Last week Jason and I flew to San Diego for the National Speakers Association Annual Convention. What an amazing week! So many lessons learned, I'm still digesting it all. Jason and I modeled the Adultitis-free lifestyle by leaving our "business casual" attire in our closets at home, collecting dust. We instead wore the new limited edition t-shirt adorning the Adultitis definition and inviting others to "Get Tested and Get Cured." They were a huge hit! Fellow passers-by would come up and ask us about "Adultitis." The shirts started many conversations. It didn't matter that we broke the …
General
Stop Drinking the Punch
When's the last time you danced? Not a slow dance with your honey at a coworker's wedding, I'm talking about really dancing. Kick'in your feet up, getting sweaty, not caring about what people might think- kind of dancing? When Jason and I were at Epcot recently, the United Kingdom section had a Beatles tribute band in the evening. It was a hoot! People of all ages, various walks of life, from all different parts of the world, gathered around with smiles on their faces and enjoying the classic tunes. Ironically the people who most likely had never heard the songs before were the ones …
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Just Doing It
One of the excuses people often give for not going after their dreams is that they're not educated enough, in one way or another. Now that might involve something like having a degree, but it goes way beyond that. You may be hesitant to move forward on something if you haven't had a lesson, a class, or some sort of prior hands-on experience in that area. And so you wait until a class is offered, the timing is better, or you can drum up enough money and/or time to go back to school. Meanwhile your dream sits on the mantle collecting dust. Scott offers up a pretty good argument for not …
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I’ll Have What They’re Having
Last night I had a chance to partake in a little fireworks action. Kim and I have an ongoing debate; she'd prefer they'd shoot 'em all off in in the span of about 10 seconds. I, on the other hand, like when they're spread out a little bit so I can savor them, you know, like a fine wine. (But not too much; my hometown liked spreading them out so much you could read a few pages of the dictionary between each explosion.) …
While You Were Busy, Life Passed By
Last week I enjoyed a nice vacation in Door County with the fam. We rented a house that was just big enough for the eleven of us: me, Kim, Mom, Dad, and my brothers' families. We roasted marshmallows, fished for salmon, gazed at the stars, played mini golf, sampled wine, sat on the beach, and ate lots of cherry-related products (thumbs up on the cherry barbecue sauce). I also did something I haven't done in years: I didn't check e-mail or surf the internet once. Somehow, the world continued to rotate on its 23 degree axis. …
Adultitis Prescription: Honesty
You are inundated with long lists touting the things you should do to reduce your stress levels. These lists are not revealing new secrets. Well, I'm throwing down the gauntlet- it's time for action. Stress is linked to everything that kills us. Two out of every three doctor visits are stress related. You don't need a degree from Yale to know that stress is a reality for any grown-up with a pulse. Stop being overwhelmed with the long lists of things to change. I am confident that if you tackle these two your life will definitely change. Drum roll please... 1. Get ENOUGH sleep. …
Living Naturally
You ever see a four-year-old walk into a room and declare, "Man! I am soooooo stressed out!" Me neither. There are a multitude of reasons that little kids aren't stressed-out and inches away from little heart attacks, but one of them is because they tend to listen to their bodies. Mind you, this doesn't happen consciously. Rather, they have the tendency to go with the flow; letting their bodies dictate when to go and when to crash. Fiction author Robin Brande calls this "living naturally." In a recent blog post, she painted a wonderful picture of a friend's daughter as an atom: pure …
Adultitis, Bowling, and Cheese
Adultitis likes to ease you into routines, which ultimately leads to ruts. Once you're in a rut, Adultitis is happy and wants to keep you that way. And while Adultitis is happy, you -- and the people around you -- are not. One of the best (and easiest) ways to stay childlike is to try new things. It keeps YOU fresh and ADULTITIS frustrated. It's fun, it gives you new perspectives on things, and helps you to stay curious. Kim and I tried a new thing last Friday night: mini-bowling. We went with my buddy Phil Gerbyshak (read his article on mixing work and play in the Escape Adulthood …
So Long, Mr. Wizard
As you may have heard, Mr. Wizard (aka Don Herbert) died on Tuesday. He demonstrated experiments using household items and explained the science behind ordinary things. I remember watching his show on Nickelodeon during the 80's, but his original show began in the 1950s and was quite popular with the baby boomers. They say that the CSI: franchise has done much to encourage a renewed interest in forensic and archaeological science among kids; I would bet that Mr. Wizard did much to encourage the people who brought us a lot of the scientific breakthroughs we have seen in the last 30 …
You Are in Perpetual Beta Mode
The other day, Steve Rubel offered up the concept of life being a perpetual beta. For those of you non-tech nerds out there, "beta" is a concept used in the software industry to label the first version of a program to be released outside the organization or community that develops the software, for the purposes of evaluation and testing. (from Wikipedia) Simply put, if it's in beta mode, it ain't perfect. Life is in perpetual beta. What a great reminder to us all, especially those of us who struggle with the Adultitis-driven tendency to 1) consider ourselves perfect, 2) strive to be …