What does it mean?

Tomorrow is December 1st, which means we are one month away from a landmark year.

What have I done?   Have I made an impact?

It just so happens I saw something for a "2016 1000 mile Running Challenge" today. That's not for me.  What about a 500 mile walking challenge?

Maybe.

It's also time to share some thoughts - either here, where nobody reads it, but they could, or to start a journal.

Hmmm.

Stay tuned.

Winnie, Yoda, and Tribes

I will honor Day 7 by actually replying to the thought-starter question.

Day 7: What are you taking with you from this Challenge?

Honestly, I don’t know.

The challenge came at a good time, just after I had dusted off my blog and made a (sort of) self-commitment to post on a regular basis.  Will I post every day, like this week?  Nope. My plan is to post once or twice a week as I tackle 2015, and start thinking about my landmark birthday next year.

The message I will take with me, the message that Seth has pounded like a drumbeat the last few years is to ship. Shipping is scary; shipping is hard; but if you don’t ship things won’t happen.  I want/need things to happen.

On Day 1 of the challenge, I nearly didn’t ship. I tweeted my hesitation, wondering what would happen. As I recapped on my 1^st post of the challenge, others piped in from the ether of the internet encouraging me and cheering me on to ship. I did, and I felt better.

After I realized there was an avalanche of participants, I wondered aloud (via Twitter) how Winnie was handling everything.  Not long after, I was deputized by Winnie (along with a small group of others) to approve posts. That was pretty cool.  It turned out that some of those that had encouraged me on Day 1 to post, were now also fellow “post approvers.” Interesting.

A day or two later – not sure when, the week was a blur – Andy created a Facebook group, which led to a way for the small tribe of Tumblr Approval Admins to communicate.  OMG – what a group of incredible people. The time and dedication they showed to the project simply blew me away.

Another, overarching thing I will take from the Your Turn Challenge project was that there are like-minded people out there, you just have to find them. Thanks to the internet, they are easier to find than ever.  In the past Seth has encouraged meet-ups for certain things, and I could never find anyone in my area.  As much as I would love to connect with like-minded people in person, I may have to adopt my new mini-tribe as a support group.

To circle back to the beginning, maybe I do know what I’m taking from the challenge. I just need to keep reminding myself.

So, in summary, remember what Yoda said “Do or do not do, there is no try.”  In other words, ship.

Ripples

We all create ripples in life. If we smile at someone, they might smile at the next person they see. If we grumble at someone, they will probably grumble at the next person they encounter.

Sometimes those ripples grow in ways that you never imagine.

I’m not a super-volunteer, I don’t join every organization and show up for every project in town. But I like to think that I make ripples with impact.

For the last several years I’ve volunteered with an organization called FIRST. (I mentioned it in a post earlier this week.)  To start with my volunteer work was just on the local level, doing what I could to help the teams that my sons were on.  It was easy, and seemed to help the adults in charge.

Then two years ago I stepped up and volunteered at a regional event where our team was not competing. In a stroke of synchronicity, other local volunteers started doing the same thing.  What we didn’t realize at the time was that our student team members were watching us and learning to volunteer and help.

FIRST principles include Gracious Professionalism, and coopertition, which are all about helping others and being respectful.

By the time we got to competition last year, our team, Sir Lancer Bots, had taken the concept of coopertition to a higher level.  They set a goal to help as many other teams as possible. Additional tools were packed, more supplies were put in place and the attitude of “we’re here to help” was prevalent.

Yes, we were going to be competing against the teams we were determined to help if they needed it. 

At the center of this effort was my son. My son whose career aspirations had evolved from considering becoming a priest to entering the United States Marine Corps, because he wanted to serve and give back.

He, along with others on our team, helped more than half the other teams that weekend. And it made an impact. At a summer robotics workshop, as we sat down at a table with members of another team, one of their members spoke right up “You guys fixed us at Duluth last year. It was awesome.”

