Category: positivity

How even a short life can have a long impact.

Over the past year, I have known a surprising number of people who have passed away far too young. Some of them were truly young, in their teens and twenties. Others were older, but healthy, vibrant, and active. There were no warnings that their earthly adventures were about to end. No time for goodbyes, thank yous, I love yous, or a hastily drawn treasure map of the coffee cans of money buried in the backyard.

It’s a reminder to live each day fully, and richly. To make a positive impact on others every day. It’s a reminder to tell your friends and loved ones how much they mean to you. You need to chase your dreams now. Find a job you love now. Use your vacation days and your frequent flyer miles. (Or your frequent train rider miles if you don’t fly.)

But just because a life is short doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a long-term impact. Believe me, I know. Check out the following newspaper article that I have kept for decades:

We have received sad news from Lafayette, where farmer Fred Albrecht got hit and killed by lightning during the strong storm on Tuesday evening. This happened while he was standing in the kitchen surrounded by his children; one child, 1-1/2 years old, he was even holding by the hand. The lightning bolt immediately killed the man. Fred Albrecht was almost 30 years old and leaves behind a wife and three children, which are young.

-Post Cresent

Fred Albrecht, the man in the article above, died when he was in his twenties. He was healthy and full of life and hope. But he was killed, in his home, by a lightning strike. He wasn’t even flying a kite. It was just a freak accident. He never saw it coming.

Yet Fred had an immense impact in his short life. You see, the article above is from 1875. And Fred was my Great, Great Grandfather. One of those 3 very young children he left behind was my Dad’s grandfather, Herman Albrecht. And Fred is the reason my kids know the saying, “Albrechts and lightning don’t mix.’

The man seated behind that Tom Sellek mustache is my great grandfather, Hermann Albrecht, Fred’s son.

Fred Albrecht immigrated from Germany to the United States in his twenties and had his children here. If it wasn’t for Fred’s adventurous spirit to cross the Atlantic to a new world for a better life, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t be anywhere. And you wouldn’t be reading this story right now. Which means that you were impacted by Fred Albrecht too.

Making An Impact

But you don’t have to have children to have a long-lasting impact. You also have a long-lasting positive impact by the great example you set, and the encouraging words you offer. There are long-lasting impacts of kindness, friendship, and love. You have a long-lasting impact when you teach someone a skill or lesson. You have an impact when work hard and when you model a positive behavior or attitude for others to emulate. And you have a long-lasting impact when enjoy your life. And when you make people laugh. Especially if they spray milk out of their nose. That’s a gift.

Key Takeaway:

Even the longest lives are short. But the impact we have while we are here can last a very long time. So be kind. Be helpful and supportive. Be interesting. Make people think. Set a great example to follow. Work hard. Make people laugh. Have fun with others. Be a friend. Make others feel loved and safe. Pay it forward. Leave a positive mark. It can change the world forever.

*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.

When you are mean to others you ultimately drink your own poison.

Meanness is a poison. And not in a Bret Michaels, CiCi Deville, and Rikki Rockett kind of way.

When you are mean to another person it is like serving poison in an Alice Cooper kind of way. Drop by drop, action by action the meanness cup fills with the toxic and lethal liquid.

But in a karmic plot twist, the person who spits the venom is the one who drinks the cup.

Because when you are mean to another human, you are the one who is poisoned. (Insert Nelson from The Simpsons’ signature ‘Ha-ha!’)

Your mean words and actions create ill will and hate towards you. (Wasn’t Ill Will a Garbage Patch Kid?)

So you end up ingesting your own venom. The more venom you serve up the more you drink. And you will end up drinking every drop you spew, spray, and spit.

However…

When you spread kindness the giver and the receiver both benefit. The receiver is energized and empowered. They are lifted and loved. They are supported and strengthened. In turn, and in kindness, the receiver shares thanks, goodwill, positive feelings and kindness with the giver.

When kindness is shared, everyone drinks. Because positive energy, support, and strength overflow the cup.

Key Takeaway

When you serve up meanness and hate, you are the one who is poisoned by it. But when you are supportive and kind both the giver and the receiver drink.

*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.

Why it’s so important to protect your Golden Eggs.

