Tag: life lessons

The Power Of Client Friends: Maximizing Your Professional Relationships.

I use a term I never hear anyone else use.

It’s not gazoinkers. Or tootsnickers. Or zwerp. All of which I use as well.

The term I use regularly that others don’t is client friend.

Even Grammarly tells me this is not a thing.

Oh, Grammarly, but it is a thing.

The term client friend is an important addition to my vocabulary, necessary to accurately describe many of the important people in my life.

Client Friend helps me express the duality of my relationship with many of my clients.

The Origin

Early in my career, I realized that I was not accurately representing my relationship with a large swath of people in my orbit by simply referring to them as clients. That was way too transactional, or distant, or businessy.

For me, the client relationship is simply the introductory vehicle to many of my favorite friendships. And the workplace is just the meetup venue for our friending actions.

So for the dictionary entry I propose the following:

Client Friend. /klient frend/ nouny. A friend whom you originally met as a client.

For comparative context, some people have drinking friends or fishing buddies. Other people have friends who they play softball with, or poker, or fantasy football. I have even heard of knitting circle friends. And hunting wives.

I have friends who I do commerce with.

We meet up and talk about their business. We talk about branding, and marketing and advertising. We talk about sales and products and services. We talk about innovation and customer experience, and off-menu creative ideas to enhance their brand image. We talk about competitive pressures, and trends and threats. (Oh My!)

And we love it!

We nerd out on all these things. Because we are gazoinkeers for business, marketing, advertising and creative problem solving.

We also share stories about the fun travel we’ve done together. And film and photo shoots in interesting places. And the great meals we have shared. And all the hilarity that happened along the way. Zwerp!

But we also talk about our families, vacations, hobbies and pets.

I freaking love making new friends. I go gazoinkers for adding new people to my world. Because my clients and I have so much in common, we typically become friends quickly, both because of the work, and beyond the work.

When I began seriously thinking about starting my own advertising and ideas agency back in 2015, a couple of my client friends called me to encourage me to do it. Then I called more client friends to talk about it. I met other client friends at restaurants and talked with them for hours about it. And when I first launched The Weaponry, my very first client was actually my friend, Dan Richards, whom I have known since we were in 7th grade in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Looking back, I can clearly see that it was my client friends who enabled me to start The Weaponry. And it has been client friends who have sustained us for the past 9 years.

We spend something like 100% of our time at work. Which makes the workplace a great place to develop and maintain friendships and deepen relationships with the people you work with. Take advantage of this rich field for meaningful social interactions. (Did I mention I also met my wife, Dawn, at work? I did. And she’s amazing!)

At the end of your career, you won’t care about the awards you won nearly as much as you will value the client friends you won and the work-related relationships you developed. Those client friends are just as good as any other form of friendship. Maybe even better. Because you have so much history and so much to talk about in retirement.

Not everyone has client friends. Instead, you may have customer friends. Or member friends. Or partner friends. Or collaborator friends. Or vendor friends. Or Joey, Chandler, Ross, Monica, Phoebe and Rachel. Collect them all. Enjoy them all. The universe put them in your world so that you can develop a human relationship. We are not just here for business transactions. We are here to engage meaningfully with each other for the greater good of all.

Key Takeaway

Make more client friends. And customer friends. And co-worker friends. And people-you-interact-with-because- of-work friends. Working with your friends makes life more enjoyable. And friending with the people you work with is the ultimate relationship hack. More and better friends lead to a better life. So make friends everywhere you can. Especially at work. And if you want to work with people who want to be your friend, shoot me a text or call me at 614-256-2850, or email me at adam@theweponry.com. I always have room for more friends.

*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.

Why you should bring your freakin idea to life and share it with the world.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw the band Bombargo. They were playing a free concert in a park 2 miles from my house. The band is a bundle of energy and entertainment from the off-off Broadway, town of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Which is also one of the cartooniest place names ever invented. The band was on their Disco Surf Rodeo Tour, because any one of those things on its own is just not enough.

For a flavor of their fun music, check out Let It Grow or Oxygen. (Songs I assume were inspired by The Lorax.)

An hour into their set, the band told an interesting story as they introduced one of their signature songs.

During the winter months, Saskatoon is often among the coldest places on the planet. And during one of those cold spells, the lead singer stopped by his brother-bandmate’s igloo home. His brother-bandmate was playing a new song idea on the piano. The lead singer really liked what he was playing and decided that they should write a song to it.

