This past week has been incredible. I haven’t been writing here as much as I had hoped this year. I’ve been working on some new ideas and new initiatives in the background, plus taking care of some family things that needed my attention. Then all of a sudden everything seemed to hit this week.

As soon as the ceremony was over, I rushed back to my office to prepare for the Free Agent Underground show/podcast. I was helping Kevin Miller host the show and interview NASCAR racer Kenny Wallace. In spite of all the technological problems that could have happened with me in Alabama, Kenny in North Carolina and Kevin in Colorado, the show was perfectly produced. But even if we’d had a glitch, I don’t think it would have made a dent in the awesomeness of the interview.

Not only did I get to talk to one of my favorite drivers, but he shared things with us that he’d never shared before (early jobs, business and life advice, the importance of loving your spouse). If you want to hear it, go to the FAU blog or subscribe to the show in iTunes.

[As a side note, I also signed up to sponsor Kenny's race car at the Charlotte Nationwide race in October. You too can have your name on his car for just $20. Details at http://www.KennyWallace.com.]

It was the mayor of Satsuma, Bill Stewart, calling to congratulate me on having been selected to be a member of the Satsuma Board of Education! I felt that my chances were good based on my interviews, and I would have been disappointed if I hadn’t been chosen. But I was surprised at how surprised I felt! My exhaustion faded in a wave of adrenaline.

After calling my Heather (she was out with a friend who had just moved into her new Habitat for Humanity home that day), her mom and my parents, I posted the good news on Facebook and Twitter. My iPhone buzzed for the next two hours with congratulatory messages and encouragement. It was amazing!

Then I crashed for the night and woke up renewed to face the day Friday.

The kids were a bit better by Friday night so we went to see the Mobile BayBears with Heather’s mom (who got free tickets for being a teacher!). Ian won a slice of pizza in a dance contest between innings (the song was Cotton Eye Joe, Rednex version), we watched the fireworks after the BayBears lost to the Generals 4-2, and trudged home once again exhausted.

So it’s been quite a week. Lots of good stuff happening, which is the way I like it! Still, I’m hoping for a quiet Sunday so I can vegetate (recuperate) in front of the TV watching Formula One from Monaco, the Indy 500 and the Coke 600 from Charlotte. Lots and lots of laps…and a Memorial Day Monday to recover from my recovery day!

More news to come…June could be very interesting indeed!

Life is like a roller-coaster. Learn to sit back and enjoy the ride!

So far this year I’ve failed miserably as a blogger. Family illness and plenty of busyness. Sometimes it’s just plain been hard to find something worth writing about.

But in the background things have been hopping! Business is growing. Having fun being a husband and father. I’m coaching some amazing people through the Roadmap group at Free Agent Academy. And I’m being coached and finding greater personal clarity and satisfaction than I’ve ever had. I’m also seeking a seat on our town’s new school board and applying for an incredible 10 month leadership program. And there’s even been some incremental progress on one of my books!

Like I said, it’s busy (and there’s more than all of that)!

Still, my blog keeps calling to me. It says, “You want to write and here I am…come play with me!”. Okay, maybe that’s a little creepy. But it’s true.

So taking my own advice, I’m going to be putting a blogging schedule in place and plan to start writing regularly again by June 1st. Ping me if I don’t (part of that accountability thing I preach about).

I’ll see you here soon, but if you need me, just ask. I have to make time for you…you may be my only reader!

But as soon as I did, my family got sick. In the last six weeks, we’ve had an appendix out, the flu, mono, plus a variety of colds, aches, and pains.

Needless to say, I’ve been focusing on the family more than my website. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking and working!

I’ve chewed on a lot of ideas over this time, trying to figure out what it is I really want to do. Lots of scary introspective stuff…I can’t say when yet, but soon I’ll be making some big announcements.

About focus.

About my message.

About helping you do better.

Hope you’ll join me on the journey! See you soon!

James

Things have been quiet here on the old blog. Peaceful? Not on the internet! Rather pretty stagnant. There are lots of reasons, but one is above them all.

For about the past month my daughter Anna has been ill. She’s spent about eight nights in the hospital on three different occasions. The doctors have been practicing on her. I guess that’s what they call it when they don’t know what’s wrong and just run test after test. Some have been good and some…well…I’ll just be nice and stop there.

I won’t go into the specifics of her ailments or treatments for her sake. But she’s still sick, and we’re tired of it.

On Friday she had her tonsils out, and now she’s going through Popsicle therapy. We’re hoping and praying that everything is somehow connected to her bad tonsils and this is about to be over. So far, she’s not complained about anything much other than her throat hurting.

So what’s the business or life lesson in all of this? Quite simple: sick kids trump blogging.

Business has continued in the background. I can’t afford to pay the medical bills otherwise. But it’s been tough compartmentalizing between worry and work.

That’s what it takes sometimes to be a good dad. I’m thankful for a good wife and mother who doesn’t have to shift her focus. Anna will be better sooner because of it.

