Productivity vs Purpose

There are a lot of articles that help you focus on being more productive, but one thing that they do not hit is purpose.

Without purpose productivity is pointless.

An example, email, everyone has too much and it is a never ending battle. For every email that you delete two more come in its place. There are plenty of very helpful tips and tricks on how to manage your inbox. What is the purpose? If you are doing it just to say you have a clean inbox while the rest of your life passes you by, then you productivity is pointless and is a huge waste of time.

However if you keep a clean inbox to help you stay organized be responsive and create traction than your emails have a purpose.

Purpose is a double edged sword; it is both a long-term and short-term goal that causes a lot of frustration, anxiety and self-doubt. Your purpose can change from day to day and over your life time as well. What matters is that you have one, you pursue it and you are open to change.

Use your purpose to define what you will focus on. There are a lot of great plans out there that help you focus what you should work on. I have tried a lot of them and what keeps missing for me is a purpose.

Grab a notebook and write your life’s purpose on it. Do not think about it, just write it on the first sheet and visit it daily. Each day write how you will help yourself live on purpose. This will become your daily purpose; it will give you the mindset to live in the moment and to be ready to live.

When you have a big project, it is easy to get caught up in everything that needs to be done and easy to get lost in the purpose of the project. We become so focused on getting things done and checking them off the list that we forget why we started and where the finish line is.

When you start a new project, write out what the purpose of the project is. List the tasks that you need to accomplish to complete this project. They key is to not think about an order or how they all fit together but to focus on getting as much as you can down. Keep going until you have run out of ideas. Take that list and put it in order of what will be the most impactful to the purpose and put that at the top and create a list from most impactful to least impactful.

When you do this at least two things should happen. You should gain a clear understanding of what will be the most impactful; giving you direction and you will also start to realize everything that goes along with the project.

Your purpose  should not overwhelm you, it should make things clear.

Weather the Storm of Life

The last few days in Minneapolis have been freezing. The highs have been around zero. It is the type of cold where you only go out when you have to, Cars won’t start, and life ceases to exist.

Often in life you will find yourself in these situations. Not the cold but where you feel so hopeless that going on seems pointless and that your life seems like it does not matter. You ask yourself how much more can I take, and then more comes. Much like a cold day, breathing hurts and you can barely catch a breath. You feel like you are fading away. Every breath that you take does not help you but suffocates you. Life seems pointless and endless.

Today there was a heat wave; it got up to 20 degrees. It was incredible.  Now 20 degrees is not that warm, but compared to zero it is tropical.

How amazing would it be if we never had to live through those days, the ones where it seemed harder to keep going than to give up?

Just like today feeling tropical because of the past few days, if there were no dark days in our life, we would never truly appreciate the light at its dimmest moments. We would have no idea what a great day felt like.

Imagine if you lived in a place where it was always 65 and sunny. Would you ever get tired of it? How long would it take you to take the day for granted? The mere fact that you would want to live in this weather, is highly affected by your experience of worse weather. You have had to deal with the cold, the rain, snow, sever weather, clouds and all of the other things we complain about. You appreciate the 65 and sunny not just because it is such great weather but because you know what it is not.

Just like the weather, you cannot control what happens to you. However here are some things that you can do.

You can control your climate: A personal pet peeve of mine is people who live in Minnesota that hate snow.  The get upset every time it snows and every winter. This is the definition of crazy. Minnesota is known for snow and cold, stop expecting it to be different. Apply this to your life. If you are unhappy with the direction your life is headed, the people in your life or being stuck, go out and change it. Change something about it because you are in control. You may not control everything but you can damn well be in charge of the direction your life is headed.

Be prepared: When rain is in the forecast, you grab an umbrella and a raincoat; with snow you get that shovel ready. Just like you cannot always control the weather, you cannot always control what happens in your life, no matter where you are. You can prepare yourself and control how you react. You can either deal with it or ignore it. Start building tools for yourself to help you through those hard times.

