We Are Called To Be Bold

If you're ever feeling stuck, refer to your owner's manual.  I'm talking about the Bible.  This is your best source for all your troubles.  One of the most important topics covered is fear.  Joshua 1:9 is the best way I know how to deal with it.  It's a reminder... we are called to be bold.

Do something bold today.  Don't wait.  Go for it.  Have a great day.

My Favorite Morning Habit

I have a set of morning rituals to keep me on track with my long-term goals...write a blog message every day, do 100 stomach crunches and 50 pushups.  Make a morning smoothie.  Floss.  Wake up on the first alarm.  Sleep for 8 hours.  There's a new habit I started a couple of months ago that is now my personal favorite – read a minimum of ten pages a day from something that will motivate me to go in a positive direction with my life.  This is not only fun, but it's also helping me to be a better person.  On busy days like today, I would probably skip this habit if I hadn't made the commitment to never skip no matter how busy I may be.

If I could only make one recommendation to you to improve your life, this would be the habit I suggest you incorporate.  Challenge yourself to improve.  Have a great day.

Lessons in Patience

Do you remember waiting for Christmas to get here or summer vacation?  That wait seemed so long.  Christmas was over in a flash.  So was the summer vacation.  But the wait seemed to be a lifetime.  I'm in a waiting mode now.  It's super challenging to have to wait for a response to my request for permission to place Wilson's image on the front cover of a book I'm writing.  There isn't much I can do right now except work on my patience.  I promise to share the outcome with you once I get my reply.  Have a great day.

The Small Daily Choices Add Up to Big Results

There's a reason these stories may look like a broken record – big results come from small daily choices repeated over and over and over.  There's nothing earth-shattering here.  It's not about hitting the lottery or doing one big thing to put you over the top.  It's the boring stuff.  Broken records replaying the same song lead to an extraordinary life.

Try something just for today and see if you can discover a better way to live your life.  Concentrate on every single choice you make today.  When you make that choice, ask yourself, "is this the best decision based on all the information I have in front of me?"  Keep asking all day long.  When the day is over, review what you did differently and ask yourself, "did this help me make better choices?"  If the answer is yes, repeat this tomorrow.  And the next day.  And the next.  Play the broken record.  Don't ever stop.  I promise you will see big results.  This works.  Have a great day.

Another Experiment Tonight

In my opinion, life is a series of experiments.  I've been experimenting with food.  I've been experimenting with exercise routines.  Tonight I'm experimenting with something that may appear as insignificant to the outside world unless you happen to be one of my tennis teammates.  I'm trying a thinner string (17 gauge for those of you who want to know the details).  The idea behind "thin" is to gain more control and spin.  I restrung two racquets at the 17 gauge and will compare them to my old 16 gauge to see if there is a noticeable improvement.  I'm becoming a believer in the "slight edge" idea – life comes down to a series of little things you do to gain a slight edge in overall performance.  On the tennis court, sometimes the difference between success and failure is one or two shots.

Is there an area of your life that could benefit from an experiment?  Imagine what you can accomplish by using the trial and error method to find better ways to manage your daily routine.  I'm a big believer in doubling my failure rate, something that happens when you decide to try new things.  At least for tonight, I'm going with "thin to win."  Have a great day.

More Evidence God is in Charge

Caution... God moment ahead.  If you're not a believer and you don't want to read anything that might sway you to the other side, you may want to skip this story.  It's packed full of "Godincidences – those strange coincidences that happen so often I believe they can only be attributed to a Supreme Being who is guiding the universe.  I need to rewind to yesterday morning to set the stage.

It all started with a prayer on the 12th floor of Stead Family University of Iowa Children's hospital where I was in the morning with Wilson.  This is the place where the sick kids go to watch the University of Iowa Hawkeyes play football.  The kids have this awesome view overlooking the stadium.  Imagine, you're undergoing treatment and suddenly you get a break from all the procedures to watch your local team.  At the end of the 1st quarter, everyone in the stadium (even the opponents), 70,000 strong, pause and wave at you.  How cool is that?  Well, I sat alone in the prayer/meditation room on the 12th floor and prayed for doors to open for my book projects.  Nothing really happened except I got this sense of peace while I sat with my eyes closed.  God responded but it was one of those "wait for it" moments that was kind of a delayed reaction to my prayers.

My boss sent me a text message on my way out of the hospital that there was a reimbursement check waiting for me so I changed my route home to make a pit stop at my day job.  That's when the magic happened.  I noticed this Herky outside of a building that I'd never noticed before.  The sunlight was shining at just the right angle to make it stand out as I passed by.  I made a quick turn to circle back and get a picture with Wilson.  From the road, this Herky appeared like a knight in shining armor.  He turned out to be just that... my own personal knight in shining armor.  I decided to walk into the building to take a short cut to the silver Herky when I bumped into two men who were seated in the hallway.  One of the men stood up to greet me and I said, "Hello, Mark.  How are you?"  He got this puzzled look on his face and immediately tried to figure out who I was.  I was wearing my Shaquille O'Neal sunglasses so that added to the mystery.  He was stumped when I said, "Mark, I noticed your name tag."  I told him I was a Christian writer.  He stunned me when he said, "so am I."  He walked into the office and pulled out a copy of his book, "The Way of Nile C. Kinnick, Jr."

Here's the crazy part of the story – Mark and his partner, Bob Stein (also a writer), have been volunteering together as ambassadors at this building for over twenty years.  They only work once a week – Monday, for 2 hours.  I arrived at the precise time I needed to be there in order to meet these guys and chat with them.  They told me I was the most interesting person they had ever met at their building, the University of Iowa Roy G Karro Athletic Hall of Fame.  Our conversation ended at 1:00 when their volunteer shift was over.  We shook hands and I went outside to get the photo of Wilson and the silver Herky.  The picture you see above is definitely going in the book.  The photo you see below is of my new writing buddies.  Stop in and visit the next time you're around on a Monday between 11 and 1pm.

This is not the first time God has answered my prayers in a way so incredible that I find it impossible not to believe he exists.  These two guys I met yesterday are big league writer types.  This meeting was not random.  It's all part of God's plan.  Yes, there is much work ahead.  I'm all in.  I have all the evidence I need to be convinced God is in charge.  By the way, Mark's last name is WILSON!  Have a great day.

Time for Some Inspiration

Wilson and I have big plans today.  We're headed to Children's Hospital.  Nothing specific is on our agenda.  We will show up, snap some pictures and see what happens.  I'm still waiting to hear back from 20th Century Fox about permission to include Wilson in my book.  They say a picture is worth 1,000 words.  Perhaps the right shot today can be what influences the decision maker to say yes should I need to send another followup email.

One of the reporters covering the story of our grand opening in Indiana asked our warehouse manager what he expected when we rolled the doors for the first time and he replied, "organized chaos."  That answer can be applied to my own life.  I'm managing two book projects at the same time, preparing my body for our regional tennis tournament and incorporating some new routines into my daily agenda.

The day I got home from Indiana I stepped on a scale for the first time since late April and discovered my body accumulated an extra seven pounds.  My time away was probably like a caveman who killed a dinosaur and feasted on him every day until he returned to the tribe.  No more bone in rib-eye for me until my body returns to normal.  I'm back to my caveman food program and I'm already releasing a pound a day.  Today will be my first day returning to my caveman signature smoothie.  Yummy.  Have a great day.