This week, an article was published on a major suppliers / sponsors website with the story of a team that experienced a significant setback and was able to continue at competition due to the efforts of Sir Lancer Bots.  The article ends with an observation from the other team. “Our goal isn’t to win this year. We want to be the team that can help others. We want to be like Sir Lancer Bots.”

And people don’t understand why I volunteer so much. It’s because of ripples that we make.

Want to read more: http://creo.ptc.com/2015/01/23/when-robots-fail-a-minnesota-school-learns-engineerings-most-important-lesson/

This post is Day 6 in the Winnie Kao / Seth Godin #YourTurnChallenge

Stumbling into Servant Leadership (h/t to Andy Stitt)

Leadership. It’s a word that we hear often, but is confused by many.

Yesterday, Andy Stitt blogged about leadership http://andystitt.com/category/blog/  In his post, he opined that he isn’t a leader, however, near the end of his post he stumbled onto something with the line “When you find an opportunity to lead….do it.” 

Leading does not always mean you have to be the person in the front with a “rah rah, let’s go get em” attitude.  Andy showed a perfect example of servant leadership.  By serving others, with no ulterior motive in mind, he led.

Many time you will hear people confuse management with leadership. Peter Drucker said this “Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things.”

Servant leadership goes even deeper.  Robert Greenleaf, who first coined the term servant leadership said: “The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.”   Servant leaders don’t set out to be leaders, but by serving others around them, it leads to leadership.

If you haven’t explored the concepts of servant leadership, I highly recommend it, even if you aren’t in an official “leadership” position.  Servant leaders are everywhere, from board rooms to family rooms.

This post is part of the Winnie Kao / Seth Godin #YourTurnChallenge to blog seven days in a row.

Bueller.......Bueller.......Bueller

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

                                              - Ferris Bueller

Ferris said that in 1986, what would he say today?  The 24 hour news (and sports) cycle, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr , and so many faces permanently staring at screens, has life moving faster than ever. 

We NEED to take a break. Sometimes in my car I actually turn off the radio / CD / podcast or whatever I’m listening to and enjoy the silence.  Shocking.

The other night I came home and left the TV off. That never happens. Granted I was on the computer, but still its progress.

A few years ago I did some digital detox Saturdays, where I stayed off line for at least 12 hours, sometimes even longer. It was fantastic. Now I didn’t purge all electronics, but there was no checking Facebook or Twitter, no worrying about emails. It was fantastic.

Try it.  Maybe this Saturday. But try it. We all should.

That’s all I got. Thanks Ferris.

……….You’re still here? It’s over!

Get in the Game

One of my favorite TV shows was Sports Night. It was a “kind-of” comedy that was on ABC in the late nineties. For many people it was their introduction to Aaron Sorkin and his style of show – “walking scenes,” rapid fire dialogue, and usually a multi-layered message, that would become famous on his next show “West Wing.”

It was the first series I ever purchased on DVD, although I don’t pull them out to watch very often.  Recently it has been airing on the FXX network in the mornings, and I once again find myself drawn to watch while eating breakfast and getting ready for work.

Yesterday morning the episode “The Quality of Mercy at 29k” was on. The dual story lines are about an expedition to ascent Mt. Everest, and Dan Rydell’s struggle to decide on charitable contributions.  This is my favorite exchange in the entire series:

Natalie Hurley: Two guys have ascended five miles into the sky. They walked up a wall of ice, and are preparing to knock on the door of Heaven itself. There's really no end to what we can do. You know what the trick is?

Dan Rydell: What?

Natalie Hurley: Get in the game.

I had that exchange posted on my office wall for a long time, and it still hits me “right there.” We all have to be reminded from time to time to “get in the game”  If you are in sales, it’s time to make more calls; as a volunteer, to engage deeper; as an athlete or artist, fully commit to our craft; or as a parent, parent the best we can.

That’s what the Your Turn Challenge is, a chance to get in the game. I doubt most of the participants will keep blogging on a daily basis like Seth does; but I bet that most of the people involved will go on to tackle that project or prospect that has been sitting on the back burner.

What are you going to do to “get in the game”?

This post is part of the Winnie Kao / Seth Godin “Your Turn Challenge” to blog seven days in a row.

