I watched them tearing a building down, A gang of men in a busy town. With a ho-heave-ho and lusty yell, They swung a beam, and a sidewall fell. I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled, The men you’d hire if you had to build?” He gave me a laugh and said, “No indeed! Just common labor is all I need. I can easily wreck in a day or two What builders have taken a year to do.” And I thought to myself as I went my way, Which of these two roles have I tried to play? Am I a builder who works with care, Measuring life by the rule and square? Am I shaping my deeds by Read more…

  Our expectation for perfection in ourselves on a daily basis is killing us. We can like others for who they are when we don’t expect them to be perfect. The same is true with ourselves. When we give up the expectation for our own perfection, we start to like who we are. In today’s perfect filtered world, we see hundreds of images a day of those perfect moments in others’ lives. We layer in our own lives expectations of perfection. While it is fair to strive for greatness, we need to understand it is a process. The funny thing about greatness is the only road there is full of imperfection. The only way to become great is to build Read more…

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, People will forget what you did, But people will never forget how you made them feel. -Maya Angelou People will never forget how you made them feel. This is my all-time favorite quote. Maya Angelou gives the basis of how we think about the need for leadership as a parent. Parent leadership is how you make those within your influence feel about themselves. How you empower others is parentship. Think about those special people who have influenced your life. Most of the time, you don’t remember many of the things they said, but you can remember how they made you feel. Maybe they believed in you when no one else did. Read more…

Progress in life is as simple as doing the next right thing. Do I get inspired by Disney princesses!?! I am human, right?! I have a heart, right?!? You bet I get inspired by Disney princesses! In the second Frozen movie, our hero Anna sings a song when she is lost and does not have much hope. The song is The Next Right Thing. A simple theme with a powerful message on hope and personal progression. Life is a series of choices that lead to a series of actions. Our actions lead to our habits, and our habits determine the type of person we will become. The type of person we become determines what we bring into our lives. Life Read more…

Marriage is hard. Divorce is hard. Choose your hard. Raising kids is hard. Building loving relationships is hard. Choose your hard. Being in debt is hard. Being financially disciplined is hard. Choose your hard. Communication is hard. Not communicating is hard. Choose your hard. Life will never be easy. It will always be hard. But we can choose our hard. Picky wisely.   Success in life and family is hard. Nothing worthwhile will ever be easy because success is never given. We have to earn it every day. The great thing about this life that can be hard is we get to choose our hard. Ultimately our success is up to one person, and that is the person in the Read more…