Good Morning, Team! It’s Friday!

Christmas is over, the New Year is coming and we could all use a transition-period refresher as we welcome another trip around the sun.

I recently celebrated a milestone with family where a few friendly barbs were thrown as the kids tried to pretend they didn’t learn a thing from their old man. Wisdom follows age if you’re learning from your mistakes.  We all make some and the bold make more. If mistakes cause you to stop aspiring, you’re not reaching your potential.

I think I taught my kids plenty and one of the things they witnessed was resilience and the rebounding that followed.

Failure teaches us quite a lot and success might lull you into a false sense of reality. We live in a broken world and you can get hardened by all the crap, you can get soft from luck mixed with your efforts you like to call success or you can balance it all out and realize you are never as good as you think you are and you are never as bad as your critics claim.

When life serves you lemons…

•Whoever you are, whatever you do, wherever you live – you have people who depend on you and care about you. Don’t let them down with less than your all. Don’t sell yourself short. Don’t allow anyone to gaslight you.

•Tomorrow is another day and a chance to improve on what you did today.

•No matter how easy things look for someone else, we all face challenges of some kind. Fight your battles with honor, integrity and no regret.

…you make lemonade!

Gallons of it.

Have a blessed weekend!

Make it your best year yet in ‘25.

Send me a note and tell me what you plan to change when it comes to making mistakes and learning from them … starting today.

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

How did 2024 go for you? 

•Was it full steam ahead?

•Steady Eddy?

•Not so awesome?

•Total dumpster fire?

“Life” has a way of serving up a variety of slow-burning, energy-draining, and soul-crushing experiences that when the wrong combo hits you, it can be debilitating.

When you are down, it’s amazing how easy it can be to let situations or other people define who you are and how you’ll respond. Recovery is the best answer and most of us find a path to it, usually with the help of those close to us and invested in our well being.

*If you’re going through hell, keep on going.

*If you’re coming up for air, take your breath, rest, reflect and reengage.

*If you’re out of the woods but still hurting, disoriented or pulled backwards by negative thoughts…forgive. Forgive yourself, forgive your oppressors and separate the past from your future.

We all have our stories that shape us, our reactions, our disposition and our choices. Rather than get pulled into the negative cycle again and again and again…take the time necessary to plan the next, unique move you will make as a wiser, stronger, resilient person who has something more to show the world.

So much more

•Age doesn’t define us, but we do tend to use it as an excuse 

•Experiences like those mentioned above can be your casket or your catalyst. It is a choice and letting bad actors or shitty circumstances define the rest of your life is a total shame

I’ve seen my share of agony and I can wallow like a champ if I put my mind to it, or more correctly, when I don’t put my mind to it.

As you plow into 2025, take action!

You are so much more than your circumstances.

You have so much more to give than you have so far:

-charity

-grace

-mercy

-elegant solutions

-cherished friendships

-more minutes per week at the gym, taking walks or listening to live music

So,

•Flash that smile

•Share your heart with loved ones

•Make your list of what you plan to do better in 2025 and leave people wondering, what got into [Johnny/Jean/Karen]?

Have a blessed weekend!

Happy Holidays!

Prepare … to be So Much More

and remember

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

Skepticism has a bad rap. In today’s world, with instantaneous information from everywhere, all the time, there is an absolute overload … and everyone chooses their filters and interpreters … or someone will shove theirs down your throat.

Why should anyone be OK with someone complaining about fact checking? Whether in a debate or in everyday life? It’s as if to say, I’m going to lie to your face and remove your ability to respond to that feeling in your gut that you’ve been lied to. Is the goal to inform, influence or confuse?

I’ve been inundated with requests for money recently. Fourth quarter push, hurricane impact, I got on someone’s mailing list after giving to a couple of charities I believe in. Habitat wanted my credit card info over the phone…nope. I’ll go online. St Jude wants your charitable contribution while sitting on $ Billions, with a “B”, in cash reserves. Nope…I have choices where to give.

Social media platforms have somehow justified that stealing your information is in your best interest. We fire up Artificial Intelligence outlets to ask questions that we quickly implement answers to without a second thought of where it came from. Did we stop caring about intellectual property or the implications of mega-scale idea theft?

If something seems too good to be true, it probably is and you should trust your gut. If multiple entities are vying for your money and will do whatever they can, legally or otherwise to separate you from your hard earned compensation, stand firm, ask questions, push back and freeze your credit. If you’ve been lulled into the idea that there is a get-rich-quick path or just do it because everybody else is or I deserve that because…come back to reality and understand hard work and dedication are the building blocks to success.

If I sound like a curmudgeon or a conspiracy theorist, I am not. I believe that a healthy dose of skepticism will lead to refined discretion and help you filter out more of the crap and bad actors. Grace for the rest.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

The new word for retired is transitioning. My theory is there are so many baby boomers that could retire but they’ve broken every other norm, why not this one too. Something like 10,000 a day are still able to retire and many do. I had the opportunity to pull the pin … but for a number of reasons, I chose to transition and this is to another challenging and exciting opportunity.

Arriving at the next gig, someone asked how long I’d been off and I told him. His response, I hope you took that time to enjoy yourself. I smiled. I could have done more but as most people know who know me, I don’t idle well. Instead I took the time to: 

•start my consultancy back up

•get up to speed with my network 

•attend an industry conference

•get to know several new groups of people

•attend a graduation

•attend a family wedding

•attend Mom’s 90th birthday celebration

•attend a family reunion

•spend time at a couple of lake cabins

•take a motorcycle trip

•spend time with friends in warm places

•fly with my lovely wife to a place we hadn’t been before

•visit children and grandchildren

•celebrate a milestone anniversary

•attend the Minnesota state fair

•try out electric bikes on local trails

•golf

•walk most every day

•exercise more regularly 

•dream about my next career move

•pray about my next career move

•read

So yes, I definitely enjoyed my time off…and life goes on.

I ran into several people on my journey this year who highly recommended retirement and were enjoying old and new hobbies. Others were still very active in business as consultants or fractional executives. Some were volunteering, writing books or traveling extensively. All have chosen a path that fits their situation.

My latest transition will continue to allow me to grow people and business, which is what I love to do.

Someday I might retire…but not today. Right now I’m off to see what’s over that next mountain.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric 

Good morning, Team! It (’ll soon be) Friday before Labor Day weekend!

I’ve been reading “Speed of Trust” by Stephen M. R. Covey, son of the guy you’re thinking of. Each of us has our own internal definition of what trust is but I like the way (younger) Covey puts it,

“Trust is a function of two things: character and competence. Character includes your integrity, your motive, your intent with people. Competence includes your capabilities, your skills, your results, your track record. And both are vital.”

In my opinion-

To trust someone implicitly in a professional setting is foolish. As President Adams once said of his successor, President Jefferson, 

“I do not believe that Mr. Jefferson ever hated me. On the contrary, I believe he always liked me…Then he wished to be President of the United States, and I stood in his way. So he did everything he could to pull me down.” 

Jefferson being Adams’ Vice President, one might have expected different behavior. Adams eventually found a way to forgive Jefferson although he felt he had been disloyal, extremely partisan and politically ambitious. The two remained friends until they died.

To trust someone implicitly on a personal level is the basis of a genuine and mature relationship. Those worthy of implicit trust in our lives are extremely rare; spouse, parents, children…adult children that is. While this sounds jaded on the surface, implicit trust takes place when there aren’t rational reasons to do so. (Your ass is hanging out there) and if you survive one or two miscalculations in life, you’ll be hyper-focused on those rational reasons from that point forward. Trust me.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

Apologies I may have exceeded my expected word limit this week.

Continuing thoughts on “Who am I?” from last week, both heredity and environment point a great big, fat finger to my dad, Ken.

He was who most would call the hardest working man they knew. It’s cliche’ but no truer words about dad were ever spoken. It’s all he knew.

Shaped by the military, he wore a buzz cut his whole adult life. His uniform was a dark blue Dickies work shirt and matching work trousers, a truckers cap and Red Wing Wellington boots. Usually clean shaven but some winters he’d grow a distinctive, red beard that eventually gave way to the gray.

A college dropout, not because he wasn’t smart, but because he was distracted by the obligations of a young family and new business problems combined with the associated, inherent rewards of fixing things and getting the job done well. It defined him. Innovation was core to his (unwritten) business plan as a general contractor who was reliable, unconventional, and irreverent.

In my formative years, he taught me how to work hard, never give up, tell it like it is, always do the right thing-no matter the consequence …, run toward the light, even if it might be a freight train, take care of those you love the best way you know how, and to be a good human.

I was influenced as much by what he didn’t or couldn’t do as I was by what he taught me.

•I finished engineering school because Dad didn’t and I elected the electrical discipline, in part, because it was thought to be a more difficult curriculum than mechanical, the discipline Ken started in.

•I manage my thoughts, emotions and money, not perfectly, but I witnessed the consequences when those things go unmanaged.

•I raised my children to leave the nest and build their own success instead of expecting them to carry the yoke of a family business.

•I rely on contracts over word-of-mouth because miscommunication happens, memories are short & selective and people will take advantage when it appears they can.

•I thank God for my blessings daily and work extremely hard to stay positive in the face of adversity. (Anne keeps me honest on this.) Dad was prone to find fault and complain about it to whoever would listen and that disposition ultimately destroyed his dreams and tainted his legacy.

So, who am I?

I am the son of a good, well-intended, hard-working man who did his best with the hand he was dealt.

I am a child of the King who provides me all I need and loves me unconditionally.

I am also

*Husband to the love of my life, Anne

*Father to three incredible children, Aarika, Jeffrey and Zachary

*Grandfather to two (soon to be three) perfect grandchildren, Dylan and Logan

*Son to a strong, resilient, God-fearing mother, Clarice

*Brother to three tolerant siblings, Dan, Kris and Joyce

*A student of the full serenity prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr

and

*The captain of my soul as articulated in the poem “Invictus” by William Earnest Henley

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Thursday! (I’m off tomorrow)

Last weekend I heard Jon Weece speak. He first posed the question we all get around to asking, “Who am I?” and then to help dig out the answer, he asked “What’s in you?”

He said

•Ludwig Von Beethoven had the fifth symphony in him

•Leonardo da Vinci had the Mona Lisa in him

…and he quipped that Colonel Sanders had the Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe in him

So what’s in you?

Is your masterpiece being an excellent parent?

Are you a famous artist, composer, or author?

What still needs to come out of you?

Prepare yourself that the answer might very well be love, manifested in ways you aren’t thinking about right now.

I had never heard of Jon Weece before last Sunday. When he finished, I turned to Anne and said, “I like this guy!” I mean, how many times do you remember laughing out loud (several times during one sermon) in church? It was a good day. So I Googled him later as I tried to recall more of what he shared. I found another message and picked up another nugget of what is in Mr Weece.

He took a new $20 bill and asked, “Who wants this crisp, clean bill?” Most hands went up. He then crumpled it, threatened to dip in water or drag it in the mud and asked, “Who wants it now?” Most hands still went up. We know the simple truth, as demonstrated by his well-crafted exercise that,

“Our condition does not determine our value.”

So once again I ask you, as I look in the mirror myself, what’s in you? (regardless of your condition)

I have some miles on me, figuratively and literally. Some mornings it takes me 10 minutes for my right eye to see clearly, I have to stretch my back to walk upright and it may take a little time to realize … how incredibly blessed I am, but before long I’m firing on all cylinders and the momentum is incredibly strong.

I still have a ton to give; Love, Devotion, Gratitude.

•I have an experienced Leader in me who has weathered countless storms and Faith to walk blindly into the next one.

•I have Knowledge that this broken world is full of bad actors and that Forgiveness goes a long way.

•I have the Energy to keep gleaning points from triumph and tragedy and publish them weekly, somewhere, for someone’s benefit, for the last 14+ years, thanks to the inspiration of my former business partner, Tammy.

One more time,

What’s in you?

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

Have you ever…

•kept track of how many drinks each person in your party pays for?

-at one sitting

-over a season

-during a friendship

•noticed how many times someone lies in a conversation (or a presidential debate…)?

•scoring while playing a game with friends or loved ones to see who bested whom, and how often?

•follow strokes on the golf course to compare against yourself (handicap) or against the other three players to see who owes whom what or who’s buying drinks at the end of the round?

Of course you have.

We all have an innate desire to keep things fair, equitable, even…and when it seems to tip so far out of control, we might say we’ll leave it to karma, relating to actions and consequences.

-Someone might be able to escape paying their fair share…until they lose friends over it. Who’s buying crying now?

-Lying to hide the truth or gaslight someone into believing they’ve broken some cardinal rule when it was actually the accuser holding the smoking gun…and the truth comes out like a jailed prisoner chirping to their cell mate. Some things only time and God can reconcile.

We all keep score.

Most of us have a conscience and are committed to doing the right thing, the right way.

If the only way you can win is to cheat, lie or make your own rules, you should probably find a game where you can win fair and square or just stop playing.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

Last stop on our journey to ultimate happiness as described by Dr. Amit Sood in his book Handbook for Happiness with a focus on cultivating emotional resilience.

The author poses three basic questions, and walk through the answers.

Q1: Who am I?

A1: An agent of service and love.

Q2: Why am I here?

A2: To make your part of the world happier and kinder.

Q3: What is this world?

A3: A giant school of learning

A few more salient points he makes in this chapter:

•Try not to value what you do only by how many dollars you make.

•Living an ethical, moral life is the greatest spiritual practice.

•Work as if everyone you are serving is your family.

Finally,

•The more you think of higher meaning, particularly in an adverse situation, the more productive and happier your life will be.

Let me boil this down.

-Shit is going to happen to you and you can learn from it by looking for meaning or be destined to repeat it until you do.

-Money alone doesn’t buy happiness and the love of money (aka greed) is considered to be the root of all evil.

-You have a job to do while you’re here to be an agent of service and love in order to make the world a kinder and happier place.

Happy begets happy so go spread some happiness today!

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

Closing in on the last two topics of Cultivating Emotional Resilience, found in Dr. Sood’s book, Handbook for Happiness, today we’ll spend a few moments on forgiveness.

In understanding forgiveness, I never heard it described this way but,

“…our minds have no natural system for getting rid of waste.”

“Hurts pile up as open files and black holes.”

I am condemned. Closing files is not easy but critically necessary. I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night and my mind is in a black hole loop trying to resolve hurt feelings, working overtime to resolve those things that can only be solved through forgiveness, a voluntary choice.

“It means you choose to give up anger and resentment knowing and accepting that the misconduct happened.”

“Forgiveness isn’t:

•Forgetting the wrong

•Allowing a wrong to continue

•Excusing the wrong

•Denying the wrong

•Letting someone harm [you]”

I recently went through an exercise recommended in the book where you mentally put all of your hurts in a folder. Recognizing this much crap is too heavy and too toxic to handle, I forwarded the folder to my higher power and let God deal with it. I’m done.

I will have to repeat the exercise for old hurts and new ones but I’ll get better at it each time.

Isn’t it time to forward your files and detoxify? It is an amazing feeling when you get there.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric