Current Phase – Not Using Social Media

1. Have two people stand outside her doorway and start a conversation.
2. Shut the door.
3. Tell her the people behind that door are talking about her, but she doesn’t know what they’re saying and she can’t engage with them in any way.

No awareness of the conversation

Phase 2 – The Start

1. Open the door.
2. Have the two people continue the conversation about her. Make sure one of them is commenting about her “horribly ugly bright green polka dot shirt” (or any other ridiculous or inaccurate comment)
3. Your boss will have the urge to correct them, but let her know she can’t. All she can do is listen and take notes.

Listening to the conversation. Gathering data.

Phase 3 – Foot in the Door

1. Have your boss shout, in the direction of the doorway, the correction – “I’m wearing a nice pink shirt!”
2. Have one of the people in the doorway, pick up her cell phone and say, “Oh, she’s wearing a nice pink shirt.” Have the other person pick up her cell phone and continue to comment on her ugly polka dot shirt.

Broadcasting. One way communication.

Phase 4 – Joining In

1. Now have your boss walk up to the person still bashing her ugly shirt, and talk to her - showing her the nice pink shirt she is wearing.
2. The person on the phone corrects herself, saying, “Whoops, I made a mistake, her shirt is really nice. It’s pink.”

Joining the Conversation

Phase 5 – Making Friends

1. Have your boss take her seat again.
2. Have one of the people from the doorway walk in to the office and ask the boss what type of shoes would go with a pink shirt.
3. Have your boss answer.
4. Now the person walks out and tells her friend how much the boss knows about shoes. And that she’s really nice.

Now you have engaged and built a relationship

  If there was one book that “spoke to me” - it was Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. Perhaps some of these quotes will do the same for you.

1. One’s self I sing, a simple separate person, Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse

2. I project the history of the future

3. Once unquestioning obedience, once fully enslaved, Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city, of this earth, ever afterward resumes its liberty

4. None has begun to think how divine he himself is, and how certain the future is

5. I will not sing with reference to a day, but with reference to all days

6. I celebrate myself, and sing myself

7. I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard, Nature without check with original energy

8. There was never any more inception than there is now, Nor any more youth or age than there is now, And will never be any more perfection than there is now

9. Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul

10. Apart from the pulling and hauling stands what I am

11. A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands, How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he. I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven

12. The smallest sprout shows there is really no death

13. what is that you express in your eyes? It seems to me more than all the print I have read in my life

14. The press of my foot to the earth springs forward a hundred affections, They scorn the best I can do to relate them

15. And these tend inward to me, and I tend outward to them, And such as it is to be of these more or less I am, And of these one and all I weave the song of myself

16. I am … stuff’d with the stuff that is coarse and stuff’d with the stuff that is fine

17. I resist any thing less than my own diversity

18. battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are won

19. Does the daylight astonish?

20. How is it I extract strength from the beef I eat?

21. Having pried through the strata, analyzed to a hair, counsel’d with doctors and calculated close, I find no sweeter fat than sticks to my own bones

22. I exist as I am, that is enough

23. The minute that comes to me over the past decillions, There is no better than it and now

24. Walt Whitman, a kosmos

25. A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books

26. I carry the plenum of proof and every thing else in my face, With the hush of my lips I wholly confound the skeptic

27. All truths wait in all things

28. What is more or less than a touch?

29. I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars, And the narrowest hinge of my hand puts to scorn all machinery

30. The friendly and flowing savage, who is he? Is he waiting for civilization, or past it and mastering it?

31. When I give I give myself

32. Immense have been the preparations for me

33. I know I have the best of time and space

34. Not I, not any one else can travel that road for you, You must travel it for yourself

35. You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light and of every moment of your life

36. He that by me spreads a wider breast than my own proves the width of my own, He most honors my style who learns under it to destroy the teacher

37. There is no object so soft but it makes a hub for the wheel’d universe

38. Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes

39. But where is what I started for so long ago? And why is it yet unfound?

40. I am surely far different from what you suppose

41. Passing stranger … I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you, All is recall’d as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate, chaste, matured