I cooked. I shipped.

I cooked tonight. Well, sort of.

As I approached college graduation in December I found myself saying a couple times “after I’m done with school, I should learn how to cook better.” 

My cooking repertoire has been limited to spaghetti, some grilling, and cooking a mean frozen pizza.  I don’t plan on ever being on Chopped, Iron Chef or one of those shows, I just want to be able to assemble a nice meal that doesn’t come out of a box or wrapper.

When I thought about cooking better, it was coming up with new types of burgers, or something different to throw in the crock pot.

Tonight, my wife is working out of town and my son is staying late at robotics to build something. As I pulled away from work, I was thinking – “what drive thru can I hit easily and get home” but then I remembered “pork chops.”

There were some pork chops pulled out of the freezer, “Smoky Apple Pork Chops” to be precise. I can make those. I think.  And we have some red potatoes too.  Instead of walking in the door and plopping in front of the TV, I went to work in the kitchen.  Found the potatoes, cut them up, drizzled some olive oil on them and found some seasonings that I thought might work. 

I was so clueless on how to cook everything that I texted a friend. She didn’t reply.

Here we go – the chops and potatoes went in the oven – and about 50 minutes later they came out cooked and tasty.

I cooked. I shipped. 

This post is part of the Winnie Kao / Seth Godin "Your Turn Challenge" to blog seven days in a row.

The Journey Is More Important Than The Destination

I’m sure this is a famous quote by someone important, but I have no idea who.  We’ve all heard “Success is a journey not a destination”; this is just another twist on that statement.

Back in December a friend of mine who runs a middle-school robotics program posted on Facebook that one of the parents called for a “do over” in a competition.  As a parent who has been involved with middle-school and high school robotics for over seven years, the line “the journey is more important than the destination” came to me and led me to craft a response based on that principle. It was well received by those who understand the program.  Still stunned a parent would do that.

The robotics program, FIRST, is about so much more than the robot. It’s about shipping, and learning, and frustration. Each season I’ve been involved as a parent, coach, or mentor, I’ve been excited to watch young people grow right in front of me.

Last week, when Seth and Winnie posted about the Your Turn Challenge I was excited. I’ve blogged in the past, more as a personal journal than anything else, and had just posted in my blog for the first time in nearly a year (Over three years since regularly posting.)  But as Monday crept up, I started thinking, I have some meetings this week, I’ll be too busy, and so on.  However, Seth’s message of shipping kept echoing in my head.

As the day went on, I started reading posts that others had done, and was stunned. My lizard brain kicked in, “I can’t do that.”  “What do I have to say that others will want to read?” I had the title for the post in my head, but the lizard was strong. So strong I tweeted saying I wasn't sure I could do it.

 

Thankfully, within 7 minutes, someone I don’t know encouraged me to do it anyways. Minutes later other chimed in. Collectively within 30 minutes they helped me kick the lizard brain to the curb.

Personally, I’m not sure where my journey will take me. I just finished my Bachelor’s degree, a mere thirty years after I started. Where the destination is, I have no clue.  I just keep hearing President Jeb Bartlett from West Wing saying “What’s next?”

What Have I Done

I stepped on the scale yesterday morning - 278 pounds. OMG.

I knew it was bad, I new my "fat" shirts were now tight. Last night I saw some photos (side shots) that were taken at an event on Wednesday.  I look horrible.

Everything the last year(s) has taken a toll on me. Geoffrey leaving, finishing school, the stress of MIL next door. Just not caring.

I have to change.

I've been trying to convince myself that I can lose one pound a week - take it off slowly - and that I will eventually get back to where I want to be.  Can I wait that long?

What if I upped it to 1.5 pounds a week? Is that doable?

I know what to do:

- Eat better
- Drop soda, drink water
- No fast food
- Have a plan
- Exercise

I have to pull the trigger. Can I?

What am I afraid of?


It time to move from survival to significance - in my body, in my career, in my relationship with God.  The first steps are the hardest.

Time to go sign up for 5k.


Look out - fat man running.