Everyday Excellence

Bryant July 31st, 2008

One of the things that stood out to me when I first read Covey’s First Things First was the need to have balance in your life. His description of the compass and setting goals in each part of your life was revolutionary to me.

At the time, I was so focused on work that I was neglecting many other parts of my life. I loved the idea of setting goals and always applied that to work, but until then had never thought of applying goals to my personal life as well.

Part of the recommendations from the book were to set goals for making a contribution to the world. He emphasized that in life we should strive “To live, To love, To learn, To leave a legacy”. Giving back was one way that we could leave a legacy. That also jived with my Christian background which emphasized helping others and that there was more than just living for yourself.

I love building software systems for my day job, but it always felt that at the end of the day, I was really just working to make corporations more profitable. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but in my free time I wanted to try and give back in some way.

I’d long been fascinated by people that spent their lives contributing to others like:

• Albert Schweitzer: Schweitzer spent his early years learning to play the piano then touring the world as a famous concert pianist. At the age of 30, he decided that he wanted to give back so he left it all and went back to school to become a doctor to the poor in Africa.

• Paul Farmer: Farmer was a Harvard trained physician who spent his time walking from village to village in Haiti to give medical care to those who can’t afford it. His amazing story is chronicled in Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder.

• Greg Mortenson: Mortenson was a failed mountain climber who decided to build a school for a small mountain village in Pakistan that had no school building. He went to build schools all over Pakistan and Afghanistan making a real difference in the people’s lives. His story is chronicled in Three Cups of Tea.

As amazing as these stories are, they are also intimidating because you wonder how you could do anything close to what these folks have. But I think the key with all journeys is to start somewhere, and grow it from there.

I’ve tried to start with a few simple things:

• Cub Scout Leadership: Wes had recently started cub scouts and I was really impressed by the vision that it had for helping shape young boys into men. When the Committee Chair for our pack had to step down, I was glad to step up and help out in that role.
• World Vision Sponsorship: We have sponsored two kids through World Vision for many years and it seems like a simple way to make a difference in a poor child’s life.
• Church Volunteer Opportunities: We are lucky to be part of thriving church that has multiple volunteer opportunities to serve the community. Every other month our church sends a group to prepare breakfast for around 200 homeless people living at Hessed House in Aurora. It’s a great way to tangibly help those around you and a real eye-opener to see what it means to be truly homeless.

All of this is not much, but at least it’s a start.  I’d love to hear how others are working to make a difference in their world.

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.
— Mother Theresa

Tags: Contribution, Volunteer

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Bryant July 28th, 2008

When Rick was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, no one thought he had a chance. The doctors told his parents that he should be institutionalized because he would be a vegetable for his entire life.

Rick’s parents would not accept that and chose to take him home to raise him as normally as possible. That simple courageous decision in the face of all the experts has led to one of the most compelling stories in long distance running….Dick & Rick Hoyt.

Together with Dick pushing Rick’s wheelchair they have completed 224 Triathlons (including 5 Iron Mans), 65 Marathons (including 25 Bostons) with a personal best marathon time of 2:40:47!!! (For any non-runners reading this that’s like Kenyan fast — think 6 minute miles).

They are an inspiration to millions of runners and parents. Anytime I struggle with a run, I think of their story and that if Dick can do it while pushing his son in a wheelchair than I can darn-well do it on my own.

The message on their website is “Yes, you can!“, but if I had to summarize how they turned defeat into victory, I would offer the following:

• Never Give Up: It would have been so easy for Dick to give up on his son, but he wouldn’t let the doctors or the world get him down.
• Dream Big: Dick could’ve settled for a simple life for his son or just running one race. Instead he went for the toughest races (Boston and the IronMan).
• Prove the Experts Wrong: So many times in life, experts will tell you that something can’t be done. Dick & Rick’s story shows that given enough willpower anything is possible.

They’ve overcome every other hurdle, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Rick is able to make his biggest dream come true someday:

The thing I’d most like, is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.

Check out the moving video below to see them in action:

Tags: Hoyt, Life, Victory

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Bryant July 27th, 2008

A young comedian once asked Jerry Seinfeld to share his secret to being so successful. Seinfeld explained that a comedian is successful because he has funny jokes, and the key to having funny jokes is to work on them as much as possible.

To enforce this habit, Seinfeld set up a big calendar on the wall in his house. Each day that he wrote or worked on jokes, he would mark a big X. Any day that he did not would remain blank. So, when he was regularly writing jokes it would form a chain of X’s across the days. The trick, he explained to the young comedian, was “Don’t Break the Chain!!!!”

After hearing about “Don’t Break the Chain”, I wrote in my journal something like “try to run, write, read or code every day”. Because those are things I enjoy and want to improve on. It’s been a really effective technique and it’s one of the reasons I’ve been blogging so much (which may be good or bad depending on your perspective ).

I didn’t know that the productivity gurus had picked up on this idea and given it a cool name until I was recently reading A Year of Change by Peter Clemens and he mentioned the “Every Day Mindset”:

What is this mindset? Put simply, it is a mindset that remembers that this day you are currently living will only ever happen once, and it therefore encourages you to make the most of it.

He expanded on Seinfeld’s basic calendar with X’s and outlined it this way:

• Enjoy Each Day: Don’t get so obsessed with time management or end goals that you don’t make sure and enjoy each day.
• Take Small Steps: Try to improve by 1% each day.
• Make Your Habits Daily: If you only do something 3 or 4 times a week, it’s easy to skip it, but daily habits (like brushing teeth) stay with you.

I agree with the majority of his points, and the fact that time is our most limited resource — I don’t want to waste a single day.

Sunday, July 27th 2008 will never happen again. Make sure you don’t break the chain!!!

If I miss one day of practice, I notice it. If I miss two days, the critics notice it. If I miss three days, the audience notices it.

-Ignacy (Jan) Paderewski, Polish Pianist & Composer

Tags: Every Day Mentality, Productivity, Seinfeld, Success

• Productivity
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Bryant July 25th, 2008

A friend of mine was recently diagnosed with stage three colon cancer. He literally called me up out of the blue and said “Bryant, it’s been great knowing you. I’m not going to be around much longer, but I just wanted to let you know that I’ve enjoyed playing tennis with you and I’ve lived a good life.” and that was it. I was stunned given that he was so healthy and relatively young. To put it in perspective, we played tennis regularly and he would run me around the court even though I’m more than ten years younger.

I had no idea what to say in response except that I’d be praying for him and his family. I thought he showed great courage in the face of tragedy. While trying to make sense of it, I began to google cancer stories and stumbled on Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture. If you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favor and take the time to watch his Last Lecture:

When I first saw it, I was blown away! Here was a man that would obviously soon die, yet was still living life with such enthusiasm. In fact, this dying man seemed to be more fully living than most people who are 100% healthy.

His lecture was filled with insight and all about how to “Really Achieve Your Childhood Dreams” and live fully with cancer. He talked about the specific dreams he had as a kid and then he discusses, one by one, how he has achieved them (except becoming an NFL star ). Along the way he ran into walls, and the moral of the lecture was that you need to be persistent to get around these walls and achieve your dreams. He says during the lecture:

The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.

Best of all, he wasn’t going to go gently into that dark night. He was going to go out swinging! In fact, he started the lecture by doing one-armed push-ups!

Sadly, all good stories have to come to an end and today he passed away.Yet another one dying young due to cancer, but (if it’s any consolation) at least he left his last lecture for us to enjoy and to teach us how to die.

When my time comes, I only hope that I can go out as fiercely roaring.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
-Dylan Thomas

Tags: Cancer, Death, Inspiration

• Life
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Bryant July 24th, 2008

Recently John McCain was quoted as saying:

I count myself as a conservative Republican, yet I view it to a large degree in the Theodore Roosevelt mold

So, now some fine media outlets are starting to make the comparison between John McCain and TR. McCain is basically making the case that he’s a conservative, but he believes in an active government to take on climate change as well as a strong foreign policy.

From a policy perspective, there are similarities. Like McCain TR also firmly believed in a strong foreign policy, and many saw him as the driving force behind the Spanish-American war. Some even took it further and called him a warmonger.

TR was also known for protecting the environment. As President, he set aside large swaths of land in Wyoming that eventually became Yellowstone National Park. When we took a family road trip to Yellowstone last summer, we saw the Roosevelt Arch at the north entrance which reads “For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People”.

But there is one important thing that McCain could learn from TR….ENTHUSIASM!

TR virtually oozed enthusiasm from every pore! He couldn’t give a speech without firing up the crowd and snapping his teeth at every word. Any guy who hunts bears, boxes in the white houses, gives speeches after getting shot, and runs around the Lincoln monument at midnight while packing heat has got a lot of enthusiasm for life.

While John McCain on the other hand, can’t seem to get through a speech without putting people to sleep. You know it’s a bad sign when Stephen Colbert has a regular segment on his show called “Make McCain Exciting” where viewers can take video of McCain in front of a green screen and splice in something to make him more interesting.

So McCain, if you’re reading my Everyday Excellence blog, you’ve got some great policy ideas but let’s follow the TR model all the way through and step up the enthusiasm. I hear TR drank 3 pots of coffee a day. That might be worth a try…

Tags: Enthusiasm, News, President

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