Pause & Reflect
Hey Friend,
It is the Saturday after. I knew this day would come. The book is out. The party is over. Life just seems to go on for everyone like normal. I just got pictures of the party before I started writing you. It was such a fabulous time. I wish you could have been there. (And if you were, thank you!) My beautiful wife compared it to having an amazing funeral, except one I got to be alive to attend.
I wrote a post on LinkedIn reflecting about it. Around 11p after it was over, my exquisite wife asked what I enjoyed most. After a bit of contemplation, I realized I had people present from every decade and season of my life. THAT was the most meaningful. Seeing people I invested in 30 years ago, who are thriving in life now, still care about me was pretty cool.
Who came-the-furthest-guest was my good friend, Dean Pearson. He and I met in the fourth grade. He lives in northern Florida. He flew out to be there. So many others made big and small efforts to celebrate with me. It was incredible. I won't rewrite the post, but you can read it here. It's a small wrap up of the party.
I'm still in a bit of recovery mode, but it's time to press forward and not linger in the afterglow. Even as a sentimental guy, I appreciate the nature of time, that it persists on, even if we want to bask in a certain moment of it. Enjoy it while it exists, because it will cease to be, at any moment. Some get stuck in those moments.
PAUSE & REFLECT
Reflection is a powerful tool. Prompted by the visitation of all these amazing people, I've mentally and emotionally dropped by several of my past seasons of life. They were rather incredible. Honestly, I have lived a favored life in light of the work I've gotten to do, the people I've gotten to build genuine friendships with and the outcomes of my effort. I think that's primarily true because it's been a life in service of others.
Between that sentence and this one, a couple of hours have passed. I saw that I hit the #1 Best Seller spot on Amazon in Organizational Change, so I've been texting furiously and posting on the socials. Another moment to pause and enjoy, and then get back to writing you. To my point. I didn't even care about being #1 until a speaker friend of mine told me the reason to go for it is because it gives others something to be proud of for me and/or promote me with. So though it sounds funny, I wanted to reach #1 for the sake of others. I didn't realize it would feel good to me, also.
MINDSHIFT
What if you paused for 15 minutes and simply reflected on a season of your life, maybe long ago, maybe recently, that fuels and fills you with extreme gratitude?
PRIORITIES
As this day has gotten away from me because of my focus on the book, I'm going to bring this letter to an abrupt close. I have been gone all week and want to spend some time with my exceptional wife.
Now the real work begins. The book is out. People are actually reading it. I'm somewhat nervous now that the pages are available and it's not just an image on a screen. When sharing about #1 Status with a friend, he texted me back with a picture and said he'd just received the hardback in the mail. Gulp.
These are my FIRST 30 DAYS GOALS:
Sell 1000 books. (We've sold 307 hardbacks in bulk or in my travels so far). No idea what's sold on Amazon yet.
Get 100 Reviews on Amazon. (At 25 currently.)
Send 90 Vandal-Proof boxes to leaders in organizations who can hire me or buy at least a 50 bulk batch of books.
If you would promote, write, recommend and believe with me, that would be fabulous. Thank you!
MINDSHIFT
What if you focused solely on what's MOST important in your life this upcoming week?
JUST IN CASE...
If you haven't made your way to amazon yet... Please do. 🙂 We extended the $0.99 sale through the weekend.
Here is the link to the book.
SHIFTING
I hope this week you pause, reflect, and live your life in service of others. If you do, I suspect you'll feel like your #1 in the most important categories of life! #ShiftAway
