts still valid today and I can see why many authors and business people have referenced his teachings. There is a passage where he speaks of using different weapons, some teachers believe that an extra long sword is more important, because they can have distance from their enemy. Or others that claim a short sword is more important for when you are in close combat. Musashi believed his way was the best strategy. He practiced it endlessly and studied his opponents methods to learn how to overcome them. He didn't need the biggest or most e

The feeling of accomplishment at the end of a project is something that never gets old. It is awesome to get a project over the finish line and look at something you were able to accomplish. At times the finish line can become very exciting and you get in a rush to get there. You see it in runners, towards the end of a race, determining when the right moment is to go into their final burst to the finish line. Start too soon and you could tire out before you actually get over the finish line. Start too late and you won't be able to make up the distance you need. When you get close to the end, it is easy to let you adrenaline kick in and urgently push for the finish line. But there are times when going faster in a project actually slows you down. I've done it before and it is something I have to remind myself on the projects I work on. Taking the time to make sure you aren't skipping steps and you have all of the facts and details straight is as important at the end of a

Identifying your strengths is one of the most important things you can do in your life. I believe everyone has certain skills or abilities they are truly great at. There is a level of humility we have to maintain with our strengths though, or they can very quickly become a weakness for us. Someone that is bigger and stronger than everyone else can easily become a bully. Someone that is very knowledgeable about a given subject can easily talk condescendingly to others. Someone that is very helpful to others can easily be taken advantage of and asked to "help" with things others can do for themselves. Someone that is good at driving to get things done can easily become a bull in a china shop. Someone that is generous with their money can put themselves into troubling financial situations. We have to be honest about our strengths and what limits should be put on them. You can be one of the strongest people but if you try to lift too much weight you can inj

Nobody does anything on there own. If you work for a company, are a member of a sports team, a production group, or any other organization you are on a team. Even if you are a sole proprietor or independent freelancer, your team includes your customers and your suppliers/vendors. Your family is a team. Unless you are off the grid, living off the land and have no interaction with another human being you are a member of a team. Since you are on a team, is it about you or is it about the team? One of the simplest yet most profound tests you can use to determine how much it is about the team is to measure your use of I/me/my and we/us/our. Listen to yourself and others. Read through emails or messages and see how often you talk about yourself versus the team. We all want to feel appreciated and to be recognized for our accomplishments. Nothing will erode others views of you faster though than putting yourself above the team.

My latest read is a book called Propaganda by Edward Bernays . I came across it from some online discussions around how we as a society are manipulated by the information and messages we choose to take in. It is a short book, very academic and not an easy read, but it is a fascinating look at how businesses and the government influence the public. The author examines how public opinion is shaped and controlled in politics, business, art, education and science. Listen to the opening line and think about the information we are exposed to: The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. Think about the manipulation of the news by the media to attract clicks and viewers. Think of the messages put out by politicians that aim to separate us and leave no room for compromise. Think about

I know it seems at times like you have it hard. It seems like the deck is stacked against you. I was reminded this week, a person is capable than more than we often think they are. There are countless examples in this world where people overcame the odds that were stacked against them. The thing about the odds are there is always a chance. (For those of you that have the Dumb and Dumber line running through your head, the same thing happened to me when I wrote it.) I came upon two stories this week that remind us that just because something is a long shot doesn't mean that it is impossible. The first is a story about a player on the Penn State volleyball team that was born with a hearing deficit. Not only is she playing at a collegiate level, she is playing at an extremely high level. I love the story about an entire crowd that was silent through the first 9 points of a match to raise awareness and show their support. Jonni Parker was born with a hearing deficit that was dis

You've just been assigned a new project, made a team or have been reassigned to a different department. You quickly asses who else is on the team with you and you aren't happy. Some of the other members of the team are not exactly what you would call A players. A few you are shocked actually made the same team as you because they are more suited for JV or the easy projects. You complain to others who think the same way as you so you can feel vindicated in your assessment. Of course they agree with you, why wouldn't they? You feel insulted. You may even contemplate quitting because if they think you are on the same level then they must obviously not value your skills and abilities so you might as well take them elsewhere. It is easy to feel this way, we've all felt it because we've all been a part of a team. Choose to be better. There are a number of things you should keep in mind before you make those judgments. If it isn't your job to pick the teams o

It would be nice to have an easy day at the office, everything goes smoothly, there is no stress and you take home a nice paycheck you feel like you are stealing. Not many people are lucky enough to be in such a state, for the rest of us stress is going to come with any job. Almost everyone I talk to has a job where they have more work to do than there is time to get it done. We need to look at those moments as tremendous opportunities. Every time we feel overwhelmed, there is an opportunity right in front of you to find a solution. You can complain about it, work a bunch of overtime, or come up with a solution to make yourself more efficient. Finding tools to help you automate, delegating, and developing processes to make us more effective are all things we have the ability to control. Every day we should look at finding a way to save yourself a minute a day or even a minute a week. Saving yourself a minute a week may not seem like a big deal but that is almost an hour a year. Eve