Many times all you can do is wait out the storm. I remember a scene from Twister, where the tornado is on its path of destruction, and they are caught in a field. The main characters frantically scramble to a barn only to find it hanging with knives, axes and cleavers yet they stay there because the twister is so close. They find a spot and hold on for life. At times in life no matter where you go, it is not going to go your way, in fact you may feel like your life is ending. Hold on, you can weather out the storm, you can handle it.

You've been served

Driving we had to pull over, because of the rain pouring down on the highway, I was on my way to complete my first ultramarathon. It was cold, dark and rainy, the perfect weather for a run, right? We pulled into the parking lot; we put on our headlamps and made our way over to check-in.

It is time to start; we get to the start line. The rain was less intense. Trying to climb up the hills and not fall and then slip and slide your way down made for an even bigger adventure. There were many times that I wanted to stop but I couldn’t, I had promises to keep. Eventually the sun came out and it turned out to be a nice day, in fact I think we may have had fun.

I had promises to keep. My first ultramarathon was the first time I really ran for someone else. I ran for my friend’s son Isaiah, who was diagnosed with cancer. My strength came from him, his courage, his ability to keep fighting every day and to never give up.

Running does not have to be a zero sum game. I tell people the reasons why I run and who I run for and they get this entranced look on their face. The response I hear most times is that running is too personal, they could never give up a passion they have for someone else.

When you run for someone else, you do not lose anything; in fact you gain everything that you could imagine and more. Every race that I have done for someone else, it was also a personal gain for me. I got so much more out of it, than those that I ran for.

I met and continue to meet some of the most amazing people because I chose to run for someone else. These people are selfless, inspiring and crazy individuals you will ever meet. It goes beyond the actual people I run for and into their community that supports them, all of these people are incredible. I never would have met them if I would have believed that I could only run for myself.

Forget the running, apply this to everyday life. Start to serve others and help others. When we help others that is when we truly begin to live and experience life, we get to see how wonderful the world really is and all the potential that is out there.

We feel guilty when we feel good about helping others, how stupid is this? We put ourselves through a guilt trip when we feel good about doing the right thing. We can help others and at the same time help ourselves.

You are going to get mistreated, abused and hurt but it pales in comparison to the true friendships and impact that you will have when you start to serve others.



When I started running for and serving others, is when my potential truly became unstoppable.

7 Tips to Get Unstuck

Motivation and inspiration are some of the most powerful tools in the world. It is motivation and inspiration that has helped me get started on every great thing that I have done, however there is a downfall, motivation and inspiration are a spark, not a fire.

Many times in my life, I have been inspired, ready to act, had a great start only for it to die off. The reason it died, is not the fault of the inspiration but it is on me. It is hard to keep it going. For far too long I saw this as a negative thing but now I see the truth. When inspiration wears off, it is an opportunity to prove how bad you want it.

Here are some of my tips on how to make that happen.

1) Focus on why you started and what you want to accomplish: No one likes to do the hard tasks, all that stuff that seems pointless at the time but in reality creates the cement that holds your business together. It is hard to sit down and work on the areas of business that do not excite you. It is easy to get lost and the monotony of it all.

Instead of just looking at you having to work on your financials, respond to emails or follow up with customers and vendors, think about the impact. The act itself may be boring and painful but if you are up to date on your financials you are likely to be more successful. Checking and responding to your emails, helps you stay on top of your game. When you follow up with your vendors you are building business relationships that are critical to your future.

2) Make it part of your daily habit: When we start something new or that we are dreading, it is hard to get started, we feel out of place. Not because we are unqualified or stupid but because it is not part of our daily routine. The reason why new things are so strange to us is because you are unfamiliar with them, if you practice it daily, it will begin to feel natural.

3) Eat the elephant in the room for breakfast: Do the tasks you are dreading right away. The longer you think it over, how much it will suck and how bad it will be, the worse off we are. If we constantly think about having to do it, it drains our energy, our creativity and drive. It does not allow us to be giving the world the best version of ourselves

4) Just do it: I struggle with this in writing being a perfectionist. Remember is that you have to start somewhere, it does not have to be perfect, you can change it, add to it or even erase it when a better way comes along but you need to start somewhere. There is power in knowing that the first few times it is going to suck but it will continue to get better after that.