Our creative team at The Weaponry meets once a week to talk about our Golden Eggs. Yes, Golden Eggs. I realize that sounds like something from a fairytale. Or maybe something you use to make a McMuffin at the Golden Arches.

At The Weaponry, our Golden Eggs are our great creative opportunities.

The name Golden Eggs is important.

First, the opportunities are golden. They are valuable. Special and rare. Like Rose, Blanche, Dorothy and Sophia.

But they are also eggs. Which means they are fragile. And easily destroyed. Especially if they sit on a wall and have a great fall.

We Must Protect These Eggs!

At The Weaponry we realize that we need to protect the Golden Eggs. We need to keep a watchful eye on them. Guard them. Defend them. We need to focus on them. And treat them as if they are special and fragile. Because if we don’t, they will crack, splat or spoil.

Paying special attention is the only way to ensure that your valuable opportunities transform into valuable results. Because success is like a manufacturing line. At the beginning of the line, you have raw opportunity. Then you run that opportunity down the line, through a process to transform that opportunity into a successful result.

But you need to start with an opportunity.

Everyone Has Golden Eggs

You have Golden Eggs too. Yes, you. These are your great opportunities. The ones that you need to protect, defend, and guard to make sure your opportunity is not lost, wasted or destroyed.

Your opportunities may be related to your work or your career. But Golden Eggs can also be that special person that walks into your life. They could be free time with your children. A date with your spouse or main squeeze. Golden Eggs can be that book you should read. The opportunity to exercise, converse, or learn. Golden Eggs come in many shapes and sizes. So don’t be surprised if your Golden Egg is not actually shaped like an egg.

Key Takeaway

Learn to identify your Golden Eggs. Protect them. Give them the special attention, focus and energy they require. That is how you ensure that you get the valuable gold from them.

*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.

5 Fast reads to get you fired up the day after Labor Day.

The day after Labor Day is one of my favorite days of the year. It’s not because we no longer have to wear sunscreen. (We don’t, right?) And it’s not because wearing white pants is now the sweetest taboo.

I love this day because it is the real start to the new year. All students are finally back in school. Football is back at all levels. And today, offices return to full strength after being down players throughout the summer.

From today until Thanksgiving, pumpkin spice joins the realm of gold, frankincense and myrrh the way Neil Young once joined Crosby, Stills and Nash. (Side note: Did you know Neil Young is now married to Daryl Hannah? How weird is that?)

I have written a lot about how freakin excited I am about this real new year. If you need a little motivation to kick off your September-centric year, here are a few quick and timely reads I suggest checking out.

5 Motivational Post-Labor Day Reads

  1. Why September 3rd is the real New Year’s Day.
  2. Why September 6th is the most important day of the year.
  3. Right after Labor Day is the best time for all professionals to do this.
  4. Two questions to refocus your career every Labor Day.
  5. Why there has never been a better time to wear white.

Have a great day! Have a great year! Keep rocking those white pants. And enjoy the no-sunscreen days! (Unless you value your skin health and prefer to avoid those avoidable diseases.)

*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.

One of the keys to accomplishing a lot is lazy time.

Like Morris Day, I am trying to make the most of my time.

So I try to stay busy and do a lot of stuff.

  • I am an entrepreneur. (TheWeaponry.com)
  • I write a blog and publish 3 new posts every week. (adamalbrecht.blog)
  • I have published 2 books and am working on a third. (You can find them here.)
  • I travel the country as a professional speaker. (That is still awesomely weird to write.) 
  • I coach youth football in the fall.
  • I coach high school track in the spring.
  • I have 3 kids that I try to parent right.
  • And I have a great wife that I love spending time with, and that I really want to keep.
  • Plus I try to work out at least 4 times per week.
  • And I am trying to read 3 books every month.

During my talks I am often asked how I get so much done.

Ironically, one of the keys to doing a lot is rest. (Although, like Alanis Morissette, I may have used ironic incorrectly here. Maybe it’s a paradox. Or maybe even 3 dox.)

Rest

Rest means getting good sleep at night.

It means taking quick naps in the afternoon or evening when I can.

And it means enjoying downtime. 

Sometimes downtime means a lazy few minutes, or a few lazy hours. 

Sometimes it means a lazy day.

Or a vacation.

Regular rest allows you to sustain your efforts over a longer time. It helps you avoid burnout, Spicoli. And it helps you look forward to getting back to work.

I plan to take some lazy time this weekend to rest, recharge and prepare for a strong push to the end of the year. I encourage you to too. And if Bono and The Edge are reading this, I encourage U2 to too. 

Key Takeaway

Rest is an important part of any success program. It may be counterintuitive, but rest allows you to maintain a stronger, faster and more sustainable pace.

*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.

How to be wildly successful through 7 seconds of effort.

This fall marks my 6th year of coaching football. I never had any interest in coaching. I started when my son Magnus’ flag football program needed parent coaches. It was only a Saturday morning commitment back then. But like the mythical slowly boiled frog, who forgot to jump out of the pot, I am now the defensive coordinator for Magnus’ 7th grade tackle football team. Which is an everyday-in-August commitment. Oy.

As a coach, I am really a student. I am trying to learn as much about football as I can to help my players play well, have fun, and be safe. But like Uncle Rico, I still have a strong desire to win.

Back to School

2 weeks ago I had a great opportunity to learn some new things about the game of football. On Varsity Day, Coach Tom Price, President of Cardinal Football, brought the local Varsity football players from Homestead High School in Mequon, Wisconsin to practice to work with the 5th-8th grade players in the Cardinal football program that feeds players into Homestead. While the high schoolers were working with our athletes, one of the outstanding Homestead football coaches on Head Coach Drake Zortmans’s staff talked to the Cardinal coaches about football.

The coach, Dan Juedes, is a 70-something who is not only in the Wisconsin Football Coaches Hall of Fame, he is in the National Football Coaches Hall of Fame. He coaches at football camps across the country, including at many of the Big Ten schools. In fact, Dan has been coaching so long that when he started the Big 10 conference only had 5 teams.

Coach Dan Juedes looking very coachy.

Dan’s Lessons

As the novice coaches gathered around Dan, he shared a few gems about coaching football. His first lesson had been passed along to him by the legendary Bo Schembechler, the former head football coach at the University of Michigan. Dan told us:

‘The average football play lasts 7 seconds. All players look pretty much the same during the first 2 seconds. What separates great players from the ordinary is what they do in seconds 3 through 7.‘

-Coach Dan Juedes

When Dan shared this I felt like I had heard Einstein explain the Universe with E= MC2. Because Dan’s 7-second rule took a very complex game and broke it down into a very simple formula for success.

Coach Juedes carried off the field, presumably because he was tired from coaching so hard.

Josh Hunt, our 7th-grade teams’ head coach, and I couldn’t wait to share this valuable insight with our players. So once we were reunited with our athletes (and it felt so good) we eagerly shared our new insight with our team. And we have been resharing the 7-second secret every day since.

Applying the 7-Second Success Formula

On Saturday we had our first game of the season. The last thing I told the players before they took the field was to give a full 7 seconds of effort on every play and great things would happen.

But the much bigger opponents overwhelmed our team out of the gate. They ran around us and over us until they were knock, knock knocking on the endzone’s door.

But with our backs to our own endzone, defending a first and goal play from the 6-yard line our team gave a 7-second effort. My son Magnus fired across the line from his defensive end position and engaged with a tight end. He shed the blocker at 2 seconds and attacked the opposing team’s quarterback. What happened over the next 5 seconds changed everything.

Magnus sprinted after the quarterback, and not only did he tackle him deep in the backfield, he punched the ball out of his hands in the process. Our middle linebacker Jaden Daniels was also giving a 7-second effort and pounced on the loose ball. This meant that we went from our opponent having the ball on first and goal from the 6-yard line, to our team having a first and ten at the 17-yard line. Boom!

Then our offense became a 7-Second Squad. We put together an 83-yard scoring drive that led to a 6-0 lead.

It turns out that’s all we needed to win the game. Because thanks to our 7-second efforts we held our formidable and much bigger opponent to 0 points. A shutout.

Me and Magnus after our opening game win.

The 7-Second Life Lesson

Dan’s 7-second rule teaches us to go hard to the end of every play. While everyone starts out doing the right thing on nearly every play, at some point, most people stop giving maximum effort and forfeit the advantage to those who go hard until the whistle blows.

