Thoughts are powerful. Too powerful. Try watching Travel Thirsty’s YouTube channel and try not to think about downing a Chicago dog. So how do we leverage this power? How do make sense of what our thoughts are telling us?What if our thoughts are trying to pull us away from the present because something about the present is not good enough. Why do what you’re doing now, when you could be thinking about a Jim’s Original?Marcus Aurelius writes, Each of us lives only now, this very moment. Why should our lets thoughts take us to places that are out our reach when we could be doing something important now? Now is what matters.Seneca writes, Cease to hope and you’ll cease to fear. Seneca thought that a mind that lived too far into the future too often (read: daydreaming) and a mind that lived too much in the past (read: brooding) was a mind that was in trouble and was skipping the opportunity, the gift, of the present.So how to leverage the power of our desires and our worries?Make a plan.If getting a Jim’s Original is that important - make a plan. Schedule a day. Commit the resources. Hit the gym (you know you’ll need to).If you know you’ll need to be doing something in the future and it’s on your mind, make a plan. Schedule the time where you can be present with yourself to organize all that needs to be organized so that you’re not rushed.If the past is bothering you, make a plan. Decide if it’s worth it to resolve the problem or not? Talk it out or don’t? Dedicate time for those questions and then, decide what to do. If you decide you can’t/won’t do anything, let it go.Our thoughts are indicatorsThoughts that take us out of the present are just indicators that we need to create time to plan and address the thoughts. They are not reasons to take you away from the beauty of the moment.

I have been asking myself lots of career questions. Perhaps you’ve asked yourself these questions to?What does a career look like?Who am I really serving?How might I do more?Why must I follow the linear path?What if my life was a bunch of questions?What is a career for?To serve others and help them solve their problems so that they’ll be more effective. In turn, the people you help will give you a means to sustain yourself.Perhaps a career is nothing more than a string of projects that grow in complexity? With each new project comes the growth of new skills which can be leveraged for the next project.I tend to enjoy this thinking because it gives me the freedom to be open to new ideas and new jobs. But, not everyone likes it. In fact, it can be hard for employers to see someone like me as someone who can help them. It’s hard to pivot.How to effectively pivot?Think like a marketer.What skills have we acquired through our work can be leveraged to help someone else? And,How might we show the people we seek to serve that we have the skills they need in a way they understand?In my experience, the challenge is never “will I find a job?” The challenge really is, “will I find the right job?” And you will find the right job when you know how to answer the top two questions.QuestionsQuestions create the tension needed for action. They encourage us to think blue sky, focus in, or question the foundations upon which we do what we do.In business, you see leaders more and more trying to ask better questions. But in life, what you and I live each day, we don’t see it often enough.Your life will be a collection of questions. What if I went to law school? What if I could be a teacher? How might I create a community? Don’t stop asking yourself these questions - pursue them. See where the exploration take you.oh… happy belated 25th birthday to cousin Kelly ;-)

What is culture? What does it mean to develop a culture?A definition for culture, and there are many, is: “people like us do things like this.“People like us, students of being better versions of ourselves to serve others, are open minded to new ideas. That’s the culture of someone like us. But what if I was a team manager?People like us, people on this team, celebrate micro-wins every day because we know that a war is won through many tiny victories. But what if I was thinking about my friends?People like us, friends, earnestly make efforts to see each other and share our lives with one another. But if what if…?Culture happens first at the micro-level, in small groups - pairs, cohorts, families, friends, neighborhoods. Then, it expands.If you want to create a team culture, then you and your team get to answer this question: What are the things that people like us do? And who do we serve?Once you have the answer, the next step is to decide to do it.Once you have do it, and repeat it, and improve it, you will have created a culture.

Have you noticed that Kermit the Frog, much like Winnie the Pooh, has an ability to bring on a smile?When I think of the Rainbow Connection it’s almost impossible for me not to smile, not to shed a light tear, and not to think about the wonder and awe of being a child - free to question and free to explore.Questions are our ability to wonder and be curious. Through our curiosity a tension is created. The kind of tension that invites us to action. What if we ended work one hour early, what would we do? What if we could spend one hour today do something that brought us a simple joy? Would you do it?I challenge you to take 3 minutes and 14 seconds today to listen to Rainbow Connection. When you look at the lyrics, the song is a serious of generous questions that invites the listener to doubt conventional wisdom and what they’ve been told and enroll into the possibility of something more. Consider the questions presented:Why are there so many songs about rainbows? What’s on the other side?Who said that every wish would be heard and answered when wished on a morning star?What’s so amazing that keeps us stargazing? What do we think we might see?Have you been half asleep? Have you heard voices?Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailor?It seems a simple entry, but truly this entry might be one of the most important ones I write yet. I believe that because my life has been a series of questions and explorations. Never settling on an answer, but always looking for the invitation to explore what’s next - hope; the sweet sound that calls the young sailor.Stay curious.

