Present

When was the last time that you can remember being fully present and not pulled in multiple directions? How did it feel and what were you able to do?

The ability to be present is key to being successful in today’s world, whether it be at work or in your social life. In a world where our attention is constantly being drawn into hundreds if not thousands of directions, the ability to focus on one thing is not only a difficult task but a critical one.

What does it mean to be present? It is beyond just showing up and checking your name off the list, it not just one thing but multiple things you must do in order to be present. It is hard to just tell people to be present as the ability to be present is not a direct input but rather an outcome of how you act. Here are some of the traits I see as needed in order to be present.

Purposeful: If you want to be present you must live with a purpose. A purpose helps you stay grounded and provides you direction. Your purpose acts as your guide to making your most critical decisions. If you are busy trying to decide what your purpose is, you will not be able to pay attention and truly be present. Don’t worry, you do not need to know your life purpose in order to be present but you need a purpose for the day. So when you wake up, pick one thing you want to focus on. It can be a project or it can be a skill that you want to improve upon and make that your focus for the day.

Respect: This applies to everything: people, projects, ideas, and whatever else you can think of. Without respect you are constantly judging people against what you think is right. You are not giving your whole self because you lack the respect that is needed to do so. Forget if the other person does not respect you, that is their choice. You have a choice and if you want to live in a life based on the decisions of other people you will never be present and more importantly you will never be living.

Listen: The ability to truly listen. It is an amazing and not used often enough and many people have the definition wrong. You are not listening if you are thinking about what to say next or what you want to say. You are not listening if you try to finish the other person’s sentence. You are not listening if you are busy on your phone or on your computer. No matter how small the “other thing” is, it is still not listening if you can focus on something else. If you truly want to be present you need to listen.

All-In: It is impossible to be present unless you are all-in, in what you are doing or the conversation that you are having. If there is anything else competing for your attention and you let it get some you are not being completely present. When you are all-in you are focused on one thing. You have to give it your best effort if you want to be present.

Courage: If you do not have courage you cannot be present because you will be too focused on being “right” and not making a mistake. You will hold yourself back from being your true self and therefore not be able to give 100% of yourself. Courage is not always facing a giant; it is sometimes it is disagreeing or making a small decision that has a big impact. It is having courage in not only the people and projects in your life but more importantly the courage of you.

Faith: Now this is has nothing to do with religion or spirituality, that is a whole different subject. This faith is the faith in yourself to begin with. Faith that you are able to do whatever you have been asked to do and that you will succeed. It is faith in everything around you and that you are on the right path. When you worry about what could be or what could go wrong, you stop yourself from being present.

Most importantly what you have to remember is that he ability to be present is a choice that cannot be faked. While it may be hard and difficult to be present, the investment is worth it. When you are present you are able to reach your fullest potential and do your best and most impactful work.

Stop hacking your life

If I have to see one more article about “hack” your life I may just throw up.

On the surface hacking your life seems like such a good idea, you save time and you can get “more” done. What more could you possibly want, you get to skip over all that “work” and just get the reward.

This would all be great except for the fact that it is all so wrong. Life is not about your accomplishments, it is about the journey and what it took you to get there. If you could just take an elevator to the top of Mount Everest would it still be an amazing accomplishment? The answer is no, and that is what hacking really is, it is a way to cheat yourself out of the work but to also cheat yourself out of some valuable life lessons and character building that go along with it. It stops you from having amazing stories that you will remember for the rest of your life. It lacks life.

One of my biggest accomplishments was completing Ironman Wisconsin with Team Katie. I can remember the finish line like it was yesterday and what I can still remember is all the work that went into it. The early mornings, Saturday’s dedicated to your workout and going to bed around 9:00 pm on a Friday night and it was all so worth it, it made the journey. If I had the chance to just be able to take a pill a day before and be ready, I would refuse because it lacks life.

Hacking your life seems like such a good idea because you can avoid all that “pain” that goes along with actually putting in the work but that is where the real magic happens. You see how strong you really are and how hard work pays off. You get to experience the thrill of living in those moments of pain and when you overcome them to move on.

One of the biggest selling points of hacking or in fact the main selling point is all the time you save and yet time is one of the main ingredients for success. It takes time to develop anything that is truly sustainable and powerful. If that time scares you, maybe you should not be doing it in the first place.