But the 7-Second rule doesn’t just apply to football. The basic concept applies to success in all areas of life. Most people start out strong. But they give up too early. They stop or quit just when their effort is needed most. It is true in sports and in your career. It is true in marriage and in parenting. And it is true anywhere effort is needed to create results.

Key Takeaway

The difference in life is not made at the start. It is what you do after the start. Don’t stop 2 seconds in. That’s when most people let up, thinking they have done their job. Don’t fall into that trap. True success comes from your effort during seconds 3 through 7. So play the full play. Give a full effort every time. That effort and the advantage it creates compounds, play after play, day after day, year after year. Play until the end. And the end will be sweeter than you could have imagined. Just like the donuts I will bring my team today to celebrate the donut they put on the scoreboard on Saturday. Boom!

Final Note

Over the weekend as I reviewed the game film to provide feedback, I saw the 7-second rule over and over again. The great plays were made by those playing hard for 7 seconds. The best results of all came when the entire team played hard for 7 seconds. And as a proud Dad-Coach, I saw that Magnus had 3 sacks in the game and the game-winning tackle on 4th down in the 4th quarter. All of which came from giving full effort all the way to whistle. And I was amazed as I counted to 7 seconds over and over on our biggest plays. It turns out that Dan and Bo really know what they are talking about.

Also, I want to note that Dan Juedes and Tom Price have been a great help to me as track and field officials running the shot put and discus events at Homestead’s home meets in the spring. Thanks guys!

*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.

Here’s the very best way to get revenge on your enemies, legally.

I don’t need everyone to like me.

And neither do you.

When I was a kid I recognized that there were people with whom I got along well, and others who were like a downer to my upper. Or oil to my water. Or plumbers crack to my suspenders. In other words, we just couldn’t exist in the same space.

As an adult, I am fortunate to have a lot of friends. But I still have people that don’t like me. I bet you have people who don’t like you too. It’s a sign that you are doing things the right way. Or that you are a psychopath. (If you are a psychopath none of the rest of this lesson applies to you.)

I have found that the people that clearly don’t like me have a different value system than me. For example, I think people should be honest and kind. While I find that most people I don’t get along with don’t value honesty and kindness. And neither do their feral children.

While I tend to make friends quickly, I make enemies just as fast. I don’t attempt to convert my enemies into friends. Instead, I think about getting revenge. And the best way to get revenge on your enemies is to constantly disappoint them.

How I disappoint my enemies:

I disappoint my enemies with my successes.

I disappoint my enemies with my continuous improvement.

I disappoint my enemies with my resilience to setbacks.

I disappoint my enemies by not responding to their invitations to stoop to their level.

I disappoint my enemies by amassing more friends who align with my values.

I disappoint my enemies with my indifference to them.

I disappoint my enemies by smiling, laughing, and enjoying every day, especially in front of them and their feral children.

Key Takeaway

Use your enemies to your advantage. They are excellent sources of motivation. Disappoint your enemies with your successes. It’s the sweetest form of revenge.

*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.

The best thing to do when you don’t feel ready to face a daunting task.

Earlier this week my daughter Ava and I were at the gym lifting weights. She is hyper-focused on smashing her high school’s 44-year-old discus record next spring. (She was only 2 feet off the record as a junior.) I was in the gym because I don’t want Hans and Frans to pick on me.

Ava had a leg day workout, and she had reached the most challenging part of her training week. She had already done 3 sets of power cleans and had finished 2 sets of squats. Which meant that her last and heaviest set of squats was next. If you are the type to throw up while working out, this is a good time to have a garbage can within spewing distance.

At this point in your leg day workout, you are as tired as you ever feel in the gym. Yet you still have one more set to go. It’s the toughest part of the day. The toughest part of the week. It’s when you search your music playlist for your most Eye-Of-The-Tigerish song to help you Rocky up.

I asked Ava, ‘Are you ready for your last set?’

She shot back, ‘No, but I’m going to do it anyway.’

As Ava’s Dad-Coach, I swelled with pride. Because that comment, those 8 simple words, demonstrate that Ava has the mindset required for great success.

