Passions

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I often have to interact with people who are interested in getting involved in volunteering or partnering with me. My goal in the interaction is to help them find a place they can partner with us and be able to gain life and enjoy what they do. A place where they are not bogged down by the details but instead inspired to do what they do outside of their time spend volunteering.

Part of this process has revolved around what they are passionate about. “What do they love to do?” is the question I would ask them. And time after time, they would have no idea. People would either gravitate towards low hanging fruit they knew could be valuable to us or they would just spin around about how they have never known what they love to do and they have never had something they feel like they are naturally good at doing or inherently passionate about.

I have had a minor revelation in all of this. I realized it almost does not matter what they are passionate about, almost being the key word there. If they are passionate about something I want to know. But, given they do not know what they love to do I need ask a new question, “What could you be passionate about?” or maybe even, “What have they not tried that they want to try?”

I realized passions often do not start with some revelation or origin story tightly knit to my life. My passions started with a decision to try something and finding out I loved doing it. My passions and interests came from trying something knew and realizing I really enjoyed it. I have also tried many things I have not enjoyed. But those were the moments I found out I was trying the wrong thing and needed to try something else. The moments I have found out I do not enjoy doing something were blips in the story of finding what I can be passionate about.

Now I need to lead people down a road where I help them try new things and gain inside into themselves and see a place where they can be passionate and find life in what they do because they have decided to make this a place to play. 

What could you try? What could you be passionate about? What could new thing could you do?

Passionately,

–JT

Pedestals

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Putting people on pedestals is dangerous. It is dangerous to put them there. It is dangerous to be put there. It is lonely up there.

Way up high in the stratosphere sitting on top of the roman style pedestal.

There are no friends or neighbors.

Just the person.

Alone.

No one to talk to them.

They oversee everyone below them. They look down. They never have someone to look them in the eye to keep them accountable. They are unapproachable. They do not talk. They dictate. They demand. They push. They are above reproach and if nothing else, they are dominant.

I am not on a pedestal, that I know of, and we will all need help if I ever am placed on one.
However, I put people on pedestals at times. I recently had a breakthrough in putting people on pedestals. They were left in unhealthy situations where more was demanded from them as they sat on their pedestals than they were ever going to be able to deliver.

The hardest part about being on a pedestal is the way people are left to be nigh unto perfect on their pedestal. They will always fail when they are up there. They will never be perfect. However, when I bring them down, I can all of a sudden, I can make a friend. A colleague. A peer. A teammate. A human to work along side.

When I pull people from the pedestals in my mind, they are able to be more human than I ever thought.

Who do you put on a pedestal? How can you humanize them? How can you give them a new chance to succeed, as a human?

Humanizing,

—JT

Diligence

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Stumbling into success is not the way things happen. Stumbling into success like winning the lottery, it is rare. It is unreliable. It is not a sure thing. It is not the way to accomplish much. In order to reach my goals, I cannot expect I am going to win the lottery. 

I have to do the work I have to put in the time and learn my craft. I do not get to rocket up into history. Very few have ever rocketed into the history books without doing the work first, and most of them who have ‘made it’ without doing the work are called, ‘One hit wonders.’ In order to do something of value and of worth, I have to do the work required of me. I have to learn how to be a professional or an expert at what I do. 

The hardest part about doing the work is I have to do the work. I do not get to circumvent the process. The work must be done monthly, weekly, and, truly the best practice is to do the work, daily or more. I must be trying and pushing forward every day. Doing the work takes effort from me when I do not think I have any more effort.

Doing the work requires I am constantly trying to take the next step and get to the next level. Doing the work requires me to decide over and over again I believe what I am doing is the right thing and I have to believe I can succeed. I may not be excellent today. I may not be excellent tomorrow, but it will happen. It will take time and more than time . But it will happen.

What work do you need to be doing? How have you been doing at deciding the work you are doing is worth it? What is the next piece of work you are doing to provide meaning to others?

