I Have Thoughts

Teddy Roosevelt said "comparison is the thief of joy," but does that have to be the case? Far too often we find ourselves looking at people with more than us, more money, more followers, more success, and it fills us jealousy or makes us depressed about our own situation. We want what they want or wonder why we don't have more. But what would happen if instead of comparing up we compared down? What if we direct our attention to all of the areas where we are more fortunate, or lucky than people all around the world? Doing that can fill us with gratitude, make us thankful, and also help us see blessings that we had missed.

What a year 2020 has been. Filled with all kinds of unforeseen stress, craziness, and challenges of all kinds, from the pandemic to the election and all of their secondary effects. I know many people would say it's been one of their most difficult years ever. BUT that does not mean we should just give up on the year as a lost cause and resign ourselves to starting to get back on track come January 1st. Time is too precious to write it off like that, plus there is no guarantee 2021 will not be just as tough or even more so. In this episode I talk about why you should not wait until 2021 to start to improve your life and your situation. 

In this episode we'll discuss the idea of getting meaning and fulfillment from our work versus only working because we get our paycheck and it pays the bills. Can we all do what we love, or should we resign ourselves to finding joy only outside of work?

In today's world it may seem like we cannot agree on anything. Every issue seems to have two opposing sides who refuse to find any common ground. It may feel like you cannot discuss anything going on in the world without it becoming political or becoming a debate. Anger, hate, and stubbornness seem for to common. Is there a way to reduce this sense of conflict and try to create more harmony with those we disagree with? It starts with how we view each other. We have got to stop thinking in "Us vs. Them" and start thinking of us all as ONE group that must live and grow together if we are going to create a better country and a better world.

Whether it's at home, work, school, or someplace else, we are all going to experience interpersonal conflict. What do we do when we find ourselves in a disagreement where neither person is willing to make a change, to fix the situation, or to close the gap between you? Someone has to move first. In this episode I discuss the tactics and mindset to get you onto that path of reconciliation.

Y'all may have heard that there is a pretty big election coming up this November. Naturally, I have some thoughts on it. DISCLAIMER that I am not going to be telling people who to vote for or endorsing any candidates in any of the elections. My goal is to start a conversation around where our political affiliations come from. It is so important that we are forming our own opinions and stances, and we are not just carrying a party affiliation throughout our life because it is who our families told us to vote for when we were kids. I'm planning on doing some more episodes on the election between now and November 3rd and I hope they are thought provoking. Thank you!

Too often we can spend so much time and energy preparing for fights and conversations with others in our head. Thinking through what we will say and how things will go. Most of the time our imagined fight is so different from reality, and we've suffered stress and worry for nothing. Blake shares a personal example of this, and what we can do to prevent them from happening.

Chadwick Boseman, a highly acclaimed and successful Black American Actor known for movies including 42, Black Panther, Marshall, and more, sadly passed away from stage IV colon cancer in August 2020. We look back on his life and what we can learn from how he carried himself on a day to day basis, as well as learning how to not judge others so much.  "Be kind. Everyone is still healing from things they don't speak about."

In this episode I talk about a quote from the book "High Performance Habits" by Brendon Burchard that can teach us how to be more present and get a deeper connection with our daily lives, which is more crucial than ever during COVID.

It can be incredibly difficult to admit something we think or believe to be true is wrong. But if you think about it so much of what you believe today is probably different from what you believed when you were growing up, what you believed five years ago, or even what you believed one month ago. In this episode we'll learn about what perspective to have when it comes to changing our minds.

Check out this introductory episode to my new podcast! I'm looking forward to beginning this journey of creating a show, and can't wait to learn throughout this process. I hope I'll be able to provide some value, some perspective, and some new knowledge to listeners.