Go Anyway

Life does not often present ideal conditions. And when you’re trying to do hard things, you often put yourself in positions where you feel not yet ready for the next task. But to be successful you have to go anyway.

I know that mindset. I had to rely on it in athletics when I entered major competitions after a rough week of practice. When I was fatigued, sore or mentally drained.

I have tapped into that mindset at work after promotions that stretched my skills and abilities. And when I was about to undertake a daunting Blair Witch-type project.

I embraced that mindset when I wrote my first book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? Because I didn’t know anything about writing books, or how to get a tiny printer inside a fortune cookie.

And I certainly adopted the not-ready-but-I’m-going-to-do-it-anyway mindset when I launched The Weaponry, the adverting and ideas agency I started in 2016. Because the key to entrepreneurship is taking action even when you don’t feel ready to entre or preneur.

The secret to success is not to be fully prepared. It is to be fully prepared to go anyway. To go when you don’t feel good, informed or ready.

Simply stepping into the arena, conference room, or squat rack will force you to focus and summon your best effort.

Remember, it isn’t always Ready, Set, Go. Sometimes it is Set, Go, Ready.

Oh, and not only did Ava crush her last set of squats, she added extra reps too. Because big goals and strong desires are great fuel. Especially when you are running on fumes.

Key Takeaway

You won’t always feel totally ready for the challenge in front of you. Go anyway. The challenge of the moment will often ready you as you go.

*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.

It’s not where you start that matters. It’s who you bump into.

Yesterday I played mini golf with my family. It was my son Magnus’s birthday, And it was a fun way to kick off his teenage years with more ball-rolling than eye-rolling. After we played 18 holes and returned our clubs we got to drop our golf balls into a Plinko game. If your ball landed in the right slot you would win free ice cream. If it didn’t you would save yourself 30 minutes of cardio.

Plinko is an interesting game of chance that was originally discovered by Bob Barker and a contestant who had come on down to the set of The Price is Right in the 1980s.

To play the game you drop a ball or chip over a grid of pegs. As the object falls it bounces off the pegs and is redirected several times until it finally lands in a slot at the bottom of the grid. What you quickly realize is that where the object starts at the top has very little to do with where it lands at the bottom. It is the collisions that keep redirecting the object and determining where you finish. Kinda like NASCAR.

Life works like a giant Plinko game. It is not where you start that matters. It is who and what you bump into along the way that matters. It is the pegs you encounter that have the greatest influence on your life.

Your pegs are:

  • People you spend time with.
  • Books you read.
  • Experiences you have.
  • Places you visit
  • The mom from Married With Children

Your pegs alter your course. They provide new influences and nudge you in new directions. Some are positive, and some are negative. Positive pegs tend to direct you towards even more positive influences. Although negative pegs can push us in positive directions too. Especially once you’ve encountered someone who turns negatives into positives.

Key Takeaway

Life is like a giant Plinko game. The people you collide with change the course of your life. So do the books you read, the places you visit, and the experiences you have. Seek out great pegs. They have the power to change your whole trajectory.

*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.

To create more success and more impact focus on the long-term.

There are 2 main time frames you must always consider: the short-term and the long-term. (There may also be one in between those 2, but I have no idea what it would be called.)

The short-term is full of basic needs, primal desires, and eating the first marshmallow they give you. The short term is about scrolling social media, watching TV, and eating stuff with ingredients you can’t pronounce.

The long-term is where the magic is. Long-term thinking, planning, and preparation enable you to create a great life. It enables you to build momentum. It helps you create things that last. And it empowers you to change the world.

Efforts focused on the long term create the most significant return on your invested time, energy, and money.

Consider this quote from famed landscape architect Fredrick Law Olmsted (the original FLO) who created New York’s Central Park, Montreal’s Mount Royal Park, the grounds at The Biltmore Estate, and the landscape at the Chicago World’s Fair:

I have all my life been considering distant effects and always sacrificing immediate success and applause to that of the future. In laying out Central Park we determined to think of no result to be realized in less than forty years.”

– Fredrick Law Olmsted

Key Takeaway

Always think about what you can do over the long term. Consider what you can create, contribute and change over your lifetime, and beyond. Be willing to make sacrifices in the short term to magnify your impact deep into the future.

*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.