Working,

—JT

Tomorrow

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I have had a routine I have developed naturally. I did not do it intentionally, I wish I was smart enough to start it on purpose, but alas, I was not. However, my routine is incredibly important and I can attribute quite a bit of success to what my routine. My routine is part of each evening. It is the last thing I do each day. 

At the end of every day, I prep for the next day. It takes me maybe twenty minutes or less but it makes all the difference in setting myself up for success. I get my clothes to wear at the gym ready, I prep my bag to take to work, I pack my breakfast, pack my lunch, and I pack my gym bag with clothes to wear to work. My routine is moderately mundane, but it is also a decision I make every night. Every night I decide how the next day will start. 

Every day I decide how the next day is going to start. It does not take anything extra from me. I am out of function for the most part. I am in routine, almost automated, setting the next day up for success. 

Making this decision every night allows me to wake up and not even think about starting the next day. I roll out of bed, put the clothes on I set aside. pick up my gym bag, backpack, and food. Then I roll out to start the day. 

At this point, I have done nothing but ride the rails I laid the night before. I am more successful for it. I have been able to stay disciplined and productive each morning. I have reaped from this forethought for months, if not more than a year now. 

Succeeding today started last night and succeeding tomorrow starts tonight. Laying these tracks each night before bed has allowed me to start every morning coasting into discipline and progress towards my goals. Coasting on these tracks every morning sets the tone for every day. 

What tracks do you need to lay today to coast on tomorrow? How can you better set the tone for each day?

Coasting,

–JT

Naturally Wrong

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I recently realized how deep my preconceived notions colors my interactions with other people. I have a knack for learning people. I don’t necessarily learn all people, but I do learn people close to me whom I think of as friends. I learn coworkers and people I greatly respect. I learn their nuances and schedules and routines. I cannot keep track of everything but I keep track of what I can. Most importantly, I do not do any of this intentionally. My head naturally keeps track of it all. I do not understand why my head does it, it just does. A natural part of my personality. 

This is great for me because I know when and how I should best communicate with people and what is going to work best in order to connect with them. 

The major drawback of my tendency to track people is the baggage it creates. If my brain is a cargo ship cruising across the ocean of life, the people my mind tracks get a shipping container in aboard the SS Manning’s Mind. As I have more experiences with a person, I slowly fill their container with information. In the moment, the information is useful and accurate. Long term, not always the case. 

Long term, I end up applying static information to dynamic people. Long term, the people in my mind do not get to grow or change. The information now colors how I see them, what I think about them, and how I interact with them. 

Every time I open their shipping container, I see everything in the container colored by static information. Information in dire need of an update. 

These preconceived notions keep me from allowing people to grow. 

These containers are in a terrible need of some spring cleaning.

What is a natural skill you have? What are some benefits of this skill? What are some drawbacks? How are you compensating for the drawbacks of what you do naturally?

Reconceiving,

–JT

On Changing The World

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The Relevant Podcast was one of the staple podcasts I originally listened to when I started listening to more podcasts. I do not listen to them much anymore, but I am still subscribed to them to see who they have on as a guest, what they’re talking about, and generally keep up to date on whether or not I want to listen to the current episode.

On one of their more recent episodes, they interviewed Seth Godin and talked to him about several things. The one thing that stuck out to me most was his discussion about how we can make the world a better place. He was not focused on everyone starting their own movement or everyone trying to conquer and control the world. He was focused on the simplest of things. He was focused on trying to positively affect a few people around you. Every day, have a positive influence on four or five people each day. 

How simple. 

I do not need to start a movement or create my own non-profit or travel to the deepest darkest parts of North Korea to change the world. I need to have a positive influence on a handful of people every day. Some days might be the same people over and over again. Other days might be a completely new group of people.

If I tried to improve or positively affect four or five people a day, how much better would the world be?

What is a reasonable number of people you can positively affect each day? How can you positively influence people each day?

Affecting,

–JT

Specializing

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I have not talked about my health progress and goals of the last year much anywhere, but suffice to say I have been living healthier, exercising, and eating right. Specifically, in reference to eating right, I try to ask myself, “Is this worth it?” If the food is outside of my goal lifestyle, is it worth it? An exception being, special events and celebrations with friends. These events are places where I will generally let myself go a little outside of the normal boundaries and goals.

