Tag: self improvement

To become a great problem solver, create backup plans for your backup plans.

I love meeting new people. And I love helping people solve problems. I got to do both of those things early one morning in 2016, and I still think about the story often.

The Story

I arrived at Hartsfield Jackson International airport in Atlanta just before 6:30am for a flight to New York City. I was flying to meet with Rachael Ray on the set of her TV show. I was neither a guest nor an audience member on her show. We were meeting between tapings so that I could present scripts for some new commercials we were going to film together. But as I stepped out of my car in the airport parking garage a panicked woman approached me saying, 

“I’m so sorry to bother you. But I just locked myself out of my car. My phone, purse, laptop and suitcase are all locked inside. I don’t know what to do.”

Talk about an exciting start to your day! The woman’s name was Kelly Harbin. She said she was flying to St. Louis on an 8:00 am flight. So we started going through our options. And yes, I said OUR options. Because as a professional problem solver, when someone brings me a problem, it becomes my problem too. Except for maybe hair loss. With hair loss, you’re on your own.

This was the scene that early morning at ATL when Kelly and I went into super solver mode.

So, like a couple of resourceful first-world problem solvers, we sprang into action! I pulled out my trusty smartphone, and we called the airport to see if they had an unlocking service. They didn’t. Boo. But they did offer us the phone number of a locksmith partner who may be able to help. Yay! 

So we called the locksmith. And yes, they could send someone to help. Yay! But not until  9:00am. Boo.

So we looked at other options. 

Me: Do you have a AAA membership?

Kelly: No.

Me: Do you have emergency services through your car manufacturer?

Kelly: No.

Me: Hmmm. Do you have any sevens?

Kelly: No. Go Fish.

Me: What time is your meeting in St. Louis?

Kelly: 11:00 am.

Me: So a later flight won’t work?

Kelly: No. And my company is counting on me to be there. We have built a technology product for this client and they are refusing to close the deal because they don’t understand it. I need to walk them through how the product works and solves their problem, or the multi-million dollar deal will fall apart! (Dun-Dun-Dun!)

Me: Do you have your driver’s license? 

Kelly: No.

Me: Why don’t we go see how we can get you through security without ID. (Heck, I got into bars in college all the time without an ID. How hard could it be?)

Kelly: (reluctantly) Let me check my car one more time just to make sure I’m not losing my mind.

At this point she walked back to her Ford Edge for another check. And I began searching on my phone for a Ford dealership that may be able to help.

A moment later she returned, slumped her shoulders and said, “You should go and catch your flight. And you can tell everyone on Facebook and Twitter that you met the dumbest woman in America. Because I have a Ford Edge. And the Edge has a keypad on the driver door.”

Me: Do you know the code?

Kelly: Yes.

Me: So you’re all set! 

 Kelly Yes!

At this point Kelly and I, strangers only moments ago, hugged, laughed and cheered on the top of the parking deck at the airport in the pre-dawn darkness. We celebrated our victory like we had just won the Showcase Showdown on The Price Is Right.


I made a new friend before 6:45am. Kelly made her flight. I got a test run on a valuable problem solving scenario. The Ford Edge got serious credit for a great problem-solving, flight-catching and potentially deal-saving feature. And as Kelly said, I got to tell all of my friends on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn about her morning. Kelly made the meeting! She closed that deal. And she no longer closes her car door until she has her key in hand.

Key Takeaway

Life presents an all-you-can-eat buffet of problems. The key is to become good at solving them. This means coming up with multiple ways to address the problem you face. The more solutions you consider, the more likely you will arrive at a great solve. And chances are, you’re problem isn’t as bad as you first thought it was. Just ask Kelly.

*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 time for your next step to a great 2025.

One great day is just one great day.

But if you can string together 4 to 7 great days you have a great week.

And if you can string together 4 or 5 great weeks you have a great month.

And if you string together 12 great months you have a great year.

