We were on the hunt for a souvenir.

An ornament for our Christmas tree, actually.

On a recent journey, a gift shop had a plaque with an inspirational phrase:

Never leave the house without:

a KISS, a HUG, and a NICE WORD

They sound to me like words to live by!

And they don't cost a thing!

These actions might not occur every time I or others leave the house.

When they do occur, it creates or adds to the foundation and feels powerful.

People also feel respected, valued, and loved.

Let's produce more of that.

Create your life.

🍨

Do you enjoy the movie The Shawshank Redemption?

There are some movies that whenever they show up when scrolling through the channels, I always stop and watch. The Shawshank Redemption is one of those for me and one of my personal favorite movies - ever. The film contains memorable lines and serves as a spectacular story about the power of friendship and even the importance of integrity, resilience, and hope.

If you have not seen it, I recommend adding to your watch list. 👍

One of my favorite lines from the movie is, "get busy living or get busy dying."

💡

I see this as a call to action, to actively embrace life with purpose and intention, rather than passively going through the motions or avoiding growth.

It means making deliberate choices that align with my values and goals and seizing opportunities for fulfillment and growth.

This applies to the day-to-day as well as the long-term.

It especially applies today on #WorldValuesDay (Thursday, 17th October 2024).

I yearn for all of us to get busy living, to put our values into action.

My top values include family, health, connection, integrity, and kindness.

What choices or actions align with my values?

👉 Investing in meaningful relationships by connecting with friends regularly and being present with family

👉 Prioritizing my health by committing to a regular fitness routine, eating a healthy diet, and dedicating time to mental well-being

👉 Deciding to shift my career path to align with my true interests, even though it feels risky and uncomfortable

👉 Pursuing a hobby (see my Thought from last Thursday) that brings me fun and joy

What are your top values?

What choices do you make that align with your values?

My invitation to you is to get busy living.

Choose to embody a proactive, intentional approach to living.

Create your life.

🍨

My hobbies include an interest in the "world's most social beverage."

Beer!

🍺

I get to make beer and I also get to serve as a judge of the beer that others make.

Great hobbies, these activities related to a beverage containing (mostly) four simple ingredients: barley, hops, water, and yeast.

Last weekend, I participated as a beer judge in a local homebrew competition.

I got to spend the day doing something completely different from the rest of the week (and most other days of the year, too).

I also got to meet some judges and reconnect with other judges who I only see while judging at competitions. It's a community.

What hobby have you enjoyed recently?

Was it sport related? Gardening? Crafting? Reading? Writing?

Having a hobby can enrich both your personal and professional life, and enhance your creativity, resilience, and overall well-being.

Hobbies might provide a break from the daily grind and allow you to decompress and reduce stress, perhaps giving your mind a chance to rest and recharge.

Many hobbies also offer opportunities to meet new people and build social connections, which can foster a sense of community and support for similar interests.

👍

I look forward to playing "paddle" or platform tennis soon.

What hobby will you enjoy next?

Create your life.

🍨

Sometimes we get to let love in.

I wrote last week about taking a chance to reach out to others.

The flow can go in both directions. We also get to experience others reaching out to us.

When we celebrate special events in our lives, like a birthday, we get to feel the love from others.

We get to soak it up.

We get to relish the enthusiasm that other people have for us.

It can be hard to sit with the admiration.

When we do, it can warm our soul.

We get to appreciate the kind regard and care directed our way.

With big open arms, decide to let love in.

Create your life.

🍨

I took a chance.

As I was leaving the stadium after a football game at my alma mater (#GoIrish), I saw a man that reminded me of a college professor from undergrad. That was more than three, ahem, decades ago.

I decided to approach him and ask if he was who I thought.

My intuition was correct!

I found out that he only recently retired (2019) after 50-ish years in the classroom. Wowza!

As one of hundreds (thousands?) of students in his past, I did not expect him to remember me (he didn't).

However, as we strolled down memory lane together, he did recall some of the then-groundbreaking things he was teaching - spreadsheets!

As a marketing professor, he recalled the accounting profs asking him what he was teaching because they had not yet begun using the tool in their classes.

He recalled the project we helped him build, including writing macros to help create and automate what we were building.

He took great pride in knowing that I started my career using the knowledge I learned in his classes.

He also took pride in knowing that his project laid a foundation for a lot more technology and software development work throughout my career.

He was blown away that I remembered him.

