“A rose started off a bud, a bird started off an egg, and a forest started off a seed.”
― Matshona Dhliwayo

Dell started in a dorm room. So did Facebook and Google. HP, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Disney were all operated out of garages at their early stages. Under Armour began its existence in a basement. Virgin Group and Epic Games started as basement operations too. The first Harley Davidson motorcycle was built in a shed.

Don’t let yourself be held back by embarrassment about your starting point. That’s just the beginning of your story. The most important part of your story is what you’re creating and the people you’re empowering. Keep going!

“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.”
― Albert Einstein

When I was a kid playing pick-up sports with my friends, it was always a big deal to get “picked” first. If you weren’t a team captain, you had to wait until one of the captains picked you. It was a decent system. Everybody got to be on a team, and the teams were balanced. But if you were picked first, then you knew that other kids respected your ability. It meant that members of the group valued you.

Sometimes, of course, a captain picked a close friend over a talented kid. Sometimes a captain just picked the tallest kid there (especially in basketball). It wasn’t a perfect system, but if you played hard and got better at the game, you might be the one picked first next time.

Waiting to get picked certainly exists outside of backyard sports. It’s only natural. We like the validation, and we get a euphoric feeling when we’re chosen. So, we wait, and we work a little, and we wait some more. But that problem doesn’t get solved because we weren’t picked to solve it. That book isn’t written, that app isn’t built, and that product isn’t sold because we didn’t get selected to do the job.

If you’re sitting around hoping someone will pick you, it’s probably going to be a long wait. But you don’t have to wait. You’re the captain of your own life, and you have all the tools you need. You don’t need permission. Go out and find an opportunity to contribute.

“The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul.”
— G.K. Chesterton

I don’t know what the year ahead will hold. I don’t know what lies ahead, but I know that I will attack the new year one day at a time. I know there will be good days and bad days, too. I know that I will have successes and failures, and I will learn from both. And I know that I will not be defeated. With gratitude, discipline, and hope, I will keep moving forward, and I know I will win!

Happy New Year, everyone!

May you be blessed with peace and joy this Christmas and always!

“A ship in a harbor is safe, but that’s not what a ship is built for.”
― Unknown

Everyone has a comfort zone. It’s a place where we feel safe. It’s a place where we are not stressed, not pressured, and not challenged. We like being in our comfort zone because it’s, well, comfortable.

There’s nothing wrong with having a comfort zone. The problem is when we live in our comfort zone. When we stay there, we stagnate. We stop growing, and in fact, we grow soft and weak.

On the other hand, when we make it a habit to leave our comfort zone, we become hardened by the pressure, strengthened by the stress, and toughened by the challenges.

“Communication works for those who work at it.”
— John Powell

Email is one of the most important communication tools we have in the modern world, but like any tool, you can misuse it if you’re not careful. Here are my suggestions for replying to emails.

1. Don’t just hit reply-all every time. Sometimes it is more appropriate to reply to the sender or a subset of the original group. Do everyone a favor and make sure you’re not wasting their time.

2. Double-check the subject. Is it still a valid subject line? Often, someone will “reply-all” to an old topic to capture the correct group of emails. If the subject isn’t useful, change it.

3. Write your reply in a separate editor. This way you don’t accidentally send it before you’re ready. You can copy-and-paste after you’re satisfied.

4. Check your spelling and grammar. If this message is really important, have someone else read it and give you feedback before you send it. At the very least, read it out loud to yourself.

“Don’t tell me how rocky the sea is, just bring the ship in.”
― Lou Holtz

No matter how well you prepared, no matter how hard you trained, sometimes the situation goes sideways. Don’t get me wrong. It’s your training and your preparation that can get you through those moments. You need those arrows in your quiver, but you also need to dig deep and find a way through the storm.

If we’re talking about big-picture success, there are times when you need to execute a strategic retreat. That’s usually when your preparation and training are clearly inadequate. In those cases, check your ego, cut your losses, step away, and get ready to come back better, stronger, and smarter.

On the other hand, there are times when the difference between winning and losing is your willingness to overcome obstacles. It’s your ability to find another level and rise to the occasion. Things didn’t go as expected? Oh, well. You fell down? Get back up. You’re scared? You’re overwhelmed? You’re uncomfortable? Push through anyway.

Sure, you can learn a lot from failure. But the one thing you don’t want to learn is that you’re not tough enough. You don’t want to find out that you lack the willpower to succeed when the situation gets difficult.

So don’t quit. Don’t give up and don’t give in. Let the pressure make you stronger and embrace the opportunity for greatness.

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”
― Cicero

Gratitude gives us a better perspective on life. If you’re thankful for every sunrise, then it’s hard to wake up on the wrong side of the bed. If you appreciate every meal, then it’s hard to complain about the dessert. If you’re grateful for every day with your spouse, then it’s impossible to stay angry after an argument.

If you want to live with gratitude, find the good in everything. That won’t be easy. After all, it’s easy to find problems, but it’s a lot harder to find good things. I easily complain when my glasses are dirty, but I struggle to remember the technological miracle that helps me see. I get frustrated when one of my kids starts whining about a nonsense problem, but it takes work to remember the joy I felt the day they were born.

What if I lose my job? Well, I have an opportunity to show my family how to overcome a challenge. What if I embarrass myself in public? I have a chance to laugh at myself. What if I screw up or I lose? At least my mistakes and weaknesses are easy to see. What if I have to start over? Then I can do it better this time.

An “attitude of gratitude” is not something mastered overnight. It takes practice and repetition. You must form a habit of gratitude. That said, you can start right now. It only takes a second. Find something to be thankful for right now. If you’re struggling with that task, imagine losing something important. Imagine losing your job or the death of a loved one. Then bring yourself back to reality and give thanks for what you still have. Now try this every morning and every evening. When that gets easy, try sprinkling in this exercise throughout the day. If you fail one day, start over the next day.

You’ll have good days and bad days, of course. But the more you appreciate both, the more you’ll improve yourself every day.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

Learning brings knowledge, but it doesn’t automatically bring success. If you want to be successful, you can’t be satisfied with merely knowing.

Don’t get me wrong. Learning is a necessary step towards any significant accomplishment, but it isn’t the goal. The goal should always be success, and if you want long term success, then you do need to build up a strong foundation of knowledge. But again, knowing isn’t the goal either.

If you want to be successful, you need to put your knowledge to work. Work hard, learn a lot, adapt based on your newfound knowledge, and repeat. That’s the formula for success.

“Being uncomfortable is a sign of success, NOT of failure!”
― Roz Savage

What if you mastered being uncomfortable? What if you could thrive working outside your comfort zone? What if pressure made you happy and stress increased your motivation?

Well, if you could do that, you’d become unstoppable. You’d be able to handle anything life throws at you. It wouldn’t magically make life easy, but it would make the hard stuff in life conquerable.

So how do you get to that level? Well, you need to do something that sucks every day. Does that sound like fun? If not, you’re a perfect candidate for getting started today.