And if you string together great year after great year, you create a great life.

And if you string together 6 great strings, you might have a guitar. Or an afghan.

Creating A Great 2025

I am trying to make 2025 my best year ever. I call it Project 2025. (Not to be confused with any other Project 2025s you may have heard about lately.) I hope you are doing the same. And if you haven’t been thinking about creating your own great 2025, now is the time to start. Because no one can make it happen but you. (With a strong assist from God, the world’s all-time assist leader.)

As we wrapped up the first 12th of the year, I spent Friday evening evaluating my January. Here are the bullet points in my self-report:

Adam’s January 2025

  • I went skiing 4 times. (That’s an average of once per week and twice the number of times I have skied between 1990 and 2024.)
  • I read 3 books. (More to come on this. But they were all great. And none of them involved coloring.)
  • I published 10 new blog posts.
  • I published 2 new editions of Adam’s Good Newsletter. (Please sign up if you like positive stuff.)
  • I met major milestones on a special writing project I have been working on. (I assume much of the world calls them kilometerstones.)
  • I worked out 16 times (despite being sick for a week with one of those little Gremlins Americans circulated in January. Which made me appreciate my good health even more.)
  • I booked 3 new speaking engagements. (Does that mean I now have 3 new speaking fiances?)
  • I bought a new set of Rogue dumbbells from 5 to 50 pounds and an additional set of 45-pound Rogue bumper plates. Then, I put them all to good use in my home gym. (I also drove from Milwaukee to Columbus to pick them up and save $300 in shipping costs. Plus, I got to see that huge candle in Indiana. #IYKYK)
  • The Weaponry conducted 2 transformative strategy workshops for new brands.
  • My great team added some cool new clients and we have several more about to come aboard, like the opening to The Love Boat.
  • I visited 5 states. And discovered that the new Salt Lake City airport is amazing. Tom Hanks should have been stuck in that terminal.
  • I visited my great friends Amy and Todd Urowsky at their beautiful home in Park City, Utah, and then skied at Brighton.
  • I spent time with my parents Bob and Jill Albrecht, in Lafayette, Indiana. Having parents is the best. Don’t take it for granted.
  • I planned and booked a spring break trip to Arizona. I’d love to hear your favorite things in Scottsdale and Sedona. (I already know about the tall cans of tea.)
  • I spent a lot of quality time with my wife Dawn, and sons Johann and Magnus. Plus, my daughter Ava was home from college for 3 weeks in January. Which was wonderful. Like George Bailey’s life.
  • I added several great new people to my Great People collection. Great people are the most valuable things you can collect.

I share this list to encourage you to create your own. You have to look back at your wins, both large and small, to recognize the great things in your life. The successes, the adventures, the experiences, the relationships, the learnings, the growth, and the commitments kept. By reflecting on them, you both tally your wins, and you get to enjoy them all again.

Let’s Go February!

Now, it’s time for us all to create a great February. I am excited about it. I hope you are, too. It all starts simply by having a great day today, whatever that looks like to you. And then doing it again tomorrow.

Key Takeaway

A great life, a great marriage, and a great career are built one day at a time. Start by knowing what great means to you. Then, live into that every day. String together great days. They create great weeks, months and years. You have to make it happen. And it is never too late to start.

*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.

Balancing Growth and Goals in Your Self-Improvement Journey.

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.

  1. Your starting point
  2. Your current position
  3. 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.

2/3rd Goal Perspective + 1/3 Growth Perspective = Motivation + Reward

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.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

25 Lessons to guide you through 2025.

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.

25 Lessons to Remember in 2025

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.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

Happy 2025! Here are my 52 hopes for you this year.

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.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

24 Important self-reflection questions to ask yourself at the end of 2024.

The end of the year is always an exciting time for 3 reasons.

  1. We get to reflect on our wins and successes from a good year, preferably with a Kip Dynamite fist pump.
  2. We get to leave a bad year behind the way Bill Murray sneaks away from Father Rat Farts after he gets struck by lightning in Caddyshack.
  3. We get to start a fresh new year full of hope, like Hope Solo.