My intuition said that I probably made his day (my wife said the same thing).

My takeaway from this encounter is to reach out to others.

Take a chance at being wrong.

More important, take a chance getting it right.

Say "hello" and share why you remember them.

Share a little about their significance in your life.

You never know the impact you might have on them when you reach out and share their impact on you, whether it was decades ago or just yesterday.

Create your life.

🍨

A smile. 🙂

We recently spent two-ish weeks traveling outside the United States (across Europe, in fact).

Everywhere we went, one thing consistently presented itself.

Yup. A smile.

🙂

The consistency served as a reminder and reassurance that smiles are universal.

No matter what sounds might get uttered from mouths, we all understand when lips curve upward, teeth become visible, and eyes crinkle.

👍

I challenge you, wherever you find yourself today, share a smile.

Be sure to include the person in the mirror. (Maybe especially that person!)

Sharing a smile does your heart good.

It might brighten someone's else's day, too.

Demonstrate a universal symbol that is warm, bright, uplifting, and contagious.

Choose to smile. 🙂

Create your life.

🍨

It's that time of year.

Many of our kiddos are getting ready to begin a new school year.

We're dropping off our daughter for her second year of college.

There is anticipation and hopefulness as the new school year kicks into gear.

There are good-byes and there are hellos.

There are plenty of "great to see you again!" and "how was your summer?"

I don't recall much about my college drop offs and wonder what my daughter might remember about hers.

I also wonder what my wife and I will remember since our perspective differs as parents.

We're hopeful that our daughter will continue to enjoy her experience. There is excitement for what's to come and an eagerness to create memories.

Our hopefulness comes from having gone through this ourselves, part of our life already experienced. We know what may lie ahead.

Hope is powerful.

Create your life.

🍨

As I get older, things change.

Like my ability to accept things as being good enough.

As a recovering perfectionist, I have often sought flawlessness.

I still seek that elusively high bar from time to time. It's a mighty hard thing to unlearn.

I recently needed to redo the shower caulking in our basement bathroom.

For all intents and purposes, it got ignored until it needed attention (yeah, I like to procrastinate, too). And then it needed attention quickly.

My tendency would have been to do it "right" by cleaning the shower first, removing the old caulking, and then applying a nice new bead of fresh caulk.

Well, I chose to let go of the need to be perfect.

I chose not to clean the area first and I also chose to not remove the old caulk (not entirely).

This was not going to be perfect. Far from it.

It WAS going to be good enough.

👍

I find letting go ends up being less stressful which means more enjoyable. It's not always less stressful in the moment. For me in this caulking situation, the stress was high and only decreased over time after making my choice. It definitely took a little while for me to fully accept good enough as good enough.

When might you benefit from letting go and letting something be good enough?

Create your life.

🍨

What can we learn from the Olympics about chasing and realizing dreams?

Over the previous two-ish weeks, I found myself captivated by this once-every-four-year sporting event spectacular.

I marvel at the speed, power, precision, and creativity that the athletes display.

Stories abound about these athletes from all parts of the world who wait four years for their chance.

They all have the dream to compete against the world's best.

They train and train and train some more.

They do what they need to do in order to be the Olympian of their dreams.

👣

I am no Olympian. I do have dreams. I dream of being a great husband and father, of being a great colleague and friend, of helping others grow. I dream of being someone who makes a difference in our world.

Who do you want to be? What is your dream?

The blessing of our human condition is that we get to decide. You get to decide.

You get to decide who you want to become.

Like the Olympians pursuing their dreams, we must also take action to realize our dreams. We must take small steps.

Who will you be?

What is it that you need to do in order to be that person?

Make that choice.

Create your life.

🍨

Have you been able to get away this summer?

I find a lot of benefit from short getaways to destinations not very far away for 1-4 days.

The last four weekends provided those opportunities, starting with a day trip to a music festival in Wisconsin over the 4th of July weekend (1.5 hour drive).

The next weekend included a one-night stay near Michigan City with a day spent relaxing on the beach (1.5 hour drive).

Next, we took a road trip to rural Northwest Wisconsin for family time with my father and siblings and their families (7-ish hour drive).

To wrap up the four-week stretch, we enjoyed an extended weekend back in Michigan City with a couple of days to further enjoy the water and sands of Lake Michigan (1.5 hour drive) and watch some Olympic Games coverage on the tele.