So they wrote the full song that day.

The next day, they recorded the song, shot a video for it, and shared it online.

Then something swiftdiculous happened. Taylor Swift, the most influential musician on the planet, heard the song, loved it, and added it to her Spotify playlist.

The song immediately blew up thanks to Swift’s endorsement.

The band shared that it was rare for them to work so fast and not tweak a song to death. But it was exactly this speed of creating and sharing that led to the success of the song Mr. No Good.

Reminder

Each of the ideas you bring to life is like a lottery ticket. It has the potential to pay off in a big way. So create it, share it and move on. Don’t analyze it to death. Great work doesn’t have to take a long time. Focus on creating work that you love. If you love it, there is a great chance that others will love it too.

Key Takeaway

Create things you love and share them quickly. It’s the key to being a successful artist, innovator, or entrepreneur. The world benefits from your ideas. And your ideas benefit from real-world exposure. Successful ideas are a percentage game. The more ideas you bring to life, the more likely you are to produce hits. And when you love your creations, there is a great chance others will too. So don’t die with your song in your head, your art in your heart or your startup in your soul.

*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.

People are reading less. Which is great news for you!

The greatest way to increase your value to yourself and others is through reading.

You could just stop reading this post now and go grab a book to read instead.

But I am going to drop some new reading knowledge on you that is worth 90 seconds of attention.

Why Should You Read?

Bill Gates reads about 50 books a year. Or about a book each week.

Warren Buffett famously reads about 500 pages per day.

Lin-Manuel Miranda bought the book Hamilton to read on vacation in Mexico.

So read books that expand your thinking and your knowledge base.

Read to understand how things work.

Read for inspiration, motivation, and all the other great ations.

Read to understand how successful people became successful.

Read about what worked in the past in your field of expertise.

And read to learn what is changing in your field, so you can surf that change, rather than get pummeled by it.

Read to improve your writing and expand your vocabulary.

Read to develop your focus and your patience for long-term goals.

But most importantly…

Read To Separate Yourself From The Pack.

Despite all of the mental nutrition and long-term success that sprouts from reading, a new study just released by researchers at the University of Florida and University College London (which sounds like the fakest British school name ever) found that reading for pleasure among Americans has declined by 40% over the past two decades.

  • In 2004, 28% of Americans said they read for fun.
  • In 2023, only 16% said they read because they wanted to.

It is not lost on me, or the researchers, that Facebook launched in 2004 and the iPhone was released in 2007. Together, social media and smart phones may be accomplices, killing reading softly, like Roberta Flack or the Fugees.

This all means that people who read books have a greater competitive advantage now than ever before.

The statistics are fascinating.

The average number of books adults read each year is 12. Which was also my favorite song from Sesame Street.

However, this is massively skewed by the avid readers.

In fact, estimates reveal that between 25-46% of adults READ NO BOOKS each year.

And the median number of books read annually by adults is only about 4. That’s how much the average person hates paper cuts.

Which means there are fewer and fewer people after the pot of gold at the end of the Reading Rainbow.

There are fewer people who are willing to do the slow, steady, yet transformational work of knowledge gain through reading. While others are settling for bite-sized bits of video, podcasts, and tweetable wisdom served by algorithms, readers are accumulating broad and deep knowledge that helps make them more capable, valuable and irreplaceable.

The new study also revealed that those who do read for fun are spending more time doing so. Because while haters gonna hate, readers gonna read.

And in the era of artificial intelligence, it is the humans who can contribute more than the machines that will be in greatest demand.

Key Takeaway

Now more than ever, reading is your great competitive advantage. Your self-directed education makes you a valuable and irreplaceable resource. It improves your thinking. Which drives smarter decisions and actions. And it draws other people to you who want to tap into what you know.

*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.

Pushing Boundaries. How My Misogi Challenge Created A Year-Defining Moment.

This spring, I began a Misogi Challenge. These are demanding personal challenges that push your limits in order to develop character, confidence and self-reliance. Win or lose, they create great stories that make your obituary a more interesting read.

Such challenges are meant to push your outer limits, with a high likelihood of failure. The 2 basic rules for a Misogi Challenge are that they should be really, really hard. But you are not supposed to die. I have found that there is plenty of room for suffering within those boundaries.  

I first wrote about my Misogi bench press challenge back in early July in My Misogi Challenge 2025.

In my challenge I had 4 goals.