Regular blogs resuming soon…

I’ll get back to posting again soon, but figured a quick note might keep the heartbeat of the site going.

It was a mixture of nervousness and excitement, anticipation and relief. I had no vision of children, a career or a business at that time. Somehow I was solely focused on one beautiful redheaded 16 year old girl. Nothing else in the world mattered as a 16 year old boy.

That night was awkward. We talked some, but I think we mostly watched TV. A VHS copy of Disney’s A Little Mermaid.

Another redhead seeking her prince.

I can’t remember a lot more about that night. It started when she picked me up in her ~1980 tan/beige Toyota Celica (I didn’t have my license yet). It ended with a ride home. No kiss…it was the first date. She was a good girl, and I was a gentleman.

Somehow I did well enough to warrant another date a week later (and a first kiss), then a trip to the Junior-Senior prom a few weeks later.

Nearly two years passed before I lost her. Nearly four passed before I found her again. That’s another story for another day.

Something started twenty years ago today…my first date.

My first kiss.

My first love.

My first (and only) wife.

Two wonderful children, countless pets and almost 14 years of marriage.

It all can trace back to an April night 20 years ago. I wish I could remember it better. But it doesn’t matter. I have the last 20 years worth of memories to know that something special happened that night.

And I’ve never worried about a broken mirror, walking under a ladder or a Friday the 13th since.

Ian cheesing the camera in his Halloween costume (as a racecar driver instead of super hero this time!).

I pat him on the head and being pragmatic, tell him he needs to start one person at a time and see how it goes from there. He doesn’t hear me anyway, and I’m honestly happy that he doesn’t in this case. Who am I to stunt the growth of his ambition?

But there is a serious lesson there for us grown ups. We can have the biggest dreams and ambitions, but if we spend all of our time thinking of how to “do it all” or “do it right”, we rarely get started in the first place.

I do the same thing all the time. I want to be one of the most successful coaches in the country, with books and radio/tv shows and people lining up for an hour of my time. But I can’t start there. I can’t save the world until I’ve helped one person, then two, then three and so on. Eventually, maybe I can impact the whole world. It’s good to dream! But a dream without action is never going to come true.

In order to help myself help others, I’m declaring November as Jobs and Careers month on my blog. I’ll be posting articles related to job searches, resources, self-employment and other topics within the theme all month long. I may even have a special announcement somewhere in there. Plans for December are all I’m going to say today.

So what are you going to do today to impact someone’s life? Be that kind of hero!

It was a lot of fun being a guest writer for Jennifer’s blog and I hope the article is an encouragement to many. Be sure to comment or ask a question on her blog in order to win a prize! Of course, I’ll take your comments and questions here as well…

Next month I’ll be writing a special article for a friend’s blog. Jennifer Bartlett has invited me to be a special guest writer on her blog, A Pair of Bartletts.

Over the last few weeks, every Tuesday she’s had guests of all sorts writing on topics close to their hearts, be it writing, family, special needs children or adoption (many of which are close to my heart as well!). So I’ve chosen a top secret topic, known to only myself, my wife and Jennifer (and perhaps Rob, her husband). Want to know what it is?

Hint: It involves family finances and a four letter acronym…oh no! I may have given to much info there…stay tuned to find out more.

PS – There will be a prize giveaway for comments on her blog!

Think you can reclaim that feeling? I think you can…

The first day of school is a day of new beginnings. There’s a date on the calendar. It sits there like bridge that you will inevitably be forced to cross. One moment your on one side…the next on the other. There are rumors of both great things and scary things on the other side. Do you cross the bridge or play hooky?

Ian and Anna on the first day of school

Your finances are like that. Those bills…they must be paid, one way or another. There’s relief when they’re gone (more when it’s a final payment!). There’s pain when the checking account is emptied. Oh, and if you cheated and used a credit card, that only means a more difficult crossing down the road.

Your career is like that. Had it with your job or your boss? Tired of the 9 to 5 grind, stuck in a cubicle detention center only slightly better than Gitmo? You hear rumors of better job out there, or perhaps you’ve dreamed of running your own business. But it’s scary, and it’s risky. Best to choose the daily bridge to the pain you know, rather than that other path into the unknown.

The truth is that you choose to pay your bills or not, and you choose to keep a job you hate or seek out something better. It’s a choice either way! And there are consequences (results) either way.

Why not take a new look at today and realize the choices you’re making? Make them instead of them being forced upon you. Take control of your future!

Choose today to read a book and learn how to handle your finances or find a job you’d love.

Choose today to seek out someone who’s out there doing what you want to do, and ask them how they did it (most people would be flattered that you’d ask!).

Choose today to take a class and learn what you need to know to make different choices and get to where you want to be.

Choose today to hire a coach to guide you over the bridge faster than you can go on your own.

You have to step out there and make something happen!

When is your NEXT first day of school? Is it today? Or is it sometime eventually when you get time for it?

Trust me…you have to put it on the calendar, get some fresh new crayons, and prepare to color a new picture for yourself.