When I get together with friends, I want to eat pretty much whatever I want. I want to be able to relax and not think about it. Which is great. Truly the right reason to break from the norm is to celebrate and socialize and be good company in good company. 

Though, there is a bit of a downfall to this mentality. Special events come more and more frequently. After a while, Saturday becomes a special event on its own merit. Eventually, Sunday joins his brother Saturday and is special as well. A little while later, I am sitting on a bench in the locker room thinking about the last eight weekends wondering why every weekend is special. What happens when everything is special? 

Special starts to lose its glamour. 

Special starts to become much more of a norm and much less of a treat.

Suddenly, nothing is special. 

I find myself needing to raise the bar on what I am calling special in my diet. And in other areas I am finding I need to lower the bar. Truly, I am finding I need to reexamine what I call special and start setting it apart from the other areas of my life. I need to make it truly special. Dinner with my wife might happen four, five, or six nights a week, but do I actually make that moment special? Do I actually set those moments apart and treat them like they are actually more important than the two hundred some odd tweets I have not had time to read from today? 

What is your definition of special? What sets the special moments apart from the mundane for you? Where have you gone astray in your ability to set apart these moments?

Specializing,

–JT

Upside Down & Inside Out

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I am sure you have probably seen the Upside Down And Inside Out video by our old friends OK GO. It is a fun video. They obviously had a blast making it and I cannot help but to smile as I watch it!

There is absolutely no reason not to go watch it.

On my second time through the video, I was grinning so much. I was having fun, watching them, have fun. More accurately, I was watching them do something I want to do. They were doing stuff they had probably been dreaming of doing. Who know how long it took them sitting around flinging ideas around before they united on this idea. Then they would have to start calling around and trying to get an airline to agree to let them use their plane to do all this. 

Finally, they get to go have a great time as a group of friends zipping around in Zero G. All because they tried. All because they keep doing something they love do they get the perk of doing something so cool. I get to watch them do something I would love to do because they do what they love to do. They put their work out there. It did not start as four guys in Zero G. It started in some garage somewhere and it probably did not sound this good.

Only now does it sound as fun as it does because they kept trying and improving. Trying and improving. They get to do what they do because they keep doing what they do. I am sure there are plenty of crummy parts, where they do not want to do this anymore. But I know when I look back on my life and the fun times. I do not think about all the hard times in the midst of the fun times. I think about how much fun I had when I was having fun.

What is something you only dream of doing? What are the steps between you and doing what you dream of doing? How do you make the next step towards your dream? How are you going to feel if a year from now, you still have not taken the next step towards your dream?

Trying,

–JT

Ideas

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Ideas come to me pretty regularly. Some of them pretty good and others…not so good. I love new ideas. They bring me life, energy, and I really enjoy coming up with them. Honestly, coming up with more and more ideas is probably something I could do for hours every day and never think twice about it. Getting to dream and picture a new idea or future or opportunity is second nature to me. I have little investment as to whether or not they are even good ideas. Most of the time, I want to come up with ideas and nothing more.

The rub comes in when I have to go beyond the idea. When I have to carry out the idea. At first it is not so bad. Nothing wrong with getting an idea started. It is good and healthy to get an idea started. Everyone appreciates a new idea. Early on, the new idea is getting going and changing and developing so much. The idea is morphing as it emerges from the cocoon, a beautiful butterfly. 

Emergent, the the butterfly will take off and start flying. Though, it is still dependent on me. I am the brains of the butterfly and I have to work to fly. Flap down and flap up.

Then again, I have to flap down and flap up.

Over and over again.

Flap down.

Flap up.

Flap

Down

Flap 

Up

I do not have the patience anymore. By now my idea is less of a butterfly and more of a moth. Grey. Disgusting. Fluttering around the light on my porch in the middle of summer. 

My idea is stale and now I am struggling even to show up for my idea. 

Flap down, flap up.