  1. To bench press 300 pounds. Because it is hard. And it’s a nice round number. Especially the two zeros at the end.
  2. To bench press 315 pounds. Because this is three 45 lb plates on each side of the bar, and it looks freaking awesome.
  3. To bench press 335 pounds. Because this was my maximum bench press when I was an 18-year-old high school student. Today, I am 52 years old, and have a white collar job that requires practically no physical labor beyond keyboard tickling.
  4. To live to fight another day. Because I also want to be smart and not push myself to an injury.

This past Sunday, I made my final push to complete my Misogi Bench Press Challenge. #punalwaysintended

I took on the final challenge in my home gym, with my 3 teenage mutant children Ava, Johann and Magnus as witnesses. Not only did I want them with me to spot me, but I knew that having my kids in the room watching would provide additional motivation. And I needed all I could get.

If I succeeded, I would be setting a great example of hard work, determination and personal accomplishment for my kids. If I failed, I would be showing my kids that sometimes we set lofty goals for ourselves, and we fall short. But it’s the attempt that matters. It is Man In The Arena stuff. Which is also Woman In The Arena stuff. 

I started with a 10-minute warmup on my Matrix elliptical machine. Then I stretched well. I believe that my commitment to warming up and stretching before my workouts has been key to my performance, injury prevention and longevity. My body still works and feels mostly the way it should. And I still have most of my original factory parts.

I listened to my Led Zeppelin, Get The Led Out playlist on Spotify as I warmed up:

  • Tangerine
  • Immigrant Song
  • Gallows Pole
  • When the Levee Breaks
  • Kashmir

Here is my bench press workout progression:

135 lbs for 12 reps.

185 lbs for 6 reps.

225 lbs for 1 rep.

275 lbs for 1 rep.

Then I called in my 18-year-old son Johann to spot me.

I hit 300 lbs for 1 rep. I have hit 300 lbs several times over the last 2 months. And the weight moved well.

Then I got to the meat of my final push. 

I called Ava (19) and Magnus (15) into the room for both safety and additional motivation.

With 325 lbs on the bar, I cranked up AC/DC’s Back In Black on my AirPods. And I moved the bar easily.

I bumped up the weight to the penultimate weight of 330 lbs. I cranked up Renegades of Funk by Rage Against The Machine on my AirPods. Again, the weight moved smoothly.

So I readied myself for the goal weight of 335 pounds. This was the weight that I had been focused on for months. It would answer the question, ‘Can you be as strong at 52 years old as you were when you were a high school kid, training during the peak of your high school career?’ I was a strong 18-year-old kid. I was the state champ in the shot put. I was the New England Champion in the discus. And I never saw another kid in my high school bench 335 lbs or more. 

To hit that same weight 34 years later was a daunting task. But a major win if I could do it. Because coming up just 5 lbs short of the mark would mean that I wasn’t quite as strong as I was at 18. Certainly understandable. But also a bummer to lose the competition with my 18-year-old Zubaz-wearing self.

I prowled around the room, yelling motivation to myself. I have always been my own best hype man. I worked myself into a lather in a process I call Summoning. The basic premise is that we all have some maximum physical capability. The key to acheiving the maximum physical performance is to summon as much of your capacity as you can. So I summon as much energy, focus and fury as I can. It may be a little embarrassing to see on film, but it has always driven results. So I go with it.

I had Limp Bizkit’s Rollin’ (Air Raid Vehicle) on 11 in my AirPods. This is my go-to bench press song. Something about the lyrics (Breathe In now Breathe out, Hands up now Hands down…) feels highly appropriate for bench pressing. Plus, swear words get me hyped. (Sorry, Mom.)

I lay down on the bench, gripped the bar, and twisted it until it felt just right. I counted aloud, 1…2…3! And hoisted the bar off the red Rogue rack. I lowered the fully-loaded bar down to my chest and pushed with everything I had. 

And the bar began to rise off my chest.

I knew I had it.

I began to yell as I pushed the bar through the full range of motion.

My kids didn’t even get a chance to yell encouragement at me, because I was yelling at myself. And the bar was obviously moving north.

I locked out the top position, re-racked the bar, and went freaking nutz-o!

I was so hyped I just kept yelling, and celebrating. I grabbed the hands of each of my 3 kids who were spotting me. Johann, then Magnus then Ava.

Then I turned and yelled at the camera. It was a Seven-Yeah Celebration. Like Usher would do.

I was so freaking hyped!

I had set a high bar for this Misogi Challenge. 

And I met it. 

With all 3 of my kids as witnesses.