Preparing For 2025

Now it’s time to prepare for a great 2025. Why prepare? Because great years, like great lives, don’t just happen. You make them happen.

A key element of living a great life is self-reflection. Asking yourself good questions is like conducting your own performance review. It’s a simple way to discover where you need to course correct, where your course is already correct, and where your corset could help correct.

If you don’t know what questions to ask yourself, you’ve come to the right blog post. Here are 24 questions to ask yourself now to prepare to make 2025 your best year yet. For best results, write your answers down. In fact, I created a Google Doc that you can print or make a copy of right here.

24 Questions In A Particular Order.

1. Am I educating myself? Getting better starts with getting smarter. Continue to self-educate and your knowledge, abilities, and competitive advantages will grow like compound interest. 

TheONEThing_Book1-525x525
If you only read one thing in 2025, I suggest reading The One Thing.

2. Am I exercising enough? Your body is your life vehicle. Regular exercise keeps it in top shape. Which will allow you to travel further, faster and over rougher terrain without breaking down, like Tone-Loc.

3. Am I giving enough to others? Shel Silverstein famously wrote about The Giving Tree. But there is also a magical Giving Boomerang (perhaps made of wood from the giving tree). Because when you give your time, talent and treasure to others, good things come back to you in even bigger and better ways.  

4. Am I disciplined enough? Discipline is what gets the job done. If you are not doing the things you’ve committed to, or if you are not avoiding the things you should avoid, check your discipline. Remember, you only need enough to create a habit. Then the habit takes over and discipline can be deployed towards something else. Read James Clear’s Atomic Habits if you want to become great at developing great new habits.

5. Am I thinking big enough? The answer for 99% of us is no. So start thinking bigger! Think as big as you can. Think Elon Musky. Because bigger thoughts lead to bigger results. It costs the same amount to think big as it does to think small. But the return on your thinking investment is much different. You can always go bigger. #TWSS

woman draw a light bulb in white board
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

6. Am I taking the actions that matter most? Not all actions are created equal. Remember the 80/20 rule. Find the small actions with the biggest rewards. There are a lot of actions that generate very little results. Simply taking the right kinds of action (interacting with the right people for example) can change your life. For proof see Sliding Doors or Run Lola Run.

7. Am I getting better or getting worse? Check your trajectory. You are either headed up or down on every possible measure. The good news is that with all but some physical aging issues you can always improve your own angle through focused effort, commitment and mindset. 

8. Am I strengthening my network? Most people think far too little about the strength of their network. But take it from the mobile carriers, it is all about the strength of your network. Continue to develop and maintain meaningful relationships. Make as many genuine friendships as you can. When you do, your social, professional and political capital will continue to grow. Which opens you to more opportunities. Remember, opportunities come through humans. 

Some Milwaukee W-Club members flashing our gang sign. (I am very pleased with my font choice.)

9. Am I valuable to know? Do you add value to others? Are you kind, helpful, or inspiring? Do you offer access and connections? Are you are great listener? Really think about the value you offer others. The more value you offer, the more people will seek you out. And you want to be sought after. Just not by police. Or hitmen. Or Glenn Close.

10. Am I keeping my word? Trustworthiness is the bedrock of relationships, and the gateway to opportunity. Check your trustworthiness more often than once a year. Keeping your word is required on a daily basis. Like flossing and changing your undies.

11. Am I living into my vision for myself? You have aspirations. But simply having aspirations is not enough. You have to get yourself to the destination. You have to become the person you imagined, dragon. Do the doing, not just the dreaming. 

My son Magnus envisioning at Yosemite this summer.

12. Am I noticing those who need me? We all have people who need us. Family, friends, clients, employees, community members. Do you see them? Do you notice what they need from you?  Do you notice what you have to give?