We did not have to go very far for most of these getaways (okay, 6-7 hours driving is not exactly nearby).

We did not go for very long (I'll admit that 4 days and 5 nights is on the longer side of "short").

The real value did not come from the distance or length.

We did slow down.

We did relax.

That's where I appreciate the real value.

I believe short getaways can help slow down the pace of life, for whatever period of time is available.

Create your (slower) life.

🍨

Sucking on a lemon drop is a metaphor for life sometimes. 🍋

It begins with a sharp, tangy burst of lemon flavor followed quickly by an intense sourness that makes your mouth pucker, your taste buds salivate, and your face scrunch up.

As you continue to suck on the candy, the sourness gradually mellows out, transitioning to a subtle sweetness.

Eventually, the sweetness becomes more prominent, with just a hint of lemony zest lingering.

If we can make it through the initial sourness, the sweetness will arrive.

It might take a little time. And patience.

Create your life.

🍨

P.S. If you receive my Thursday Thoughts via email, you might get last week's along with this week. My automation failed last week.

During the last several years, I have become a believer that most things happen for a reason. There are few coincidences in life. Why did I go back to check the track team tent several years ago when a storm was coming? Why did I change from my last employer? Why did I stay up waaaay late into the morning preparing for webinars? Why did I get removed from my last client project?

Whether it's choosing a particular job, school, or friends, these choices are what we're supposed to do, where we're supposed to be.

What have you come to believe in your life? What choices did you make that may have appeared inconsequential at the time that you later realized were what you were supposed to do or where you were supposed to be?

The reason may not always be clear. The reason often takes time to fully evolve. As hard as it might be, know that God has a reason and trust his plan.

Create your life.

🍨

"How are you?"

This widespread question might elicit all sorts of responses. For me, I generally reply with "No complaints."

And immediately follow with, "It doesn't do any good anyway."

Which often provokes a smirk or knowing chuckle.

How often do we find ourselves grumbling about one thing or another?

What good comes from the complaining? What anguish, misery, or stress ensues?

🤔

I decided a few years ago to complain less. I do still express my dissatisfaction or annoyance with things. That's part of my human condition (I'm not perfect).

I do feel better mentally for letting go of complaints. It yields a lighter, less stressful load to carry.

I also notice that I engage with my world a little differently. I look at what I "get to" do rather than "have to" do. I choose to instead focus on what I want and can control. I choose to create *that* as an alternative to grumbling and bemoaning things happening "to" me. I try to express more gratitude.

We all have the ability to make the choice to complain less and choose more positive ways to engage with our world.

What would your life look like if you adopted a "no complaints" principle?

What if you let go? What if you focused on solutions? What if you focused on gratitude?

Stay positive. 🙌

Create your life.

🍨

They say it's your birthday.

We're gonna have a good time.

I'm glad it's your birthday.

Happy birthday to you.

These are some of the lyrics from The Beatles' Birthday song.

In the U.S., we celebrate our country's "birthday" on July 4th each year, the day it declared independence in 1776.

Lots of fireworks will light up the night skies these days before and after U.S. Independence Day.

Perhaps just as many backyard barbecues will heat up and people will gather.

We're blessed to enjoy freedoms not available everywhere nor for everyone.

I do not take our freedoms for granted and have extreme gratitude for those who fight for and protect our freedoms.

As a U.S. citizen, I feel fortunate to celebrate.

I plan to enjoy time with family and friends, at a backyard barbecue. I will also take in a fireworks display (or two). At some point, I will call my sister (it's her birthday, too, yeah!). 🎉

Create your life.

🎆

Are you familiar with the comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes?

I recently came across a quote attributed to Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes:

"If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I bet they would live a lot differently."

Wow, does that resonate with me! (Almost as much as Calvin and his friend Hobbes. Almost.)

What comes up for you when seeing this quote?

For me, looking at the stars makes me feel small in the grand scheme of things and it encourages me to reflect on my life and priorities. This reflection inspires a greater awareness of what's truly important.

I find stargazing a rather peaceful activity, almost meditative in nature, and something that reminds me to slow down and seek out more balance in life.

I also attain a sense of connection to something larger than myself. A connection that activates more compassion and community-oriented thinking.

Hmmm, staring at the night sky might lead to living a more meaningful, mindful, and connected life.

Makes me want to start looking upward every night, they way Bill contemplated and his endearing characters were fond of doing.

Create your life.

🍨