5) Use the buddy system: It is not just for scouting! Create an accountability buddy and agree to hold each other accountable. It is easy to lie to yourself but it is hard to lie to someone you admire and are close to. That being said, at the end of the day it all comes down to you and your choice. If you choose not to do it, you have no one to blame but yourself.

6) Set Deadlines: Deadlines are scary but they also give you a timeline to complete the tasks by. It may be hard to know that you have a limited time to complete a task but it also helps motivate you to act. Do not see a deadline as a course but as a guide to create your to do list from.

7) Ask for help: A majority of the people in this world want to help you and do not want to see you fail. Our ego tells us that we should not need help and that we should be able to figure it all out on our own. This is where we get into trouble. Do not let your ego get in the way of your success.

New Years: Second Installment

A week ago today, everyone was excited. The New Year was hours away. Many were busy contemplating the ride that 2015 had been and planning on kicking ass in 2016.

The countdown begins, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Happy New Year, your life magically become open to all the possibilities, you believed you could change and that this year your resolution was going to work. Nothing was going to stop you, after all 2016 is going to be your year.

A week later around 25% of all resolutions have already been lost, forgotten or dropped by the side of the road. Whatever it is off the wagon, on the wagon, whatever you want to call it, it happened. By the end of January one third of all resolutions will be broken. Just eight percent of resolutions will make it to the New Year. The odds are not in your favor.

Once you break the resolution, it becomes an excuse. The first time you give up on it, it sucks, it hurts and you feel bad. Every time you break your resolution after that first time, it becomes easier and easier to do. The excuses build and the evidence builds, all the past mistakes come and drown you and make giving up so much easier. If I have already given up once, what is one more time, two more times and why even bother counting, I have already failed.

We focus on the next year, and it becomes easier and easier to push off decisions that could change our life. Next year I will make it happen, next year I will stick with it. At the same time, the fear of starting builds. All the times we have failed. We become afraid to move. We are paralyzed and we fail.

Your life does not begin with a New Year, it begins with a new mindset. Your life is not measured by your years it is measured in the moments. Every second is a new opportunity. This is not some fluffy make you feel good crap, it is the truth but it will only happen if you choose to believe it. That resolution that you gave up and that you lost, start it again today, who the hell cares when it ends? Get back up, get in the game and learn. Stop putting of your new life until next year.

Your life, new opportunities and freedom do not occur in a new year, or even over night, they occur the minute you decide to start thinking differently, be positive and believe in yourself.

Lessons from the "15 Initiative"

The mission for the “15 Initiative” is for people to uncover their true potential to see that they are capable of pretty much anything they put their mind to. The people I run for live this. They do not accept the world as it is, they go and change it and make it better, make the most of it and never give up.

1. Have a vision of where you want to go: If you have no idea where you are going, it is easy to get lost and not even know it. There were some goals established for the initiative, there could have been more. We had simple goals, complete 15 endurance events and raise $15,000. I never gave a story that was more compelling than the fact that I wanted to raise money. I did not talk about the challenge or the mission just the how and what, never the why.

2. Have a flexible plan: Know where you want to go, have direction be open to change course. The campaign presented a lot of opportunities to prove this to me over and over again. I struggled on choosing a strict course that was never left to just letting things happen. When you have the strict course you miss out on so many opportunities but when you wander you never get anywhere. If the titanic would have changed its course, it may have made it, instead it kept its course. Do not let your predetermined course be the reason you sink.

3. Be All-IN: It is scary to be all-in, when we are all-in we can get hurt, we are vulnerable and exposed. It is where the magic happens where we grow. This is the place where you learn how great you really are. You always have a choice in life, you can sink in or you can do a cannonball and make some waves.

4. Embrace the suck: Pain, suffering, agony and struggling we are told are bad. That when it happens to us we must be getting punished for something we did. We begin to think that we are far too weak to handle it and feel bad for ourselves.

The truth: Embrace the suck. Embrace what hurts and learn as much as you can from it. You are not being punished; you are being given an opportunity to learn and to grow. Ask for help, people are always willing to help.