And 2 cameras rolling, to catch the result, win or lose.

But I knew I hadn’t hit my limit. So I decided to try one more attempt. This would be above my goal weight.  So I turned to Ava, my most experienced offspring in the iron arts, and asked, ‘Should I go for 340 or 345 lbs?’

Without hesitating, she said, ‘340. You always tell me to make sure I get the lift, rather than stretching too far.’ 

So she served up the good advice I had been dishing out. And I took it.

Now I was playing with house money. Plus, at that point, I had happy-hype coursing through my system. 

5 minutes later, with Black Sabbath’s Iron Man sawing through my AirPods, I lay down under the bar, again. I un-racked the bar, lowered it and pressed. The weight moved. My kids blasted me with encouragement. I pushed at full strength until I had locked out the weight. Then I re-racked the bar.

I was instantly flooded with my favorite feeling: MaxHap. It’s the term I use for maximum happiness. It’s my version of self-actualization. Or flow. Or euphoria. It’s the drug that Huey Lewis was seeking. And I still haven’t found a negative side effect.

Everything had gone right. I set and met a hard goal, with a high chance of failure. Then I exceeded it. Which meant that I can say definitively that I am stronger at 52 than I was at 18. And I was 6 feet tall and 215 pounds back then. And headed to the University of Wisconsin to throw for the Badgers. Yet somehow, 34 years later, I was still pushing myself. That’s some crazy train stuff, Ozzy!

But even better, I experienced this with my kids. They were all in the room where it happened. They saw me attempt something hard and succeed. They saw me working towards my goal for months. They saw me fail reps along the way, but I kept on going. They saw the focus, determination and craziness that I tapped into to rise to the occasion. They were there to encourage me. And to catch me if I failed. 

That was an amazing experience.

Now I am done with this challenge. I have banked the results in my list of life experiences. It has bolstered my confidence and my belief that I can handle hard things. So I move forward, mentally stronger than I was before I started. Which is the whole point of the challenge.

Key Takeaway

Push yourself to do hard things. Stretch your limits. Test yourself. Make commitments to yourself that are hard to keep. Then keep them anyway. It will build your confidence and self-reliance. It will toughen you up. The work and the suffering and pushing past your past limits make you feel alive and ready for anything. Give yourself a Misogi Challenge. Because when the world becomes too comfortable, you need to seek out discomfort to grow and experience life more deeply. Make it a regular part of your life. It will help you live a life worth talking about. Which means that whether or not you win or lose your self-challenge, you win at life.  

*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.  

Let your experiences and adventures change you.

This year, I have had a tall flapjack stack of fun and interesting experiences outside of work.

  • I traveled to Nashville in May to visit colleges and enjoy some live music at the Grand Ole Opry. (Although I still have no idea what an opry is.)
  • I spent our family’s spring break in Arizona, splitting time between Scottsdale and Sedona. (I didn’t have time for standing on the corner in Winslow.)
  • I completed a circle tour of Lake Michigan, seeing many things that are not that far away by the way the crow flys or the salmon swims, but quite far away by the way the car drives.
  • I coached 2 great athletes at the Wisconsin State High School Track Championship on the other side of the state in La Crosse.
  • I attended a family reunion in southern Minnesota, in my mom’s hometown of Elkton, with a whole flock of reuning relatives.

How To Profit From Your Experiences

My goal, when I experience such things, is to come back different.

I don’t want these to be inert experiences.

You want the special experiences of your life to have impact.

You want them to expand your view of the world.

You want them to create new or deeper relationships.

You want new learning.

You want new ideas.

You want to grow through each one of your novel experiences and be better as a result. (Your novel experiences don’t have to include a novel.)

You want to be a different and more capable version of yourself after the experience than you were before. (And you want to maintain all of your limbs and phalanges.)

When you aim to grow, expand and improve through your experiences, you will always find your path to accomplish your aim.

You will spot things you have never seen before.

You will recognize the learning, the lessons and the insights when they arrive.

You will grab the opportunity to meet new people you encounter. And you will find that each new person you meet will change you in some way. Sometimes these changes are large and profound. Other times, they are small and seemingly insignificant. But if you genuinely try to get to know people in a greater way, you will walk away a greater person.

Key Takeaway

Throughout your human experience, always look for ways to grow. Collect and connect dots. Add new humans to your world. Expand your circle of friends. Upgrade your world view. Come back from your experiences and adventures smarter, wiser and more informed. It helps generate excitement and curiosity every time you leave home. And it brings you back better, wiser and more creative than you were when you left.

