Today’s question is simple. What comes first the decision or the question? Do I decide to act or question my current state first? I think the question must come first, and the decision is the answer. Everything seems to come down to a question and a decision. I questioned if I should skip today. I decided I should not skip. What type of guy records 90 days in a row and skips on day 91? Not me. I am not a hero. I frequently want to skip. The decision to keep going has reinforced itself over the past 90 days, and I have a little boost in my will power. The fear of quitting actually helps me keep going.

I’ve been reading more about questions. I stumbled upon a book on interviewing by Dean Nelson called “Talk to Me”. I haven’t read enough to say it’s a good book or not, but I have read enough to appreciate what he is trying to do. I look forward to reading more. He’s trying to describe how to conduct a good interview. It seems similar to selling. First, he has to know why he’s conducting the interview. What’s the point? Who would care? He places emphasis on being transparent, honest and the work to prepare. I couldn’t say it better myself. I’m sure I’m going to learn more from the book. I’ll update everyone as I do.

How I wish we could have a conversation, a two-way dialogue. I don’t mean for my podcast. I mean for both of us to think through problems and maybe improve a little. I was training the other day, and the presenter said, “Shared problems are solved quicker.” Reminds me of a saying, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” What problems could we work on together?

My favorite job I’ve ever had was an IT manager position. It wasn’t fancy, but every day I went to work wondering how to make the life of the team a little better. Could we get better at our jobs? Could we be more reasonable about our planning and expectations? I couldn’t give raises, so I had to search for other ways to make the job worth having. I decided to create a learning environment. If you came to work at our company, you would gain skill to make a better living. If you got so good that I couldn’t afford you, then that was a great problem. I would help you find a better paying job somewhere else, and if at all possible, I’d hire you back if it didn’t work out. For a while, I think our work world did improve. We’d take 90 min on Friday afternoon to teach each other a technical topic. We were growing as a team. It didn’t last, but that’s a different story. Change doesn’t stop. No such thing a status quo. You can’t get back the way things were. You need to keep going. Good came from the short-lived experiment, and I would do it again even knowing the same result would occur.

I guess I’m still trying to recreate that scenario. Like Johnny Appleseed I keep spreading plants hoping they’ll take root, and a new orchard will be found. By the way, Johnny Appleseed was most likely making alcohol from his apples, but that’s a different podcast.

I asked my students “What do you want to be remembered for?” I love to read the answers. I get a sense of who they really are. What we want to be remembered for is a story that we want to tell about ourselves. When we are doing well, we live out those stories on a stage. The audience is how we think everyone sees us. It’s important to remember the audience is not in charge. We are. We are the director and lead actor all rolled into one.

I want to give Life-Stones instead of tombstones. A Life-Stone would have inscribed a sentence of what I want to be remembered for, and I wouldn’t wait till I was dead. I would look at it every day, and I would measure myself against it. What would your Life-Stone read? I want mine to read, “He led us through the valley.” I realize it’s a bit grandiose, and I know I fall short most days. It is the story I’m trying to live out. It’s the story I want told. What’s your story? Call me sometime and we can talk.