My ideas are great until I have to bring them to fruition. However, what kind of world would it be if I gave up on my ideas? I may have been great at coming up with them, but what is the point if I never do anything with them? My part is coming up with ideas but does that release me from fruition? Do I no longer have to take part in the execution?

How are you involved in new ideas and projects? What is your part of the project process? What kind of world would it be if you gave up on your part of ideation process? What would your life be like if you never fulfilled your part of the idea?

Carrying on,

–JT

Wear Out Your Welcome

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Recently, more and more, I have begun to notice some people wearing out their welcomes. Not in the sense of staying at my home too long. They aren’t leaving their laundry all over my floor or leaving their dirty dishes all over the place. The toilet seat has not been left up too many times and nobody is trying to use my soap. 

Still, though, they have worn out their welcome. They have filled my head with too many of their words. They have worn my ears down with the sounds of their voice. They give their opinion when they are not involved in conversations. They are over involved and under requested. They input into every open moment. They have not earned the right nor have they been given the right to be vocal. Yet still, they continue to wear out their welcome. 

Every word becomes a little less valuable than the last. And still they wear on. 

They speak more than the others around them and they do not know that they are more than their fair share. No measure is taken of their input compared to everyone else’s yet still, they wear on. 

They have worn out their welcome in the ears of their listeners, their voice has become shrill, and their words are legos under bare feet. 

What are your words worth? How much more than your peers do you contribute to conversations? Are you an equal contributor to conversation? How often you wait for others to speak first?

Listening,

–JT

Job To Be Done

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One of the podcasts I listen to is hosted by Horace Dediu. He is an analyst and all around a really interesting person full of great discussions and observations revolving around “[Apple and the]…success and failure in the evolving story of mobile computing and related industries….” A frequent theme of the show is the discussion of what the job-to-be-done is of a specific item, tool, company, or corporation. The jobs-to-be-done comes from the Clay Christensen Institute and they have a great definition for what it means to discuss the “jobs-to-be-done framework.”

My favorite part about the jobs-to-be-done definition is in reference to how you hire a product when you purchase it. The transactional nature of hiring paints, in me, a beautiful picture. I can see myself walking into a grocery store looking to hire some eggs and take them home with me or looking to hire some new headphones because my old ones broke. As I look for new headphones, I go to my favorite review site and see who they suggest to hire. I read the user reviews on Amazon, the reviews and comparisons on my favorite site, and of course price compare across a few different e-retailers as well as a brick-and-mortar or two, if I can. When I make the ultimate decision on my headphones, I hire them. (This process is so different from a 21st century employer going to LinkedIn and vetting their applicants or googling their applicants.) 

I on the other have a job to be done as well. Not the job to be done because I am hired to do it, but the job to be done as I am intrinsically inspired to do. I must do the job I am inspired to do and do it well. I have a job to do because of the talents I have, skills I have, and the way I am designed. I am fortunate to have been hired to do this job not only in life but also for a career. I am so thankful my job-to-be-done is what I get to do every day. 

I have found the intersection of what I like to do and what the world needs from someone like me. The jobs-to-be-done framework inspires me to look at the world as a marketplace. The interactions between people, businesses, cars, technology, and nature. Looking at all of these parts I have watched them and observationally studied them. I have watched for the things that did not make sense. The things that did not quite fit together. The parts and pieces that did not quite belong and I began pushing at these pieces. Poking them. Questioning them. Analyzing how they work and trying to relate to them. The more I watched, analyzed, and related the more I began to see what in me has sprang up and became more excited about my observations. My observations began to show me who I am. My ability to relate to my observations cued me into what I breathes life into me. I noticed the things that mattered to me and helped me see how I fit into the world. 

What is your job-to-be-done? What parts of the world around you strike you as odd? How do you relate to these parts of the world?

Observing the odd,

–JT

Napkin

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I was out with friends and needed to jot down a quick of note. I had a pen at hand. I snagged the clean napkin at hand and began trying to scribble on the napkin. It was awful. One of the worst writing experiences of my life. The napkin kept catching and ripping. Genuinely, not designed for writing. I was able to get the note onto what was left of the napkin when I was done with it. 