*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 I screwed up my very first email, but lived to email you about it.

Do you remember writing your first email?

I do.

It was very confusing.

I composed my first email message when I was a college student. It was my second or third year of college at the University of Wisconsin. I wrote the email to my parents from the computer lab at college. Because back then, almost no students in my socio-economic subdivision owned their own computers.

I was awestruck by the idea of this new technology. It would allow me to send a written letter to my parents, but without having to find a sheet of paper or an envelope. I wouldn’t have to buy a stamp. Or lick a stamp. I wouldn’t have to find a mailbox. Or lick a mailbox. And I wouldn’t have to wait a week for them to get the letter. They would get it instantaneously! This was some kind of magic from the future. And I couldn’t wait to try it out.

But when I went to write my first high-tech email letter, something went wrong.

I quickly filled the small field provided for the message with my first sentence. Then, as I continued to type, the new words pushed the old words out of the field. It was very confusing. But, hey, this was magic mail. And I was just a regular human. So I figured I wasn’t supposed to fully understand the wizardry.

I stared at the email for a long time, trying to understand what was happening to my message. But finding no good explanation, I eventually poked the send button and sent my magic mail into the ether, hoping it would land as promised inside my parents’ home computer in the woods of Norwich, Vermont.

The next day, when I received a reply email from my parents, I realized what had gone wrong.

I wrote my entire email letter to them in the subject field.

Looking back, it is easy to laugh at that mistake. It is easy to say I was a dufus. Or a doofus. (Both of which are dictionarily acceptable.)

But I find inspiration in this story. Because it serves as a reminder that when you try new things, you will be bad at them. Or at least as bad as you will ever be.

But just because you are bad at things at first doesn’t mean you will be bad at them forever. In fact, the only way to greatness is to travel through badness and mediocrity. It’s like traveling through the wardrobe into Narnia.

My first email experience demonstrates that by trying, experimenting and exploring, you grow and expand your capabilities. You have to be willing to try new things to accomplish new things. You have to be willing to be bad to become good. You have to be willing to make mistakes to make yourself great.

I am now 9 years into leading the advertising and ideas agency, The Weaponry. And I can draw a direct connection from my willingness to try to ride a bike, to my willingness to try to write my first email, to my eagerness to try to launch a startup business. They are all plunges into the unknown. They all involved missteps, mistakes, mistypes, or mispedals.

Here’s The Recipe:

You try.

You mess up.

You learn.

You correct.

You try again.

You improve.

You try again.

You improve again.

And you just keep trying.

Forgive my braggadocio, but today, I am freaking good at writing emails. I can fill in the To, CC, and BCC fields like a boss. I can write a subject that will tell the recipient why they should want to read the email. I can craft a clear, concise, compelling and occasionally comedic message. And I write that whole message in the body section. I can add an attachment. I can change the font size. I have a standard signature that includes my name, title, office location, and website address. My email also lets people know that I wrote a book called, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? And that I publish Adam’s Good Newsletter. Which is a newsletter that I send out regularly via email. Boom!

Key Takeaway

Don’t be afraid to try something new because you think you will be bad at it. You will be bad at it. At least as bad as you will ever be. But that is the price you pay to achieve greatness. You have to humble yourself at the beginning of the process. Which helps you appreciate your growth and ultimate success. The learning journey is the life journey. So learn as much as you can. It’s how you create the most rewarding life.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them. And if you want to show off your email skillz, send me a note at adam@theweaponry.com.

+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.

This 4th of July, Remember That You Come From Brave People.

Happy 4th of July!

I love everything about this holiday.

The parades and fireworks.

The American flag swimsuits.

The hot dog eating contests, and imagining the parade and fireworks they must cause at the other end of the GI tract.

America

This year, as we celebrate the 249th 4th of July in America, my mind keeps returning to a piece of art I saw several years ago in California.

My family and I were celebrating my son Magnus’ birthday at Ivy At The Shore in Santa Monica. In the restaurant, there was a large image of a sailing ship with all sheets fully winded, plowing through rough seas.

Over the image were the words. ‘Brave Men Run In My Family.’

Ed Ruscha originally created this idea. I’m not sure who to credit this version to.

This piece really speaks to me.

Not because I come from a sailing family. (I come from more of a rummage saling family.)

I love it because the painting reminds me of all the brave decisions my forefathers and foremothers made to come to America and risk so much for a better life.

