Ayr Mount, Hillsborough, NC Annual Review & Goal Setting Templates Each year I put together an annual review and goal setting process to help draw perspective from the prior year and frame how I want to focus my time and effort in the new year. For me, this year is about finishing the reader manuscript for my novel, growing my coaching business, building and strengthening community in North Carolina, and continuing to chisel away at my exceptional physique. I'm also putting a premium on...
9 months ago • 1 min read
Favorite Books of 2024 When the clock strikes midnight on 2024 I'll have come damn close to accomplishing a goal of reading 50 books. Of those books, below were the ones that left the biggest impression. Listed in no particular order, except for the first one. James by Percival Everett was far and away my favorite of the year. Not a bold choice since according to LitHub it was on more 'best of 2024' lists than any other book. Everett is brilliant and so is this captivating and funny twist on...
10 months ago • 6 min read
Photos from Tepoztlán, Mexico Five Things to Share: Roger Federer Lost 54% of His Points: During his 24-year career, tennis legend Roger Federer won 20 grand slams and 80% of his matches. He's universally regarded among the greatest to ever play the sport. And yet, even with all that success, he only won 54% of the points he ever played. From his recent Dartmouth commencement address:When you lose every second point, on average, you learn not to dwell on every shot...When you’re playing a...
about 1 year ago • 3 min read
Five Things to Share: In honor of James Baldwin's 100th birthday this weekend, I'm sharing his quote from a 1984 Paris Review interview describing the meaning and weight behind turning 40:INTERVIEWER: This brings us to your concern with reality as being history, with seeing the present shaded by everything which occurred in a person’s past. James Baldwin has always been bound by his past, and his future. At forty, you said you felt much older than that.BALDWIN: That is one of those things a...
about 1 year ago • 2 min read
Photos from Puerto Vallarta Five Things to Share: Tadej Pogačar and Netflix's Tour de France: Maybe the greatest athlete you've never heard of, and a show you should probably add to your queue. I'll write more soon about the fun of following and learning much about the Tour de France for the first time, but for now wanted to share praise for the best cyclist in the world. As the 21-stage Tour de France concluded today, the 25-year old Slovenian stood atop the podium with his third yellow...
about 1 year ago • 3 min read
Plaza Luis Cabrera, Roma Book Recommendations The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride A human skeleton is found at the bottom of a well in 1972 in Pottstown, PA. An investigation ensues but Hurricane Agnes abruptly destroys the town and any evidence of the crime. The story travels back in time to the 1930s when blacks and Jews lived together in a tense harmony. The origins of the crime are revealed through the community's interconnected stories. The book is an inspiring reminder...
over 1 year ago • 1 min read
Ajusco National Park with a view of Mexico City (down in the valley beneath the blanket of smog) 2024 midpoint goal check-in Maybe it's because I'm cruising onto the back nine of life, but in recent years I have gained a far greater appreciation for the fast passage of time. Always less of it, gone too fast, but if we're lucky we learn to enjoy it more. Case in point: 2024, which we are roughly halfway done with. An apt time (after hyperventilating) to review goals set at the beginning of the...
over 1 year ago • 2 min read
Views from Luis Barragán's backyard at Casa Pedregal What about the cobbler's kids? The cognitive bias is all too pervasive. A marketer who grows her clients’ businesses 2-3x, but struggles to write a blog for herself. The career coach who guides his clients to take big risks, is stuck. A therapist who brings couples closer feels estranged from her partner. It's so pervasive there's a proverb dating back several hundred years lamenting how the cobbler's kids have no shoes. Since the beginning...
over 1 year ago • 2 min read
After a short hiatus, noticed by few, I'm bringing back the Sunday newsletter. When I started writing it almost two years ago, soon after moving to Mexico City, the newsletter was my way of ritualizing a more consistent writing habit (while also getting more comfortable sharing that writing publicly). The writing gravitated toward an expression of the things that interest me most, namely the ways in which we become better versions of ourselves. So here's to getting back on track with that....
over 1 year ago • 3 min read