We are all on some type of self-improvement journey. It’s how we are wired as humans. There are always things we can find to improve. And the beginning of a new year is like Improvapalooza. Suddenly, we are thinking of all the things we should do to make more money, read more books and look better naked. (Presumably while reading books.)
There are 3 key points on your self improvement journey.
Your starting point
Your current position
Your ideal
To maintain motivation, you need to balance how much time you spend focused on the distance to your goal, versus the progress you have made.
If you only focus on the ideal goal you will spend somewhere between 99% and 100% of your time on the journey disappointed.
Because you are always falling short. Like Martin.
If you spend all of your time focused on your growth you can feel like you have done enough.
Which will make you feel prematurely satisfied. A condition I call PreMatSat. (Which I think is also the test you take to get into med school.)
In this case, you are likely to settle for less than you set out to achieve.
The key is a balanced diet of both perspectives.
Just as your ideal food intake requires a proper balance of protein and carbohydrates, motivation requires a balance of attention towards both your goals and your growth.
I have found a simple formula that works best for me.
Think of this like spending your work week focused on your goals and your weekends enjoying your growth. It provides a great combination of grind time and satisfaction with your accomplishments.
Key Takeaway
It is important to set lofty goals to push yourself to become the best you can be. But the real win isn’t simply in achieving your goals. The win is in the improvement. The goal is the tool to keep you marching forward. The growth is the reward. It’s the fruit you harvest. If you don’t take a little time to look at your improved physique in the mirror, enjoy a bit of that hard-won money, or admire your elevated skills, you are planting a garden without ever eating the crop. Don’t focus so much on the destination that you forget that the real value is in the journey. And it always has been.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
At the beginning of a new year, I attempt to put my accumulated wisdom to good use. I reflect on the important lessons I have learned so I can project a better year ahead. A year that is packed with the things I consider most important. And a year that minimizes or eliminates the things that work against me. Like sweet tea and peanut brittle.
As a part of this process in 2025, I made a list of reminders as I start the new year. You may find some value in this. Or the value may be in deciding to create your own list.
1. Use your time. It’s your most valuable asset. It’s finite. Don’t waste it. Even if you are sitting on the dock of the bay.
2. Do hard things. They are the most rewarding.
3. Do something valuable for yourself first thing every morning. That is your golden time. The filet of the day. It’s even better than a Filet O’ Fish.
4. Don’t overlook the compounding effect. Good habits, exercise, kindness, investing, being trustworthy, writing, brushing your teeth. They help more the more you do them.
5. Surrounding yourself with great people leads to a great life.
6. Weigh yourself every day. It provides a direct link between your actions and the results. Both good and bad.
7. Reach out to others first. The world is full of lonely people afraid to make the first move.
8. Get rid of the things that don’t serve you. It works the same way editing makes your writing better. It helps you move faster and lighter. And frees up space in your brain.
9. Find a passion project. These help make life more fun and enjoyable. Remember, you are the one responsible for putting fun and enjoyment in your life.
10.Discover your purpose. This is your lifelong quest. The sooner you find it the more meaningful your time after it will be.
11. Don’t stay in a job that has you dreading Mondays. Move along. There is a better option for you. (Unless your job is dreading hair. Then, you should probably also dread on Mondays.)
12.Develop and maintain connections across multiple generations. You can learn a lot from those older and younger than you. Like how to turn on the remote. Or what a manual transmission was.
13.Provide value before you try to extract value. This is always the order.
14.Be an imperfectionist. Take action first. Improve as you go. Be comfortable with mistakes. They are approximations that get you to the right answer faster.
15.Always bet on yourself. It’s the safest bet you will ever make. And listen to Kenny Rogers.
16.Call your parents while you still can. If you no longer can, then make sure to recall your parents often.
17.Remember that you are part of a trustee family. You are entrusted with carrying the family legacy forward for all of those who came before and those who will come after you. Recognize what others have done to put you where you are now. And do your part for those yet to come.
18. Make new memories with old friends. This is the best.
19.Set lofty goals and plans to achieve them.
20. At the end of our days, the only thing that will matter is the impact we have on others. If your actions are selfish, your impact dies when you do. (Note: impact is also a leading cause of death.)
21.Exercise is the best medicine. And it’s available without a prescription.
22.Those who laugh the most have the best life.
23.If you can delay your gratification you can achieve anything.
24.Always do what you know is right.
