Resolve.....

Richard Branson Wisdom....

Don't know what you think of him, but the final sentence of his new book is very thought provoking...

Successful people aren’t in possession of secrets known only to themselves. Don’t obsess over people who appear to you to be “winners”, but listen instead to the wisdom of people who’ve led enriching lives—people, for instance, who’ve found time for friends and family. Be generous in your interpretation of what success looks like. The best and most meaningful lives don’t always end happily.

Live an enriching life....pretty good mission statement, I would say. And, in your moments of choice, what if you asked yourself, what is the most enriching thing I could do right now?

There's another interesting point buried in there. You know, I read the book "When Pride Still Mattered" by David Maraniss, which is a biography of Vince Lombardi. I know this is heresy, but I don't wish I was him at all. Yes, he was a winning football coach. But, he was obsessed with his job, and a distant father and husband with no life outside football, and he died too young.

So, maybe its the quality of life...not the height of the ladder.

One of my odder goals

Last New Year, I was in a reflective mood. I named it the YEAR OF ME, not to be self-centered, but to signal to myself that this was a year when I had to change things to take care of me...so that I could be a better father, sure, but also so I wouldn't grow old and look back at life as wasted year on top of wasted year.

One of my goals....to watch more baseball. Why? Because baseball used to be a source of great pleasure to me. I could sit and watch a summer night melt away, listening to the Reds on the radio, and lose myself in the languid sounds of summer. I waited to read baseball books after the World Series was over, so I could have seamless, 12-month baseball in my life.

Lately, not so much. When listening to baseball, I have not been able to lose myself. Baseball requires an active mind...its action does not press itself upon you. I just felt like a step to peace was to reconnect with baseball.

I think I accomplished it. I had the MLB Video package, watched games on the web, on TV, and same some games in person. I read more about the game, followed pennant races.

All part of peeling back the onion and figuring out how that person I was before found peace.

So, I write this tonight, because I kind of thought the World Series might end. I use to mourn that day..it was so hard to go from the excitement of the playoffs to nothing. I actually missed baseball.

Thanks to inclement weather, the Series goes on...which is to be celebrated. And tonight, a successful day under my belt (and two glasses of wine), I can look back and now I invested in me...in something that makes me happy and at peace, and I am more at peace than I was at any point last year.

And, hey, there's an opening day countdown on my web page already.

Lifehack Mania

Every once in a while, its good to take a step back. As people metric and task their lives into oblivion, are they really making progress toward peace. Merlin Mann is a smart guy who is kind of going through this transformation, thinking better not more. Anyway, he posted a tweet that has to make any lifehacker think....

Yeah, well, maybe if the Buddha had Dashboard, he'd also check every 3 min to see if his MacBook Pro shipped. Wait. Let me do that one over.

Sometimes, we might be too into management and not enough into enlightenment. David Allen talks about this....the purpose of all of this is to free your mind up to find your place on earth...mind like water, is the concept. Allen is actually quite persuasive on this.

Some of us might be hiding from what we will find when our mind is like water, that's all.

One of those days

It was one of those days...long week, very tired and stressed. Don't know what it was, but about noon I put all the problems to bed and suddenly felt very, very sick. Flu sick. I got my work done and left work early.

I had plans--a date in fact. I canceled it...and came home, slept, had a late dinner, and I'm feeling a little better right now. A little sick, but better.

You know what? What I needed tonight was downtime, not a date. I needed to totally shut everything down, sleep, watch a movie (All the King's Men, very good), and not have to talk to anyone or be on stage...to sit in my sweats on the floor and just let the motor wind down.

At one point, I thought all I needed was a woman who would date me. Now, I understand it may be more complicated than that...but I'm determined to keep an eye on what is working for me. And I understand...maybe I'm OK on my own.

An intense relationship is probably not going to work for me right now.

Another step up the mountain

Yesterday was another decent step forward. First, despite strong levels of stress, I still let myself leave the office feeling good, and let me enjoy myself.

And I took another step forward. One of my issues is that I am a pleaser. Which is something that can be good, but also can have its drawbacks. It has been especially true of women. I have craved their approval that I often completely mold myself to earn their approval. Spent a couple decades doing that, in fact.

So, a situation arose with a woman I am starting to see. She wanted one thing, I wanted another.

But, I'm determined to learn to be the person I want to be--giving, caring, but asserting what I need for me, in my new life. I'm not going to fall into the same thing again.

So, in an email, I calmly, but without undue explanation, asserted what I wanted to do.

And you know?

• She doesn't hate me.
• She's still speaking to me.
• She's glad to know what I am thinking.

Dang? Really? Who would have thought it.

Yesterday was better...

I had a hard day yesterday. Lots of pressure, unreasonable people, unreasonable demands, and stress. And, I had a high pressure assignment today.

But I kept my perspective, remained positive, laughed at some things, didn't take everything so personally, and left here feeling pretty good.

Do you know how liberating it felt? To have, even for one day, let myself feel good even when everything looked bad? To drive home NOT burdened by the cares of the world, but ready to enjoy some time to myself?

Liberating is the word.