Stop missing life and start to really live life. Yes hacking your life is so much easier and there is less pain but it is nothing compared to the feeling you get when you accomplish something you never thought you could do and did the actual work.

Enough

You are enough, plain and simple. You are enough to accomplish anything that you want to. You are enough to make your biggest dreams come true. Who you are and what you bring to the table is enough. The gifts, talents and love that you give is enough so stop believing everyone that tells you different. Your life is enough.

We need you; we don’t need another whoever we need you. We need your talents, we need your passion and we need your skills. You are enough.

God does not make mistakes so stop thinking that your life was a mistake because it was not. Everything that you have been through, all the mistakes you have made, the times you have fallen, the success and the best times of your life have put you exactly where you need to be. Stop worrying and start believing that you are enough because you are.

Now you are enough and so is everyone else around you, they are enough as well. What an amazing gift we could give to someone if we told them that they were enough, that they did not need to marginalize themselves any longer. It is a simple, yet powerful gift.

If you want to change the world here is your chance, I want you to find someone that is struggling and let them know that they are enough. They do not need to fight anymore with what society tells them and that who; they are right now is and always has been enough.

I have been lucky enough to be on the receiving end of this and it changed my life. It is a powerful message that will change lives.

What are you waiting for?

Many times it is said that if there is a God, how can he let so much evil happen in the world?

What is forgotten is that God has done something in fact he has done, he has done about 7.2 billion things to help stop the evil in the world. God created everyone on this earth and we are the people that can stop the evil, stop the hate and make the world a better place.

There are going to be some people in this world that will tell you, the issue or idea you want to solve or implement can never happen, stop listening to them. It is going to take hard work and you may never see it in your lifetime but you can never be sure of what it may create for the future. The argument that it has never happened, so it can never happen is false, if this argument were true we would have no cars, internet or airplanes. There would still be rampant segregation, women could not vote and we would believe that the world is still flat. The fact of the matter is that the people who tell you it can never happen, do not want it to happen because it would be a change. A change in the way the world works and how it is perceived. Change is scary and sometimes sticking with what sucks even though the other option is so much better, is what happens because the fear that people have in their life is too strong and they let it control their life. Fear should never rule your life.

People need to stop complaining about how all the problems of the world are not there fault. If you stand by and complain about anything you are part of the problem, I do not care who you are, you are part of the problem. Once again we go back to the fear of change and being able to make a move. The ability to actually do something and be vulnerable keeps us at bay but it should not. We are far too strong to let it control our life.

The belief that one person cannot change the world or make a difference is false and needs to be put to rest. Every great movement in history was started by one person. Did Martin Luther King change the world by himself? No. Did Abraham Lincoln make the world a better place by himself? No. Did Maya Angelou, Mother Theresa or Ghandi change the world by themselves? No. Now you may be asking yourself, I thought you said one person could change the world and no you are going against it. My point in all of this is that while these people did not change the world by thiersleves, they choose to be the first one to make a difference and believe it could happen. What if none of these people decided to believe that they could change the world, where would we be today? The point is that you need to believe that you can change the world and then get people to rally behind you to make the change.

We get stuck when we compare ourselves to everyone on that list. I know I have thought I could never be them and I am not supposed to. While it is great to have idols and people you look up to, do not try to be exactly like them. The world does not need another “whoever” what the world needs is you. The world needs your gifts, your talents, your purpose and your passion. So start giving us your gifts because we need it.

Where is all the good in the world?

Where is all the good in the world or is there even any good left? If you watch the news or even if you listen to society, this could easily be a question that you ask yourself. We do not see or hear about good news as much as we should but does that really mean that it does not exist? My answer is that good does exist, we have just been told by society that we need to pay attention to the bad and ignore the good. I honestly do not even care how it started or who started it, I just want it to stop.

We far too often look to the news to bring us good news, there are two major problems with us looking towards the news or to any sort of media to bring us good news. To begin instead of waiting to hear about something good, go out and create good and second if you can’t do good or even if you can, why not tell the world about good things happening around you? Yes, this may mean you may have to go out and find it. Why not tell people the good that you see in the world. Since when did we need to rely on someone else to tell us about all the good that is happening around us

I do not argue or believe that there is not any sort of bad in the world, in fact I know there is I have witnessed and I have taken part of it in some part of my life, we all have. What I do argue is that the good acts, people and groups far out weigh the bad. It is only that we do not know about them because we have been told that bad news is the best news.

