Seeking Coastal Utopia

We live in a world of instant gratification. We seek the fast, cheap and easy. We consume information, live the vicarious fitness plan via the web, and buy the things that we want without getting out of our chair — in mere seconds. “yes, you really do need to work harder” by Jordan Whitfield on  Unsplash Hard work? We go to the vending machine over in the corner and buy it the premade something.  Prepackaged stuff. Ready to eat. Immediately consumed. Is this what we want? Of course we do! We are consumers. We are always trying to find a hack, we try to find a shortcut. We want our hard work to be easy. 6 Minute Abs! Get rich quick! Whiter teeth in just a few days! This is your hack to hard work . Hard work is only hard the first time you do it. Seriously. That’s it. Nothing else. It is not magical. It is not complex. It is just hard. We recognize that doing it the first time is hard, and after that, it is no longer hard. Wait, what? ...

Photo by Kay on  Unsplash Decisions are hard. Making a choice is surprisingly difficult, especially when you have a mutual interest in each possible decision result. These results could be considered “good” and “bad” results. Sure, a very binary response — on or off, yes or no, pass or fail, one and zero. There are times when the results are shades of gray, not necessarily optimal results but not the worst results. You just need to make a decision, you need to make a choice, especially in the gray areas. In reality, the only bad decision is to make no decision. Without getting too ironic, you could argue that making no decision is in itself a decision. I would not disagree with you when it comes to the perfection of language, especially such that a conscious choice to not make a decision is, in itself, a decision. We are defining the ability to make choices, to make decisions, and live with those results. To qualify this argument, these decisions are not considered life o...

“photography of brown nuts” by Tom Hermans on  Unsplash Peanuts are a wonder food. So much so that peanut oil was considered a treatment for polio in the 1930s. George Washington Carver was a brilliant man who had many ideas and inventions that were recognized around peanuts, yet he performed many studies around the cultivation of plants and botany — peanuts just happen to be the association forever linked to his name. Carver created more than one hundred ways to use peanuts , however, peanut butter was not one of them. One important fact of Carver’s accomplishments was to help introduce the use of peanut plantings as a great farming crop to help fight soil depletion from cotton and tobacco farming methods. In honor of George Washington Carver, we need to integrate peanuts, even peanut butter, into our work whenever possible. Let’s investigate a couple of ways we can use peanuts in business today — aside from pay (mwuah mwuah — too punny). The simplest version of peanu...

We are our own worst critics! Wait, this is deja vu all over again. “person covering face with hands outdoors” by Abigail Keenan on  Unsplash As you grow throughout your career you realize the things that you didn’t know, the things that you should have known but you didn’t, yet you made a decision that had possibly a negative outcome. Or you were possibly doing something as a younger self that makes you shake your head and you think… Man, I should have fired myself. We have done things during her career that we think back on and giggle about it nervously. Or you think about those major faux pas that you made, either interpersonal remarks or actions that you would consider very questionable now that you’re further along in your career? Are you ready to fire yourself? As you sit there reading during working hours, not getting your important work completed, are you able to mentally (or externally) justify that distracting action? The one wasteful action you are ...

Think you have what it takes? Can you be replaced? Or duplicated? “monkey looking at mirror” by Andre Mouton on  Unsplash We are our own worst critics. We look at what work we have done and sometimes just shake our heads or giggle nervously with the thought of “what the heck was I thinking?” As you think about your performance at work or at home, and you are required to hire somebody to help you get your work accomplished, would you hire yourself? Make a list of all the things you are strongest and most capable — the things that you can do as part of unconscious competence . Unconscious competence means you can do the action or activity “in your sleep,” and there are probably very few people anywhere within your circle that can do the work that you can do with the same sort of expertise or perfection. What is amazing is that you don’t even have to think about doing it, you are running on autopilot. After you’ve populated the unconscious competence list, then create one ...

Sleep is a good thing. We need more of it. We want more of it. But we ignore it. Why are we fighting it? “person sleeping near window” by Maeghan Smulders on  Unsplash We are damaging our brains and we are destroying our health. Do we do these things in pursuit of fame, fortune, and ego, potentially leading to money? I believe we are driving to an unknown need. Sleep is one of the most important things you can do right next to eating . Sleep is the elixir of life and it allows us to accomplish the things that we need to do every day — physically and mentally. If sleep is so important, why are we choosing to forgo it? In pursuit of — one more web page, one more text, one more post on Facebook, one more video on YouTube, one more something? People, people, please turn off your phone and leave it in the kitchen. Turn off your tablet and leave it in the living room. Turn off your laptop. Turn off the TV. Go. To. Bed. And. Go. To. Sleep. Do not say you have insomnia....

