Lessons from 2015

Don't force anything except a hill run. Not ideas, not friendships, not writing, not commitments.

Allow yourself to sync up with your own rhythm.  Push when you're strong, back off when you're not.

If you feel the creative flow coming, block your ears and pay attention.

If you're angry, or more accurately, irritated, eat a meal and get some sleep.  

Time spent with a friend is always worth whatever you had to "sacrifice."  Blow off chores and work if it means more quality time with a good friend.  You (and they) probably need it more than your chores need to get done.  

Celebrate the good things you have, it's much more fun than freaking the fuck out over the bad that happens.

Not everyone will like your favorite book (Blood Meridian.) Use that as confirmation.

Standing by a friend in need feels pretty good, 'specially when the chips are down for them.  

Coffee makes most mornings even better.

Sugar is poison. Well, excess sugar, anyway.

You don't have to eat a lot to run a lot, at least while you're running.

Technology doesn’t make you faster or better, even though that sly bitch promises the world.  Performance is up to you.

Spending time in the wild is essential to my happiness.  The mountains of the American West are my idea of heaven.

Drinking beer does me no good, except when a business opportunity comes up. Then I have a two drink limit.

Don’t think a pot on a slow boil overnight will make broth, it’ll just evaporate the water, burn everything in the pot and you’ll wake up to a smoked out house.

I wasn’t quite as good at selling as I thought I was.  

It’s not always profitable to be honest about someone else’s failings, but when I’m driven solely by profit my life becomes absolutely miserable.  Far better to shoot straight and miss a business opportunity than to spend time blowing people you don’t like just to make a buck.  

Children are the joy I remember them being.  I'd forgotten that for a few years.

Don’t stop reaching out to people you want to hang out with; sometimes their life is spiraling and they need you but don’t want to call back.  Just keep calling.

Not everybody has a partner as good as mine. Try to remember that more often.

Don’t follow the money unless you’re investigating something.  Follow the joy and you’ll find it.

• Digging Deeper, Part I
• Digging Deeper, Part II
• On Quality
• Strategy & Ability