The paper napkin was the wrong platform. It was the wrong medium. It is cheap. It is expendable. It is designed to be thrown away at the end of its use. It really was not up for the job and I had to work harder than I should have in order to get my note onto it. The napkin sparked in me a series of thoughts and questions. I started to wonder how often I tried to use napkins when I needed paper or phone? How often does my creative solution actually hinder me more than enhance my work?

Then again, what does my solution say about the problem to begin with? A disposable napkin to write something down? What is the point? The napkin barely holds my writing. It is not meant to be kept, it is meant to be thrown away. I put my note, mildly important note, onto something destined for the recycle bin. It is not meant to be used this way. It is not a medium for long form writing, short form writing, notes, or scribbles. It is not even a medium worth keeping around. It is the medium for wiping the crumbs from my mouth or grease from my fingers.

As I am trying to focus on the extraordinary and let go of the mundane am I actually hindering my ability to grow because I am trying to be too creative? Where can I skip the napkins? Where am I scribbling on trash? Where do I need to replace my tools?

Truly, I grabbed the closest thing I saw and started using it. I did not even question as to whether or not I should pull out my phone and scribble my note into my phone. I chose the wrong tool and stuck with it. How often do I do that? Or even worse, my methods were sub par. How often do I use mediocre methods and not question them because I am essentially sticking my head in the sand.

Unfortunately, the answer to all of these questions is, ‘Too often.’ 

Where are your choices causing you to fall short of success? Where are the tools you are using hindering you? What other tools are out there to enhance what you are doing?

Retooling,

–JT

Experiences

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Often times I am filled with assessment and analytics on what is going on around me. Not so much hard data, numbers, and graphs, but more gut feelings. I will see a friend about to do something I have done a number of times and I know there is a natural pitfall and it is easy to fall into it. So I speak up. I tell the person about the pitfall. Where its origins are, how it works and, most importantly, how to avoid it. 

When suddenly I hear a voice in the void between me and my friend telling them about the pitfalls etcetera. A voice of caring and concern. I listen intently to the voice and appreciate their care to help my friend. As I listen, the voice become more familiar. I know the cadence, vernacular, and phrasing. The voice is very reasonable even. The voice is making some of the same points and sharing experiences I have. 

I look up expectant of seeing someone I know helping my friend and sharing helpful tips and trick. 

There is not anyone there. 

The voice is mine. 

And the voice never left my head.

My friend gets up and moves along to their next destination and I have not said a word.

What will my friend do? I hope they make it ok. I hope they do not end up engaging in any of the same pitfalls I ran into. I better connect with them quickly. I better make sure they know what they have ahead of themselves. I would hate for them to hit any of the same speed bumps I did when they are so avoidable. I hope it is not too late. 

What experiences do you have? What experiences have you not shared?

Sharing,

–JT

Today

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One day I will go back to Israel. One day I will go back to Ireland. One day there will be a cure for cancer. One day I will replace my old tired Subaru. 

The issue with 'one day' is it never comes in time. Often times 'one day' never comes at all. 'One day' will even be a myth at times. It has not timeline. ‘one day’ is truly giving up on the present. ‘One day’ insinuates today is not enough. It insinuates tomorrow will have something I do not currently have. It insinuates I am waiting for something outside of my control. 'One day' meanssomething is coming I need, and I cannot continue forward without it.

‘One day’ abdicates my responsibility for today. 

‘One day’ is an excuse.

‘One day’ is a lie…a lie I tell myself.

How often do you tell yourself this lie? What other lies do you tell yourself?

Today,

–JT

Quarterly Reviews

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Given the new year and my views on annual resolutions, I have been struggling a little with the concept of how to better grow and improve. I dislike forcing an annual plan where I have to accomplish X, Y, and Z in twelve months or I am a failure. And truly resolutions are semi-synonymous with, “a cute goal I won’t achieve this year.” 

