Welcome to Filling Buckets Friday where every Friday I give you a testimony explaining my own efforts to filling my highest priorities - what I like to call “buckets”. One of my highest priorities is improving my mental capacity and perspective by reading. My goal this year is to read a book per week. Actually my goal every year is to read a book per week. The first year I started this goal I only finished 33 books. The second year I continued this goal I maxed out at 45 books. I hope you see the progression towards the magic number of 52, but I haven't reached it yet. We will definitely see if 2020 is THE year. On that note, I am currently reading a book written by Michael Caine. The book is called “Blowing the Bloody Doors Off”. The premise of the title was from a lesson he learned while acting. A great actor does not perform to blow the entire car up (figuratively). Instead, the goal is to blow the doors off. What that means is a great performance shouldn’t be too grandiose but just enough. I haven't finished the book yet, but so far it has been pretty interesting. A big part of that is because I can hear his voice narrating the words. He has that thick British accent I remember from his role in the Batman series as Alfred. He was also in Inception, the Kingsman series, and the list goes on. In this particular part of the book, he explains a bit of advice from the only director who has ever fired him. This director fired Michael very early in his career because of a movie scene where he was to portray a drunk character. The director thought that Michael was too much of a sober person trying to be more drunk. What he wanted was a drunk trying to be more normal. This advice has stuck with me ever since I first put eyes on it, and I’m sharing it with you because it’s applicable in all areas of life. Imagine that you are the actor whose responsibility is to convince the audience that you are drunk. Your strategy might be to walk around in zig-zags and talk with slurred speech so that no one can make out what you’re saying. Maybe you'll play a rude belligerent alcoholic that drinks more vodka than water. Rather than go that route, the advice is to be uncontrollably drunk attempting to walk a straight line, mustering up a complete sentence, or searching desperately for something to drink (the thirst gets real when you’re drunk). Think of a guilty drunk driver trying to pass a sobriety test with Mr. Police Officer when pulled over. I’m sure most of us have been drunk before (hopefully not dealing with the sobriety test). When the right amount of shots hit you (for me, it’s just one), the rest of the night is dedicated to convincing everyone at the bar or party that you’re “good”. Then you lose your shit in the bushes or right before you hit the toilet, if you even get that far. Here’s why this advice hit me so hard. Instead of acting like a drunk alcoholic, let’s play the role of someone happy. So the question becomes, do we act as ourselves trying to be happy, or should we be happy acting more of ourselves? The answer should be obvious, but in reality most of us have it wrong. We think that in order to be happy we should follow in the footsteps of other people who are and how they came to be. By doing that, we develop habits that are not effective for us, misplace our attention, and adopt other people's vision of happiness. No wonder why it’s so much easier to experience disappointment with all of these bad habits we can’t kick. We should live our days as more of ourselves learning how to speak more clearly and openly, shaking off the bad habits, pushing away the negative influences, and correcting the vision that isn’t ours. The director’s advice was just to act more like yourself and you’ll be better off. Have a great day.

Welcome to Buckets.blog. Today’s episode and conversation is with a longtime friend of mine, Greg. Greg and I have shared many experiences since the early days of college. Actually, now that I think about it, Greg and I were never in college at the same time. Greg was the cool and wise alumni, and I was the naïve undergrad. He’d come back for random visits to out-think me and out-drink me. Greg, among many individuals, guided me through the many challenges of college (and life), prioritizing things that actually matter, and maintaining great relationships old and new. I remember Greg as the go-to quarterback for intramural sports. He was the leader of the bunch, always held his composure even when scrambling from the enemy, and knew when and where to put the ball so the right person could get to the in-zone. This memory of Greg, it turns out, is not related to football at all. This is who he is and what he does for the people around him - a true leader, level-headed, guiding those in-need to their successful futures, on and off the field. Life can easily get in the way especially out of college when you get a career. We are in two different cities living two different lives, but our friendship always remains the same. We always pick up wherever we left off from any conversation no matter how long ago we last connected. Hopefully, you’ll see that when you listen to the episode. I hope you learn something from Greg as I have through this episode, and come back for more. - This concludes the episode and conversation that I had with Greg. I learned a lot about his buckets from where religion falls into our lives to how we fall in love with our friends and families. We’ll go across the world with them, or just over to the next town, as long as we can spend happy times with them. I found out about his secret interest in musicals which coincidentally I’ve been in a few during high school. I guess that makes me his idol? Yep, sounds right.