13. Am I being present? Be now. This is all you ever have.

14. Am I taking care of my health? Have you seen your doctor and dentist lately? Do you have a doctor and dentist? How about a mental health specialist? A chiropractor? Take care of yourself. Because everybody needs a body.

15. Am I eating well? You are what you eat. Literally. Be mindful of your personal building materials. It makes a difference. Because you don’t want to look like Cheetos in your Speedos. 

16. Do I have a healthy way to de-stress? The world is an all-you-can-eat stress buffet. You need to have ways to rid yourself of the stress. Sleep, exercise and church are my go-to’s. Find your ways to de-stress best.

17. Am I spending enough time in nature? Spending time in nature is great for re-grounding yourself. A little quiet time with Mama Nature provides peace and perspective you can’t get anywhere else.

18. Am I getting enough sleep? Sleep is the great reset button. It enables you to regenerate your best self. Take advantage of it. Get as much as you need.

19. Am I finding joy in my work? Work fills half of your waking hours. Finding joy in work is finding joy in life. If you are not finding joy it is time for a change. A new approach, a new job, or a new career should be on the table. And a bottle of Joy should be on the counter next to the kitchen sink.  

Sprecher_SprecherSeason_1400x400_2

20. Does my boss value me? An unfair amount of your happiness is tied to your relationship with your boss. If you have a boss that values you and treats you well you have won half the battle. If not, make a change. Life is too short for bad bosses. 

21. Am I living a story worth reading? You only get one shot at life. Make it great. make it a story worth telling, worth hearing and worth reading.  

22. Am I positively impacting others? At the end of our days, the only thing that really matters is the impact we have on each other. Focus on making a positive impact and you will live a great life.

23. Am I laughing enough? This is the easiest way to measure happiness. Laughter is more valuable than money. Spend more time with the people who make you laugh. They will make you feel most alive. 

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Are Reserved. All Lefts Are Outgoing.

24. Am I investing enough in my most important relationship? Think of the one relationship that means more to you than any other. A spouse or significant other. A parent, child or sibling. A friend, partner or neighbor. Are you investing in that person as much as you should? Always give the most important people the most. 

Key Takeaway

Self-improvement starts with asking yourself good questions. You are a work in progress. Knowing what you should work on is how you make the progress.

*If you know someone who would benefit from these questions, please share this with them.

Here is the link to the Google Doc with the 24 questions. Plus some bonus questions. Because you should always give more than others expect.


+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

Why Everyone Needs a Wish List Beyond the Holidays

This holiday season many people have a wish list.

This is a list of things that you would like to have.

Or used to have. But you lost it. Like that loving feeling. Now it’s gone, gone, gone.

You share your wish list with the people who are apt to give you a gift.

Usually this is your family or friends.

But sometimes, it’s a bearded dude in a red suit who leads an army of magical elves.

(And sometimes that works out far better than logic would indicate.)

The wish list does 2 valuable things:

  1. It forces you to think about the things you need and want.
  2. It helps others get you the things you need or want.

But a powerful tool like a wish list shouldn’t be limited to the holidays.

And it shouldn’t just be something you offer other people.

You should create a wish list for yourself.

It should include the things you would like to have. Both needs and wants. Big and small

The things on your wish list could be:

  • Material
  • Psychological
  • Emotional
  • Physical
  • Spiritual
  • Relational
  • Financial
  • Brown paper packages tied up with string

By creating a wish list, you are identifying the things that would improve your life.

Once you know what those things are you can pursue them.

You can attract them.

You can recognize them when you see them.

You can appreciate them when they arrive.

This wish list can be used to improve your personal life.

But it can also improve your professional career.

Or your business.

Or your community.

Or your wardrobe.

Because when you become clear on the things you really want, you create your own gravitational pull.

That’s when the things you really want find a way to find you.

*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.

Do you do what you tell yourself you will do?

One of the best things you can do in life is keep your commitments to yourself.

