Archive • Weekly Wisdom • Buttondown

Perseverance or Resilience?

January 19, 2025

Perseverance and resilience are often used interchangeably, but they play very different roles in how we deal with what life throws our way. Let me explain....

What kind of leader are you?

January 17, 2025

Leadership isn’t just about titles or responsibilities—it’s about how you naturally move through the world, make decisions, and inspire others. Whether you...

January 12, 2025

I’ve been spending time with some daily devotional readings, and this past week, one of them offered a set of questions that stopped me in my tracks: Have...

Unique + Useful.

January 6, 2025

I believe every person has something to offer—an idea, a skill, a perspective. Something uniquely their own. But I also know for a fact that: only a few rise...

January 1, 2025

In Celtic tradition, there’s a beautiful and profound understanding of love and friendship. At the heart of this tradition is the concept of anam cara, which...

True Spirituality

December 16, 2024

I get asked a lot about what I believe. It happens in conversations online, during talks, and in workshops on the road. Honestly, my favorite time to answer...

Making Today Count: A Practical Guide for Your Best Year Yet

December 13, 2024

Here’s a punch list to help make 2025 your best year yet. I don’t know where you’re at today—whether you’re hitting a wall or still trying to figure out what...

24 things '24 taught me.

December 7, 2024

“Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it, listen for what it intends to do with you. Before you tell your life what truths and values you...

12 years running.

November 30, 2024

This Sunday marks the start of December—just 31 days left in 2024. That’s 31 chances to finish strong and set the stage for an incredible 2025. If you’ve...

November 27, 2024

There are just five Sundays left in 2024. Five opportunities to slow down, step back, and reconnect with what matters most. Five chances to honor the sacred...

On our toughest days.

November 25, 2024

In the words of de Chardin, “...to those who can see, nothing is profane.” This includes our hardest days. The ones where we feel defeated, alone, broken,...

November 17, 2024

Confession: I’ve been struggling with writing this week. I lost a close friend last Tuesday. Someone who loved me. Challenged me. Encouraged me. Saw me....

Sarcasm, resentment, and revenge.

November 11, 2024

I have to keep an eye on myself as I get older—not let cynicism get the best of me. If I’m honest, it’s easy to lose faith in people, in institutions, and...

The DNA of Successful Leaders

November 5, 2024

Success is subjective. Your scorecard is probably different than mine. True story. But what isn’t subjective are the traits, the qualities, and the practices...

Befriend the simplicity of your life.

October 26, 2024

I recently heard this beautiful quote: “Befriend the simplicity of your life.” That’s an invitation to pause, isn’t it? To step away from the noise, the...

Embracing the in-between.

October 21, 2024

There’s a moment in every leader’s journey when you find yourself at a crossroads. The familiar path stretches behind you, comfortable yet stagnant. Ahead,...

October's a free-for-all.

October 14, 2024

Fun fact: October wasn’t renamed when the Romans switched to a 12-month calendar. They tried renaming months after emperors, but October stuck. Funny thing...

Repost: Finish Well.

September 16, 2024

How you finish this year is how you'll begin 2025. True story. And because of that, I want to offer a little guidance to help you gain the clarity and focus...

Personal Philosophies.

September 9, 2024

I have three mantras I live by: People Matter Most. Work Is Good For Your Soul. Your Best Days Are Ahead Of You. These mantras reflect essential parts of who...

12 Habits for Leading Well.

September 1, 2024

Leadership starts with you. More specifically, within you. The first person we lead is ourselves. True story. Before we can inspire others, we’ve got to get...

Your internal compass.

August 26, 2024

"Only the tiniest fraction of mankind want freedom. All the rest want someone to tell them they are free." - Poetic Outlaws These words cut right to the...

The War Within.

August 20, 2024

In his best-selling book, Stage II Recovery, addiction counselor and pioneering author Earnie Larson describes recovery as nothing less than a civil war...

August 13, 2024

Life runs deeper than we often realize. True story. For me, the constant busyness and the rush of everyday life can distract me from slowing down and truly...

August as a slingshot.

A few weeks back, I had a coaching session with a young client about living with greater intention as we move through the last third of the year. We're both...

Healthy. Wealthy. Wise.

