Last week, I was in Boston for 36 hours to speak at The Collaborative - a conference for non-profits put on by Classy.org. This was a talk a little different than I normally do - but I spoke about a little "crazy fundraising ideas that worked" - the 777 project - the things we did right and some of the things that we could do a lot better (don't completely mess up your peroneal tendon and do 6 months or rehab in the middle of your fundraiser is one ...
Hard Mode
Growing up I played video games quite a bit. I had to quit when I realized you could put all the hours I put into getting imaginary badges in a game into having real life experiences. When I picked up a new game, "easy mode" is typically how I'd jump in and learn the game. It's a bit slow, but you get the hang of things and figure out how to move around, fight the bad guys without getting pissed off and breaking the controller before you even get ...
Drop a Plane out Of The Sky
One of the best pieces of advice on getting "unstuck" in life I've ever heard was from Donald Miller - I've filed it away in my head as the "drop a plane out of the sky" rule. When it comes to writing characters - Don had a conversation about taking one of the characters to the next stage of the story with some more experienced writers. He thought the reason the character would change and move on was because "he wanted to." “That’s not how it ...
On 9 Years of Blogging
The blog turned 9 last week. That’s a long, long time to do anything. I celebrated it by doing something very apropos for me lately - negotiating trademarks. When it started - it was just a blog about a kid living in his parent’s basement trying to do something impossible - run an indoor triathlon. Not anything crazy. The last 4-5 years have seemed like a grinder personally. Injuries, lawsuits, ultra marathons, building schools, more lawyers, a ...
You Have To Be Better
As I was outlining my 2019 goals, I could feel part of me start to shrink back. There was a piece of me that said “you can’t do that.’ And I almost started to believe that I could. But it was different than how I used to think about “you can’t do that.” Instead of not just believing that I could do that. I looked at my current habits and realized that “you can’t do that” if you keep doing things like you’re currently doing them. In some ways - ...
What Could You Be Wrong About?
In my latest annual review, not a lot of things went well. It got a little laborious to keep reviewing what specifically went wrong because the list just kept looking like "all of it." So after beating myself up a bit, I shifted and started to ask myself another question: What might you be wrong about? This is a lot less fun of a question so ask. With "what" went wrong - it's easy to blame stuff - not named you - for things that happened. It's easy to ...
What If You Didn’t Let Yourself Fail?
Let’s play a little thought experiment. What if for a week - you couldn’t let yourself down? As in, you physically were unable to let yourself down. What if for a week - you couldn’t let yourself fail? What if for a week - you had to do everything you said you were going to do? This is reminiscent of my integrity challenge from a few years back. What if you showed up every day for yourself? What if you took care of yourself like someone ...
The Problems That Grip You
https://youtu.be/sCHhgwRkY3Y?t=2760 The problems that grip you are the portal to your destiny. https://twitter.com/joelrunyon/status/1066740709351337985 I heard this on the version of Rubin Rerport and Jordan Peterson live. I saw them in Denmark (thanks Dave for the tickets!) and this was just a few days later. I've listened to Peterson a lot, but this quote struck me: The problems that grip you might contain your destiny. A lot of people ...
What Do You Want To Give Up?
I love the first 5 seconds of this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzCZWUxWsjY Important Part of the Transcript: Yeah...that'd be cool. That'd be cool. I want to be this. I want to be that. Grab your f--king nuts and be it. /// Everyone talks about what they want. Everyone talks about the freedom they want. About the rights that they have. About the life that they "deserve." No one talks about what they want to give up to ...
Is Your “Question” Really Just An Excuse?
Do you really need to ask that question? I was at the gym in Barcelona and we had a 1000m rowing test. I like to think I'm pretty good at rowing, but it’s been a while and my endurance is way off - I know I could go hard at a 1:30 pace, but I didn’t know how long I could hang out there. So I was going to ask the coach about his best advice on pacing for the challenge. Then, in the half-second where I was translating my question to Spanish in my ...
