Category: Curiosity

The Known vs. The Obvious: Embracing AI in the Workplace

For years, we’ve heard that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will revolutionize industries. The idea is so prevalent that it’s easy to stop actively thinking about it. We acknowledge AI in headlines, in passing business conversations, and in abstract discussions about the future. Yet, much like a fish is unaware of the water surrounding it, we’ve been immersed in AI without fully recognizing its impact.

That impact is now undeniable. The question is: will we embrace it—or ignore it at our peril?

AI as the Invisible Force

AI is no longer a futuristic concept, or a background presence. It’s embedded in the tools we use every day, from the smartphones in our pockets to the chatbots handling our customer inquiries. It powers business decisions, optimizes operations, and influences nearly every industry.

Yet, because AI is so familiar, we often overlook it. The term itself has become a cliché—almost old news.  Something we assume we understand. But do we? How much do we really know about its capabilities, its limitations, or its potential disruptions?

Many still view AI as a distant idea, relevant only in the future or in industries far removed from their own. This perspective is outdated.

The Shift from “Known” to “Obvious”

AI is a driving force that can shape how we work, compete, and innovate. Organizations that continue treating AI as an abstract concept risk being blindsided by its rapid evolution.

This shift—from AI being “known” to becoming “obvious”—is critical. The moment we stop seeing AI as some far-off development and recognize it as an immediate force, we can take meaningful action.

Make no mistake: AI will transform your organization, whether you engage with it or not. The only choice is whether you’re leading that change or struggling to catch up.

The Cost of Waiting

A passive approach to AI is no longer viable. Waiting for the “right time” to adopt AI means falling behind competitors who are already leveraging its power. Yes, AI is complex, and yes, there are risks. But the greater risk lies in hesitation.

I’m old enough to remember the early days of the internet (I’m that old).  Most businesses dismissed it as a fad. Others chased the new idea with reckless abandonment and wasted tons of time and money.  But a relative few (at the time) experimented, learned, made incremental changes, and ultimately thrived in their use of the new “internet-powered” approach. Not to mention all the new multi-billion (trillion) dollar businesses that were made possible by the internet. 

AI is following a similar trajectory. Many are ignoring, even shunning, AI as something other people will figure out.  They don’t want to be the one pushing these new ideas within their organization.  It’s easier to stay in the background and wait for someone else to take the leap.

But others are already leaning in (to coin a phrase), experimenting, and learning.  They are incrementally (and sometimes dramatically) shaping a new future…and remaining relevant in the process. 

Learn the Basics

AI adoption doesn’t require immediate mastery. It starts with small, intentional steps.

You don’t need to be an AI expert, but understanding its core functions and business applications is essential.

Start by exploring industry-specific AI tools already in use.  How did I make this list?  You guessed it, I asked ChatGPT to give me a list of industry-specific AI tools in use today.  Will each one be a winner?  Not sure, but it’s a great list to use as a starting point:

–Retailers use Amazon Personalize and Google Recommendations AI for AI-driven product suggestions, improving customer engagement and sales.

–Marketers leverage HubSpot AI for automated email campaigns, Persado for AI-powered ad copywriting, and Seventh Sense for optimizing email send times.

–Financial analysts turn to Bloomberg Terminal AI for market insights, Kavout for AI-driven stock analysis, and Zest AI for smarter credit risk assessments.

–Healthcare professionals rely on IBM Watson Health for AI-assisted diagnostics and Olive AI for automating administrative hospital tasks.

–Manufacturers use Siemens MindSphere for AI-powered predictive maintenance and Falkonry for real-time industrial data monitoring.

–Customer service teams integrate Forethought AI for automated ticket triaging and Zendesk AI for intelligent chatbot interactions.

–HR and recruitment teams utilize HireVue AI for AI-driven candidate screening and Pymetrics for bias-free talent assessment.