I’m pretty sure that the idea of a good life can’t just be summed up with the pursuit of health, wealth, and happiness. For starters, a pursuit sounds like a...

15 (must have) soft skills.

Forbes recently tapped into the wisdom of their Coaches Council—a diverse panel of experts in leadership—and compiled a list of 15 essential soft skills for...

Stop Your Yapping

Confession: I hate small talk. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m not very good at it or if those superficial conversations lack depth. One thing I am certain...

Who gets access to you?

A few years ago, one of my favorite clients asked me to give a keynote talk on excellence at their annual meeting. While preparing, I came up with a simple...

10 cheat codes for selling.

Once upon a time, a global conglomerate paid yours truly tens of thousands of dollars to create an advanced sales training manual. This little manual went on...

A handful of life-affirming truths.

I believe that most of the world runs on fear. Which is why I strive to live the opposite in my daily affairs. In my own journey on this spinning ball of...

Crazy as it sounds, learning to let go is one of the easiest things to understand and one of the hardest decisions to make. People hang on for lots of...

A few thoughts on the inward journey.

For most of my life, I've lived with the tension of being a sensitive soul in a competitive world. Growing up, if I couldn't live up to an ideal, I'd simply...

Thoughts on a fruitful life.

There’s this passage in the New Testament that talks about the fruit of the Spirit. It’s written by the Apostle Paul. He lays out what a Spiritually fruitful...

You little dog, you.

As I keep ticking off years on the calendar, I find myself constantly vigilant against the creeping cynicism. It's so much simpler, isn't it? Easier to cast...

Three game-changing qualities for influence.

"You can't give people what you don't have." Those words might sound simple, and familiar. But if you put pen to paper and really meditate on them for a...

Your beautiful weaknesses.

One of the most damaging and liberating memories I have from growing up was my dad sitting me down at about the age of 14 and telling me I was wasting my...

Fear is a liar. Vol. 3

Fear is a driving force for a lot of folks. Quitting on good ideas. Hitting eject when the going gets tough. A popular sentiment circulating online...

List: 19 truths from the past 19 years of coaching.

The first company I ever started, I named, Orbiting Normal. It was a little wink at the fact that all of us are a little bit off. True story. Back then, I...

List: Twenty-four ideas for the rest of '24.

Lists are a cheatsheet for our brains. True story. They give us structure, clarity, and help us filter what works and what doesn’t pretty quickly. So here’s...

Love-bombing is a term that's been gaining traction lately, and for good reason. While it might sound like something out of an airport-rack romance novel,...

On Handling Criticism (with a bit of grace).

I think I was 7 or 8 years old when it happened. I was staying at my friend Ed’s house, a beautiful two-story Colonial in the upscale part of our little town...

Faith and Hard Work.

Faith is the spiritual word for trust. It isn't some abstract concept floating around out there in the ether. Faith is the currency of belief that fuels our...

See through things.

Most people find satisfaction in just watching events unfold. But, there's a handful who invest their precious time, energy and attention to look underneath...

The Power of Quiet Success.

In today's world, where celebrity and social media reign supreme, there's an old saying that's often overlooked: "Don't let your left hand know what your...

Surviving vs thriving.

I've heard it said that, "How we see the world is how we see ourselves." And, visa versa. There's heaps of truth to this sentiment. Personally, when I feel...

Boundaries, beliefs and bellybuttons.

I've been on a handful of calls the past few weeks around the same issue: emotional regulation. Specifically, a couple of different tone deaf souls in...

Rethinking Burnout.

We're all going to experience burnout at some point in our lives.Burnout is when we lose our joy, want-to, and personal identity professionally. Maybe you've...

A quick lesson on high-impact selling.

Trust, my friends, is the cornerstone of any relationship. There's all this chatter about being a "trusted advisor", especially in sales. Here's the kicker:...

Teambuilding Secrets.

February 29, 2024

People are messy. If you don't start there as a leader, you're gonna have your heart broken, go stark-raving-mad, or think there's something really really...

The most important thing about communication.

February 21, 2024

Back when I was in grad school, I had this incredible opportunity to soak up wisdom from one of the most captivating speakers I've ever encountered. This...