Have perseverance in everything you do

My wife bought a new toy for our six-year-old grandson, Liam, during a shopping trip today. This evening, as soon as I walked through the door, Liam wanted me to work on this project with him. It was a small dinosaur skeleton, separated into pieces and encased in an egg-shaped, hard plaster shell. The package […]

Think before you speak

I have previously blogged about my exchange with Ronald, a very professional and engaging entrepreneur with whom I spoke at the PaymentsFirst conference in Birmingham. He told me a story that I have to relay here. Ronald was going through the drive-through at a local fast-food restaurant. When he pulled up to the window, a […]

Don’t leave decisions up to Chance

Browsing through an open market in Charleston, South Carolina, today, I came across this item for sale:       It is called a “Decision-Maker.” There is a pendulum under the influence of a magnet that swings across a series of words: “Never,” “Always,” “Yes,” “No,” and “Maybe.” It is a novelty item, a gimmick obviously […]

A Chat with Ronald

On December 11th, I had a Grounded keynote address in Birmingham for PaymentsFirst, a non-profit payments association. My talk was not until 1:15, so I was chillin’ in the vendor area and I noticed a shoeshine station. It turns out PaymentsFirst had sponsored free shoe shines. I decided I would love a shoe shine and walked […]

My great nephew: A Young, Grounded Millennial

I had lunch today with my great nephew. He is thirteen years old and lives in the San Diego area with his parents and an older sister. He is a soccer fanatic and pretty good player. And he’s Grounded. He is articulate, well read, inquisitive, and extremely courteous. He asks questions–really, really good questions. Questions that make me […]

Navy Seals discuss Good Leadership

I viewed an extremely powerful video from Facebook, check it out here. The video shows two Navy Seal veterans talking about the qualities that make one a good leader. You might think the difference between a good and a poor leader is mental toughness or lack of physical ability. Nope––not even close. In the video, they […]

What made you happy today?

I saw this sign today in a diner in central North Carolina: I understand the sentiment of the sign, but I immediately thought how small and limiting it would be if you in fact adopted that attitude. Assuming you sleep for eight hours, you have 57,600 seconds of time each day. And you are probably doing something […]