Category: Living Well

Mind/Body Balance In Career

Published on March 18, 2024

One of the things I like most about my career is the mind/body balance.

When I first started teaching martial arts, I was in the trenches. It was and still is quite physically demanding. And it keeps me accountable to myself because I have to lead by example and be the byproduct that I want my students to strive for.

As I evolved over the years, I started building skills that could be used to solve other problems in the organization I worked for and I started taking on more mentally challenging tasks. Things like marketing, curriculum development, class planning, systems management, website design, event planning, and so on.

…Until eventually, my day-to-day work was split pretty nicely down the middle with 50%-ish of my day focused on mental tasks and the other 50%-ish focused on physical ones.

Which, quite appropriately, is something martial arts aims to teach its practitioners to seek in everyday life. You never want to be doing mind-only work for the entire day and you also don’t want to only be doing physically taxing work that completely disregards the growth of the mind.

In everything you do, think about how you can develop skills in a complementary way in the complementary mind/body realm.

Some examples:

Real Estate Agent? Mostly mental work. Build physically focused handyman skills.
Construction Worker? Mostly physical work. Build marketing skills to challenge the mind.
Financial Advisor? Mostly mental work. Build health/fitness skills to become a more multi-dimensional (life) advisor.
Professional Athlete? Mostly physical work. Build pedagogy skills to optimally share gifts.
Social Media Marketer? Mostly mental work. Create and run a meditation group to physically balance the mentally taxing media effects.

The Time It Takes To Make A Difference

Published on March 16, 2024

I saw a stranger smile the other day and it inspired me to write a poem.

…If this is the impact a stranger could have on me… after .5 seconds… just think about the impact you can have on the lives of those around you after:

5 minutes of careful listening.
5 hours of cumulative, constructive conversation.
5 days of warmth and welcoming to those nervous or shy about starting a brand new journey.
5 weeks of accountability as some folks fight to turn task into habit.
5 months of consistently great interactions that always result in smiles and growth.
5 years of all of it. Careful listening, much needed pep-talks (both given and received), warmth, sweat, smiles, laughs, blood, bruises, tears, pain, joy, excitement, disappointment, determination, grit, perseverance, connection, tension, relaxation, moments of unity, moments of training alone, victory, defeat, lessons, support, accountability, community…

We all spend so much more than .5 seconds with the people around us—exponentially more.

…And yet, all it takes is .5 seconds to make a difference.

The question I pass off to you is: what difference will you make on others with the time they spend with you?

How To Make A Pond Ripple

Published on March 15, 2024

Pre.S. The following is an elaboration of this post from June 2021.

Where’s the best place to make a pond ripple?

At the pond’s front? To where it’s deepest? Dead in the middle?

Here’s what I think: …There isn’t one.

The ripples from a stone dropped into a pond will ripple outwards regardless of where the stone hits the water. It’s the nature of the water to ripple when the action of the stone hits it.

Now I ask you this: where’s the best place to make a difference in the world?

Answer: there isn’t one.

Right where you are is as good as any.

What you have right where you are—is a pond. One that ripples just as any other pond ripples.

And what each of you reading this have right now—are stones in your hands… or ideas in your head if you want to break from the metaphorical.

And what so many of us do with our stones is… wait.

…Wait until we get to a different or bigger pond… wait until we get a perfectly shaped rock… wait until we time our circumstances or the weather out just right…

And so many of our stones just get left unthrown… stacked in our head… collecting dust… just waiting for the moment when we’ll finally utilize them.

…And we’re not talking about a handful of stones. We’re talking about the equivalent of an ocean’s worth of stones just washing up and down the floor of our mind.

Stones that could cause ripples of kindness, ripples of growth, ripples of hope, ripples of generosity, ripples of strength… if we just trusted ourselves enough to (finally) let them free.

Misfit Inspiration

Published on March 14, 2024

When I finally agreed to play basketball with a new group of guys—I was nervous.

I hadn’t ever played basketball on a team and had no formal training or experience. I rarely watched games or any kind of tutorial video.

