My wife and I recently bought a house in Franklin, Tennessee.
There were other houses that were available that were bigger.
There were other houses available that were newer.
But we chose a smaller, older house. Why?
A few months ago I had the opportunity to have a few conversations with a guy named Bob Goff. Donald Miller wrote about him in his latest book and he spoke at Catalyst in LA so you might be familiar with him. He’s an amazing guy and I’ll probably mention him a billion times in the months ahead on this blog.
One of the things we talked about was the challenge of balancing your family and your job and your dreams. The question I walked away from that particular conversation is simple but powerful:
A few months ago, the cable that controls the back hatch in our car broke. I’d like to think it was because I’m getting so huge lately and I opened it too hard in a burst of unexpected strength. It was probably just old.
So for a few days, we couldn’t get in the back of our SUV because the handle wouldn’t work.
Last night we did a live video chat from my house. (Big thank you to everyone who joined in!) It was a great time talking about everything from writing to Quitter, marriage to Gordo’s cheese dip.
Segue.
My wife says I remind her of Phil Dunphy from the ABC show “Modern Family.” At first I doubted her until Way FM and Total Axxess put together a side by side of us. (I’ll be on today at 4PM Central.)
Check the stripes, the black shirt and the stairs after the jump:
The other day I took a photo of one of my bookshelves in my office. After the jump is the photo, what each book is and why it’s on the shelf.
I love Trader Joe’s. I consider them to be like the younger cousin of Whole Foods, that cousin who you always want at parties and is probably is great at Frisbee.
Their prices are cheap, their food is delicious and the employees are always spectacularly interesting.
But when we moved to Nashville we realized something was missing in our new Trader Joes’s. Something our entire family had grown to love. What was it?
I hate asking people for favors. I am horrible at it. Whenever someone tries to encourage me by saying, “What’s the worst that could happen, they say, ‘no?’” I think to myself, “Yes, that is exactly the worst thing that could happen. In the world.”
I would sooner stand on the stage in front of 8,000 people than ask one friend or contact for a favor. That terrifies me, possibly because I want everyone to like me and I struggle with affirmation. Hard to say.
But in promoting my new book Quitter, which pre-releases today, I will have to ask lots of people for favors. In fact two weeks ago, I asked three people for their endorsement, which felt like a big “ask” for me. And here’s what I learned about doing things you’re afraid of:
The other day a friend asked me if I preferred to speak from stage using paper notes or an iPad?
In general, if I use notes, I prefer a piece of paper laid on a table somewhere. But what about an iPad? Am I being old fashioned with paper?
Here are what I think are the pros and cons of speaking from an iPad on stage: