Watching TV in the Men's Room

There is so much noise.

And it's everywhere.

And it's getting louder.

It's not just the sports bars where you can watch 20 different ESPN games whilst consuming Lady Gaga on the throttled-up Nakamichi sound system.

It's ALL restaurants now.

And airports.

And hotel lobbies.

And dentist office waiting rooms.

Even gas station pumps.

Heck, I've even watched the Nuggets play the Spurs from a men's room urinal!

Any location a human might have to wait in excess of five minutes for the next electronic stimuli is now fair game for the ad guys.

More music.

More TV.

More noise.

We've lost the art of silence.

The ability to just sit and think.

About everything...and about nothing.

You think its a coincidence that so many runners snag their best ideas and "ah-ha" moments on the trails instead of a Muzak-infused hermetically sealed office?

I don't.

Because slogging up Green Mountain or Dinosaur Ridge at 5:30 am is a hell of a great way to purge the mental hard-drive of the to-do lists, emails and pain-in-the-ass co-workers so it can re-fill with contemplation and creativity.

But contemplation and creativity require a still mind.  Philosopher William Penn opined:

"true silence is the rest of the mind, it is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment."

Sounds like William Penn was a distance runner.

So this weekend...

If you are looking for some quiet contemplation.

I say lace up the Brooks for a 5:30 am hill-climb up Chimney Gulch...

...and pass on the $300 Bose 20i accoustic noise cancellation headphones.

...unless they come with a big, mean headlamp to scare away the mountain lions.

After all...

It's dark at 5:30.

AMJ

Why Smart Boards aren't so Smart

I bought a new pair of Brooks Adrenaline ASR 9 trail running shoes this week at a local running shoe store.

I love running shoes.

And I love running shoe stores.

In addition to picking up a pair of sneaks from owners who really dig running, I get to see all the latest gadgets I didn't know I needed: heart rate monitors, Garmin GPS devices, compression socks, compression pants, power bars, power drinks, power gels as well as the latest clothing--including plaid running skirts for men--I'm not kidding!

But despite the hype of all the gadgets, gus and gels, when I lace up and head out for a 20-miler, by mile 17, I am always reminded and HUMBLED by the running gods that when it comes to distance training, even the best gus, gadgets and plaid skirts are no substitute for great training.  No amount of logos, no amount of power gu, and not even the brightest and tightest polka dot compression tights will let you cheat the training gods when the goal is 26.2.

In other words...

Technology is no substitute for good training.

The same week I bought my Brooks, my wife and I learned that many of my son's high school classes no longer use textbooks--including his foreign language class.

I was appalled.

I know I am going to receive hate mail and be accused of being closed minded to the benefits of technology.

I apologize in advance.

As an instructor who has taught Principles of Accounting for three years I know that attempting to pass an accounting class without a textbook is akin to changing a flat tire without a jack--it can't be done--or at least done well.

I expressed my reservations and skepticism of the lack of a textbook to his teacher.  She assured me that the use of the smart board, lesson inserts and a workbook (which accompanies the textbook NOT being used) would be an adequate substitute for the textbook.  With this reliance on technology, is it a wonder the remedial reading and writing classes in community colleges are always full?

Technology is no substitute for good teaching.

The entertainment industry constantly makes the mistake of using technology as a substitute for content. How often have you walked out of a sci-fi flick with dazzling CGI special effects but felt emotionally flat because the acting and script were non-existent.

The best movies use great technology as a COMPLEMENT to a great story--not as a SUBSTITUTE.

So here is my summary when it comes to gadgets, gimmicks, gus and gels and other "smart" technology:

Technology should be a COMPLEMENT, not a SUBSTITUTE for great training.

Technology should be a COMPLEMENT, not a SUBSTITUTE for great teaching.

How about one more...

Technology should be a COMPLEMENT, not a SUBSTITUTE for great parenting.

Again, sorry if I offended all you techies out there.

Feel free to write me a letter.

Just don't send it to my smart phone.

AMJ

Victory Letter

Below is a letter I haphazardly penned to my Change through Challenge students a few hours after they all completed the Estes Park Marathon June 16, 2013.  

Hello  Friends-

The victory today made the long drive from home from Estes Park one of the most pleasant drives ever—I trust this was true for all of you as well. 

As it may take several days to mentally process the enormity of the accomplishment each and every one of you has achieved today and over the past 21 weeks, I would like to leave you with a few final thoughts.