42. Within me is the longest day

43. I myself am good-fortune

44. From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lines

45. I inhale great draughts of space

46. Wisdom is not finally tested in schools

47. I did not know I contained such goodness

48. Only the kernel of every object nourishes; Where is he who tears off the husks for you and me?

49. The earth never tires

50. It is not upon you alone the dark patches fall

51. The true poets are not the followers of beauty but the august masters of beauty

52. It is not enough to have this globe or a certain time, I will have thousands of globes and all time

53. Nothing exterior shall ever take control of me

54. A great city is that which has the greatest me and women, If it be a few ragged huts it is still the greatest city in the whole world

55. If you remember your foolish and outlaw’d deeds, do you think I cannot remember my own foolish and outlaw’d deeds?

56. All architecture is what you do to it when you look upon it

57. Whoever you are! claim your own at any hazard!

58. I perceive I have not really understood any thing, not a single object, and that no man ever can

59. A vast similitude interlocks all

60. That you are here – that life exists and identity, That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse

61. Of Equality – as if it harm’d me, giving others the same chances and rights as myself

62. What stays with you latest and deepest?

63. affection shall solve the problems of freedom yet, Those who love each other shall become invincible

64. I am more resolute because all have denied than I could ever have been had all accepted me

65. Here is not merely a nation but a teeming Nation of nations

66. He judges not as the judge judges but as the sun falling around a helpless thing

67. When Liberty goes out of a place it is not the first to go, nor the second or third to go, It waits for all the rest to go, it is the last

68. I do not sound your name, but I understand you

69. Beneath this face that appears so impassive hell’s tides continually run

70. It is no lesson – it lets down the bars to a good lesson

71. Whoever is not in his coffin and the dark grave let him know he has enough

72. Peace is always beautiful

73. I was thinking the day most splendid till I saw what the not-day exhibited

74. We know not why or what, yet weave, forever weave

75. Camerado, this is not book. Who touches this touches a man

  I do, I really hate winters. My soul belongs in the Southwest, but for whatever reason, my body is living in the Northeast.

But as a runner, I love winter running.

Maybe it’s the purity of the snow covered landscape. The clean white blanketing everything.

Maybe it’s that everything is a little quieter. Sometimes eerily so, save for my crunching steps and the peeps of birds.

Maybe it’s that I feel a little bit tougher than the average guy or girl. Not many of us are out there on a Saturday morning, when it’s 15 degrees and the wind is howling. I kind of like throwing on the gear and heading out for a run, just to feel like a tough guy.

Maybe it’s that I feel a bit more lonely on a winter run - and that’s OK, given we’re now a 24/7 society - with more noise, interruptions and distractions than we know what to do with.

Maybe it’s the crispness of the air. So refreshing and cool.

Maybe it’s the cover up, the extra clothes I wear - before the shedding of Spring. When there is the freedom and joy of running in nothing but a pair of shorts.

Maybe it’s the slower pace. The calm before the storm of summer running.

Maybe it’s the mere fact that I am outside - something we do much less of during the winter months.

Maybe it’s my only chance to play in the sun. Or even see it.

I don’t know. I can’t put my finger on it. Maybe it’s all of those things. Perhaps more.

Why do you like winter running?

I’d love to hear your stories.

  Recently I attended an employee recognition dinner where I heard a nice story that recounted the hiring of one of those being honored.

The manager telling the story said he interviewed this employee first, and was so impressed he begged HR to cancel all the other interviews - as he found “the guy” on interview #1. It was a great tribute to the employee and we all were impressed that someone could knock the socks off a hiring manager like that. We certainly were lucky to have him on our team.

Then I started thinking about it.

And I realized this: what the manager did was Give Up on the Possibility. The possibility that interview #2, 10 or 25 could have knocked his socks off even more. That someone else could have reshaped what he thought the perfect employee might look like. The possibility that better is out there.

An even better story would have been this: I interviewed “Ron” first and he absolutely blew me away. He was the guy I wanted to hire. But I wanted to be sure, so I interviewed 30 more outstanding candidates wondering if one of those could top “Ron” – and none of them even came close. The first interview ended up being the best and the right fit for us.

