ENCOURAGEMENTS Blog

Have you ever coached a vine? I’ve recently started to coach some wisteria flowering vines at our house.  We have two of them: one old, mature and established, the other younger, less established and less mature. The mature vine is positioned to grow in two different directions: along the small pergola at the front of the garage, and along the …

“Son, untie those shoes before you get into them or you’re going to ruin them!”.  I can still hear my dad’s voice in the deep recesses of my mind when I put on my shoes in the morning. Hands up, how many of you heard your dad say something along those lines when you were a kid? Remember when you …

We seem to be fixated with money in our culture.  Hey, I’m an entrepreneurial capitalist, I don’t think money is evil.  I don’t begrudge the generation of money and monetary wealth.  However, I do think the love of money can lead to a lot of nasty business. Money is a way we keep score.  Money and net worth are ways …

The seas were very rough, some would say too rough to be out in.  It was raining, but not just a heavy rain, it was a tropical deluge. The boat they were in was a 25’ fiberglass rowboat powered by 2, 40 horsepower outboard motors.  They were pounding through the waves with the boat slamming down mercilessly into the trough …

They spotted me. I could hear their leader barking out orders, “Bravo Charlie – bogie 10:00, move!  Surround and terminate!” What the…what’s going on?!  My two fellow combatants immediately ran away.  They were not up to a fight with these guys. Before I knew it, I was all alone. Being alone was bad enough, but by the time I thought …

“You said you wanted to know how to get Capone.  Do you really want to get him?  You see what I’m saying?  What are you prepared to do?” “Everything within the law.”, replied Ness. “And then what are you prepared to do?…You must be prepared to go all the way because they won’t give up the fight until one of …

He’s now a black belt. Just the term “black belt” conjures up certain images in your mind doesn’t it? “Disciplined and dangerous” are terms that come to mind for me.  I picture someone who is incredibly dedicated and disciplined, and because of that they’re now very dangerous – for good.  Don’t mess with a black belt. The amount of time …

Are you a sports fan?  Many people are, many people aren’t.  Even if you’re not a sports fan you probably know the difference between a team sport and an individual sport. Team sports are played by a team of players against another team of players: hockey, soccer, rugby, basketball, baseball, and football are all fairly well-known team sports.  Individual sports …

Incredible.  Unbelievable.  Astounding.  Flabbergasting.  Shocking.  As the English would say, I was “gobsmacked”.  Actually to be honest, I was a little freaked out. How on earth was he able to do this?  I couldn’t come up with any rational explanation for how he could do what he just did.  I couldn’t process what I was seeing and hearing.  What he …

I was reminded recently, by a past employee of my marketing agency, of our mantra for client meetings.  This was something I tried to instill in all of my team to keep in mind whenever we were speaking with a client. The timing of my former employee’s reminder was particularly apropos as I was in the midst of experiencing what …