I had a bit of an existential crisis recently. OK, maybe "crisis" is a little heavy-handed, but it was definitely a bit of a conundrum. For the past ten months, I've been working on a side project: a book of haiku. I'm trying to get back to my poetry-writing (I used to slam poetry here in Chicago) and I'm writing one poem a day. I've written over 300 and I want to release them as a book after collecting a year's worth. The working title is: five seven five: a daily glimpse of Chicago life seen through haiku But what to call my book isn't the quandary. It's what to call myself on the cover. Personal Brand: Expansive or … [Read more...]
Good Things Happen When You Keep it Simple
I really dig board games. Currently I'm playing a game called Pandemic Legacy. It has an interesting twist because it's a cooperative game where the players work together to beat the game. In this case, we're trying to cure epidemics that are spreading around the globe (yeah, it's not necessarily a "peppy" game). And as a "legacy" game, the effects of one game carry over into the next, so the pressure to win is always on. And that's what the game is great at: creating tense, high-stakes moments. You're just as likely to lose as you are to win, and the game keeps changing the rules on you. You are always walking a tight-rope with … [Read more...]
How Small Steps Every Day Will Make You Have Big Change
I hope you'll indulge me for a moment. I want to brag a little. (But I promise there's a point.) I've been using a phone app to learn Spanish, which has been a goal of mine for over a decade. It usually takes me about 10 minutes a day, so it's not a huge investment of time. But it's something. And a few weeks ago, I hit my 365th day in a row practicing Spanish. I'm pretty excited about that. I'm not saying that I've mastered it (Duolingo says I'm 59% fluent, which feels about right). The next step would be to find some speaking Meetups or even a trip south of the border to immerse myself in the language for a week or two. But … [Read more...]
Balance is Dynamic, Not Static
About fifteen years ago, I started doing yoga in my living room. I started when I was overweight and incredibly inflexible, but after a few years I got the hang of it. I still try to incorporate some yoga into my schedule a few times a week. A few weeks ago, I was in tree pose and I made a connection that I think would be valuable for all of us. If you want to play along at home, you can try tree pose right now. It'll make my point in a way that words alone can't. Basically, you're going to balance on one leg, and the other is going to bend into it. If you do the full expression of the pose, your opposite foot will basically go … [Read more...]
“It Was a Journeyman’s Day”
That's how I respond to my wife's questions about my day on those days when I put in the work, but nothing particularly noteworthy happened. Nobody called to offer me a book deal, a speaking gig contract didn't come through, and no, one of my articles didn't go viral. But these days are the ones I'm most proud of. My writing time got done. I was focused and insightful on my coaching calls. I reached out to the potential clients I wanted to. Basically, I checked off my to-dos and did the un-glamorous work that is really what running your own show is about. Work is in Our DNA A recent addition to my home office is a trio of … [Read more...]
Give Yourself Room to Grow
Between the ages of 12 and 18, I delivered the Milwaukee Sentinel. Every week, from Monday through Saturday (the Milwaukee Journal did morning deliveries on Sunday), I woke up at 4:00 am. I'd grab the bundles of newspapers on my porch, insert the ads and the comic strip section, and then make the rounds. It would take me about 2 hours. Then I'd go back to sleep for an hour, get up, and go to school. It was an amazing opportunity, and I'm saddened that it's one that most cities don't have any more. Where else would a 13-year-old get that kind of opportunity? I was trusted to get up on my own every day, perform a valuable service (if … [Read more...]
My Journal Doesn’t Lie: Why You Can’t Ignore Your Patterns
In a conversation with a client recently, I shared that I had been regularly journaling for the past 15 years. He asked me what I found valuable about writing out my thoughts. I told him that for me, a lot of the value lay in the ability to go back months or years, and spy on what younger D. was working on mentally and emotionally. His next question was what I had learned by going back and looking through those journals. "I learned that I keep working on the same shit over and over." And that's the truth. What a decade and a half of journaling has shown me is that there are patterns that just keep repeating. I have the same negative … [Read more...]
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