Escape Adulthood

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Archives for May 2016

Nothing Else You Do for a Child Can Ever Top This

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If you could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, who would you choose? Seriously. Think about it. Chances are, you’d select someone famous, like a celebrity or an important historical figure who changed the world. A bunch of parents were asked that question, and responses included the likes of Justin Bieber, Marilyn Monroe, and Nelson Mandela. Then they were shown videos of their children answering the very same question. Their responses surprised everyone. The video reminds me that there is nothing more important you can do for the health and happiness of your family than having dinner together regularly. But it also leads to an even more important point. Parents have always wanted to give their kids a better life than the one they had. These days we drive ourselves to the brink of insanity shuttling them back and forth to music lessons and soccer practice, we rent bouncy houses and hire magicians to ensure an epic birthday party, and we work overtime to make …

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Meet Erick Perez

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The Small Rebellion is a playful group of escape artists who share a joyful, indomitable childlike spirit and are not afraid to let that spirit come out to play! They’re united by a common goal of fighting Adultitis and the doo-doo heads who embrace its ideals. Quite frankly, they’re pretty much the coolest people on the planet. Here's one right now... • My name is...Erick Perez. • My hometown is...Chicago, IL. • My biggest dream...is to stay young at heart while taking the world by storm with my engineering degree! • My inspiration...are my parents whose biggest goal was to establish a home for my siblings and I in this country so that we can have better lives than they ever hoped for. • When I was a kid, I...would always play out episodes of my favorite shows with my younger brother to the point where we knew the exact words to every episode! • My favorite childhood toy was...this shiny dragon styled Hot Wheels car. It was awesome because it looked more like a …

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Borrowing Courage

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Is there something your heart is trying to convince you to do but you’re just not sure if you have it in you to take the leap? Maybe you just need to borrow courage from someone else. When Kim and I began homeschooling, we were like every other parent that starts homeschooling: scared out of our minds that we'd ruin our kids forever and tank their resale value. There were so many reasons to go for it, but what finally gave us peace of mind was hearing from parents who had been through it, and seeing the evidence of success in the form of their grown children who had become doctors, engineers, and airline pilots. A woman at a homeschool conference we attended put it like this: "In the beginning, I wasn't sure if it would work. But seeing the families who'd come before me and how well their kids turned out made all the difference. I was able to borrow courage from them until I got to the point where I saw the same results in my own children and develop my own …

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Michael Leone, May 2016 Adultitis Fighter of the Month

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An Adultitis Fighter is someone who rallies against rules that don't exist and engages in ruthless, senseless acts of silliness that undermine Adultitis and its unadventurous version of adulthood. Once a month, we shine a light upon the most remarkable among us, holding them up as a dazzling example of what we should strive for in this epic battle against a formidable enemy. Michael Leone works in the financial industry (a credit union, to be exact). Although some people might assume that people working in that arena are a little stuffy, Michael doesn't fit that mold at all. Not only does he have a childlike heart and a ton of enthusiasm, he is also a compassionate catalyst for helping other people fight Adultitis, too! Recently, he helped host "Bring Your Child to Work Day" for his co-workers and their children, despite the fact that he doesn't yet have kids of his own. While he admitted being nervous about how things would turn out (he's used to planning events for adults), the …

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How to Take Life (and Yourself) Way Less Seriously

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"I would say that my #1 challenge in the fight against Adultitis is not having enough silliness in my life and taking life WAY too seriously." This was part of an email that came from a woman who had just heard me speak at a conference. I get a lot just like it. The good news is that the challenge is easily vanquished. The first step is realizing that you're not just going to wake up one morning as Little Miss Funny Pants. It's not magic. You just have to do step two, which is to schedule humor into your day. I know, pretty un-fun sounding, right? But it works, because things that get scheduled get done. My friend Brian told me that he and his wife wanted to make laughter a daily ingredient of their marriage, so they committed to watching something funny every night before bed. They had just finished watching the classic television series Cheers on Hulu. If you want a little more levity in your life, make it part of your routine: Be like Brian and his bride and …

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The Problem with Best Practices

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Best practices are for the birds. Remember when your mom asked you if you’d jump off a bridge if all your friends did? Nowadays you could get away with saying “yes" if you explained that jumping off the bridge was a "best practice." Look, I’m all for seeking out wisdom and learning from others who are doing things well. But I’m beginning to see “best practices” morph into a fancy way of saying, “tell me what to do so I don’t have to think.” It’s become just as much a way of hiding as it is a tool for improvement. After all, no one ever got fired for following a best practice. Best practices are the equivalent of paint-by-numbers: "Color these sections exactly the way we tell you and you’ll end up with a pretty picture that looks exactly like this." As I’m fond of saying, they don’t hang paint-by-numbers in the Louvre. Innovation is a sexy buzzword these days. Everyone wants to be seen as innovative. But you can’t be innovative if you’re busy following best practices. …

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Two Opportunities for Speakers Who Want to Be Great

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I love being a professional speaker. I never knew such a job existed when I was in high school. And considering how shy I was as a kid, the prospect of becoming one probably would have given me a heart attack! Even though public speaking is one of the biggest fears for most people, it's one of the best ways to make a difference and make a living. Although it's a pretty easy profession to get into, it's a hard one to stay in. After doing this for over 10 years myself, I see a lot of programs for folks who want to speak more and better. Many are good; few are better than the two I want to share with you here. If you speak, train, or educate others, you might want to check out the program my friend Mike Domitrz is putting on. He is known around the world for his dynamic ability to engage audiences of all sizes and demographics on some of the most difficult topic matters. Plus, he makes it both FUN and highly educational. He is hosting a 3-day event revealing all the strategies he …

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