Experiment with Broad-based AI Tools

Don’t wait for the perfect strategy.  Start small. Generalized AI tools can improve various aspects of your business (again, I asked ChatGPT for this list):

–Conversational AI & Research: Tools like ChatGPT, Claude.ai, or Anthropic’s AI help generate content, answer complex questions, summarize reports, and assist in brainstorming sessions.

–Automation: Platforms such as Zapier AI, UiPath, and Notion AI automate workflows, streamline repetitive tasks, and generate notes and summaries.

–Data Analysis: Solutions like Tableau AI, ChatGPT’s Code Interpreter (Advanced Data Analysis), and IBM Watson process and visualize data for better decision-making.

–Customer Engagement: AI-driven tools such as Drift AI, Intercom AI, and Crystal Knows enhance customer service, lead generation, and sales profiling.

These are just a few of the many AI-powered tools available today. The landscape is constantly evolving.  Exploring AI solutions that fit your specific needs is the key to personal and professional growth.

Cultivate a Growth Mindset

Learning AI is a journey, not a destination. It’s okay to make mistakes.  It’s actually necessary. Feeling uncomfortable is a sign of growth. The more you experiment, fail, and adjust, the more effectively you’ll integrate AI into your work. AI isn’t about instant perfection.  It’s about continuous learning.

Lead from the Front

If you’re in a leadership role, set the tone. Your team will look to you for guidance. Show them that AI adoption isn’t just an IT initiative.  It’s a mindset shift.

Encourage experimentation, provide resources, and support a culture of AI-driven innovation. Companies that will thrive with AI aren’t the ones waiting for a complete plan.  They’re the ones embracing AI through hands-on learning and iterative improvement while incorporating these new discoveries into their future plans.

The Future is Now

AI is not a distant disruptor—it’s an active force shaping today’s workplace. Organizations that recognize this and take action will thrive. Those that don’t will be left behind.

It’s time to stop treating AI as a theoretical innovation and start engaging with it as a business reality.

The future isn’t waiting, and neither should you.

Photo credit: The graphic was generated by DALL-E.  I asked it to generate an image of an office on the ground floor that captures the essence of the blog post I had just written. 

In its first few attempts, it tossed in robots sitting amongst the office workers.  I like to think of myself as a forward thinker, but I’m not quite ready to accept that reality…even though I’m sure it’s rapidly approaching.  I asked DALL-E to eliminate the robots (for now).      

Bringing Home the Moonbeams

There’s a line in a Frank Sinatra song that asks if we’d like to, “…carry moonbeams home in a jar.” A crazy idea. Moonbeams can’t be contained or put in a jar, but their magic can be carried home just the same. What if we could carry home the kind of wonder and light that moonbeams represent?

Life throws challenges at us every day. Deadlines. Difficult conversations. The relentless tug-of-war between expectations and reality. Yet, amid the noise, we often stumble upon moments of beauty.  Unexpected acts of kindness, moments of connection with strangers, or simply a sunrise or sunset that stops us in our tracks. These are moonbeams.

Have you ever met someone for the first time and felt their kindness so deeply that it stayed with you? Maybe it was a stranger who gave you directions with a smile, a colleague who truly listened, or someone who saw you struggling and extended their hand. These are glimpses of humanity’s greatness.  Magic moments where we see the best of who we are reflected in someone else.

What if we made it our mission to carry that magic home with us?

It’s easy to bring home the worries of the day.  Our frustrations, our stresses, our nagging self-doubt. But alongside these, we can also bring moonbeams: the small, bright moments of beauty, hope, and love that we encounter every day. We can share the wonder of a chance conversation, the joy of something new we learned, or the inspiration we felt when we saw someone overcoming adversity.

Carrying moonbeams is about being conscious of what we pass on to those we love. It’s about choosing to share curiosity instead of cynicism, gratitude instead of grumbling. It’s about being the explorer who brings back stories of the world’s beauty to share with those at home, inspiring them to see the magic in their own lives, too.

Imagine if we all carried moonbeams in our metaphorical jars. How much brighter would our homes, our communities, and our world become?

