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Welcome to the Party, Pal

I love this time of year. We’ve rolled the calendar over and begun anew. We start the year with fresh goals, fresh motivation, and fresh resolve. For some of us, and goodness knows I’ve been there far too often, we don’t get the results we seek quickly enough and quit. And so, another chance to…

Becoming Peak Bad Ass in 2023 (While also Turning 40?)

This is a picture of my dad at peak “bad ass.” For most of his career in federal law enforcement, he also served as a firearms instructor. This picture is of him demonstrating the operation of a Thompson .30 sub-machine gun (aka the Tommy Gun) to one of his classes. My wife gave me a…

I Wrote a Book

From 500 Days of Writing to Hibernating Like a Bear

I wrote and published for 500 days straight. Then like a bear after hiding away food for the winter, settled into a deep hibernation. I thought writing for those 500 days would provide the answers to my most compelling questions. Questions about what’s important to me and why. Questions about life, joy, and fulfillment. Questions…

One Moment of Courage Can Change All Your Tomorrows: The Day 500 Essay

This is an essay I never thought I’d be writing. The one at the end of the beginning. The 30-day challenge that became a 500-day challenge has now come to pass. I got tears in my eyes typing that. Weird. Writing was always something important to me, but I was too selfish to share it…

Confessions from 495 Straight Days of Online Writing

I never had sacred hours. I have two young kids, a wife that travels for work, and a job that demands its own sacrifices. I wrote when I could. Sometimes that meant when I got up early with the baby. Sometimes that meant during lunch. Oftentimes that meant at night after everyone went to bed…

When Seeking the Hardest Answers, Why Do We Only Find More Questions?

As it turns out, all meaningful journeys only end up raising more questions than providing answers. So it goes. With only a handful of days before hitting 500 straight days of writing and publishing online, I find myself attempting to take stock of what my world has become. That being said, it’s easy to identify…

The End of It All, or the End of the Beginning?

As we close in on 500 straight days of online writing, I’ve become quite reflective. Today was one day when it was useful to remember that the me of 494 days ago longed for the problems I now face. One thing I can say for absolute certain is this project elevated my problem set considerably.…

Turning Vain Pursuits Into Keystone Habits to Make Us Healthier, Wealthier, and Wiser

In the beginning, there were only selfish reasons why I started writing online daily, now 493 sunsets ago. I joined to write. That was pretty much it. I guess that’s rather damn obvious. I didn’t start writing to make friends. But I did. It’s been the best part and it’s been utterly transformative. I didn’t…

You Know Who You Are. Do You Know Who You Could Be?

Tonight, a conversation with a friend of mine reminded me of a line from Hamlet. No, not that one. The one by Ophelia, “We know what we are but not what we may be.” I’ve been thinking about it nonstop since hanging up the phone. Because that describes me. And maybe you. And perhaps lots…