25.If you can’t eat, sleep. If you can’t sleep, eat. (I use this one more than you know.)
Bonus Jonas:
26. Give people more than they expect.
Key Takeaway
Through trial and error, and through your readings, and wrongings, you will discover great lessons. Collect them. Remind yourself of them often. They will serve as reliable guideposts to health, happiness and success. And they make for a great inheritance for you to pass along.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
A new year is the best gift you will ever get. Because it has more hope in it than the Hope Solo documentary on Netflix.
2025 offers you an opportunity to apply all of your experiences, self-reflection and learning to help you do everything better than you have ever done it before.
I hope that 2025 is your best year ever. Like, ever, ever.
I hope that you love your work and look forward to all 52 Mondays. Even the manic ones.
I hope your boss recognizes how fricken awesome you are. (Especially if you are your own boss.)
I hope you push yourself to become a more valuable asset to your organization. Because your value is directly related to your contribution.
I hope you develop a best friend at work. A Laverne to your Shirley. Or like those brothers on The Bear.
I hope you have great relationships with your family, and that you look forward to going home to them each day. And that you appreciate having a home to go home to. And that you are not too good for your home, like Happy Gilmore said.
I hope you make the most of your commute. They are secret gifts of time to learn, connect, prepare, decompress, or try to figure out what these obscure personalized license plates really mean.
I hope you visit your doctor once and your dentist twice.
I hope you see your therapist as much as you need to.
I hope you keep your weight in your acceptable zone until next eggnog and coookie season.
I hope you enjoy exercising as much as your body enjoys the benefits.
I hope you make new memories with old friends.
I hope your new friends start to feel like old friends. (Because of the growing familiarity, not the declining eyesight, hearing, and ability to climb steps.)
I hope you don’t take things personally.
I hope you swear less this year. You always have other options. (poo, darn, fudge, heckaroo.)
I hope you laugh more.
In fact, I hope you laugh until you cry several times this year.
And I hope you laugh until you blow liquids out of your nose at least once, thanks to unexpected hilarity.
I hope you are comfortable sharing the truth.
I hope you fondly remember the people you have lost, and it hurts your heart a little.
I hope you build momentum every day.
I hope that you recognize that you are writing the story of your life every day, like Elvis Costello. And that it is your job to make it a story worth reading.
I hope that you create and maintain great new habits. And that when you have to skip a day you get right back to it the next day.
I hope you spend more time in a different room than your phone.
And that you don’t look at your phone first thing in the morning.
I hope you see your people in real life. They are better than they are on the socials. And more interesting. Remember that social media is just a bridge between in-person experiences.
I hope you share lots of compliments because you are impressed by the people around you.
If you are not impressed by the people around you, I hope you surround yourself with better people. People who are easy to compliment.
I hope you go to your place of worship. God knows you need it.
I hope you remember to wear sunscreen. And maybe a floppy hat.
I hope you get prints made of your favorite photos and hang them on your wall. Don’t just settle for pics in digital form. Eventually, those printed photos will become your most valued possessions.
I hope you enjoy more game nights. Game night is when we really live.
I hope you experience the great joy in giving your time, talent or money. Teach your kids by example. Or teach other peoples’ kids if you don’t have your own.
I hope you find something you like enough to collect in reasonable quantities. (But don’t wind up on an episode of Hoarders.)
I hope you remember all of the important dates in your life.
I hope you read great books that improve you and the way you think about the world.
I hope you struggle and suffer just enough to be reminded how tough and capable you really are.
I hope you don’t give up when things get hard.
I hope you tell your closest friends and family members that you love them while you still can. That window closes without warning.
I hope you find splurges that are totally worth it. (And then tell me what they are.)
I hope you find great new music that makes it into your Spotify 2025 Wrapped. And I hope that you aren’t afraid to admit that Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift and Kacey Musgrave were all in your Top 5. (There, I admitted it…)
I hope you can understand some of the slang that kids are using today. But not all of it. Unless you are a kid.
I hope you find yourself in nature and stop to just listen.
I hope you use all of your vacation days, but none of your sick days.
I hope you get all the sleep you need.
But I hope you get rid of all the other things you don’t need.
I hope you forgive and move on.
I hope you experience thrills. Without spills.
But most of all, I hope you enjoy great happiness and share it with everyone you meet.
Happy 2025.
Let’s do this!
*If you know someone who could benefit from kicking off their 2025 with this New Year message, please share it with them.
