Tree ringed coffee mugs

There is only one letter of difference in the spelling of the words "laughter" and "slaughter".  Yet their meanings are vastly different.  This reminds me of the often weighed tension of judging events as a blessing or a curse.

Hearsay says that the grass is always greener on the other side, but I met someone who has been there, and they said that grass was too much upkeep.

I started collecting coffee mugs so that I can sip down the memories from my life after I'm too old to do anything else.

Rule at life rule #49

If you're not enjoying a book stop reading it.  There are too many millions of books in the world to drag your eyes through a lemon.

Whether it's a blessing or a curse is debatable

Whether it's a blessing or a curse is debatable.  I'm a planner, a thinker, and obsessor.

Failures and successes rarely catch me by surprise, as there are few angles I don't consider before they happen.

My counselor asked me why do you give power to these fantasies?  I think he was patronizing me.

He said life is like a game of chess, and you needn't need consider your next move until life has made its next move.

Rule at life rule #28

Leave the party last.  You'll have a better chance of scoring leftovers.

The first time I used my magic wand

Realtors have a magical key that gets them into any house in the entire world.  I've never seen Harry Potter, but I'm guessing the Realtor key is basically the equivalent of Harry's wand.

When I first got my Real Estate key I was extremely excited to put my snazzy new powers to use.  All I needed was someone to show houses to.

Fast forward a couple weeks, and Christmas had finally come in the form of a phone call from an old co-worker.

What!  You want me to show you a house?!

No... said Travis, I actually need you to let me into a house... my house... that's already for sale... that I'm locked out of.


Oh.

Now this wasn't the picturesque first magical key use I'd been dreaming of.  I even almost said no.

Milking Conferences

I'm not talking about conferences on milking (Do those exist?), I'm taking about getting the most out of a conference.

I've heard it said, "Education without implementation is just plain entertainment."

Information overload is a polite description of the intensity I've experienced at most conferences.

I've been reflecting on this since returning from a 2 day conference last week, wondering how do I best make sense of all the madness?

I realized the key for me is going 3 deep:

Level one: Letting the stuff hit me as it comes, scribbling notes like a mad man as I do my best imitation of a sponge during the actual conference.

My wife knows more about cars than I do

A car enthusiast was showing my wife and I some photos of some cars he was working on.  I admitted to him that Esther knows much more about cars than I do.

He asked if that was ever embarrassing.

mmmh, I shoulder shrugged a "whatever" response.

In hindsight, I really like the fact that Esther knows more about cars than me.

I like that we each know more about different things.  Not everything we know and are interested in are completely predictable cliche's.

Men are supposed to like football and know more about cars, and woman are supposed to cook and scrapbook.  That's fine if that's what you're into, but I think a lot of people are just insecure about breaking away from cultural expectations.

It's often easier to listen to the voice of others rather than your own.

Storyline, thoughts on living a spicier life

Clarifying something worthy of pursuing with your life will make your life into a better story, and therefore a better life.

This is the main idea I took away from "Storyline", founded by "Blue Like Jazz" author Don Miller.  Whether you encounter Storyline through a conference (like I recently did in San Diego), the book, or a small group, Storyline is all about helping people live better stories.                                                              
         

                                                    "The stories we live effect others.  

When you have a clear plan, people are inspired." -Don Miller

Don Miller

The main example Don used to not focus your life on, was something trivial, such as buying a Volvo.  If someone's main goal in life is buying a Volvo, and they work overtime and save up money to buy one, that's really not a very interesting story, or an interesting life.


"Some people are waiting to see what God does, but what if he's waiting to see what you do?" -Allison Vesterfelt



Now the people that spoke at the conference with the spotlight shining on them were leading naturally spicy lives.  That is to say, they were doing remarkably interesting things.  Starting schools to reform witch doctors, having 500 people over for dinner, having breakfast with Mel Gibson to discuss their screenplay "Braveheart", etc.