Their brave decisions gave me and my fellow American offspring better opportunities than we would have had in the non-American countries my people came from.

However, this truth is not unique to me and my family.

All Americans are descendants of brave Grandcestors who bet on themselves and came to America for the freedom to create better lives. Amazing lives. The kind of lives Robin Leach would have profiled, up close and personal.

As we celebrate Independence Day, remember that you come from brave men and women.

They left home, family, friends, and all that they knew to come to America, the land of the free, for the chance at something even greater.

Make sure to honor them by doing great things with your life.

Be brave and courageous.

Take calculated risks.

Live into your own dreams.

Bet on yourself.

It is the safest bet you will ever make.

Do if for yourself.

And do it for your family members who did it for you first.

Happy Independence Day.

*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.

My Misogi Challenge for 2025.

I have been intrigued with Misogi Challenges since I was a teenager. Granted, back then, I didn’t know that they were called Misogi Challenges. I just called them Personal Challenges. Or Doing Hard Things. But I like the Japanese name for them better. Because it makes them sound more profound and official and less like a Hold-My-Beer stunt.

What the Miyagi is a Misogi Challenge?

A Misogi challenge is an annual event in which you take on a difficult personal challenge with a high probability of failure. You do this to push your personal limits, develop grit, resiliency, growth and confidence. It also provides good content for your social media network. Especially if your challenge is to step into a boxing ring with 57-year-old Rusted Mike Tyson.

My Misogi Challenges have included:

  • Trying to break the New Hampshire state record in the discus within 8 months of ACL reconstruction surgery. (That was freaking hard.)
  • Eating my lunch outside every weekday for an entire year. (I ate alone a lot in 2015.)
  • Launching a business. (That’s how I started The Weaponry)
  • Publishing a book (That’s how I wrote What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say?)

Misogi Challenge 2025

This year, I have given myself a bench press challenge.

For context, I first benched 300 pounds when I was 17 years old, during the summer after my junior year of high school.

My senior year in high school, I benched 335 pounds while recovering from the ACL reconstruction surgery mentioned above.

At the end of college, when I was 23, I put up 423 pounds when I weighed 211 pounds. 423 is an odd number for weight lifting. But I was using heavy-duty, 1.5-pound collars to secure the weight to the bar. And at 211 pounds of body weight, I counted every pound to see if I could double my body weight.

But that was nearly 30 years ago. That was back when Mike Tyson would have destroyed a social media influencer if such a thing existed.

My 2025 Misogi Challenge includes 4 different goals.

  1. Bench Press 300 pounds. This is a fun club to still be in 35 years after I first joined it.
  2. Bench Press 315 pounds. Everyone who lifts weights seriously knows that this is three 45-pound plates on each side of the bar. It’s a milestone for weightlifters. And it looks great on the bar. (But not so great if it is sitting on your chest.)
  3. Bench Press 335 pounds. I love the idea of still being as strong at 52 as I was at 18.
  4. Living to fight another day. I don’t want to push myself in a way that compromises my tomorrow. So I am listening to my body. And if it says, ‘Back off!‘ like those Yosemite Sam mud flaps, I will back off. You have to play the long game.

The Progress

Monday night at 9:15pm, I bench 295 pounds 4 times.

The week before, when I was fresher and lifted earlier in the day, I benched 290 pounds for 5 reps.

My Monday night workout with my undersized spotter.

While these numbers are a far cry from where I was at my best, I have learned that the decades add to the degree of difficulty. I love that this challenge is pushing me to do hard things. When I was in my teens, 20s and 30s I never thought I would still be flirting with these kinds of numbers in my 50s. But then again, I also thought I would be bald.

I plan to share updates on my progress over the next month. I should attain the 300-pound goal next week. And I expect to peak by late July or August. And most importantly, I hope to live to fight another day. Because I have plenty more challenges yet to come.

It’s Your Turn

I encourage you to take on your own Misogi Challenge. They can help you accomplish great feats, like writing books, starting businesses and running marathons. They create exciting chapters of your life, which help make the story of your life more interesting. They push you to expand and redefine your personal limits. And they fan the flames of your competitive spirit.

Key Takeaway

Do hard things. Push yourself. Challenge yourself. A good Misogi Challenge, or difficult challenge by any other name, makes you feel alive. These challenge force your to keep growing. They stoke your competitiveness. They build your resilience and confidence. They help you live a more interesting life. And they help remind you that you can do hard things. Which means that when the hard things come your way, you know you can handle them. Because you’re a badass. And you choose to do hard things for fun.

*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.

Wake Up And Take Control Of Your Day with This Simple Habit.

When I was a kid, I had a small, square alarm clock.

It was very simple.

It had a traditional analog face, with an hour hand and a minute hand. (They actually looked more like arms than hands. But I think that ship has sailed.)

On the back of the clock, there were two simple dials. One set the time. The other set the alarm.

On top, there was a single, mushroom-shaped button. (Which grew in the dark.)

You pulled the plastic mushroom up to set it.

You pushed it down to turn it off.

That’s all there was to it.

But what was really important about my alarm clock was its location, location, location.

I didn’t set it on my nightstand like normal alarmists.

I placed it on top of my dresser on the other side of the room.

Every morning when the alarm clock sounded, I hopped out of bed and hustled across the room to turn it off.

And just like that, I was up and out of bed for the day.

I never hit the non-existent snooze button.

I didn’t crawl back in bed.

I started my day.

The Adam Albrecht Approach to Alarm Clocking has trained me to get up and start my day the moment my alarm sounds for the rest of my life.

Go Ahead, Make Your Day.

By training yourself to start the day when your alarm goes off, every day, you train yourself to take control of your life.

Today, I have stacked a series of beneficial habits into my morning routine.

Here’s The First Hour+ Of My Day:

When my alarm goes off, I turn it off.

Then I put a big smile on my face for 10 seconds.

I get out of bed.

I make my half of the bed.

I go to the bathroom and drink a tall glass of water I set out the night before. (Which means today’s success began yesterday.)

I weigh myself. (The daily feedback helps me keep my weight between the ditches.)

I enter my weight in my Happy Scale app.

Then I sit down at my desk in my home office to write.

I write from 6:10am until 7 or 7:30am.

As a result of this morning routine, I wake up, smile, hydrate, track my weight, and produce new creative work every morning.

Not because I decide to each day.

But because I decided to once, 10 years ago.

By 7am, I am rolling. I have won the first hour of the day. And I roll into the rest of the day, and my next habit stacks, with momentum.

But it all starts with the way I respond to my alarm clock.

Key Takeaway

Get on top of your day before your day gets on top of you. When you control how you start each day, it helps you take control of your entire day. And when you are in control of your days, you are in control of your life. So get up when your alarm goes off. Set your alarm on the other side of the room if you have to. Put a big smile on your face. And go win the day.

*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.

17 Ways To Develop Your Entrepreneurial Mindset

On Monday, I had the opportunity to talk to a talented group of young entrepreneurs about the entrepreneurial mindset. This 2025 cohort of Youth Mean Business was inspiring, engaging, curious, and full of good questions and good answers. They made me feel like a total Slackle Jack for waiting until I was in my 40s to start my own business.

To prepare for my talk, I combed through the things I feel have most helped me develop my entrepreneurial mindset. This mindset offers a valuable approach to life that enables you to create value for others. It’s not just about starting businesses. It’s about creating value, solving problems, and developing resilience in yourself. But like Trix Cereal, these approaches aren’t just for kids. Here are tips anyone can use. Even silly rabbits.

17 Ways To Help Develop Your Entrepreneurial Mindset

  1. Spend Time With Other Entrepreneurs.

 Jim Rohn famously declared, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

So, spend time with entrepreneurs to become more like them. Entrepreneurs think differently. They see the world through a different lens. Surround yourself with them. Read about them. Ask them questions. It’s the fastest way to transform your mindset. And for Pete’s sake, stop hanging out with Debbie Downer.

2. Tap Into Your Energy & Enthusiasm

They make things happen. And they attract customers, employees and partners.

3. Create Things

James Clear shared, ‘Education teaches you to analyze. Entrepreneurship teaches you to create.’

So always Be Creating.

Not just businesses:

  • Systems
  • Processes
  • Clubs
  • Blogs
  • Newsletters
  • Events
  • Content
  • Videos
  • Words
  • Lists of bullet points

4. Develop a Bias Towards Action

Nontrepreneurs Talk. Entrepreneurs Act.

Take action. When you see an opportunity that you think is right for you, take steps towards it. Each time you take a step, the next step is likely to reveal itself. It is more important to take action than to plan everything out ahead of time. The need to plan everything will prevent you from taking steps. And there is no elevator to success. You’ve got to take the steps.