First of all, I hope you will all display your race medals in a conspicuous place at work or home—perhaps adorning your future college degree.  For this medal is more than just a token of a well-fought race, it will serve as a reminder—a reminder to squash the times of self-doubt and illustrate that anything, ANYTHING is possible with courage, effort and determination.

Second, your academic careers mainly focus on learning about the world and the technical skills to survive in this world.  I hope this class experience has taught you something about YOURSELF and the PERSONAL SKILLS to prosper in this world –skills such as:  discipline, determination, persistence, leadership, goal-setting and old-fashioned GRIT—skills which, in my opinion, will prove far more valuable to you personally and in the marketplace.

Third, many of you have expressed disappointment that the training is over.  I would argue that this past semester is only a FIRST step.  For the life skills you have established in this class have infinite potential for development and refinement—not just for a better race, but for a better life.  So I say continue to build your library—and sign up for another race—a scary race!  Go farther, go faster but do something that continues to keep you outside your comfort zone--for this is where true improvement comes and what the marketplace is craving for.  As business author Seth Godin writes, “the marketplace wants people who would rather be sorry, than safe.”

One final thought.  In my opinion, the only thing better than DOING what you love, is SHARING what you love.  So here is the last (extra credit) assignment I hope you will consider:  share this experience with others--share it with your friends, share it with your family, share it with your neighbors—share the joy that can only be derived from the satisfaction of self-knowledge and personal achievement. Instead of taking a friend out to lunch—take them out for a RUN.  Take them to Waterton Canyon at sunrise or Washington Park on a cool Fall morning.  Show them that life is far richer than TV sitcoms and shopping malls.  As Zig Ziglar once opined, demonstrate to the world that happiness does not derive from PLEASURE…but from VICTORY.

 Friends, I wish you the best in your careers.  And as your lives fill up with work, mortgages, and kid’s soccer games, I hope you will remember to find a little time for yourself each day—and run.  Your friends, families, and the marketplace need the creative things from you that can only be created from lacing up and heading outside.

So lace up…I’ll be looking for you.      

AMJ                                 

Comfortably Numb

Why are we great STARTERS?

But lousy FINISHERS?

Great at dreaming?

Poor at executing?

Whether it's completing a diet, finishing a college degree, saving for retirement, or implementing a big project at work.

Why is it so hard to make big dreams like these actually HAPPEN?

I have a theory.

It's not that our life is too HARD.

It's that life is too easy...too COMFORTABLE.

Change--real change--requires a REASON for change.

A big, hairy and UNCOMFORTABLE reason.

Uncomfortable enough to get us off the couch, away from the refrigerator, out of the meeting and dreaming rooms and catapult us into ACTION.

Action that is consistent and resilient to keep us going when complacency creeps back in to stop our forward motion.

To paraphrase the Pink Floyd song, I think we have become "comfortably numb."

We're not happy with our jobs, our training, our weight, our finances and countless other things...

But we're not UN-happy enough to take action.

We are comfortably numb in mediocrity. 

But here is the rub....

By staying comfortably numb,  we tell ourselves that we may not be moving forward but at least we're not moving BACKWARDS.

But that would be wrong.

Being comfortably numb causes us do something far worse than make the conscious, and perhaps heroic, decision to quit.

It enables us to make the cowardly "non-decision" of INACTION.

To drift away...

To go out with a whisper...

So I say it's time for ACTION.

In our training, in our work, in our homes and in everything else we hold dear.

Let's stop being "comfortably numb."

And start playing a different tune.

AMJ

The Last Two Miles

In marathon training, it is the last two miles that always hurt the most.

Always.

It's the marathon's way of forcing us--each week--to assess how bad we really want it.

It's also the marathon's way of teaching our bodies and minds a lesson.

A lesson that says, "I know it hurts, but if you run through this...I'll let you run FARTHER next week."

This teacher DOESN'T let you cheat.

And she doesn't grade on a curve.

I used to hate the last two miles of my long runs when I trained for my first marathon.

But now I know better.

Because now I know that it's the last two miles of those long runs where we grow the most..

Our muscles, our bones...our minds.

They learn to take the pain---and keep going.

A 12-mile run where the last 2 miles burns is no Mardi Gras.

But it prepares us for the 13-miler next week.

And 14 miles the following week.

So we're ready for 26.2.

But only if we learn to push through ...the last two miles.

Every week.

I think pushing through and growing from the last two miles is a metaphor for life.