I struggle because I can lose track of the goals I am working towards and the way I am moving forward in the areas outside of work. Growing personally has much more significance and long term payment than a job does. Do not get me wrong, I love my job and I think there is much significance and long term payoff in my role. However, when I was slinging coffee, my job started when I clocked in and ended when I clocked out. The long term significance lasted as long as caffeine buzz and a trip to the bathroom. 

I was left to grow and develop on my own during those days. I did not have someone who paid me to grow as a person. There was no responsibility or eternal significance to my success or failure as a barista. Thus I had to motivate myself. I had to push myself to grow and get out of my comfort zone. I was not using any solid metrics to ensure I was growing. To a large extent, I still do not use any excellent metrics. What is worse, I usually have no clue how I am doing in progressing towards accomplishing my goals. 

I need to assess regularly. I need to look at my goals more often, be reminded of what I want to achieve, who I want to become. Where I want to go in life. I need to look at where I am at more often. There is a detrimental side to this where I assess too often and am defeated by measuring my lack of progress. I think for me I will start with assessing three or four times a year. Each phase of assessment will require me to recalibrate my interworking and assess my progress.

What are your goals? How often are you assessing them? What are your metrics to know if you are progressing.

Assessing,

–JT

Backpack

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Recently, I sat in an airport for longer than I would like to admit. I was waiting for a plane to decide whether or not it had the visibility to land. As we were all waiting, a couple of ladies started getting to know one another. I of course had nothing better to do than ‘drop some eaves’ as I was waiting. 

One of their discussion topics was the younger lady’s backpack. She loves her backpack. She enjoys everything about it and it has a lifetime warranty and she has had it repaired a few time and it works well and she truly wants it to be her only backpack for the rest of her life. 

The manufacturer has discontinued the make and model of her backpack. She previously would send it in for repairs and they would send her a new backpack or a refurbished backpack in the event her backpack needed to be replaced

Since they have now discontinued her backpack, they have to repair her backpack whenever she sends it in. This is ok with her, but what if she is unable to get it repaired at some point. One of her zippers is especially troublesome and might not survive. There is much to be concerned about as she described her backpack woes. 

I listened on and reflected about her story and realized I do the same thing she was doing. I get overly concerned about a niche product. I get overly zeroed in on the one detail I care about and lose the rest of the picture. 

A backpack is not this big of a deal. 

My favorite roast of coffee at Starbucks.

The restaurant discontinuing my favorite dish because it was unpopular.

Whether someone takes a photo or video horizontal is not that big of a deal.

There are things in life that are a big deal. They warrant fretting and consternation. There are things in life I can fight for and belabor the point on and do some good in the world. I should be concerned about the health, safety, and betterment of myself and the people around me. I should belabor those points.

I should be concerned about the thing that will effect my life in twenty years. I cannot let myself get so lost in the minutiae of the accouterments in my life.

What are your minutiae? Do you fuss over the long term as much as you do the accouterments?

Longterm,

–JT

Information Overload

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I generally give people information pretty freely. I will tell them about something or explain something or give them observations on what is happening or has happened and then I will often expect them to process the information I give them.

The issue is, I will usually expect people to process the information I give them the same way I do. I take it in, I churn it around, talk to myself about it, and then spew out an idea or thought I have in relationship to the information I am given or even take the idea inside and really rest on it for a while and let it sift me. 

When I give someone the information, I want them to be connected and engaged with the information, take it in, churn it around, and then spew how they will be changed by the revelation I have given them or the way the information changes things for them.

What actually happens is one of two things. When I tell someone something I think is monumental, he will sometimes take the information in, then start talking with me about the information, where it came from or how I got there, ask me about different aspects of the information, or simply, discredit the information all together. What he does is start externally processing the information. Which is what he does. He externally processes. 

Which makes sense when he is an external processor. 

I will in turn, walk away disappointed because the information missed the intended target and landed amongst the weeds, not on the target at all.

The second options is, I will give a piece of information to someone else and she will take it in, churn it around, and she will have little to say about it. The conversation will pretty much be over by the time I would expect her to spew out some ideas or changes to make based on the information. I then in turn get frustrated and try to reframe the conversation or reframe the idea or concept. I try to deliver the information in better packaging. Ultimately, everything lands the same with her and I walk away without hitting my mark again. This time it is almost as if I never fired a shot. 