5. Be An Imperfectionist.

Perfectionists have to get everything exactly right. They down’t lyke mayking missteaks. But entrepreneurship is quick, messy and full of janky solutions, until you can afford better solutions.

Create quick models, products, services, content and promotions. Then improve as you go. That is how life works. You don’t have to have everything figured out from the beginning.

6. Give Yourself Permission To Be An Amateur.

One of the greatest gifts I gave myself as an entrepreneur was the permission to be an amateur.

It took the pressure off. It allows me to learn as I go. And to not beat myself up over the mistakes I would surely make, Shirley.

In fact, I loved what this did for my entrepreneurial mindset so much that I have adopted this in all areas of my life.

Today, I give myself permission to be an amateur as a:

  • Parent
  • Husband
  • Speaker
  • Coach
  • Blogger
  • Author
  • Newsletterer
  • Content Creator
  • Brain Surgeon (Which is probably why my rating is so low on Health Grades.)

As a result, I am always learning a lot. And I remain open to suggestions.

7. Read

Read as much as you can. On a plane. On a train. In a box. With a Fox. Entrepreneurs need to know things about all areas of their business.

  • Read about business and entrepreneurship.
  • Read for motivation and inspiration.
  • Read biographies of successful people to pick up clues you can use to be more successful.
  • Read to practice the slow grind of reading.
  • Listen to audiobooks when you are commuting.

8. Be Trustworthy

The most important thing you need to do to become an entrepreneur is to have people trust you.

To earn your first customers, you have to sell on trust.

  • So do what you say you will do.
  • Show up on time.
  • Deliver what you said you would deliver
  • Catch people if you do that trust-fall team-building exercise. (But if you do drop someone, make sure to get it on video.)

9. Approach Your Business Like A Video Game

Entrepreneurs face endless challenges and obstacles. Embrace the challenges.

Video games are fun specifically because they offer a challenge. The deeper you get into them, the higher level you achieve, the more challenging they get.

That’s part of the fun.

When things get hard, think of it as a fun and interesting challenge that will help you level up and become even better. And remember, you get points for eating Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde.

10. Collect Friends

All opportunities come through people.

The more people you know the better.

My very first client was a friend of mine I have known since 7th grade.

  • Always be meeting new people.
  • Introduce yourself to people.
  • Ask for introductions to people you think would be good to know.
  • If you don’t have business cards, get them printed and hand them out whenever you can.
  • Then, make a regular effort to reach out to your people.
  • Especially when you don’t want or need anything from them. (Read this bullet again. And then reach out to me to practice this.)
  • This is how you maintain relationships and make them valuable when either of you needs something later on.

11. Grab Chocolate Milk

Get together with people to talk.

Adults grab coffee or beer or wine or cocktails.

I don’t drink alcohol.

So I grab chocolate milk.

Or Ice Cream

Or Juice or Soda.

Or Carmels.

It all works the same way. These activities offer a good opportunity to get together and talk and develop your friendship, share ideas and discuss other opportunities.

12. Become A Problem Solver

Businesses are designed to solve problems.

So, become good at spotting problems.

And become good at solving them. Like Vanilla Ice.

This means replacing ‘I can’t do that.’ with ‘How could I do that?’

13. Focus

You will have the greatest success when you really focus on the most important thing at the moment.

FOCUS = Focus On Completely Until Solved

Focus fully on the important things you need to do or create. Do less. And do them better.

*Focus is the English word that many of my native French-speaking friends pronounce most hilariously. Listen for it. And let me know when you hear it.

14. Be Willing To Sacrifice

To be a successful entrepreneur, you have to sacrifice things you would like to do or have now. But you do this to get more freedom and more opportunities later. The delay of gratification means more gratification later. So don’t eat the first marshmallow right away.

15. Don’t worry about how much milk you spill as long as you don’t lose your cow.

You will lose money at times.

That’s ok.

Just don’t lose your money maker, and you will always be ok.

16. Bet On Yourself

You are the safest bet you will ever make. You can stack the odds in your favor through your hard work, determination, and creativity.

Bet!

17. Don’t Burnout

You need to pace yourself.
Entrepreneurship is a marathon. Not a sprint.

Key Takeaway

Entrepreneurship is a mindset. It is a way of approaching life. So develop yours. And it will empower you to create businesses and all kinds of other valuable things that make the world a better place. And remember to share what you know. When others approach you to share your knowledge, do it. It’s one of the best ways you can add value to the Universe and positively impact lives.

*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.