The student that earns the "A" in his accounting class from studying that extra hour each week.

The salesman that became the TOP salesman from staying a little late each night to make those few extra cold calls.

The school teacher that becomes a GREAT teacher by taking the extra half-hour after school to prepare for tomorrow's lesson.

You see,  going from good to GREAT seldom involves doubling our efforts and pain.

It's not about going extra BIG miles.

It's about going extra SMALL miles.

The last two miles.

AMJ



  

What Steve Jobs and Pink Floyd Have in Common

I became a Pink Floyd fan this weekend.

I'm not kidding.

It happened when I stumbled on a documentary on how the band created the 1973 hit-album "Dark Side of the Moon."

The album that MADE Pink Floyd.

Listening to lead singer David Gilmore describe the artistic process of creating the album was instructive.

I found it particularly moving when he described the evolution of the hit song "The Great Gig in the Sky."  A song that began as an organ instrumental overlayed with quotes from the Bible and speeches by Malcolm Muggeridge but became something bigger.

Much bigger.

Ultimately, the band junked the organ for a piano and just weeks before releasing the album, hired 22-year old Clare Torre to improvise--yes IMPROVISE a vocal accompaniment with the only directive that there be NO WORDS.  After listening to the track a few times, Torre performed an improvised vocal by "pretending she was an INSTRUMENT."

The result:  a haunting, beautiful "wail" that is arguably one of the finest and most recognizable songs by the band.

In listening to Pink Floyd describe the artistic and labor-intensive process of song writing, I was reminded of three other interviews I recently watched.

Interviews not of musicians.

But ENTREPRENEURS.

Interviews with Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Group, Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com, and Steve Jobs, the late co-founder of Apple.    

Like Pink Floyd, these three men never talked about their "product" but about the "ART" they were creating. 

Each described their business in the context of the satisfaction they derived from changing and improving the world through their products.

Like Pink Floyd, these men chose to drive to work each day--even when they didn't need the money.

Because the need to create great art can never just be about money.

In business school, we teach students to build a successful business by identifying a need, and then filling the need.

Perhaps we have it backwards.

Perhaps we should be do what Seth Godin eloquently instructs us to do in his book "Lynchpin."

Become artists FIRST.

And create great work.

Work that has passion

Work that we can be proud of.

And work that maybe, just maybe-- like a great band, and like a great entrepreneur--work that can be bigger than us and inspire others to make great work.

To make art...

I'm going to the track tomorrow to do some speed work.

I am going to be singing Pink Floyd's hit single "Money" in my head to push me through the intervals.

Better yet... I think I'll download the song onto my iPod.

Steve Jobs would be pleased.

AMJ 

Why Steve Irwin Could Have Taught Accounting

I really miss Steve Irwin.

I admit, his show, The Crocodile Hunter, was due south on the "sophistication scale"of Masterpiece Theatre on PBS.

But I loved the show.

And so did millions of others.

Irwin didn't just tell you the FACTS about a mean crocodile.

He would grab the beast by it's tail and tell you with a child-like exhuberance in how many seconds it could kill him---while keeping a smile!

You couldn't help but love the guy.

Like any good teacher, I think he really knew his subject.

And he was definitely a showman who knew how to please a crowd.

But I don't think it was his knowledge...

Or his ability to entertain....

That made him a great teacher.

I think Steve Irwin's greatness was in his ability to get you CARE about the subject before you LEARNED about the subject. 

He once said:

"I believe that education is all about being excited about something. Seeing passion and enthusiasm helps push an educational message."

As a community college instructor and as a parent, I'm always searching for better ways to communicate.

Be it the accounting equation to my students....

Or how to catch a trout with my 7-year old daughter...

But as any teacher knows...

And any parent knows....

This aint easy.

Today's students,  like today's children, have little patience for incompetence.

And simply KNOWING the subject matter isn't gonna impress them either.

The same goes for fancy PowerPoint presentations and slick videos as well.

I think Steve Irwin instinctively knew this.

He knew that a simple presentation delivered with the HEART, delivered more punch than a presentation delivered only with the BRAIN.

No matter the subject.

This is my first semester teaching students how to train for their first marathon.

As a former "bean-counter" I find myself resisting the urge to get too technical too soon....

Lactic throeshholds, VO2Max, simple carbs versus complex carbs.....

All very SMART information....

But then I contemplate what Steve Irwin would do...

He would first get them to CARE to run...

And THEN teach them HOW.

Just like he did with crocodiles.

AMJ