We spend so much of our lives looking down at our schedules, our deadlines, our problems, our needs, and certainly, at our phones. Meanwhile, people are all around us. People who are hurting. People carrying burdens they rarely speak about. People feeling lonely, uncertain, ashamed, or overwhelmed. People who may simply need someone to notice…
Building healthy, human connections starts with one small act of reaching out. You must go first to take that action. Going first is like tipping the first domino in a long, intricate chain. At first, it’s just one quiet, deliberate, gentle push. But that single act sets everything else in motion. It creates momentum, invites…
As I anticipate cooking on my outdoor grill for a traditional Labor Day barbeque, I also ponder why Labor Day is, well, Labor Day. I love living during a time when any answer is just a Google and a click away. Labor Day has been celebrated on the first Monday in September in the United…
Consider this: Your friends were strangers to you at one point. Our connections with friends are critical to our personal and professional well-being. In fact, having a best friend at work is the single best predictor of engagement at work from Gallup’s longstanding Q12 engagement survey. We are designed to connect, so we long to…
Watch your thoughts,they become your words. Watch your words,they become your actions. Watch your actions,they become your habits. Watch your habits,they become your character. Watch your character,it becomes yourDESTINY. —Frank Outlaw
Julie and I have been married for over 39 years. Our daughter, Grace, and our son-in-law, Teddy, have been married for just over 39 weeks. It’s a blessing any parent can appreciate—your little princess finding her prince. Although it was different amounts of time, both of our relationships started with being a bit vulnerable. Some…
Occasionally my youngest child asks me to send her a poem. It can be for any number of reasons. Typically, it is a quick text poem to hopefully brighten her day. In this case, she was challenged in a new role while working with colleagues who were 30 years her senior and feeling like she…
Building human connections starts with one small act of reaching out. You must go first to take that action. Ask a room of 1,000 people if they like being complimented, and you will get 1,000 hands raised (if they are being honest with themselves). That’s because receiving a compliment primarily triggers a dopamine release in…
I recently had lunch with two inspiring friends, Larry Foster and Jim Atkins, who are both 86 years young. Clearly, I am the only one in the photo who looks his age! These men are fully engaged in life mainly because they have a clear purpose that is outside of themselves. Their lives revolve around…
The loneliness epidemic is not isolated to the United States. It is global. The World Health Organization revealed that 1 in 6 people worldwide are living with loneliness. That’s over a billion people. Further, loneliness is linked to an estimated 100 deaths every hour—more than 871,000 deaths annually. Your heart doesn’t know the difference between…
