Our family just completed a 17-day road trip that spanned 11 states and 3,800 miles. We traveled with three kids, aged 7, 5, and 2. And we did it in a Ford Edge that was packed with just two suitcases, one cooler, a diaper bag, two computer backpacks, two strollers, one tote filled with food and another filled with swimming paraphernalia and sunscreen. We did this because we are insane. Actually, that’s just a lie I repeated multiple times so people wouldn’t feel bad. It makes it easier for folks to justify why they could never do such a thing, especially if a deep-down part of them …
Lifestyle Design
How To Live a Comfortable Life
Pick one or more of the following: 10) Spend more time watching people on TV having adventures than you do experiencing your own. 9) Never travel anywhere new, especially outside your comfort zone. 8) Set up your life so that Friday is the day you’re most thankful for. 7) Accumulate so much stuff that you have to buy more space to store it. 6) Always order the same thing when you go out to eat. 5) Spend more money on things than experiences. 4) Surround yourself with people just like you. 3) Be more of a consumer than a creator. 2) Wait for permission. 1) Always …
Do You Care What Your Batting Average Is?
Whether it’s batting average, marathon time, or annual income, we humans love using numbers to measure our success. But what if we're focused on the wrong numbers? Here’s a list I made recently, charting my progress so far in 2016: • Meals shared with family: 280 • Lego pieces sorted: 1,376 • Daddy Daughter business trips taken: 2 • Strawberries picked: 173 • Tinker Crates assembled: 3 (with 3 boxes unopened) • Piggyback rides given: 37 • Bedtime tuck-ins: 134 • Bedtime stories read: 9 (Needs work!) • Holes of mini golf played: 18 • Little House on the Prairie episodes …
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Pursuing Happiness on the Do Your Thing Podcast
I recently had a wonderful conversation with Ross Brown of the Do Your Thing podcast. We talked about the the idea of pursuing happiness by exercising liberty to "do your thing." I was able to share some of the past failures Kim and I experienced, how we got through our darkest hours, and what opportunity costs we gave up to get to where we are now. Meanwhile Ross, offered to double my income in exchange for giving up on "doing my thing" and even I was kind of surprised by how I answered. He also asked about my "must-read" books and what advice I have for people who are yet to break out of …
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Wonder Aimlessly
Summer ain’t what it used to be. At the risk of sounding like a crotchety old man a few decades early, the summers of my youth were not packed wall-to-wall with extracurricular affairs. Yes, there was Little League, but the days were long enough to accommodate no small number of other “aimless” pursuits. Playing home run derby in the tennis court with my friends. Exploring the ravine near my house as a pint-sized Indiana Jones. Sorting and displaying my baseball cards, and then drawing my own. It was the opportunity to freely explore the things that fascinated me, without the prospect of …
It’s a Free Spin!
I had to run into the grocery store to pick up an ingredient for a meal I was preparing. I was in a hurry. On my way out, an employee from a local bank asked me if I wanted to “take a spin” on a wheel set up next to her table as part of some promotion. “No thanks,” I said, as politely as I could. “But it’s free!” came the reply, as if she had just given me an answer that had no credible rebuttal. Although I didn't say it out loud, in my head, I responded, “No it’s not..." Just because something is free, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a cost. I regularly say yes to very good offers …
Leftover Scraps Aren’t Good Enough
I recently read an article about a celebrity chef. In it, he talked about his nightly ritual with his wife: “At around 11:30 or 12:00, we talk. Not just, 'How are you?’ I like to have a soulful conversation with her, a meaningful conversation. And then after that, I fall asleep within two seconds. I am just beat. I am beat." I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Are you freaking kidding me? A soulful conversation? At midnight?! In which you are so "alert" that you fall asleep within two seconds of having it? Granted, I am not in the room with them, but I'd love to ask the wife just how …
Borrowing Courage
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, …
The Problem with Best Practices
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 …
A Cautionary Tale of Two Octopuses
Perhaps instead of a paper airplane, our logo should feature an octopus. Apparently, they are fantastic Escape Artists. My friend Sara, an Escape Artist in her own right, recently shared an article about a daring nighttime escape from a New Zealand Aquarium by an octopus named Inky. After busting through an enclosure, the nimble contortionist appears to have quietly crossed the floor, slithered through a narrow drain hole about six inches in diameter and jumped into the sea. Then he disappeared. Pretty neat story, but I’m interested in Blotchy. Mentioned only once in the article, …