I never wanted to be a coach. Some people are innately drawn to it. I am not. I thought it was a cool role for other people. But I just wasn’t that into whistles and sweatpants. When I graduated from college, I fully expected to never be involved in sports again, other than as a fan. Even after I had 3 kids, I never expected to coach them at any level. I didn’t feel like I knew anything well enough to coach. Except maybe being a class clown. But I felt I could teach that through more of a mentoring relationship.
So it is very strange to realize that this fall I wrapped up my 7th season coaching my son Magnus’ football team. So, how did this happen? To find out we’ve got to go back in time, like Marty McFly.
In The Big Inning…
Like most things, my coaching career started very small. When Magnus was in first grade, we signed him up for flag football. At that level, the teams practiced for one hour and then played a game for one hour on Saturdays in the fall. At the first practice-game the two guys coaching Magnus’ team asked me if I could help out the following week because one of them was traveling. I was happy to help. And I felt like a helper more than a coach. Plus the kids were in Kindergarten and first grade. So they wouldn’t be fact-checking my coaching.
Magnus carrying the ball in 1st grade, when I could point where I wanted the players to go.
That Saturday’s practice-game went well. I had fun. Magnus enjoyed having me involved. None of the kindergartners asked to be traded or held out for more NIL money. So I became the third coach on the staff, helping whenever I could the rest of that cute little 6-week season.
Stepping Up A Notch
When Magnus entered 2nd grade, the program was looking for more parents to coach. My wife Dawn encouraged me to volunteer. So I got paired with another father. And we had a good time. Again, this was just 2nd and 3rd graders with one practice-game combo pack each week on Saturday mornings in the fall. And we were literally on the field placing each player in position and whispering in their ear what we wanted them to do. It was kinda like playing chess with tiny humans. Even better, the play didn’t start until the coaches said they were ready. The hardest part was organizing which parents were bringing the snacks.
Magnus and Me in our second season together. That’s a happy father/son combo pack.
Gaming The System
By 3rd grade, I realized that you could choose to pair up with another coach to lead a team. And when you did that, it allowed you to stack your team with 2 good players. So my great friend Dr. Mike Brin and I teamed up to coach. DMB played football for the University of Wisconsin Badgers, and we had been friends since we were teenage college athletes in Madison. Mike’s son Josh ‘Aquaman’ Brin was a talented and enthusiastic athlete. Josh and Magnus gave us a strong nucleus to build a team around. Kinda like D-Wade and Chris Bosh. We were lucky enough to land a few other really talented second and third graders, and we had a fun and successful season, even before the snacks.
Season 3. We were really upping our snack game by then.Me and Magnus, Mike and Josh Brin, Josh and Hudson Hunt. All 3 of the guys in the back row were UW Badger athletes, which meant we knew how to recruit. (You do it with cupcakes.)
The Curve Ball
In 4th grade, COVID-19 hit. And the program was canceled for the year. Boo. But Magnus was desperate to play football. So we were allowed to enroll him in the 5th grade Mequon-Thiensville Cardinals tackle football program, where he played up a grade as a tall and eager 4th grader. The boys played with face masks over their face masks, which looked funny and may have had no practical effect, but it made everyone feel better about playing football during a global pandemic. No kids got sick. And I got to sit in the stands, 6 feet apart from other fans, and cheer through a mask like a normal COVID-era parent.
At this point, I thought I was finished coaching. I enjoyed the season as a fan only. (Not to be confused with Fans Only.
When Magnus was in 4th grade, he played tackle football with 5th graders, And I got to cheer in the stands with Dawn. I also got to wear flip-flops without a fear of getting cleated.
Magnus and a little wind machine for the hair.
Back On Track
That spring, I made a much bigger coaching commitment and started coaching high school track and field. My daughter Ava Albrecht was a freshman at Homestead High School in Mequon, Wisconsin. And I knew that I knew more about throwing the discus and putting the shot than most Mequonians. The flag football coaching experience made me think I could handle track. After all, when you coach throwing, you simply coach technique. There is no strategy. Or defense. Or concussion protocol. Go track!
Tackling Tackle Football
When Magnus entered 5th grade I was asked to help coach his tackle football team. I was reluctant because of the time commitment, especially on the heels of a long track season that went almost to July and left me with just 1 month without coaching obligations. But my coaching confidence was growing. So, I agreed to coach part-time. I was another warm body there to supervise kids and help run drills. I cheered a lot. And I tried to make it fun. For much of the season we only had 16 kids available. So we could only run 8 vs 8 scrimmages. Which was pretty silly. But I like silly.