What if we could embrace the day with the motivated curiosity of an explorer. Purposely looking for the moonbeams—the fleeting magic of kindness, beauty, and connection.

Imagine carrying them home to share, not in jars, but in our words, our actions, and our presence.

Because moonbeams, once shared, have a way of multiplying.

Photo by me, capturing a “moonbeam” of a sunrise view outside my kitchen window the other day

The Comfort Trap

There’s nothing like your own bed, your own pillow, and nice warm blankets when it’s time to sleep. To confirm this truism, try backpacking for a few nights in freezing conditions. Your lightweight sleeping pad and mummy sack might keep you alive, but they’re no match for the comfort of home.

Or spend a couple of weeks living out of a suitcase, hopping from one hotel bed to another. It’s rare for a hotel bed to be anything but “hammock-shaped” with giant pillows that defy logic and offer little comfort. 

We all love to be comfortable. Ask most people, and they’ll tell you they’d rather sit at home in their jammies in their favorite chair, watching their favorite movie with their go-to snacks and drink in hand.

Comfort is easy. It requires little effort, and even less thought.

It’s safe, predictable, and free of fear. We know exactly how to achieve it, and we stay there because it feels good.

That’s the problem. Comfort is about staying. It’s about achieving sameness.

Growth doesn’t happen in comfort. The magic begins when we step outside our cozy bubble.

Trying new things, exploring unfamiliar places, or learning new skills rarely feels comfortable at first. It’s awkward and often frustrating. But with time, practice, and patience, we adjust. The uncomfortable becomes comfortable. We expand our boundaries. We redefine what normal feels like.

We grow.

Comfort is incredible. It’s that perfect combination of warmth, ease, and familiarity. It offers a necessary break from life’s challenges. But if we make it our ultimate goal, it lulls us into complacency. It encourages us to settle, to avoid risks, to stop growing.

Celebrate the moments of comfort when they come. Appreciate them for what they are—a place to rest and recharge. But don’t let comfort hold you back.

Keep exploring.

Keep taking risks.

Keep pushing past the edges of your comfort zone.

That’s where the real magic happens.

Photo by Amy Humphries on Unsplash

Enriching Others – the Best Path to Leadership Success

“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” – Zig Ziglar

I remember a friend of mine who was promoted from being a very successful salesman to being the branch manager for a large insurance company.  It is amazing to think this was almost 30 years ago. 

He told me that he’d finally get to tell people what to do, and he looked forward to that.  Plus, he’d get to take long lunches and charge the lunches to his expense account. 

I knew that if that was his approach to his new manager role, he’d probably fail miserably…and quickly.  I told him as much. 

I suggested that he start by meeting with his new team members one-on-one. Just because he’d worked alongside many of them before didn’t mean he knew them well enough as their manager. I encouraged him to take the time to understand each of their roles, how they saw their future, and what they hoped to see change at the company.

I said it would help him get to know them and, even more importantly, show them he valued them and wanted them to succeed. And if he let them know that he needed their help, too, it would go a long way. This wasn’t just his chance to lead, it was a chance to connect directly with each team member.

He thought that was a waste of his time.  He had been a very successful salesman, knew how the company operated, and already knew what made the branch tick.  He told me that he knew what needed to be fixed and he’d hit the ground running to get those changes implemented. 

I saw him again about three or four months later.  When I asked him how his new job was going, he just shook his head.  “Not good.  Nobody is listening to me.  I’ve had a couple of people quit already, and I think some others are out looking for new jobs.  Our sales are way down.  My boss is asking me what I’m going to do about it.”

I didn’t say, “I told you so,” but that’s what I was thinking. A few months later, he was demoted back to sales, but at the lower pay structure in place for new hires. Not long after that, he left the company.

I’ve been blessed with multiple opportunities to take over business operations in fields where I had little or no expertise or experience.  Sometimes, from outside looking in, I had some ideas about how things should operate, but I always kept it to myself when I arrived. 

Even in situations where I thought I knew all the answers, I purposely and methodically asked as many questions as possible.  I took my own advice to meet with as many employees as possible, asking them about their job, how they do it, why they do it, where they hope to be in the future, the problems they are having, the things the company is doing wrong, the things the company is doing right.  There are no wrong answers in these types of discussions.

It is truly amazing how much a new manager can learn from the people already in place, especially if that manager genuinely wants those people to be successful.  It also helps to be extremely curious and thirsty to learn as many details about an operation as possible. 

The most successful managers I’ve known have operated this way.  They ask questions and listen carefully to the answers.  They work as hard as they can to help each of their team members get what they want (as Zig so eloquently said). 

If you’re stepping into a leadership role with the mindset of lording authority over others, expecting everyone to follow your lead just because you’re in charge, you might have short-term success, but it won’t last. Real leadership is about seeking ways to enrich others and the organization before yourself. And in doing so, you build an environment of trust where people thrive and truly enjoy their work.

Helping others succeed isn’t just a management tactic.  It’s the only way to real success.

When you lift others, you rise too.

Photo by Matteo Vistocco on Unsplash

In the Steps of Trailblazers

I’ve probably hiked or biked hundreds, maybe thousands of trail miles in my life.  Most of the trails had been there for many years…even decades. 

Other than clearing some fallen branches from a trail or participating in a trail volunteer day, I never gave much thought to how the trails were built, or who originally built them.  They were always there.  It didn’t matter if the trails started out as animal paths, or were built by hand, carved through the forest.  The trails seemed to belong right where they were.  

My perspective shifted when we were fortunate enough to purchase acreage that includes a forested hillside, a mostly dry pond, rocky escarpments, and a meadow thick with trees and scrub brush. 

Where others may have seen a tangle of impenetrable forest, I could see trails winding through it, paths crisscrossing up and down the hill, around the pond, and maybe a little campsite down in the meadow under the tall trees. 

I had no idea where to start or where exactly the trails would go.  I just knew the hillside and meadow were calling for a trail system and a campsite that my family and friends could enjoy exploring for years to come.    

When we moved here, I didn’t own a chain saw, a tractor, or any of the fancy attachments that make tractors such useful (and fun) tools.  I had the standard set of homeowner hand tools from our lifetime of living in a tract home that didn’t have a yard big enough for a lawn.

The real work began when our new property was hit by a 90 mile per hour derecho that effectively found all the unhealthy trees and snapped them in half or knocked them to the ground.  As I worked my way across our property over the next six months, cutting and clearing all of the downed trees (40-50 trees in all), I got a ton of practice with my new chainsaws, my upgraded tractor (the small one we purchased initially didn’t cut it, so I did what every tractor guy worth his salt does when faced with this dilemma…I upsized), the 5-foot brush hog attachment, and the front loader grapple attachment. 

As I worked to complete the clearing process, I could see where new trails might go.  As I brush-hogged large swaths of overgrown scrub brush and brambles, new openings showed themselves.  In the areas where I cleared away the dead and fallen trees, nice new grassy areas greeted the sunlight that finally penetrated to the ground.  I could see how trimming up some of the remaining trees would improve the sight lines through the area. 

Once the land clearing process was mostly done, the real trailblazing process began. Deciding exactly where to cut the trails, which routes worked best given the lay of the land, the gradient of the hillside, natural features, and tree coverage.  Could I veer up and to the right a bit to maintain the trail flow while leaving more trees intact?  Will a hiker be able to maintain their footing if I use the existing (slightly) flatter terrain on the hillside?  Can I make this trail intersect in an interesting way with the other one that’s 200 yards away? 

So far, I’ve been talking about literal trails and the (rewarding) process of carving a trail system by hand into my property.  I’ve known my share of trailblazers in life and work, and I’ve even been one myself on occasion. It’s funny how, like the paths I was carving through the woods, new trails—whether they’re businesses, inventions, ideas, or methods—often seem inevitable after the fact.

Once they’re established, they feel as if they’ve always been there. But every one of those trails began with someone willing to face the unknown, to push forward without a clear end in sight, risking failure or embarrassment in the name of carving a new path. 

Only the people who actually built these trails know what it took to get there.  The obstacles that had to be moved, the dead ends they hit along the way, their moments of doubt. They alone understand the learning curve, the time, and the sheer energy it took to bring the trail to life. And as they move forward, bit by bit, the final route often ends up looking different from what they first imagined.

Our new trail system is amazing.  It has straight sections, switchback sections, offshoots, shortcuts, climbs, and descents.  Parts of the trail are under a tunnel-like canopy of thick forest and other areas open to the sky, providing amazing hilltop views.  Walking along the trails feels like the landscape was made for them…even though there were countless hours of planning, experimenting, cutting, clearing, and adapting along the way.     

Sometimes the trailblazer is driven by an obsessive need to see where the trail can go.  To see what lies over the next hill, or around the next bend.  Others visualize how their trail will be enjoyed for years (decades?) to come. 

While their motivations may differ, the result is often the same.  A path that seems to have always been, enjoyed by countless people who may never stop to wonder how it got there. 

For those who wonder, the trail offers something more than just a route.  It’s a reminder that someone, somewhere, once walked an untamed path and decided it was worth carving a trail for those who’d come later. 

Photo by Judy Beth Morris on Unsplash

Process Over Outcome — The True Value of Life’s Challenges

The year spent training for a triathlon isn’t just about race day.  It’s about the discipline, endurance, and self-discovery that come with each mile ran, every beach swim, and each grueling mile logged on the bike.  The race is the goal, but the transformation to triathlete happens during the journey to the starting line. 

What about Basic Training for the Marine Corps (something I haven’t personally experienced)?  Recruits aren’t merely learning the basic skills they’ll need to be successful.  They are becoming something entirely new…a Marine. The recruit is transformed into a Marine by the training process.   

Consider a four-year college degree.  It’s been said (not sure who said it first) that the main thing a recruiter learns about a college graduate is that they had to apply themselves adequately over a four (or five, or six) year period to get enough class credits to graduate in their chosen major. Each college graduates’ journey is different, and that journey is often as valuable as the classes they had to take to get their degree.  

Even smaller experiences like a short hike, a long drive to visit family, or a phone call with a friend can offer more than just their immediate outcomes. They can provide moments of reflection, connection, and growth.

Life’s experiences are not just a series of goals to be checked off or memories to be cherished.

When we learn to enjoy the process and the lessons along the way, we gain something far more valuable: growth, understanding, and the ability to appreciate the transforming power of our journey.

 Photo by Matt Howard on Unsplash

Running Through the Tall Grass

“You will know that your children will be many, and your descendants like the grass of the earth.” – Job 5:25

This image of my granddaughter running through the tall grass lingers in my mind, a snapshot of pure joy and freedom. The grass climbs high as her shoulders, swaying in the gentle breeze as she runs, her laughter echoing across the open field.

The sun, high in the sky, casts a warm glow across the landscape, reflecting off the stalks and highlighting the strands of her long blonde hair. It’s a moment of unbridled innocence, an expression of life at its most carefree—a reminder of the potential and possibilities that lie ahead in her life.

Watching her, I’m struck by how this simple act of running, so natural and effortless, captures the essence of childhood. Children have an innate ability to live fully in the present, to see the world as a place of wonder and adventure. For them, the future is not something to be feared, but something to eagerly anticipate. Every new experience is a chance to explore, to learn, to grow. In her dash through the tall grass, we get a glimpse of how life is meant to be lived—full of energy, curiosity, and a fearless embrace of the unknown.

As the years (decades) go by, it’s easy to lose our innocence, our thirst for adventure. We may see our future with a sense of foreboding, even doom…rather than an opportunity to expand our journey. We allow the sense of adventure that once propelled us forward to be dulled by the responsibilities and challenges that life inevitably brings. Our carefree days of childhood disappear into the past.