Recently a friend of my daughter sustained a knee injury ending her soccer season and putting her dance season at risk as well. The most crushing part in this, it is her third injury in the last 4 years. It just breaks my heart to see someone go through those kind of hardships at such a young age. She is such a good, kind and positive person. The last person who deserves to go through something like this. Unfortunately she is not alone in going through hardships. I've lost jobs and have endured my children dealing with medical issues. Countless people face battles and challenges that make others respond, "I don't know how you do it." I wish I had some great pearls of wisdom to share with her, but I don't. To encourage her that this is the hardest thing she will have to deal with in her life, but there are no guarantees. The only thing I do know is there is an opportunity to learn something in every situation, good or bad. Sometimes we don't know the lesson

I write a lot about the need to learn on this site. I believe it is important to push ourselves, learn new things and get out of our comfort zones. I know this because people have always proven they are capable of far more than we give them credit for. A team that doesn't perform very well suddenly finds a way to play their best game and knock off the undefeated team. We all like a good underdog story and I believe there is an underdog in all of us. On the flip side though, I also believe that each person is made with their own set of unique talents and gifts. We also have our own set of weaknesses and fears. Working together in the right mix is what creates success. The teams you see who are successful generally have a common trait that they are first and foremost a great team. The recognize that having one all-star isn't going to make them successful. They need a team they can surround themselves with that compliment their strengths and cover up for their weaknesses. Michae

I am a big data nerd. I don't do a lot of programming any more but I still use SQL frequently. My favorite application is Excel, it isn't a close competition. I've learned a lot of interesting tips and tricks in using Excel but I know there are still areas I haven't even scratched the surface on. In the last few days I figured out how to create my own custom formulas. That is going to be a game changer for me. No matter how much I have learned using Excel I know there are new things to keep learning. This is true no matter what the skill is. There is always room for improvement. Even if it is a strength you can still find ways to push yourself beyond your current skill level. If you are a person that uses Excel a lot in your job, send me a note and maybe we can help each other learn something new. I'm always happy to learn more.

It is easy to get caught up in our thoughts, over-analyze situations, and think too much about what choice is the right one. Over-thinking is something that plagues too many people, I'm guilty of it far too often.  One of the skills that can benefit everyone is learning how to gather the right amount of information to make a decision. Needing to gather every fact before deciding is a tremendous waste of your time and energy. However you don't want to take things to the other extreme and attempt to make a decision on hardly any information, just picking the first option that comes along. It is a spectrum, the higher the risk and the higher the costs - the more analysis you need. If you are buying a house you want to take the time to get a home inspection, make sure the foundation is good. If you are trying to decide where to eat and can't decide between two places, flip a coin and eat the first one now and the other the next time you go out. You get better at making d

It isn't hard to figure out that I'm a fan of Broadway musicals. Especially given the fact I have written about it in the past, ( here and here ). It gets even better when worlds collide like they did when I learned about a musical video created by a group of interns at Microsoft. That's right, Microsoft the Musical is a real thing. My first observation, it was nice to be reminded I'm not alone in what many find to be an odd mix of interests. Computers, logic and business can co-exist with a love of theater and being a dance dad. Second, it was very entertaining, especially the way they aren't afraid to poke fun at themselves with the line about how unsuccessful the Windows phone was. The coolest thing about this though was watching all the way through the credits. The number of people listed as part of making this video is fascinating. All of the talent in creating this video came from what I would affectionately refer to as a bunch of geeks. This isn't jus

My kids are getting old enough we can now play a game called "Back In My Day" for hours of entertainment. Listening to their laughter is great fun as you explain things from your childhood and the struggles you had they will never understand. How you had to wait to call someone long distance after 7PM. Having to explain to them what a long distance call is. Waiting by the radio hoping they play your favorite song so you can put it on a tape to listen to later. Making a mixed tape, the playlists of our generation. Needing to go to the library to research any information you are trying to learn. Having to get up and walking to the TV to change the channel, to one of only 3 choices. I am in awe of how much things have changed in the last 20 years and am very curious to see how things change in the next 20. My daughter is about to turn 16 so I have to take her for her drivers test. A friend made the comment to me wondering what age of kids will grow up not understanding hav

I am in the hunt for a new desk. Ever since I started working from home I've realized how much I miss my sit/stand desk that I have used for the last five years. I just work better when I can move around a bit, not to mention it is better for you. If you weren't aware just Google, "dangers of sitting all day" and you will have your eyes opened quickly. During my shopping process I was reminded of a book I read a number of years ago, The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz . It is a book that has stuck with me over the years and the concepts keep coming up, especially in times when I'm hunting for a new desk and there are hundreds of choices. There are so many choices that I don't want to buy any of them. In his book Schwartz talked about how when people are presented with more options they are actually less likely to buy. I can attest to that reality. The problem is there are so many choices, and their are tons of reviews, some good, some bad. One person say