5th Grade. And We’re back together for Cardinal Rules football.
Jumping Into The Deep End Of The Pool.
When Magnus entered 6th grade my friend Josh Hunt volunteered to become the team’s head coach. Josh played football at the University of Wisconsin and had a lot of coaching experience. He asked me if I would be willing to be the defensive coordinator for the team. I agreed. Because Josh is a nice guy and didn’t seem like the type to burn my house down if I made some mistakes.
Realer Than Real Deal Holyfield
That’s when coaching got real. The slow build of casual coaching obligations helped lead me to a very real coaching position. Suddenly, I would be preparing for every week by watching game film of the teams we would be playing that week. I sketched out every unique formation and play the upcoming opponent ran, noted who carried or caught the ball, how frequently they ran each play, and generally how effective it had been. This represented a huge increase in both my time commitment and my emotional investment. I started to understand why Bobby Knight threw chairs and why Mike Leach went off on a seemingly insane rant about the players fat little girlfriends. Now I certainly don’t condone their behavior. But I started to understand it.
In practice, I taught our team the opponent’s plays and devised strategies to defend against them. Then, on Sundays, I watched our own game film from Saturday and marked up all of the footage on software called Hudl to show what we did right, what we did wrong and how to do things better the next time. I learned that those 3 lessons are the basic pillars of coaching.
I spent more time than I care to admit watching game film, preparing defensive strategies and developing lineups each week. It was a significant commitment. But I loved coaching this group of boys. And I loved spending so much additional time with Magnus.
6th Grade. And one of my favorite photos. If you look closely you can see my knee next to Magnus’ (#55)
So I raised my hand to do it again in 7th grade.
We had a great season in 7th Grade. This was after our last game of the season. Every team should end the year feeling like this.
And again in 8th grade.
For the past four years, from August through October, football has been an intense focus for me. I felt the pressure that comes with being an amateur coach in a high-profile team sport like football. So I prepared as much as I could to help give the boys an edge in the games. Sometimes it really helped. Sometimes it didn’t seem to help at all. This was either because our opponent was so good at doing what they do that we couldn’t stop them, or because they were bigger, faster and stronger than us, and we couldn’t stop them. But either way, I always felt as if I did all I knew to do to prepare our team for each game. And I learned a little from each win and each loss. Which meant that I found a way to win no matter what the outcome was.
Magnus’ 8th grade season. My last year coaching football. And the first time Magnus was taller than me..
The 10 Best Things About Coaching Football.
1. Winning. There is nothing quite like winning a team sport.
2. Being called Coach. For years, I have been called Coach in our community. It’s always fun and surprising for someone who never expected to coach anything to be called that on the sidewalk, in the schools, and in stores and restaurants. It feels both respectful and as if you had a positive influence on a child’s life. It also makes me feel like I should be wearing a whistle everywhere I go.
3. The Brotherhood: Seeing these boys support each other and coming together as a strong team is amazing. Hearing the stories of them sitting together at lunch at school is rewarding. And knowing how close I still am to the guys I played football with makes me excited for them and the relationships they are forging through their collective football experience.
4. Hearing our defense call out the opponent’s offensive formation and the play they are about to run during a game. It meant the boys were paying attention in practice, they recognized what they were seeing and were prepared to defend the play. I loved that.
5. Stops in the backfield: Quarterback sacks and stuffed runs were the big wins for a defensive coordinator. We have had plenty of those over the past few years. It was a thrill every time.
6.Blocked Punts and Kicks. These have a huge impact on the game. They are magical gifts from heaven. Magnus had a slew of these during his Cardinal football career. And I discovered that a slew is the same amount in both the English and Metric system.
7.Interceptions: These are mission-accomplished plays. They are never not exciting.
8. The Funny Kids: Football is a serious game. But I love the kids who brought their sense of humor to practice and made us all laugh. The funnies often create stronger memories than the wins.
9. The Intense Kids: These kids set the tone for the team at practice and in games. They helped get the team mentally prepared to go to work. I always admired the mentality these winners brought to the field.
10.The Respectful Kids. The kids who responded to all coaching with Yes, Coach and No Coach, who looked you in the eyes, and who asked intelligent questions were a pure pleasure to work with and a sign of good parenting.