Now that’s a story worth telling.

When you give up on the possibility, what you end up doing more often than not is settling. Settling for good enough, when great is just around the corner. Settling is no way to win the game.

Please, please, please – never give up on the possibility.

There is magic in possibility. There is hope. Dreams. Perfection. Happiness. Greatness.

There is everything in the possibility.

But you’ll never experience it if you take what’s behind door number one.

- To my oldest son Nathaniel, thank you for giving me the gift, the ability, the capacity and the chance to care for someone else more than myself. While the majority of our life together was on a part-time basis, you never, ever made me feel less of father to you. You’ll never know how generous that makes you.

- To my youngest son Shane, thank you for continually showing me that one of the most beautiful things this world has to offer is the innocence of youth. I’m not sure I can ever repay the vast amount of smiles you have already given me.

- To my daughter Casey, thank you for the gentle nudges that reinforce the fact that to be a good father, I need to be a good man. If you see me as such, then I have won the game.

- To my wife, thank you for still being a mystery to me. After more than 15 years together, I’m still looking forward to the clues and pondering if I have what it takes to piece them together. Keep dropping those crumbs!

- To my mother, thank you for proving that a patiently yielded life can be anything but.

- To my father, thank you for showing me what it means to be a professional. When I find it hard to get up in the morning, I think back to you always being gone to work before we were even up.

- To my 5th grade teacher Mrs. Klinger, thank you for being the first teacher to make me feel like someone special. Her real gift was that everyone else in that classroom probably felt the same way.

- To Ken, thank you for being a living legend - and showing me that living a genuine and authentic life was the right thing to do long before social media pushed the buzz words.

- To Shawn, thank you considering me a liked-minded person. It is an honor to be among those in that circle.

- To people I really barely know, like Jody, thank you for being an inspiration and a hero to many. You have the gift of being a remarkable human being.

- To Andy, thank you for being an inspiration to me as runner. Whenever I’m feeling beat, I think of you in Kona and become instantly stronger.

- To my high school track coach, thank you for being what I consider a friend.

- To Dr. Heyen, thank you for introducing me to Walt Whitman. His words, his philosophies, his spirit have helped to shape many of the things I stand for and believe in.

- To Doug, thank you for the painting. It was one of the most generous things anyone has ever done for me. It’s hard to give away what we create….

Check out my guest post on the Middle Finger Project

Horrible. What are they thinking?

I’ve heard this before, specifically for marathon running: walk thru the water stops, walk once a mile, etc.

But it never really made sense to me. If you’re RACING, why the heck would you walk!?!

It wasn’t until Christopher McDougal put it in the context of the ultra-runners that it finally made sense. If you’re running a 135 mile race, why kill yourself on a steep incline? Just walk it - and save your energy for another battle. The goal is the finish line. Stop trying to be so manly. Think long term.

OK. I get it.

Then I tried it.

I’m turning over a new leaf. I’m giving up my speed demon days for endurance events. So I’ve been hitting the trails the last few weekends - leaving the watch at home, and just having fun.

This past weekend, I hit a super hilly trail section in town and decided to try the walking thing. Whenever I found my breathing getting out of control, I’d walk for a short while. Whenever a steep hill was blasting me, I walked up the remainder of it.

Come to find out, the walking is a remarkable recovery method - that actually happens quite quickly. Within 15 to 30 seconds of walking, I felt refreshed and ready to go again.

I didn’t feel like a wimp, or less manly - I actually felt smart! Because I knew I was going to be out there a long time, why blow all my energy on a monster hill 5 minutes into the run.

By walking less than a handful of times, I was able to run longer than I normally would have - and I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more.

I’m sold.

I think with this strategy, I’ll be able to run more rugged miles each week and go much farther on my long days.

I’ll keep you posted.

Another great info graphic.

Fascinating: Scientists wrapped up their first global census of sea life today, documenting an underwater world that turns out to be livelier and more connected than they thought it would be when they began the project 10 years ago.