He taught me that gratitude must be practiced every day to be happy. It’s not something you can keep searching for until you’re thankful for what you’ve already found. Cheers to him, and thanks for listening. Have a great day.

This speech was given by President Theodore Roosevelt on April 23, 1910. It goes like this: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” The man in the arena.

Welcome to the show. Today’s episode and conversation is with a longtime friend of mine, Jonas. Jonas was a big man turned strong. He used his previous moments of depression to empower his mind and change his body. He has been addicted to improvement ever since. I can definitely see why. His heart is still big because his intentions have grown much stronger to help influence the lives of others. He is a man of many trades from EMT to visual artist to podcaster to manager and weight lifter. The list goes on. I’ve known him for 13 years not because of those trades but rather his ability to be himself at all times. Authenticity is a real superpower believe it or not - one he uses with full force. In this conversation, he reminds me that this superpower should be practiced and tested every day. Whether it be in the gym, at work, or when your work is the gym, he uses the superpower to move others (and weights). Like any superhero, regardless of the mask and cape they need to wear for work, he is still just an ordinary man with a superhuman will to save people. He and I both agree that saving others helps save ourselves. Whether it be in Houston or New York, I always find joy in talking to him on such a deeper level, although it doesn’t happen quite enough. We know many of the same people, or should I say many of our same people know him? He’s a popular man. I can honestly say I learned more about Jonas in this one-hour conversation than I have ever known in the past. That speaks volumes in the value of these conversations, or it speaks volumes of what a terrible friend I am for not knowing much at all. Either way, I hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as I did and learn from it as much as I have. Have a great day.

“Father, Fraud, Failure” by Roger D. -

The father who can’t provide, the fraud convincing others I’m not a failure / All these labels seem fitting, though I can’t afford a tailor / Do as I do, believe what I say, maybe I’m the enabler / Stuck on my own path, stuck to my guns, unable to waver / Never was the big spender but with all these bills … I’m definitely not a saver / Three months before my wife hits labor / And It’s been three months, since I set out to be the trailblazer / I’m no mentor, no coach, can barely control my own behavior / No hero, no leader, sitting in the dark waiting for my own Savior / What do I have to show for it? Really? / Podcast no one listens to, blogs no one reads / No likes? No follows? Subscribe, no one’s willing? / Maybe all those people were right to think that I was silly / Who am I to believe that I'll succeed - even if it kills me / Only myself to blame, no wonder why I feel so guilty / What do I have to show for it? Nothing at all / No profit? No fame? Just 50 calls? / Well .. that’s 50 more conversations to play, repeat, and pause / Those were my words I put on timelines and Facebook walls / Those were my steps I put in for marathons while nipples go raw

That was me pushing pedals sucking fumes from your car exhaust

Strapped on the 50-lb vest and went for a dozen-mile walk / 1500 squats, 1000 push-ups, 500 pulls-ups, all with no chalk / Those were my choices I made without the approval from y’all / So what do I have to show for it? Did I succeed? / I learned valuable lessons that re-evaluate what we all need / I became a better father, more calm without the extra puff of weed / I’m not a fraud because I never claimed to have success … or the key / Just wanted you to live freely, learn more about you by peeling / Back the layers of your intellectual so I could help you raise the ceiling / Of your limitations, re-think your paper chasin’, and give you a little bit of healing / Like Marvin Gaye without the sexual / Remind you that you have more control / of your cards than what life is revealing.