Key Takeaway
If you have a chance to positively impact the lives of kids, do it. Coaching, mentoring, volunteering, teaching, chaperoning. All of it helps. And you will get just as much out of it as the kids. Our youth can never have too many positive adult influences in their lives. And you gain by sharing your time, talent and knowledge with others. Don’t worry that you don’t know enough. Raise your hand and learn as you go. That’s what I did. And I can’t imagine my life without this chapter, these experiences, and these boys.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
Welcome to December. 2024 is now 11/12ths complete. Which means you have one month left to make progress on your life and yearly goals. If you are a procrastinator, you have already hit the snooze button 11 times, and it is now time to get up and go. (If you are an amateurcrastinator you are not as good a procrastinator. But I don’t know if that means you put things off more or less. #ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmm.)
December means you have one month left to:
Finish the year fitter, not fatter. The best way to a better body in 2025 is to start in 2024.
Revisit your New Year’s resolution. You likely left it somewhere in January.
Start a new habit. (ReadAtomic Habits by James Clear to check the box on this and the next item. Plus it is half-price right now. You are welcome.)
Read a great book this year. (See above.)
Get in touch with that person or people you haven’t touched in too long.
Go to church. December is the best time to go anyway, for Christ’s sake. And for the bread and juice. And to try to get off the naughty list.
Donate to charity. (And get the tax benefits.)
Start that business. (I am working on starting an Excite Hustle with my son. We have talked about it for forever. But we are going to make it happen this month! An Excite Hustles is like a side hustle, but it excites you about doing work.)
Begin writing that book. Just start by writing down a simple outline of what you know about the topic, or a paragraph summarizing the plot, like Sir Mix-A-Plot. I write my books in a Google Doc. You don’t need anything fancy. Or schmancy.
Take that trip. Or schedule and book that vacation. It’s a great time to lock in your spring or summer travel and give yourself something to look forward to this winter. Unless you live somewhere vacationy already. In which case, pick another thing to do with your 12th month.
Do a million other things. Those first ten items were just examples. I don’t have time to write an exhaustive list of everything you could possibly do this month. Because we both have more important things to do. So let’s go, Geronimo!
Key Takeaway
Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping into the future. You have to recognize the passage of time to make its scarcity useful. The last month of the year, the last day of the week and the last hours of the day create a valuable sense of urgency, signaling it’s go time. Remember, when you hit a deadline, the opportunities afforded by that unit of time are dead. Let that motivate you to go now. There’s no better time.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
When I was a kid, I liked chewing gum. I found the whole process fascinating. And when I say the whole process, I mean the whole process. I discovered that human effort can transform gum. And through the same process, we can learn to transform ourselves. Which is getting pretty deep for a story about chewing gum. But let’s go with it and see what we land.
Chew, Chew!
Gum starts as a solid form. It’s typically a stick or a small blocky nugget of some sort. Although it could be shaped like tape or rope. It could be a primary-colored ball. (I always call gumballs Bryant or Greg.) Or your gum may be shredded like cheese if you are into Big League Chew. And I am into Big League Chew.
As you begin to chew, your gum changes form under your direction. It softens as you mash it and mold it with your molars.
During the chewing process, gum releases its embedded flavor into your mouth. Gumtastic flavors include mint, peppermint, spearmint, experiment, wintergreen, cinnamon, grape, orange, watermelon, sour apple, lemon, strawberry, blueberry and the elusive juicy fruit, the Sasquatch of fruit.
Despite the wide range of interesting flavors that are used to create and market gum, shortly after you start chewing, the flavor disappears. And when it does, the most enjoyable part of the experience is over. Boo.
Then, not long after that, the gum begins to harden. Double Boo.
At this point, the fun part of chewing gum is over for most people. In fact, most people spit their gum out somewhere between the flavor dissipation and the great hardening.
But my favorite part of chewing gum comes after most people quit it, spit it and forget it.
At that point, most people feel they have extracted all the value they could get from gum. Other than maybe sticking the hard, flavorless wad to the underside of a desk or a railing for Buddy Elf.
Most people have no idea what happens after chewing gum loses flavor and hardens.
But I know.
Because when I was a kid, I loved to keep mashing away after the thrill was gone for most kids. I felt like the gum became an opponent to beat. I felt the gum was challenging me to a showdown on the playground at high noon. And the formerly fruity gum thought it was tougher than me.
But I wouldn’t wave the white flag.