5. Act: We freak ourselves out way too much, we worry that if we act we will fail and the humor of it all is that when we refuse act, we have already failed by default. I know from personal experience. In the initiative when I was stuck instead of doing anything I would just think about it and worry about it and surprisingly nothing ever happened.

We are addicted to perfection. We want every decision that we make to be perfect. Life does not work that way. No matter how hard you try, something always could have been better. There does not need to be a winner and a loser, in fact everyone can win but that by no means it will be perfect.

6. You are going to fail: This initiative was a failure; I did not raise as much money as I set out to raise. Failure happens, it is nothing to be afraid of and it is nothing to shy away from or to deny. When we talk about failure, even when we talk about how it is a good thing, we are afraid to say it out loud. Stop being afraid, embrace it, learn from it and grow from it. The only way you will not fail is if you do nothing your entire life and that is the greatest failure of all.

7. Define what matters: 15 endurance events in a year while raising money takes up a lot of time. It means sacrificing a lot, early mornings, late nights and barely a social life. If this sounds like it sucks, it did, but what this means is that you are forced to decide what really matters to you. Your time in general is limited, so invest it in people, things, and ideas that you truly believe in.

8. Busyness is an addiction: Since completing my last event for 15, I have a lot more free time. It felt that when I was not doing anything I was doing something wrong and I was lazy. I was addicted to being busy. When you are busy it feels as if your life has meaning, that you are contributing in some way and that you are not wasting a single breath, no one wants to wake up and realize they wasted their life but do not be so busy you forget to live.

9. Be consistent and persistent:  Just keep after it, repeatedly, this is how you build a habit. The only way you are going to get better at running is to improve upon your running, is by practice. This is just like life. The only way you are going to improve is if you constantly try to improve on being better. When you start, it sucks but it gets easier. The challenges should not get easier, but it will become easier to start.

10. Trust Yourself: We are capable of so much we know that we just have a hard time convincing ourselves that we are right and that we could be that freaking amazing. We trust so many people in our life and yet the person that we should trust the most, our self, is the person we trust the least. We are filled with self-doubt that keeps us down and stops us from doing so much. Trust yourself, there will be pain, it will hurt and it will be uncomfortable but you can handle it.

11. Have Fun: If a terminal cancer patient can have fun, you sure as hell can have fun in your life. This is not written to make you feel bad about yourself. My hope is that it inspires the hell out of you to constantly look for ways to have fun and ways to enjoy life, to make the most out of it.  Fun is not goofing off, you can have fun working and making a huge difference in the world, it is all about how you look at it. Be intentional and see the greatness of the world. Enjoy every moment even when it sucks.

12. Get back up: One of my half-Ironmans was with a myTEAM Triumph-Wisconsin. I was lucky enough to be placed with my friends Rebecca and Chris. The swim was crazy but lucky for me, I had Rebecca, one of the best swimmers I know to lead us. Swimming past the breakers the waves kept getting bigger and I could not catch my breath, so I stopped and tried again, it happened again and I tried again until I finally gave up and was taken out of the swim.

I did not complete the swim portion of the triathlon, I was able to participate with my team for the bike and run. I got back up. When something goes wrong does not mean you jump ship, it means you readjust.

13. Intentionally Be Present: Live in the moment but realize what you want life to bring to you. Do not worry about looking stupid just be present. Make the most out of every situation and enjoy it. Stop thinking and just start living. We ruin some of the best moments in our life by wondering what could have been better and where we could have improved, while it is important to have a path to grow, do not let your mistakes get in your way from growing and enjoying the moment.

14. Step outside your comfort zone: It is the only way to grow. It does not have to be a leap; it can be a baby step but keep expanding that comfort zone so you can see what you are really made of. The challenges will come. You can seek them or you hide from them. Life does not become easier, you just become less afraid.

15. Be Unlimited: Your life is only limited to your belief.  You can do whatever you want, even if you fail, who the hell cares, at least you tried. If you are not there yet it does not mean that you will never be there, it will take work and it will hurt but you are going to get there, you have to believe that to get there. Trust me, you will get there. Your potential is unlimited.