It’s no walk on the Beach

Like you I juggle a lot. Three email accounts, one personal, one business, and one non-profit. I feel like I always have more emails to respond to, more questions to answer, and more comments to review. I speak and do business trainings most weeks. I have the amazing privilege to provide life coaching and executive coaching with several extraordinary clients. I have a wife, three children, two dogs and a cat.

Rescuing victims of sex trafficking

My wife and I also co-founded a non-profit, compassion2one, dedicated to rescuing victims of sex trafficking. We help resource safe houses here and around the world, we do awareness trainings (last year we trained over 1,000 people), and we work to help girls caught in this nightmare to get off the streets of Seattle. They are victims, not whores, who are bound to this traumatic lifestyle though emotional and physical abuse. If you would like to learn more about our cause and what you can do to help, please contact me (see contact information in right hand column) and look at our website.

In addition to this, I throw in a little tweeting and try to work out five days a week. I am up between 4:30 and 5AM most days. And I am also very involved in my church community, which I love.

Last week, Julie and I finally got a break. We jetted off to Maui with my daughter, her husband and their baby. One week of solace. Lord, did I need that break!

I seemed content to do little, to read a little, to walk in the morning the ocean along the beach. Every morning seemed to be the same until my final walk. The night before there had been a big rain storm with strong winds. So that morning when I went out onto the beach for my walk, I found something that I had never seen before.

Across the sand were thousands of little pieces of coral, scattered and discarded there by the stormy weather the night before. They were beautiful little pieces of the ocean in all shapes and sizes. I walked a ways, picked one up and thought “this is the most beautiful piece of coral on the beach.” Then I would walk another ten feet and pick up a new piece of coral and think “now this  is the most beautiful piece of coral on the beach,” as I quickly dropped the original, now bland and uninspiring. I did this several times, picked up one, thought I had found the perfect piece only to quickly discard it in favor of a different piece that seemed even more perfect than the last. You see, I wanted to pick one and bring it home as a little reminder of some new and old choices I’ve made of late. Finally, I realized that they were all beautiful and I just needed to pick one. It didn’t have to be perfect, I just needed to pick one.

The little piece of coral I finally did pick up and take with me represents me and my life. It is beautiful, but it is certainly not perfect. It is flawed and jagged around the edges but it is distinctly unique, just like me.

Choices to be who YOU are and Play Big

• Get back to the basics that make you strong each day. Some solitude, some reading, some stretch goals
• To say “no” to trivial pursuits and “yes” to significant ones
• To not worry on little things but to focus on important things
• To practice moderation in drinking, eating, technology. And to embrace nature and God more
• To love you family like there is no tomorrow
• To amp up your personal drive around your business goals and to focus on “high value” accomplishments
• To never feel guilty when you unplug one day a week, and to allow yourself to recharge
• To coach and mentor greatness in everyone you have the privilege of touching
• To treat your mind and body like a temple and to feed on good food and great books
• To strive for excellence and yet know how to be content
• To try your best to pray each day or your family and your friends and to always give thanks for what you have.

This is week ten of the first Play Big series. I cannot believe how quickly time has passed, how much in just these last weeks, I have learned, and grown. Play Big is for everyone every day. It doesn’t matter how strongly you have developed your people skills, your emotional intelligence, or your leadership. Play Big is a reminder that each day we can improve a little something in our lives. It was designed to bring perspective back into our lives when we lose track of our goals, what is important, or what really truly matters. I hope that you have enjoyed this first Play Big Series with me. I know that I have enjoyed all your comments, support, and stories. Thank you.

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Don’t worry Play Big is not over!

Next week our Play Big Series will continue with IMAGINE: An amazing discussion series around Your Imagined Life.  It will be about your life vision, your mantras, your dreams. I hope to provide real life, actionable steps, a pathway of sorts. I will also be unlocking some new coaching materials I have created just for you! Don’t miss out! Next Tuesday: IMAGINE!

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