As the scoutmaster of a Boy Scout troop in Minnesota, I got to guide many young men on their path to becoming Eagle Scouts. Along the way, I encountered one scout who was working on his requirements but having a hard time getting anything done. At one point, I sat down and told him, “I’ll [...]
Every year, the week before Thanksgiving, I block out some time to get quiet and make a list of all the things I'm thankful for. The challenge is to fill one piece of paper with 100 things that I am grateful for in my life - the things that fill my plate! I created an [...]
Looking for the perfect leadership, business, or personal development book to give as a gift this season? A gift for someone else, or something for yourself? Someone asked me the other day about my favorite books and a suggestion they could pick up for a friend this Christmas. The question got my wheels turning. Of [...]
It's that time of year when gratitude takes center stage for one brief day… where we stop everything in the middle of life's busyness to reflect, enjoy family and friends, and name what we're grateful for. For one Thursday each year in America, we sit together with family and friends to embrace gratitude. Then, on [...]
With a lot of things on my plate, I have had to become efficient – as in, I try hard not to waste a minute. Running a business, writing this blog, recording podcasts, showing up as a husband and a dad, leading a group of men in a Bible study, and being there for my [...]
On the Grit Meets Growth podcast that I share with Chris Cathers, these are common themes. Show up, do the work, and get uncomfortable. Achieving success in anything, personally and professionally, is a combination of these three disciplines. You need to be present. You need to put in the effort. You need to make room [...]
Do you have a circle of 2:00 AM friends? The ones that you could call if you were in a jam in the middle of the night? The ones that would crawl out of bed amid the darkness to come help you? The kind that would tear a hole in a roof for you? I'm [...]
In my life, there are certain things that I call my absolutes – some simple laws for living that I will not break, regardless of circumstances. They are my all-in, 100% of the time, “I will not waver in this area” rules. As the dictionary defines an absolute, it is something that is not dependent [...]
I've heard it said that the word "I" is the most commonly used in the English language. Diving in to try and fact-check this statement, I found that "I" may not be THE most used word – but it certainly ranked toward the top of the list in all the research I found. The fact [...]
It can be really easy in life to spend time looking backward, ruminating on what has already passed. That word, “ruminate,” is interesting. There are two meanings for it. First, it means to go over in the mind repeatedly, and often casually or slowly. Second, it speaks to how a cow eats. Simply put, they [...]