Check your ego at the door!  Or better yet, bring your ego with you, only if you can keep it in check! Why do we think that we have to do everything? Perfectly, every time? Do we honestly believe we have answers for everything that is presented to us? That we have to answer every person that comes to us with a deep, meaningful response, solving their problem for them — because we can (or think we can)? Is it because of ego? Is it because we do not want to be seen in a position of weakness? Or do we want to be seen as superior to others around us? Ego? Check! “woman carrying sack of hay on back while holding stick” by Graham Covington on  Unsplash When you are struggling under a heavy load, what do you do? Do you continue to struggle under the heavy load slogging through it trying to complete it yourself? Killing yourself to get the work finished? Then running out of energy and not getting it complete? Do you think that it would be faster for you to do the w...

We have all heard the adage there is an elephant in the room. Heck, we are probably all sick of hearing about the elephant in the room, even when we try to ignore it. The elephant in the room is the biggest thing in the room that everyone wants to ignore, but someone invariably brings it up. “elephant during daytime” by James Hammond on  Unsplash …ahem, excuse me. I want to bring up the elephant in the room… Dude, shut up! I really do not want to ignore elephants anymore, I think we should eat them! And then the following adage is how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! I think I am going to vomit, not because of too many elephants, but because of too many euphemisms. Stop it already. People freak out when they are presented with a massive undertaking, the large jobs, the elephant size jobs. The ones with a seemingly impossible action (note — there is no such thing as impossible) and the mountain of work looming in front of you is massive. You ca...

O.K., this has to be qualified that this is not an instruction of what note style to use, the way to write notes, or even how you should format them. It is merely going to give you guidance to use ANY method possible to capture notes so you can be more successful in your work or home life. (not the same sort of notes I am talking about) rawpixel on  Unsplash Aging sucks. I remember (or imagine) the days when I did not have to take notes for anything. The mind was a steel trap. Everything that went in was burned in; nothing forgotten — or so I thought. I was able to stumble through the early days of my career by not taking prodigious notes, but I do not suggest it becoming a habit for those coming into their working lives. Let me make it easy for you: Get a pen or a pencil and a notebook — any. Steno pad . Legal pad . Engineering graph paper . Composition book (they are $0.50US). Mini Memo Pad . Black n’ Red . Rocketbook . Post-it Notes . Napkins. The palm of your ha...

A recent conversation between myself and the kids, yet happens usually once a month. I need to understand the trigger that sets them on this path. Kids — we wish we were rich Me — what do you mean? what would it be like to be rich? Kids — a lot of money so we can buy whatever we want Me — so what is it that you want we don’t have already? Kids — are we rich? Me — it’s all about perspective. What would you buy if you had more money? Kids — I don’t know, a Me — is that really important? Kids — **** “black sports car on asphalt road” by Marc Kleen on  Unsplash Wealthy is a state of mind and even sometimes your being. It is practically a mental health issue in many cases. So obsessed with the pursuit of wealth, nothing stands in the way. Wealth is defined as having an abundance of “valuable” possessions or money — the common perception. Yet there can be different forms of wealth. Wealthy can be someone that has an abundance of time. Or it could mean that you h...

This is tough. This is big. Standing up for anything is hard. Difficult decisions need to be made. Discomfort creeps into your chest, your guts. Your soul. “man on body of water during daytime” by Mubariz Mehdizadeh on  Unsplash Do you fold like a cheap lawn chair, or do you stand proud and strong and weather the storm?  Face into the wind, one step at a time, fighting and clawing for every inch forward? You damn well should. Crush your fears and be strong against the tide. That is why you are here, you are strong and want to be stronger. This is why you are in the role you are in. This is why you level up; to be better than sheep and lemmings . Fight mediocrity. Fight passiveness. Fight entropy. Fight apathy. Now, could you sell your soul? Find a job with the least amount of responsibility with the most pay? It probably doesn’t exist in the way you imagine it. Could you jump from one role to another for $XXX more today? Tomorrow? If y...