On The Brink Of A New Year
All I know to say is that I’m excited about this year’s prospects. More than I have been for quite sometime. Of course there is plenty for me to worry about, if I choose to. But I don’t choose to. Why? For thousands of reasons I don’t need to list for the true optimists out […]
A Writer’s Mindset
1. Let curiosity lead you. 2. Give words room to play. 3. Spill lots of ink. 4. Don’t fret the messes. 5. Whistle while you work.
May Your Days Be Brighter
We have reached the Eve of one of the most emotional holidays of the year. Judging from all I witnessed being purchased at the supermarket yesterday, it appears that many will try to temper those emotions with short term solutions. The songs and carols sung in the background are an attempt to lift the spirits […]
Stinky Stuff
Everything in life, taken and stirred together, effects our future. Positivity alone will not feed a thriving and sustainable life. Salvaging our negative experiences is part of the whole. There are lessons there. Manure makes good fertilizer. The stinky stuff is as important as the perfume. Use it to grow your next dream.
Dragging The Best Forward
2022 is a wrap. What are your learning goals for 2023? Mine are characteristically too many, so I’m trimming them down to those I can commit to with genuine intent. I use questions like these to guide me. – What deep learning did I gain this year that I can drag into the new year […]
The Best Is At The Bottom
The best way to get to the top is to begin at the bottom, and stay there. Anyone who has ever reached the top of their game will tell you that it was the set of values they began with that got them there. So, staying at the bottom means that you never move away […]
Toward An Authentic Education
No quote has arrested my attention more in the past four years than this one from Parker J. Palmer. “Authentic teaching and learning requires a live encounter with the unexpected, an element of suspense and surprise, an evocation of that which we did not know until it happened.“ In the course of four decades as […]
Influence of a Forward-Looking Teacher
In the Fall of 1977, I received the American Farmer Degree at the annual Future Farmers of America Convention. That would have never happened if one forward-looking teacher hadn’t sent his best student representatives to my junior high school to recruit me in 1972. Mr. John Silvia, my high school Agriculture Science teacher, influenced a […]
Restorative Time
The joy I have of being an #entrepreneur is having the freedom of #time . The time to think. The time to explore. The time to be silent. The time to create. Time is not all about doing. About being busy. It’s not all about production. Or about maximizing efficiencies. Time has to be #restorative as well. This final quarter of […]
Oxford On My Mind
I returned from Oxford a few weeks ago. I was invited to join a friend of mine who was returning to Kellogg College for his reunion, an event they call a Gaudy Night. It was an invigorating visit to be among 36 college campuses that make up one Oxford University, which is unquestionably one of […]