Month: February 2026

Team USA Won Olympic Gold. And I Experienced POMO.

The talk of the sports world over the past 48 hours has been the USA hockey team’s epic gold medal win. And for good reason. The win came in overtime of the freakin Olympics, to beat border-rival Canada. It was the greatest of games with a storybook ending. It was a moment the whole country can remember and enjoy forever.

But I missed it.

I didn’t see a second of the game.

The reason I missed it is not because I don’t care. Or because I slept in. Or I forgot to tune in to the rare Sunday morning sporting showdown.

I missed it all because I was at church.

I admit that I was checking my phone throughout the service. (I asked the Big Guy for forgiveness right away.)

By the end of the prelude, I knew the USA was up 1-0 at the end of the first period. (Praise The Lord!)

Right before the sermon, I knew that it was 1-1 at the end of the 2nd period. (Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thy stick and thy puck, they comfort me.)

I checked the ESPN app on my iPhone (tucked inside my bulletin) again during the offering (when I gave a little extra…), after the Lord’s Prayer (give us this day our winning goal…), and before the Benediction (may thy shot rise to meet the back of thy opponent’s net…)

I saw the 3rd period evaporate without a score. And I knew we were headed to overtime before I hit the narthex.

My family and I gave a hurried hello to the Pastor, then skirted by the donuts on our way to the parking lot. We piled into our SUV, turned on the radio, and before we hit the highway to heaven, we heard the breaking news that Jack Hughes hit the Golden Goal, and the USA won a battle for the ages. (Hallelujah!)

But here’s the thing: I don’t regret missing the game. Sure, I would have enjoyed watching it live with the rest of northern North America. But I have always taken pleasure in missing out on big things because I was doing something else important.

It’s what I call POMO. Or Proud Of Missing Out. It’s the feeling you get when you miss out on something big because you are proud to be doing something important to you instead.

I like to go to church as often as I can. And I put special emphasis on church attendance during both Advent (the month leading up to Christmas) and Lent (the month-ish leading up to Easter).

I love the sacrifices and tradeoffs that a highly valued life of accomplishment, dedication and success requires. I appreciate that I have things that I value even more than the highly valued things that the rest of the world highly values.

I like being up when the rest of the world has permission to sleep in. I enjoy the work I have to do on vacation because of an exciting time-bound opportunity. I enjoy RSVPing No to things I would like to say Yes to, because I have another thing I want to say Yes to even more. I relish the times I don’t attend a mandatory event, because I have something even more mandatory to me. (Like the time I missed my college graduation from the University of Wisconsin because I was competing in the Big Ten Track & Field Championships at Penn State. Which we won!)

While I still remember watching The Miracle On Ice as a small boy back in 1980, and feeling as if it was the biggest, most important sporting event win of all time, I will remember the 2026 Hockey Gold Medal game for being in church on Sunday morning, with my family, at the beginning of Lent, and getting updates through my little telephonic buddy. And I was proud to be there.

Key Takeaway

Enjoy your moments of POMO. Embrace the things that you can’t do because you have other priorities. Take pride in the sacrifices you make to maintain the habits you have built. Enjoy your commitments and values, and the things they sometimes cost you. These are the things that set you apart. And the things that set you up for long-term success, happiness and fulfillment.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media. And consider subscribing to Adam’s Good Newsletter.

So, Which $10 Million Super Bowl Commercial Actually Impacted Your Life?

Last week, there was a lot of talk about the Super Bowl commercials. (Partly because the game itself was not worth talking about.) The advertising industry and businessy people spend a lot of time debating the merits of the top spots. After all, the Super Bowl is also the Super Bowl of advertising. (Accept the advertising executives don’t get a Gatorade shower at the end.) (But they should.)

Playing Monday morning Creative Director is a national pastime. But ultimately, advertising and marketing professionals don’t determine which commercials worked the best. The audience does.

Today, a full week after the Super Bowl, is a great time to determine who really created great Super Bowl commercials.

Here’s How.

If you watched the Super Bowl last Sunday, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Which commercials do I still remember? (Remember, member…)

If you still remember them, they get a B.

2. Of those spots I remember, which commercials made me like the brand, product, or service more?

These brands all get an A.

3. Of those commercials, which brands did I buy or use in the past week?

These all get Gold Stars. Those commercials drove purchase, usage, munchage, guzzleage, or telephonery.

Key Takeaway

Ultimately, great commercials create awareness, interest, and appetite. So while it may be fun to have an intellectual debate about commercials immediately following the game, the real impact takes time to measure. Because what really matters is what you remember and how it positively influences your actions, attitudes and purchases.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media. And consider subscribing to Adam’s Good Newsletter.

When you see something good, say something good.

One of the best things you can do for others is to let them know when you see their skills and talents at work. When you see someone perform well, give great effort, or step up to take on responsibility, you’ve got to let them know.

It’s kind of like a sailor high in the crow’s nest, yelling ‘Land Ho!’ (Ho didn’t used to be a derogatory term.) And it can generate the same kind of feeling of success, accomplishment and enthusiasm.

When you call out great effort, ability, or accountability, it creates a valuable reward for the person recognized. It says, ‘I see what you are doing. It is good. It is valuable. Do more of that. ‘ Mark Twain once said, “I can live for two months on a good compliment.” (Which also seems to indicate that he stopped getting compliments at the end of his life.)

Your positive reinforcement can call other people’s attention to the good things you see. Which shines more sunlight on the good and helps it grow and flourish.

Humans grow towards praise. So praise people for their valued actions, and you will see more. Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” But you should also praise the change you want to see in the world. When you do, it will multiply.

Key Takeaway

When you see others doing good, call it out. Even if it’s awkward. Even if you don’t know them. (Especially if you don’t know them!) That random reward creates positive reinforcements around valued actions and behaviors. And it encourages others to develop into a greater version of themselves. So when you see something good, say something good, and the world will get more good in return.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned, check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media. And consider subscribing to Adam’s Good Newsletter.

How to create more urgency to get more done.

One of the most powerful forces on human life is urgency.

Urgency, quite simply put, is importance that requires swift action.

But too often we take swift action on the unimportant things in our lives. Like social media, and the other things dinging and blinging on our phones.

Or we take swift action on other people’s important issues. (If you have kids or an underprepared boss, you know what I’m talk’n bout, Willis.)

However, we fail to take swift action on the things most important to our lives, our success and our most valued projects.

I bet that you have big dreams, goals and ideas that, if completed, would make a massive impact on your life.

Maybe you want to start a business, travel to amazing places, organize a fun event, get together with family or friends you haven’t seen in a long time, or create that art thingie that only you understand. Maybe you have something big you want to take on at work that would change your organization in a major, positive way.

But I am also willing to bet that you took no steps towards making that a reality yesterday. Or in the last week. Or in the last year. Or maybe ever. Like ever, ever.

The problem is that you have ideas, visions and goals, but you don’t have a motivating deadline.

Remember: It is the deadline that creates urgency.

It is the deadline that requires swift action.

But not just any old deadline will do, Buckaroo.

Most self-selected deadlines are far too far off.

Short deadlines drive action.

There is a very simple test for the effectiveness of your deadline.

Your deadline must require you to do something today to stay on pace.

If your deadline doesn’t require anything of you today, your deadline is too long, Duk Dong.

If your deadline doesn’t create a feeling of discomfort for work undone today, it is not effective.

If your deadline doesn’t influence your actions or your schedule today, there is too much slack in it.

Your deadline has to create constraint. It must create a friction that prevents you from letting important activities keep on slippin, slippin, slippin, into the future.

Key Takeaway

To force dreams, goals and great ideas to life, you need shorter deadlines. A loose deadline has no power. Create deadlines that demand action today. Tighten your deadlines to force yourself into action. The tighter the better. Unreasonable deadlines can drive remarkable results. So trade in someday for this year, this week or this afternoon. And you will discover just how much you are capable of accomplishing.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media. And consider subscribing to Adam’s Good Newsletter.