Kevin Arnold is the Shit

Change is never easy. You fight to hold on. You fight to let go.

Recently...during a night of insomnia...while flipping through the channels...I bumped into Kevin Arnold again. It was good to see him.

I had forgotten how good "The Wonder Years" was. It was a brilliant portrayal of youth and retrospect with age through the acting of Fred Savage and the narration of Daniel Stern.


It made me think of lots of things...

We are so vulnerable...yet so willing to take risks during our youth.

We are at our creative peak during our youth because everything is possible.

We are innocent during our youth.

We love with all of our heart.

All our young lives we search for someone to love, someone who makes us complete. We choose partners and change partners. We dance to a song of heartbreak and hope all the while wondering if somewhere and somehow there is someone searching for us.

We invest so much into what we are working on because it means so much to us at the time.

The problem is we lose so much of the gift that was given to us while we were young.

I'm young. I live in a house my father owns, in a bed my father bought..Nothing is mine..except my heart and my fears and my growing knowledge that not every road is gonna lead home anymore.

We become cynical.

We no longer think of the impossible.

We get tired.

We don't do childlike things because we aren't supposed to.

We don't play.

We let others decide who and what we need to be rather than being real with who we are.

We don't believe anymore. It's like in the movie "Polar Express"...we don't hear the wonderful jingle of the bell.

When we are young, we are always looking forward with great anticipation. As we age, we start to look backward with great regret.

As you age...

Keep dreaming
Keep being silly
Keep dancing and singing even when others don't hear the music
Keep laughing
Keep playing
Keep thinking the impossible is possible.
Keep the light burning

If you do...the mid-life crisis becomes the mid-life celebration.

They say hindsight is 20/20, and I guess that's true; because standing there that night everything became so clear.

Kevin Arnold knew what is he was talking about.

We all did.

Have a Great Summer

When was the last time you pulled out a yearbook from school and read some of the things people wrote?

Every entry speaks of one specific memory.

Every entry speaks of a friendship bond that will never be broken.

Every entry speaks of staying in touch through the summer.

And every entry speaks of creating more memories.



If only we could remember these lessons as we get older...


Cherish the memories.

Make every friendship as deep as possible.

Always try and reach out to stay connected.

And...strive to make more memories.


Pretty simple...isn't it.

Have a Great Summer!

Need a light?

Ever need a spark?

Creative juices running low?

If so...try some of these to light or re-light your fire.

All of them work for me. Depends on the mood, time of day and what kind of spark I need at the time...but these tend to do the trick.





Make something with legos. Matter of fact...deconstruct first and then make something completely different.

Go for a long run.

Read.

Doodle.

Lie on your back and stare at the clouds.

Draw (which is an advanced version of doodling).

Sing in the shower.

Write words...not sentences.

Workout.

Try yoga.

Do a puzzle.

Shoot hoops by yourself.

Go for a walk.

Listen to music.

Drink coffee.

Drink wine.

Play with your kids.

Go out on a date (it's even cooler if you sit at the bar).

Talk to a bartender.

Sit in complete silence for five minutes.


Want to try something really crazy? Try all of these in one day. I promise there would be enough of a spark to light every cigarette ever smoked in one season of Mad Men!

Now go ahead and light your fire. Jim Morrison would be proud.

Long Time no Talk

Went back to Michigan this past week for work. Had a chance to reconnect with some old friends.

Got me thinking about when was the last time I reconnected with myself.

Part of that is this blog.

Been doing a lot of writing lately...but very little for my own pleasure.





If you are like me and you feel like you have been running in the hamster wheel for awhile...take time to reconnect with yourself. Do something that brings you back. Once you know where you are...you know where you need to go.

Long time no talk. How have you been?

Edison or da Vinci

Do you want to "think better" or do you want to "think different?"

Thinking better is solution based.
Thinking different is idea based.

Thinking better produces things.
Thinking different creates things.

Thinking better requires a trial and error mentality.
Thinking different requires an error and trial mentality.


Thinking better requires experience.
Thinking different requires experiences.

Thinking better means to learn from our mistakes.
Thinking different means to make mistakes so we can learn.

Thinking better requires brainstorming.
Thinking different requires stormy brains.

Thinking better affects the bottom line.
Thinking different affects the top line.

Guess what?

Can't have one without the other.
One thinks differently to get better and one thinks better when they are different.

Making cake...and eating it too.

Yummy.

A Little Insomnia Randomness

Nothing like getting up at 3:30 to jog the brain a little...

Legos and mechanical pencils are both inherently oxymorons. Legos are full of structure and creativity all at once. Mechanical pencils imply welcoming of mistakes and perfection at the same time.

Don Draper is a lot like Tony Soprano.

In life, having balance is the great equalizer.

Plugging into people who "get it" is energizing.

Compliments never get old.

I have come to the conclusion, the mid-life crisis is very real.

To be able to plug in, one must un-plug.

When you hit your 40's...it isn't about how much you work out...it's about what you put in.

Hydrate the body...caffeinate the mind.

Telescopic or Microscopic? Both...if you can.

As we go through it, it's all about the goal. When we achieve it, it's all about the journey.

And finally...

Coffee really is a good thing...especially on mornings like this.

Don't forget about your roots.

First of all, I want to apologize for not getting any content out sooner. I am now doing a lot more writing for clients and for business purposes and quite frankly, my personal blog has suffered. Thus, today's topic...






When we first get into a job, we really don't know what it is about the job that we enjoy.

When our job transitions into a career, that's when the light goes on. That's when the A-HA moment happens.

I draw the comparison to when you first enter college. You take general studies courses because you have to...not because you want to. If you are lucky and hit on your calling with your major, you really start to produce takeaways that stay with you your whole life.

The problem with our business side of our lives though is that we lose the things that we really enjoyed doing because of the all of the other things we have to do. Want to v. have to.

For me, it's writing.

So...here I am doing a lot more writing but not for myself...and that's wrong. If I follow this pattern where I no longer do something personally that I enjoy, the translated skills to the professional level will no longer bear the fruits it once did.

Lesson learned.

Thought I would just plant that seed today...