All I had was what I learned playing pick-up ball in driveways and parks at various times throughout my life and a pretty solid fitness baseline.

What I saw when I first showed up was a group of guys who were organized and experienced. They were calling picks and plays and communicating things that sounded like a different language to me—and they were all good.

But, of everybody on the court playing, one guy stood out to me.

He was shorter, didn’t have the cleanest technique, and wasn’t the most talented—but he played like he belonged. And later, I came to find out he was one of the group organizers who had been playing for years and years with this squad.

Of everybody on that court, he was the one who inspired me the most. Not the most skilled player; not the best shooter; and not the player who could dunk—but, the player who I could relate to the most.

This was a really important lesson for me. You don’t have to be the best in the game to inspire and you don’t have to be the most talented to play. And even if you don’t look the part—it’s acting the part that makes all the difference.

So to the people out there who are doing things despite mismatching societal norms—thank you. Y’all are far more inspiring than you might ever know.

Dude Smiling [Poem]

Published on March 12, 2024

I saw a stranger walking today
Happy as could be
No company
No AirPods
No screens
Just walking rocking that kind of smile
That makes you turn to philosophy

I stopped at a red light
And thought about what it could possibly be
I know I’m not supposed to
But you know what always helps me?
Writing thinking down
Seeing sparked synapsis—bodily electricity
Decoded into text—something black and white
Or 1’s and 0’s if typed into a machine

Could it be excitement?
Could it be love?
Could it be a happenstance memory?
…Now I’m wondering what that smile meant to me.
When’s the last time I rocked a smile like that?
When’s the last time I overflowed
With excitement, love, or a piece of happy history?

Dude’s got me firing, decoding, creating…
And he didn’t even see me
Don’t ever tell me
You don’t matter
You’re unworthy
That you don’t make a difference to us—to me
When a smile from a stranger
Seen for .5 seconds approximately
Can spark electricity into a poem

One that became a gift for you—from me

P.s. You can read my other poems here.

Meaning via Excited-Mixed-With-Nervous

Published on March 11, 2024

Somebody was sharing today how they were feeling about becoming a parent via adoption.

The synopsis was excited at the prospect, but nervous at the thought of messing it up.

And what occurred to me was how great of a guide that excited/nervous mix is for uncovering meaning in life.

Excited alone isn’t as accurate because it could come from something inconsequential or that’s well within your comfort zone like playing a video game, shopping a sale, or going to bed early.

Nervous alone isn’t as accurate either because it could come from self-sabotaging thoughts or something too far outside of your comfort zone that makes you not do anything at all.

But, the things that you’re excited-mixed-with-nervous about? Those are the things that indicate you’re heading outside of your comfort zone (nervous) in a way that deep down you know you can handle (excited).

When I think about the things that have provided the most meaning for me in my life, this excited/nervous mix was almost always present.

…I think about times when I spoke publicly, taught classes, published vulnerable pieces of work, asked and went out on dates, performed in martial arts competitions, rose into new leadership positions, navigated important/tough conversation landscapes, stood up for what I believed in, started a new business venture and so on.

…Think about the most meaningful moments in your life and I bet you’ll see a similar pattern.

And if you do, remember this moving forward. Excited-only could mean well within your comfort zone. Nervous-only could mean too far outside of it. But, that excited/nervous mix could indicate that you’re on a path that’s just right and you should lean in.

Doing Business Minus Business

Published on March 5, 2024

Dear busy person,

For the love of whatever you believe in, please drop your modern day desire to make pooping productive. You don’t need to read emails. You don’t need to engage with a certain number of social posts. You don’t need to write up replies, brainstorm ideas, or review your schedules/ to-do lists. You don’t need to do anything—except your business. And you know what business I mean… I want you to do your business minus any trace or thought of work related business. If there’s any time in your day that you should keep sacred and to yourself… that should be right at the top. The business of every day life is already hectic, busy, and nonstop enough as is—no need to exacerbate it. Give yourself pockets of grace. Give yourself time to unwind. Give yourself some space to pause. The rest of your day will be better because of it.

~ Your Inner Work Person

P.s. You can read my other letters to you, here.