I kept chewing and chomping. Like a cow chewing cud. Or Hubba Bubba. Or Bazooka.
Then, an interesting thing happened.
The gum gave up.
The wad of gum that became so tough to chew threw in its tiny little gum towel. It softened again. And then it fell apart. It lost all shape. It lost its will to gum. It stopped resisting. And it literally liquefied.
The formerly proud gum became a runny puddle of nothingness. No flavor. No form. No function. In fact, you could no longer even hold it in your mouth. If you didn’t spit the puddle out it would leak out of your face.
I loved getting to that point. It always made me feel like I had won. I felt like I took on a difficult challenge and completed it. I felt like I took on a difficult opponent, and I beat it. Like Michael Jackson.
The Lesson
Gum chewing taught me I could do hard things. That I could push through the unrewarding muddy middle of a long process. And that if I just kept going, even when it wasn’t fun. I would win.
I have applied the gum-chewing lesson countless times throughout my life. I found the approach useful as a track and field athlete when the work felt hard and the rewards felt small. It was helpful as an entrepreneur when I started The Weaponry and found that you just have to keep chewing no matter what. The lesson served me well when I wrote What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? and the work seemed long and the finish line was nowhere in sight. And as I faced the hard and unrewarding parts of parenthood, employment and yard maintenance I reminded myself that the key to getting through tough times and past challenging obstacles it to just keep chewing.
Key Takeaway
Success and accomplishment is like chewing gum. Everyone enjoys the beginning. It’s full of flavor and quick rewards. But when those immediate rewards disappear, it’s easy to quit. You lose interest and motivation. And when things get hard, it’s easy to get soft. But if you just keep going, keep doing and chewing, you will win. You will get the ultimate reward of knowing that you are tougher than the things you face. It’s an incredibly valuable lesson to learn from a stick of Big Red or Juicy Fruit. It’s a lesson that is more valuable than the fun, the flavor or the freshening the gum provides. But you only learn that lesson by sticking around when things get hard, and chewing to the very end.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
Are you worried about your age? Are you concerned that you are too old for the types of opportunities that now interest you most? Do you feel that you are too old to learn the new thing that is transforming your industry? Do you feel like you are too old for the dream you have been dreaming your whole life? Do you think you are too old to cut the mustard and not realize that mustard no longer needs to be cut?
Or do you think you are too young? That you don’t know enough and that you are not ready for the opportunities that are at your doorstep? Do you feel too young for the next level of responsibility? Do you find yourself singing, I don’t wanta grow up. I’m a Toys R Us kid?
I am currently reading Curtis Jackson’s book Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter. You may know Curtis better by his monetary name, 50 Cent. Fifty talks about how some people have a difficult time transitioning as times change. Then he dropped these 2 cents (which may mean he is now 48 Cents):
“Age isn’t about what year you were born in. It is about how you approach the year you are in right now. “
-Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson
This is a good reminder to face today as if you belong. As if the changes, advances and technologies are coming for your benefit. Not to leave you behind, like Nicolas Cage and Lea Thompson.
Approach this year and every year with a growth mindset. As a learner. As a Curious George, ready to get into new trouble. Or as a Sponge Bob, ready to soak up new ideas and new possibilities, instead of simply becoming a Krabby Patty.
Key Takeaway
Your mindset should be an asset, not a liability. Approach each year with a youthful spirit and you will learn, grow, explore, and take advantage of all the new opportunities available. Recognize the new roles and opportunities afforded to you. Don’t get stuck in the good old days mindset. There are great things in every day. You simply need to adapt to take advantage of them.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
Today is the big day! Election Day 2024. Today, one way or the other, the political ads will be over, and we can finally get back to more important commercials about beer, incontinence, and the fancy new weight loss drugs.
If you pay attention to the political ads and news coverage you may believe that the outcome of the election will mark the end of days if it doesn’t go your way. The messages from the candidates’ campaigns are ominous. They all paint a stark win or lose, do or die, fail or thrive future. It is as if our very existence rests on the outcome of this election.
But none of that is true. Whatever happens, we will be fine. We can and will survive anything that comes our way. We have endured the Civil War, The Great Depression, and the Disco era. We have faced the oil crisis, the mortgage crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and the toilet paper crisis. They all did their best to sink us. But America is the Molly Brown of countries.