Good morning everyone! Welcome to the Buckets Project. Today's conversation and episode is with my brother Robert. There's a lesson that I learned that says everybody should have three  types of people in their lives. Because I am an ex-engineer, it's only appropriate that I put some math in here. Plus. Equal. Minus. What that translates to is that everyone should have in their lives a person they seek guidance from, a person they can compete with and share experiences with, and the person they can provide guidance to. Robert is definitely the “plus” in my life. He has achieved at 35-years old what many of us hope to achieve at 65-years old.  Normally I would say what we hope to achieve is retirement and financial freedom, but after this conversation I changed my mind. What we hope to achieve and what he has achieved is the ability to successfully set a goal and maintain the focus to achieve that goal regardless of circumstance. As I navigate through these Buckets conversations, I start to see more of how rare this skill is especially when it comes to very very large goals like retiring early. The majority of the population knows what it takes to achieve such a large goal, but very few of them have the discipline and focus to achieve that goal. Life finds a way to get in the way. Therefore, it is inspiring to know someone to that capacity that doesn’t allow life to get in the way. It is also a blessing to have that person as my own brother. Because he achieved that goal at such an early age, he has been able to explore and experience everything he can think of and not require a walker or Medicare card to do so (referring to old age). What I also learned from this conversation though is that once the peak of the mountain has been reached the journey of life is far from being complete. I hope you enjoy this conversation and learn as much from it as I did in one hour what took me 32 years to learn from my own brother.

Hey everyone! Welcome to Filling Buckets Friday where every Friday I give you perspective on how I'm filling my own Buckets - Buckets being my highest priorities. Today's Bucket is that physical and mental awareness one, which then leads to efforts towards improvements. The idea is figuring out who I am, where I am, and what I can do right now, then who I want to be, where I want to go, and what I want to accomplish. Somehow, I try to connect the dots between those two phases in my well-being. To figure out what I'm capable of doing, I think of new and exciting challenges that would give me that sort of test. What can my mind and body sustain before tapping out? And if I don’t tap out, well then I need to find another challenge. One of the challenges that has been sitting on my brain over the past few years is a marathon distance row. To some people, this might not be much of an endeavor and to others they might not understand the capacity of effort that this includes. I’m not too worried about what other people think. All I know is that I hate rowing which justifies why this challenge was one I had to accept. So in this episode, I break down what I did, how I did it, what I gained, and I point out the take-aways you can benefit from in my suffering. Hope you enjoy the episode and thanks again for listening.

Every Friday, I am going to share some perspective on how I’m filling my personal buckets (priorities). I hope that it will inspire you more to identify what’s most important to you (buckets) and GO FILL YOUR BUCKETS.

Every Friday, I am going to share some perspective on how I’m filling my personal buckets (priorities). I hope that it will inspire you more to identify what’s most important to you (buckets) and GO FILL YOUR BUCKETS.

Grant is half my weight but has twice my strength. That’s probably an exaggeration because we are essentially the same size, but thinking that I'm bigger than him makes me feel better. All jokes aside, Grant is one of the very few individuals whom I use as a baseline for where I want to be in terms of physical condition. Truth be told, yes, he can actually lift twice as much as me and run twice as fast. The best part is you would never assume he has the physical capacity to do all of that just by looking at him. My guess is that he is the underdog, the unexpected, and the unassuming guy in the gym. In reality, he’s capable of doing so much when others don't expect much at all. That's what inspires me the most. That’s where we have the most in common. He is a CrossFit coach on top of his regular job, but more importantly he is a man who strives to help other people become better versions of themselves. He is a longtime friend of ours with a humongous heart and a humongous dog. He's got one of those laughs that pokes holes in any of your bad days. His smile is contagious and encourages you to be more free with yours. That’s probably why his wife Thea married him. In this episode and conversation, we talk about working out, eating right, helping others, and loving our wives. What more can you ask for?