Skepticism is doubt.Is this really the right way to go?Is this really what we’re doing?What if there was another way?Are you sure?If you are doing this, you are not doing that; why aren’t you doing that?Doubt creates friction.What if I don’t do that?What if it’s not the right way to go?What if there is no other way?Friction invites you to act.What are you going to do now?When will you do it?How will you do it?How might you leverage skepticism and skeptics?Skepticism helps you reinforce your “why”. It focuses your intention.Forces you to commit. Doubt creates friction creates an invitation to act creates commitment.Is that last gut check helping you consider all available data before you commit. ?Know all the things you can, and then decide.I grew up with two lawyers for parents, so my introduction to skepticism wasn’t entirely positive. But, now older, I have a deeper appreciation. In fact, I might be more skeptical than not. In fact… I believe skepticism is a powerful force for making change happen. How?Because when I resolve to do something now, I can feel confident in myself that I have considered it.Leverage your skepticism and your doubt to make change happen.Feel confident in yourself and your decisions.Make things better for those you serve.

I recently launched a program to help customers see the value of using the software - I work for a software company now. The program was for showing that more is possible if you choose to act. We knew why were we doing it, but we had a hard time figuring out, “did this work?“What was so difficult?It wasn’t collecting data. We had lots of data.What was the challenge was pursuing the right data point.What was the data point that helped us tell our story? Was it the trend of how many people logged in? Did that increase? How do we make an apples-to-apples comparison against the people who did not use that program? Oh wait, that data doesn’t work.Figuring out what to build is half the fun. The other half is figuring out how you will tell the story that what built made the change you sought to make.Don’t forget to do the second half before you start building!

Alice, from Alice in Wonderland, did not fall down the rabbit hole because she knew what was down the rabbit hole. She fell down the rabbit hole because she was curious. She had a question. What is down the rabbit hole?Asking the right question invites us to go down the rabbit hole and discover. Discoveries upend our concept of homeostasis - they are agents of chaos.You can’t make change happen unless you’re willing to roll up sleeves, get a bit dirty, and see where rabbit hole takes you.Like the Walrus, I enjoy contemplating why the sea may be boiling hot, or whether pigs have wings.

Being on the hook is a generous feeling.On the hook you are accountable.On the hook all eyes are on you.On the hook you could fail.On the hook you could win.There’s a generous tension that pulls at you asking, “are you sure you want to do this? what if you’re wrong?“Well what if I’m right? What if I’m happy? What if making that decision actually helps myself and others? What if I learn something about myself? What if I become a more confident version of me?Too often we’re afraid of being wrong, not having a net to catch us, or unsure of how others react.Not often enough are concerns for our happiness, and what that happiness means for us, and how we might use that to help others.What we’re on the hook for is not what could go wrong, but what we will do when things go right.

“A leader must make whatever horror exists concrete. Only then will people be able to break it apart.” - Abraham Lincoln. Imagine a moment when someone you trusted announced a change. Perhaps they were leaving? Perhaps someone passed away? Perhaps there is a separation? Perhaps someone let someone down? Now imagine what it’s like to be the person receiving that message.What happened?Did I do something?What does this mean for me?What am I going to do?Who’s going to take care of me?What about my family?Does this impact my bonus? What about our home? Our car? Our pool? It’s possible that we go through that process of frantic inquiry because we’re afraid. We don’t know what’s going to follow and suddenly our foundation feels weak. So what can that person we trust, that leader, do? Define the fear. That leader can say:Someone is leaving. I get that this is shocking/frustrating/sad/(insert emotion here) news for you. I imagine others feel the same as you now. That means the following will happen….This is what it means for you now… This is what this might mean for you in the future… Here’s what you can do now to find out more. Here’s what we are doing now to help people like you who are concerned about ___.As a leader, I spend most of my time helping people define fear. Using questions to help them uncover the truth behind what’s going on. If you, a leader yourself, can do that more and more, you’ll find that your team will come together and bond stronger than those that don’t. Define the fear.Give people something to hold on to. Tether them to the truth.

Don’t forget to give yourself time to play this week.That’s something we don’t do enough.Play.