There is no better way to build trust.

There is no better way to build confidence.

There is no better way to build personal momentum.

There is probably no better way to build a skyscraper. (But I have never done that so I’m not really qualified to say.)

Keep Your Commitments

Wake up when you say you will wake up.

Exercise when you say you will exercise.

Show up when you say you will show up. (Especially if you are a pilot, a superhero, or my cable guy.)

And don’t eat what you tell yourself you won’t eat. Even when that thing is a donut sprinkled with bacon and filled with Chick-fil-A nuggets and candy.

Resolve

Resolutions are a great idea.

The bad idea is not doing what you tell yourself you would do.

Which means that the best resolution you can make is to simply keep your commitments.

Getting Started

Start by committing to less.

Do everything you tell yourself you will do.

Because when you do that you will soon realize that you can do anything.

& 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.

Are you willing to trade a good life right now for a great life later?

I don’t believe in work-life balance. I never have. It’s just a nice mythical idea. Kinda like The Fountain of Youth. Or a happy Kardashian marriage. You can’t divide your life into 3 neat 8-hour blocks of work, personal time and sleep and become rich, successful and fulfilled. To have a wildly successful career you have to throw things out of balance. You need chapters of your life when you put a disproportionate amount of time and energy into your career. That’s what all of the most accomplished people you’ve never met do. It’s why they don’t have time to meet you.

Sometimes this means days of extreme dedication and focus. Sometimes it means weeks. But more likely, there will be many months and years where your career is the thing, Stephen King. You don’t have to ignore the rest of your life the way Michael Douglas ignored Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. But your career demands to be your priority during certain seasons. Just as farmers must put all their attention into harvesting when it is time to get the crop in, you must pay attention to the opportunity seasons of your career, and make all the progress you can before the window closes.

In the movie about your life, this part of your career would be the montage. You know, the part where they show quick clips of all your hard work, focus, skill development, late night sessions, early morning sessions, and burning-the-candle-at-both-ends kind of work. (You can learn everything you need to know about your montage in this 1-minute video from Team America, World Police.) If you are not willing to have your movie montage chapter (or two or three) you will not be dedicating enough focus and energy to your career to pull away from the pack.

Focusing your time and energy on your career instead of your personal life is like investing your money for greater compounded gains tomorrow rather than spending it on yourself today. That time invested in your professional development and in developing career capital will pay out in massive ways in the future if you don’t scarf your marshmallow today.

The sacrifice is worth it. But you have to keep the primary goal in mind to remember why you are not buying that timeshare in Gatlinburg or knocking off early to meet your friends at Applebee’s. And if you have a family, you and your spouse need to focus on the long-term payoff and be willing to sacrifice whatever nights, weekends, holidays, birthdays, anniversaries and vacations need to be traded now, for better versions of all of those things in the years to come.

One of the great regrets people have in life is that they didn’t do the foundational work they should have done to achieve their dreams. It is important to know about this widespread regret while you still have time to do the foundational work. The work is more than a fair trade. The payout is so handsome, (like George Clooney handsome) that is feels like a small price to pay.

I have experienced enough chapters of significant sacrifice in my advertising career to fill a forthcoming book. In the first chapter of career sacrifice, I wanted to become a stronger writer. So I spent considerable time working on and improving my craft. I read all the time. I wrote far more than my professional peers. I studied other great writers in all John Rahs. (And I learned the word is actually genres.) I read great writers’ writings on writing. I experimented with words, style, structure, tone and humor. Through that focus, my writing got sharper, smarter, and more interesting.

Then I focused a disproportionate amount of time and energy on developing my presentation skills. Because girls only want boyfriends who have great skills. I took courses. I read books. I became a student again. I practiced and applied all that I was learning. This helped make me a strong and entertaining performer in business development meetings, sales pitches and client presentations. Which led to promotions and more responsibility. Because sometimes your hard work gets you more hard work.

