Adventure

The Biggest Secret I Learned As a Wildland Firefighter

A true story about me. During my summers in college I was a firefighter for the La Grande Hotshots. A Hotshot fire crew is an elite team of 20 wildland firefighters, the most highly trained in the country, which are prepared to battle the most serious fires nationwide. This was one of the most physically demanding things I’ve ever done. Imagine …

How To Grow Your Business By Working Less

Many entrepreneurs start out as a one-person show. They wear every hat, from bookkeeper and content creator to salesperson and head of customer service. And in my experience, most business owners get so used to doing it all, even once the business is up and running, that they’re convinced they are the only one who can run the whole show. […]

What To Do When Work Takes Over Your Life

Jill and I like to take mini-vacations. We pack up the Winnebago (Shorty), grab the dog (obviously), and head for a nearby oasis to slow down give ourselves a break. In fact, we’re sitting at the beach right now! Does it ever feel like we have the time to be doing such lavish things? Absolutely not! Is it absolutely necessary? […]

What Time Away Taught Me

I have spent much of my adult life struggling to believe that it’s okay to simply relax and do nothing. I grew up believing that my value was directly connected to what I accomplished every day. If I wasn’t producing something tangible, I would quickly begin to feel anxious and unsettled. After a lifetime of taking short vacations, this year […]

Let Adventure Be Your Guide

“Wander a whole summer if you can. Time will not be taken from the sum of life. Instead of shortening, it will definitely lengthen it and make you truly immortal.” – John Muir Yesterday morning started off with the intent to run three miles with my wife. We took off from the campground and headed in the direction of the […]

Unplug From The Ordinary

And so…the adventure begins. I’m sitting at a picnic table in Crater Lake National Park in my home state of Oregon this afternoon. It’s the start of a 3-week summer road trip that will take my wife and I away from the busyness of our day-to-day lives. We’ve spent the last five days with our 12-year-old black lab, hiking, roaming, […]

Thank You 2013…What Mattered Most

This is not a year in review. Many accomplishments happened and a lot of things never got done, but those things didn’t define 2013. It wasn’t the new projects started, words written or goals achieved that made 2013 inspiring and memorable. What made 2013 so special were the new beginnings, changes, events and people who are closer and dearer to […]

Maybe it’s time to just step away from it all

“Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.” – Margaret J. Wheatley He starts the morning in bed poring through interesting articles and scribbling notes on the covers. Skipping breakfast, he patters upstairs in his stocking feet to read more papers. Noon and dinnertime bring him back downstairs to enjoy […]