Which makes sense. 

She is processing. 

Inside.

As she does.

Either way, I feel a bit like a failure. I walk away thinking I have done nothing in both instances. This highlights the issue to begin with.

My expectations of the situation were unfair to begin with. I thought too much of myself and expected too much from people when I showed up. I should have walked in more open–minded to these two people processing as they do and worked with them to process. I was working at them not with them. What is worse, I never even offered up a single expectation to these people before I lobbed my idea at them. I launched, watched, shook my head, and walked away.

Where are your expectations sideways for the situation? Where are you not voicing your expectations? Where are you thinking more of yourself than you ought?

Unexpecting,

–JT

Propellant

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I have survived. 2015 is drawing to a close. I made it past the Christmas mayhem, without as much mayhem and a little bit more peace and joy I think, and now I am riding into 2016 without a hitch. 

I will ring in the new year with friends and hopefully in a little better spirits than these past few years. Generally, my new years celebration means I am being woken up by my wife on the couch for the last ten seconds of the ball dropping to drink my drink, get up off the couch, get in the car, and make the long cold drive home. Apparently, midnight comes too late for me and grumpy comes a little too early for me. 

This year I am still holding true to my ‘Make No Resolutions’ policy. Not because I think Resolutions are bad, but because I have goals already. I am working toward goals, some of which date back to 2014. I do not think I need new goals on top of my old goals to muddy up the target I am trying to hit.

What I love about my goals is I have friends helping me achieve them. I have people who know me and love me helping me get farther down the path of the goals I have set for myself and I do not need the harking of a new year to remind me to set my goals. I need to continue to work forward. I need to continue to grind up against my friends and family as we work forward, encourage each other, sharpen each other, and propel each other forward.

Who is helping you achieve your goals? Who is holding you accountable for your goals? Who are you seeking out that has achieved your goals before?

Propelled by friends,

–JT

Preparation

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As I approach the weekbetween Christmas and New Years I often take time to reflect on the last year, where I have been, what I have done, things I have done well, things I have not done well and generally how this year has been. I am looking to see not only what has happened to me but also how have I reacted and responded to the year.

For some reason, I work backwards in this exercise. I start at the end of the year the current season and work back towards the beginning. I would not say it is the most logical way to do it but it has always worked for me and my quirky personality. When I look at the end of this year I have a bit of a rubric of things I think I should probably be outputting. I should be outputting things like hope, joy, and love. This is a season of Christ. The season of preparation. 

Preparation.

I am to be prepared for to be these things. I am to be ready to be hope to people. I am to be prepared to live out joy. I am to be available to share love with other people. I need to be prepared to celebrate the birth of the Christ child. 

I would not say It has been a good year. Generally, these have been two long years. In my short life, these last two years are in the top five hardest years I have had. I do not think I have some sort of right to claim this year as harder than anyone else’s; I would say with out a doubt there are people who have had significantly harder years than I have had. 

These messages are bigger than we are though. I would say for all of us, we can bring these messages of love, hope, and joy to the people around us despite the years we have had. We are to prepare ourselves to bring these things to people around us. The Christ child came and brought these things to his parents when they needed it. 

For me, it all revolves around preparation. Am I preparing myself to bring love to the people around me? Am I preparing myself to bring joy to the people around me? Am I preparing myself to bring hope to the people around me?

Not because I have an abundance of these things, but because I am preparing myself. Focusing myself. When I wake up, do I decide to bring love to others, despite knowing I am going to sit in more traffic than I would want. When I wake up, am I preparing to bring joy to the cashier at Starbucks despite the child behind me throwing a tantrum. Am I prepared to bring hope to the employee at the department store, despite her inability to get off her phone? 

Am I walking into the situation prepared to better someone else’s day despite my perception of what they should or should not be doing? Am I preparing myself to be to others what I need and want in this season? 

Are you prepared to be love, joy, and hope? Are you preparing yourself?

Prepared,

–JT