I have voted in every presidential election since I turned 18. I carefully studied the candidates and how their beliefs aligned with mine. I looked at how their policies would impact my personal freedoms and finances. I considered how they would act to help others in my community and country. I evaluated how the candidates would affect our relationships with other countries and world peace. Then I carefully voted for what I believed to be the best candidate. Just like a good American should.
However, the candidate I voted for has only won half of the elections. Which means that, in theory, the person who wanted the opposite of what I wanted won the other half of the contests. Yet, ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life has gone on.
It is easy to get caught up in the hype and extremism of a political election and think that there are clear winning and losing scenarios for the masses. But history would indicate otherwise. You will naturally lose roughly half the elections you vote in. And when you lose, America will still be full of moms, baseball and apple pie. And you can still share all of those things on Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok. Plus, you will still get to vote again in 4 years. And the pendulum always swings. Like Benny Goodman. And the Squirrel Nut Zippers.
So today as the last of us vote, and tonight as you watch the results come rolling in, remember, it will all be okay. There is more than one way to lead our country. There are pros and cons to each style, and each belief system. It’s why roughly half the country agrees with your thinking and half the country doesn’t understand you.
I respect that political positioning forces the campaigns to market the candidates ideas and ideals as diametrically opposed. But at the end of the day, both sides want to continue developing a great America. They just have different ways of going about it. Which means they are focused on pulling different levers, and pushing different buttons on the Wonkivator to get the machine to perform at its best.
America is a great country. Because it was founded by rebellious people who believed there was a better way of countrying. And America has attracted great and rebellious people ever since (think David Bowie and Billy Idol) who have continued to bring new and better ways of countrying.
Sure, we have unsolved problems. And we always will. Because life is one long problem solving adventure. We will continue to work towards better approaches to equality, security, safety, prosperity, health and peace. We just have different beliefs in how it is done. Neither approach is 100% right. And neither approach is 100% wrong. There ain’t no good guy. There ain’t no bad guy. There’s only Americans, and we just disagree. But that’s ultimately what makes the system work.
Key Takeaway
Things are going to be okay. There will be a lot of drama beginning tonight. It may last for months. But we will all be okay. Both candidates approaches generally work. We will continue to improve our country, our security and our economy no matter who is in the White House. Because ultimately, it all comes down to what we the people do.
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On Thursday afternoon, I was on a plane. I was flying from Detroit Rock City to Columbus. My seatmate was a friendly woman. And like that scene from Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler, we began to speak. (Although, unlike in The Gambler, no one bummed a cigarette, drank down my last swallow, or croaked.)
My goal with the conversation was to see how quickly we could go from perfect strangers like Larry Appleton and Balki Bartokomous to pals, like Forrest and Bubba.
When I meet someone new I am always Curious George’n to know who or what we have in common. So, I broke out my set of proven questions designed to discover where our Venn diagrams overlapped. The only question was how many questions it would take to get to the Tootsie Roll Center.
The conversation went like this:
Me: What’s your name? Answer: Emily. (So we did not have a name in common.)
Me: Where do you live? Emily: Granville, Ohio.
Me: Where did you grow up? Emily: Centerville, Ohio
Me What did you do after Centerville? Emily: I went to college at Ohio Wesleyan University.
Me: Cool! I had two sisters who went to OWU! They were there between 1994 and 2000.
Emily: Interesting! I was there during that time…
Me: My sisters were both on the track and field team at OWU.
Emily: I had a friend who was on the track and field team at OWU. Her name was Donielle Albrecht.
Emily In Paris (Which is how I locked her name in my memory bank): I have traveled all over the country with Donielle! And I know your sister Alison too!
Emily in Paris is also known as Emily Hughes Smith. She’s a Realtor with Remax in Columbus. But she also worked in advertising for several years. We knew many people and agencies in common. And we both have sons who are juniors in high school. Which made for a fun and interesting conversation on our relatively short hop across the contentious Michigan-Ohio border.
However, I am disappointed that during our blitz-Venning session we didn’t discover another important connection. This morning, as I visited LinkedIn and Facebook to prep for this Emily In Paris’ story, I discovered that I know Emily’s husband! Kirk Richard Smith is a Creative Director and great photographer. We have known each other for years.
Key Takeaway
Get to know the people around you. Discover your commonalities. Connect over your shared people, places and interests. It is one of my favorite things to do. Because it quickly turns strangers into friends. It grows and strengthens your friend network. It reveals that there is always a little bit of magic around us. We just need to look for it. And that’s an ace that you can keep.
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Adam Albrecht Blog 