The passage of time doesn’t have to diminish our sense of adventure. We can choose to embrace life with the same enthusiasm and curiosity that we had as children. We can still find joy in the simple pleasures, still run toward the unknown with hope in our hearts.

Life’s journey is not about avoiding the tall grass, but about diving into it, feeling the sun warm our backs and the gentle breeze cooling our faces. It’s about seeing each day as an opportunity to expand our horizons, to live fully and freely, just as my grandkids do.

The tall grass may rise like a challenge, but it is also where the most profound discoveries await. And as I step into that field, I carry with me the certainty that the journey ahead, like the path I’ve already walked, holds boundless potential.

In a field of tall grass she runs,
her golden hair warmed by the sun,
each step a whisper of freedom,
the horizon an open invitation.

I watch her and remember—
the world for me was once this wide,
full of endless possibilities,
before fear narrowed that view.

But the grass still sways,
and I can still run,
following her laughter,
knowing the path ahead
will bring great discoveries,

a promise of new beginnings.

p/c – My daughter, Julianne, texted this photo earlier this week of Lizzy running through the tall grass of their pasture.  The moment I saw the photo, I knew the topic of my next blog post. 

What is your favorite quote?

I’m working on an autobiography of sorts.  It’s a compilation of my answers to a series of questions.  There are about 75 of them that act as prompts.  Here are some examples: 

  • Tell me about your childhood home.
  • What were your school days like?
  • What was your favorite fashion trend when you were a kid?
  • How did you meet your spouse?

The idea is that my kids and grandkids and anyone else who’s interested can learn more about my life as they read through my answers to these questions.  It’s been a fun project that I’ve been working on over the past 3-4 months. 

I just finished answering this question and thought I’d share my answer here:   

Can you share a favorite quote or saying of yours?

Life is a journey, not a destination. 

I’m not sure who said this first.  It’s something I said for years before learning that it was a famous quote from someone else.  Turns out there are posters and artwork that you can buy that highlight this quote.  Maybe I saw the quote decades ago and it lived in my subconscious mind until later in life. 

I don’t have anything against goal setting or visualizing a future and going after it.  But it’s important to avoid having tunnel vision in your pursuit of goal achievement since you may miss other opportunities and experiences that introduce themselves along the way. 

I’m reminded of a drawing of a stickperson on a ladder.  They are locked in on their goal: reaching the top of that ladder before anyone else.  This person even jumps over someone and kicks another person off the ladder in their effort to reach the top first.  When this person finally reaches the top, they find that the ladder doesn’t actually lead anywhere.  Their ladder is standing in the air and not leaning against anything.  

The lesson is to make sure the ladder you’re climbing is going somewhere you really want to go.   

When you reach your goal, no matter how lofty and difficult it was to achieve, you are merely at a new starting point or more accurately, you’ve made it to one of an infinite number of stops in your life-long journey.

The real goal should be to maximize your enjoyment of the journey itself.  To appreciate the small things that happen, the surprises, the diversions, the successes and the failures, the people you meet, and the places you get to experience along the way.

Life is that thing that happens while you’re busy making other plans.

This one is closely related to the first quote.  Life is a series of “nows” that are happening in real-time.  You can make plans, point yourself in a particular direction, and even tell yourself that you’re in control of all the things that are happening in your life (spoiler alert – you’re not in control of all the things, you only control your response to all the things).

The time to start something new or something that will improve your life is always six months ago.  While you’re busy talking about your future, it’s already happening.  That thing you’re thinking about doing today but procrastinating while you do more planning will become that thing you should have done six months ago. 

Plans are valuable, and you should have a broad plan with some key pillars that you can stand on throughout your life.  It’s equally important to avoid hiding behind the planning phases of your life and forgetting to live your life purposely.  It turns out that life’s happening anyway, so you might as well live it proactively and not reactively.    

These are the good times. 

