I am a couple of days late on my birthday gift to myself (a long former email, now social media post) that at least some of you seem to read and enjoy based on the several, delicate reminders I received reminding me it was late this year.
New rule for myself this year . . . each musing is limited to at most a general topic and no more than three sentences or three bullet points to support my thought.
Let’s go . . .
- Time is a finite resource. Spend it as such.
- Anytime an ideology defines someone it becomes dangerous – unless that ideology is being human.
- Your spouse, if you have a good one, does more for you than you can ever imagine. Remind yourself of that from time to time.
- I sincerely believe that almost every person I know has far more people rooting for them to succeed rather than fail. We need to remind ourselves of that when things get difficult.
- Entitled people do not typically know they are entitled.
- How does wind stop?
- If you are my age or younger and not absolutely positive that you are making as much money as your talent, skill, and work ethic will allow you to make AND you are not content in your job – do yourself a favor and quit today.
- If you do not work hard at something you have no right to complain when you are not successful. I am a poor golfer because I golf 4 times a year. I have no business fussing over how I perform.
- Humbled: having or showing a modest or low estimate of one’s own importance.
- Thus, saying you are humbled when recognized or win an award just does not make sense.
- Winning an award does not make you feel less worthy – it has become customary, but it does not make it right.
- I did not realize this until I used it when accepting an honor and Jacquie told me I was an idiot – of course, in much nicer terms
- Extreme talent is not by nature sustainable so instead of trying to extend the duration of good celebrate and enjoy greatness when you can.
- It is impossible to explain to your kids how much you love them. And equally impossible to explain to them how much more you would rather just be their buddy than their parent. But, duty calls.
- A wise man once told me when all of my kids were little, “Little kids – little problems” and he could not have been more right. DO NOT wish your time away with your kids – no matter how tired you are.
- Irregardless = not a word
- I think reconnecting with old friends is often way better than making new ones. Old friends are sometimes are best link to our past selves. Without that link being alive, a part of us seems to just fade away.
- Hand written thank you notes are 10x better than an email thank you. I am not really sure why – it is just the way it is.
- Facebook literally has a, “If you are (insert random and typically negative characteristic here) science proves you are smarter for everything. They are annoying.
- First class ambition with third class work ethic leads to personal frustration. It also leads toward toxic behaviors in the workplace. Work ethic must match ambition to be wildly successful.
- You can make someone’s day better – even someone you do not know – just by deciding to be overly kind. Pretty amazing superpower we all have.
- I have really tried – I cannot force myself to like fancy beers – my personal beer hierarchy
- Bud Light
- High Life
- Hamm’s
- For the overwhelming majority of parents it is only worth spending the thousands of dollars necessary to compete in travel/AAU/competitive sports if you realize you are doing so to create memories and teach life skills. It is not an investment in college for most families.
- It is super annoying when people root for a series of non-geographically aligned sports teams without clear and compelling rationale. How can you be a Warriors, Dolphins, and Yankees fan? Come on . . .
- I have a watch that controls music coming into my phone which is across the room which controls a speaker on the opposite side of the room. Try explaining that to the 1998 version of yourself that was pumped up to have an MP3 player that could hold 8 songs.
- The internet has democratized our ability to make money. There is no middle man in many industries – the internet is the middle man. Go get yours.
- All of the faults of every generation is largely a result of the parenting provided by a different generation. So, quit hating on Millenials. They are a sum of their experiences, just like everyone else.
- Social media is amazing in a myriad of ways. That said, it is fundamentally harder to be 13 now than it was 20 years ago. That is both scary and sad.
- The algorithm supporting Facebook prompts people with side-hustles put out there are really smart. Too many people find them annoying. Is it annoying when you see a McDonald’s commercial – let these people hustle in peace.
- Most people lie to themselves every day about their dreams. We not only lie to ourselves, but we lie to those we love because we are embarrassed by our true ambition. Tell the truth.
- It stinks that Toys R Us closed.
- The more words in your Starbucks order the more likely we will not get along.
- Stations in life matter. Go out of your way to stay connected when at a different place than your friends and welcome them back in when your stations once again align.
- Humility is understanding all people have a story – and most are better than yours.
- Things I seem to find disproportionately hard compared to the rest of society:
- Putting a car seat in a vehicle
- Carving pumpkins
- Choosing effect or affect when writing
- I absolutely love everything about school. That said, we push too many kids toward college. This goes for both schools and parents – we can do better.
- If you have minor knee pain and a doctor has not told you to not squat – you should probably squat. The knee pain just might go away.
- Almost always, you could work harder.
- Apple music is incredible and I have terrible taste in music (no music taste shaming please) – get ready for some horrible hot music takes here:
- Album I really like that is old and nobody else seems to like – Dishwalla – Opaline
- Imagine Dragons are not that bad – and Next to Me is one of my favorite current songs
- I try to play old 90s rap for my kids, then I realize I am a bad parent for the lyrics in the songs, and then I realize they hate the music and that makes me even more sad.
- We often treat the people that mean the most to us the worst. I think everyone would be happier if we reversed that.
- I think almost all of us have stuff inside we need to say to other people – and mostly good stuff – that we hold in for some reason.
There it is, 1200 words of stuff . . . . some nonsense and some wisdom