I have to start this by saying I'm not a Nick Saban fan. I think the Minnesota fan in me hates anyone who has continued long term success winning multiple championships because I just can't comprehend what it would be like. But this video made me really like the guy. Take two minutes and watch it. Nick Saban on Second Chances pic.twitter.com/O1bFjfISGx — Jaycob Ammerman (@Jammer2233) August 6, 2019 The interesting thing is this video is from 5 years ago, but the world we live in is still this way today, probably worse. As a society we like to skewer people when they make a mistake. We expect people that are in any sort of spotlight to perform flawlessly and never make a bad choice or say the wrong thing. Why? Every single one of us has made a mistake. Every one of us has put our foot in our mouth. Every one of us has hurt someone we care about. None of us are perfect but yet we love to expose people when they make a mistake. The more visible, the more famous, the more we lo

The last couple of months has been an interesting set of events reminding me just how small the business world is, and the world in general is. The first time was when I was hired by my current employer because they knew about me from over seven years ago. Back then I was in charge of building a new Web site and was part of selecting them as our provider. I wouldn't be at the job I am without that relationship. The second one came about that a man I last worked with over 10 years ago saw that I got a new job on social media. It just so happens he was searching for a new partner to help his company build a new Web site and recognized a fit. We wouldn't be working on this project if it wasn't for that relationship. They always say you never want to burn bridges, which I can see. You never know where life and your career might take you 5, 10, or more years down the road. It also is a good reminder how important it is to invest in relationships as the return you get out of

Success can come in many different forms, which makes success hard to achieve. There isn't a magic set of steps if you follow them you will succeed. It is why people will often try to replicate the acts of those who are successful but find it a harder road than expected. Because there are so many paths to success teams can easily find themselves debating about what is the right path they should be on. Each person has different experiences, strengths and knowledge that make different methods more or less appealing. The larger the team the more opinions. The more opinions the more room for debate about which one is right. I believe success has far less to do with finding the right method and far more to do with everyone on the team buying into the selected method. If you can't support the decision then you are actually hurting your organizations chance of success. You are allowed to disagree and debate with others, but if a decision is made that you don't agree with you s

Had to make a business trip recently and it didn't exactly go well. I was flying from Minneapolis to Chicago, which is one of the shortest flights ever so how could it be bad? By the time you've reached cruising altitude they have to start the decent. The problem was there was some weather in Chicago the morning of my trip that caused everything to back up. Plane was delayed arriving into Minneapolis, so it was late taking off, then it got worse. We landed in Chicago and things were so backed up that we sat on the tarmac for an hour and forty minutes waiting for a gate to become available. I can't really complain though, I've heard far worse stories of people being stuck on a plane in the past. Even on my flight there were people trying to get to a connecting flight but there were none for at least 2 days, I can't imagine what that would be like. It is so easy when in a that situation to complain, talk to anyone who will listen about how screwed up the airport i

One thing that brings me great satisfaction in life is anything causing me to look at something differently. To shift my beliefs with new knowledge and evidence. This is why two of my favorite authors are Malcolm Gladwell and Seth Godin , they are both good at reframing a long held belief I thought I understood. It is why videos like the one below bring me such joy. It is a simple visual reminder of how what we think will be true isn't always true. Plus the nerd in me likes the physics of inertia, force and gravity too. In our life we will limit our abilities by the beliefs and thinking we hold for ourselves. We think that our truth is the correct truth. We need to continuously look at things differently and explore other ideas. Test, experiment, fail, learn, grow - things that are perfectly okay to do because guess what, life is going to give them all to you. What is one thing you need to shift your thinking on? A straight line may be the shortest route but it doe

I just finished reading the book Finish by Jon Acuff. I've shared some posts and quotes from him before but this is the first book of his I've read. I think I may have had too high of expectations going in, I thought I was going to be crying laughing the whole time reading it, I didn't. When I got past my initial disappointment that my stomach didn't ache from laughing so hard I realized how impressive the insights in it were. The premise is simple, we all have goals we want to accomplish, but we create whatever excuses we need to keep us from achieving them. It is why most New Year's resolutions fail before January is over. We find when we miss a day going to the gym or slipping on our diet plan that we just through the whole thing out the window, missed a day so you might as well take the week off. If you want to actually achieve the goals you set for yourself, this book is full of practical advice and strategies on how to look at your goals. One of the best w

Where is the shortcut? What is the path of least resistance? Can you show me the steps you did so I can copy them and not figure them out on my own? Can you just give me the answer? Life at times gives us hard problems. Be it work, school, relationships, or teams - each at times throws us something that can be frustrating. The answers aren't right in front of us. Google doesn't lead you to the page with the step-by-step instructions on how to solve it. What do you do now? Those hard problems are exactly what they need you to figure out. We need more people capable of taking a hard problem and finding a solution. It may mean banging your head against the wall until you find a break through, but it is a hard problem, it is okay that your head hurts a little coming out of it. If you want an easy answer that is easy to look up and repeat the same steps you are in for a world of hurt because the world is changing. Robotics and artificial intelligence is changing jobs rapidly.