The shortened version of this among friends is, “Good times.”  Meaning these are the good times we’ll look back on fondly when we get older.  No matter how screwed up something is, or how hard the thing you’re doing right now is, or how much you just failed… all of it will be lumped into your mind and memory as “good times” from your past. 

In fact, some of your worst life experiences or life failures might even become the fondest memories you share in the future.  You might reflect on how great something was, or how it was good that you had that failure or that heartbreak so you could apply what you learned later in life.    

It’s unfortunate that we usually don’t realize this when these things are happening to us in the present. 

Stepping Stones or Defining Moments? The Choice is Yours

Life is filled with stepping stones—moments that can either define us or simply become a small part of our journey.

When faced with challenges or opportunities, we can see them as just another step or as a moment for growth and clarity. Carl Jung once said, “I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”

I recently re-watched a documentary about the Navy SEALs.  Every Navy SEAL candidate faces grueling hardships: physical exhaustion, frigid cold water, mental strain, and the constant threat of failure.

Some candidates see each challenge as an opportunity, a chance to push beyond their perceived limits and grow stronger. They embrace the pain, keep their focus.  They find strength in their determination and their fellow candidates. These candidates transform the hardships into defining moments, emerging on the other side as Navy SEALs.

Others, however, let the same hardships overwhelm them. Fear, frustration, and exhaustion cloud their resolve. The challenges, instead of being opportunities for growth, become insurmountable barriers. These candidates wash out, not because they lacked physical capability, but because they couldn’t shift their mindset to see the hardships as stepping stones rather than obstacles.

None of us are born with skills.  It’s easy to watch some Youtube videos and think woodworking is totally doable.  Any new woodworker can attest to the uneven cuts, the wobbly joints, and the frustrations that can come from trying this new hobby.  But, by learning from the mistakes, honing skills through practice and even more failures, projects begin to go more smoothly.  The final products are less uneven and wobbly…and the process becomes much more enjoyable.    

Learning and growth come from our willingness to take lessons from every experience. Reflecting on each attempt, seeking feedback, and choosing to improve.  It’s the decision to learn from every encounter that turns these stepping stones into personal and professional development milestones.

However, clouding our experiences with fear, frustration, anger, or other limiting emotions can lead us to ignore the growth opportunities these experiences present. When we let negative emotions dominate, we risk missing out on valuable lessons that can propel us forward.

It’s difficult, but essential, to manage our emotions and maintain a positive outlook to fully benefit from the lessons we can learn. 

The stepping stones in our lives are all potential defining moments. It’s up to us to decide whether we let them pass by or seize the opportunity to let them shape us. We can turn every step into a defining part of our journey.

It’s not just about the stones we step on but how we choose to step on them that defines our path.

p/c – Joshua Earle, Unsplash.com

The What If Game

Powering your day...

I recently saw this advice:

Asking what if about your past is a waste of time.  Asking what if about your future is tremendously productive. – Kevin Kelly

It’s easy to focus on what could have been, what you should have done, what someone did or didn’t do to you (or for you), and all the mistakes you’ve made.

It’s even easier to let all that stuff in the past dictate what you’ll do in the future.  Our past has tons of built-in excuses.  Excuses that help us stick with the status quo, protect us against taking new risks, prevent us from trying something new, or exploring where we’ve never been. 

Our lizard brains love the barriers that the past can provide.  Like a protective cocoon…one we never have to leave.

What if you choose your future without the limitations or excuses of your past? 

That’s the harder and much more rewarding path.  You might fail.  You might be embarrassed.  You’ll surely make new mistakes. 

But you might succeed, and you’ll probably discover something you never knew you were seeking.

You can accept the lessons of your past as you drop the past from your thinking. 

When was the last time you did something for the first time? 

Did you take more than 30 seconds to answer that question? 

What if you purposely pursue the surprises that come from diving headfirst into new experiences and adventures?

It’s time to find out.    

Photo: My grandson, Charlie, boogie boarding for the first time (about 5 years ago). May we each experience the same joy when we’re trying something for the first time.