You & Improved

- - - | written by Jason on 10/1/2023 | - - -

Yellowstone Success Formula: How to Dominate Your Day and Life

It was a typical Saturday evening drive. Except for the show the sun was putting on, turning the distant hills pink and purple. Oh, and the massive two thousand pound bison sauntering past my driver-side window. We were in Lamar Valley, the so-called Serengeti of North America, marveling at herds of bison and delighting in the pronghorns pinging across the landscape. One of the highlights of our recent trip to the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks was observing the diverse wildlife that freely roam the parks. Talk about a Wonderhunt! No bears were spotted, but we did see …

- - - | written by Jason on 9/3/2023 | - - -

What You and Norman Rockwell Have in Common

I used to think art was art, and even though everyone had a different style, artists were all on the same team. It took art school to re-educate me. I discovered there were two main groups. One was the fine artists. The other group consisted of illustrators and graphic designers, of which I was a part. We were seen as second-class citizens, sellouts willing to take money to create whatever someone else wanted us to make. Many of the fine artists saw themselves as more artistically pure because they were creating art for art's sake, achieving self-fulfillment, and bringing about social …

- - - | written by Jason on 8/27/2023 | - - -

5 Favorite Words of Adultitis

I recently did a presentation on innovation. In preparation, I asked attendees to rate themselves on a scale of 1 to 10 on how creative or innovative they considered themselves. Then, for those who didn't rate themselves a 10 (there was only one who did), I asked them what obstacle was in their way. A number of people judged themselves to be too practical or admitted to getting hung up analyzing the practicality of an idea. Ah, practicality: The enemy of awesome ideas. Many a brainstorming session has come to a screeching halt when someone suggests an idea deemed …

- - - | written by Jason on 8/20/2023 | - - -

How to Go Undefeated in Everything

I guess I need to get used to having wisdom bombs dropped on me by my son because they keep happening. Especially through the game of baseball. The first came a few years ago when I was putting the kids to bed. I always ask for their favorite part of the day. Ben's was watching the Cubs game with me. It blew me away because I would have listed it as my lowlight. They lost a game in excruciating fashion, effectively ruining my day. Interestingly, I no longer remember if they blew the lead or came up short in a comeback — or even who they played — but I remember the lesson he taught me. …

- - - | written by Jason on 8/13/2023 | - - -

Is Your Job Getting More Emotionally Expensive?

"Inflation is real. And I'm broke." This was shared with me by a woman in an organization for which I was preparing to speak. Although many people have struggled to keep up with the rising cost of goods, she wasn't referring to money. Over the past few years, some of the most important jobs in our society have grown more emotionally expensive, thanks to the pandemic and other factors. They are harder to do and there are fewer people willing to do them, yet we need them more than ever. Let's consider nurses as one example. They are carrying unsustainable patient loads and burning out …

- - - | written by Jason on 8/6/2023 | - - -

Recharging Your Dead Battery

Have you ever experienced a time when the battery on your phone was dead? I mean stone-cold dead. Not only would it not turn on, but it was so depleted that even after you plugged it in, you still couldn't use it for several minutes, despite the fact it was directly connected to a power source. Life is like that sometimes. Kim and I recently took an anniversary trip to Mackinac Island in Michigan. I bought a new journal, expecting to have a bunch of time to fill it with brilliant brainstorms and insights. Alas, when we made the return trip on the ferry, only four pages were …

- - - | written by Jason on 7/30/2023 | - - -

What Are The Chances?

The baseball deflected off the bat, soaring high and out of play. It reached the roof over the grandstand above us, but I suspected it might roll back. It did. I watched as gravity reversed the ball's course and it fell back into the crowd. Hitting the aisle about twenty feet away, it ricocheted wildly off the concrete, and raced through a forest of arms, right toward me. I kept my eye on the ball and relied on the instincts and reflexes honed in my days as a second baseman. I alertly shifted my hands to my left and the ball stuck. I had just caught a foul ball at Wrigley Field on …

- - - | written by Jason on 7/23/2023 | - - -

You Are Better than Einstein

Believe it or not, you’re actually better than Einstein. I read once that Albert Einstein didn’t know how to swim. And he was a terrible sailor, capsizing his boat so often that locals regularly had to tow him back to shore. It made me feel good to read that. I have never sailed, but I do know how to swim. It’s nice to know that I can do something Einstein couldn’t, and that he stunk at things. Because I spend too much time worrying that I’m not enough. I’m not outgoing enough, smart enough, creative enough, disciplined enough, thin enough, or faithful enough to …

- - - | written by Jason on 7/9/2023 | - - -

A Moonrise to Remember

I pulled out a notebook and pushed aside the bowl of creamers and the container of jellies. My family was at one of our favorite breakfast spots, our go-to place for celebrating big milestones. This day was decidedly less joyful, however; more of an escape from a nightmare we recently experienced. A few miles away, our house was an island in an apocalyptic landscape. A week before, a hurricane force straight-line wind mutilated an idyllic stand of 150 pine trees into an ugly riot of splintered, uprooted sticks, violently strewn about. Amidst the aftermath, it was hard to imagine …

- - - | written by Jason on 6/25/2023 | - - -

The Two Zoo Truths

I have an odd experiment I'd love to try someday. I thought of it during a family visit to the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, after going through a number of exhibits in a row in which the animals were either hidden or off exhibit. (It's hard to tell if the jaguar is sleeping in a corner out of view or at the vet for a check-up.) After a few minutes of fruitless searching, we just shrug our shoulders and head to the next one. So I thought it would be interesting to remove all the animals from every exhibit at a particular zoo. How long would it take for the average visitor to realize that …

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