The good you do, does not need to be anything huge. In fact I challenge you to practice small acts that make the world a little better place. A small act can change and has change the world.

So instead of asking yourself “Where is all the good in the world?” ask yourself “What have I done to make this world a better place?” and go out and do more of it.

12 hours; 75 miles; 1 Treadmill

I was able to run for 75 miles over 12 hours on a treadmill along with my good friend Ryan Norton. My friends Sam Benjamin, Brian Gruender and Josh Pierce all managed to run over 100 miles in under 24 hours. If this sounds like a terrible way to spend a day, let me tell you it is not. In fact it was one of the most inspiring ways to spend your day.

Do you want to know what does suck, hearing your child’s doctor tell you that they have cancer.

The run was put on by the Snowdrop Foundation of Wisconsin, which helps raise money for pediatric cancer research as well as scholarships for college bound pediatric cancer patients and survivors

For 24 hours so many people endured the suck that is running on a treadmill but it was only for 24 hours. Children with cancer are rarely given a timeline of when the pain will go away or when they will be able to go back to a normal life, unless they are being told that they only have months to live. At the end of 24 hours we were all allowed to go back to our normal lives and continue living, for them the fight never stops. There are no rest breaks. It is a constant fight.

If 75 miles sounds impressive to you, I want you to think of the children that are fighting cancer right now at this very moment. I signed up for this, they did not. They did not have a choice in the matter, I could have gotten off the treadmill at any time, they cannot stop and they won’t stop. The strength that it took for me to keep going is nothing compared to the strength they have every day.

If running for that long, sounds annoying, I want you to think about children that are battling cancer and the hours, days, weeks and months they spend in the Hospital. Running for 75 miles is nothing.

I have been told by some people that they are inspired and in awe of my ability and determination to run for 75 miles or for 12 hours on a treadmill and I have to humbly disagree. If you want to be inspired look no further than children battling cancer that have a smile on their face and have a passion for life that many of us could not even imagine. There is your inspiration.

On a side note, running for this long with this many amazing people taught a lot of important lessons about life. One that I want to share is that you should always leave everything you got, out on the table. It is only when you leave it all out there that you can find what you never knew you had, go further than you ever imagined and take part of events that will change your life.

My case against Instant Gratification

Instant gratification is all around us, no matter where I look it seems that I cannot get away from it and I hate it. You need to look no further than get-rich-quick schemes, miracle diets or the growing need to have everything at our fingertips as proof.

I think instant gratification is killing our future and the hope of a future. Instant gratification implies that we will never be enough or have enough and that we should expect anything and everything right away and if we do not see or get what we want it has been a failure. It neglects the long-term vision, success and ideas that truly form real success. Instant-gratification is not sustainable.

We will never be enough or have enough with instant gratification because once we get it, we want more and we want it now. In fact we cannot possibly get it fast enough. If we get one thing in a minute everything else now needs to be under a minute or it is taking too long. This goes for not only material things but things like love, success and relationships.

If you are always focused on what you want right now, you will never think about your future and how you want to get there and instant gratification only allows us to focus on the present. Think about it in terms of living a healthier lifestyle or wanting to lose weight. In the moment it is so easy to eat that piece of cake because it will make you feel great, yet in the long term it will hinder your goal not help it. That is the problem with instant gratification; it puts the long-term against the very short-term.

The shelf-life of instant gratification is just that an instant. It is gone in the blink of an eye and a majority of the time you have nothing left to show for it. What you get from it is the want for more and to be more, do not get me wrong I am a strong believer in constantly improving but putting it all in an instant is not the right way, it takes time.

So what should we be doing instead of wanting instant gratification? We should be setting long-term goals and realizing the small victories that come along with them. I believe we need to celebrate our successes but we need to see them as part of the bigger picture. If you have a dream write it down and think of everything that leads up to it. These can be your milestones to celebrate. Success takes time. The success you see is just the tip of the iceberg. Just like an iceberg it is not the tip that you have to be worried about or that has the most mass it is what is beneath the surface, it is what you cannot see, when you see success remember that there is an iceberg beneath it supporting it. Finally remember how awesome you are and that you have an amazing gift to give the world.