Next, I focused heavily on creative direction skills, leadership and management. And within a four year span I motored from my first creative director position to executive creative director to Chief Creative Officer. The only position in my industry left was CEO. And I wanted that job too.

So I began focusing on what it took to run the entire business. I learned as much as I could about accounting and finance. I learned about human resources and non-surgical operations. I learned systems and processes. Project management and IT. I learned stuff that most writers and art directors in advertising never learn anything about. But then again, they get to go to Applebee’s and eat good in the neighborhood.

I didn’t want to wait for a CEO job to open or to wait in line for the CEO in front of me to leave, or die. So I decided to grab the role for myself by starting my own agency called The Weaponry.

As an entrepreneur you not only need to know a bit about all areas of a business, you need to create the whole business from dust. That takes more time, energy, focus, learning, sacrifice and work, work, work, work, work. Like Rihanna said.

Again, I sacrificed other opportunities in my personal life to make this happen. It’s the only way to make big dreams a reality. It’s not easy. But it has been both immensely fun and rewarding.

To share what I was learning through my entrepreneurial journey, I also started this blog. This is the 1023rd blog post I have written in the past 9 years. This too requires sacrifice. I write first thing every morning. I write 5 to 7 days every week. By 6:10 am I am in my office hammering away at another post, another story, another idea. While other people are still in bed or enjoying a cup of coffee and a good social media scroll.

By dedicating so much time to writing I further developed my storytelling skills. And I found my own unique writing style. Which sounds exactly like the way I talk. Now, I write books too. And writing books takes yet another level of dedication and sacrifice. Which is a sacrifice I am willing to make, because I understand the compounding benefits that come from that investment.

Key Takeaway

The great achievements in your career don’t come easy. They don’t come at a natural pace. They come by throwing your life out of balance. By heavying your load. By gorging on learning. And by giving more time, attention and energy to your work than others are willing to give. But by unbalancing your career early your life balance will flip later, and you will receive far more financial and career capital by becoming uncommonly great at what you do. Today, I have no foundational regrets. Instead, I have the rewards of a lot of hard work and sacrifice. And not only can you take that to the bank, you can take it on long, well-deserved vacations with your family and 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.

How to do hard things.

When I was in college I had a summer job setting up large party tents in Vermont. I loved pitching a tent. It was hard. But looking back, that’s what I loved about it.

The hardest part of the erection process was driving the 4-foot-long steel stakes into the ground. The stakes create the foundation for the tent. You tie the tent ropes to the stakes to help hold the tent upright and sturdy.

To drive the stakes into the ground we used sledgehammers that were 8, 12 or 16-pounds. Size mattered. Because if you swung a bigger hammer you could get the job done in fewer swings.

Sometimes, when the ground was soft, the stakes would go in smoothly. But in Vermont and New Hampshire where I drove most of my stakes, the ground was very hard. They don’t call New Hampshire The Granite State for nothing. (And they don’t call Vermont the Granite State at all, but that’s just because New Hampshire already took it, for granite.)

But during those college years, I learned a valuable lesson about how to do hard things. Because the only way to get those 4-foot stakes in the ground was to keep pounding away until the job was done. More often than not the stakes went in an inch or less at a time. And sinking a 4-foot shaft neck-deep at that rate can be exhausting. But it was the only way to finish the job.

I applied that just-keep-swinging-till-it’s-done lesson in my athletic career as a track and field athlete at the University of Wisconsin. Today, I apply the same lesson to building the advertising and ideas agency, The Weaponry, writing my blog posts, newsletters and books. And simply not stopping until the work is done has never failed to produce results. Even when things get really, really hard.

Key Takeaway

The only way to get a job done is to just keep pounding until you are finished. Hit the task again and again and again. This is true when you are driving stakes in the ground in Vermont, building a company, advancing your career, trying to meet your fitness goals, or getting your education. Focus your efforts. Pound away. And just don’t stop until the job is done.

*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.