finite speck

This is an excerpt from Donald Miller's StoryBrand on providing your customers clear action steps on how to do business with you using a plan. "A good plan will do one or both of these things: It will clarify how somebody can do business with us. It can remove the sense of risk somebody might have if they’re considering investing in our products or services."

I really enjoy giving gifts. But I don't know how good I really am at it. I tend to gravitate towards things that are unique and potentially higher quality and cost. That's what I like. The question is whether the one I'm giving the gift to will like it? My wife on the other hand, would truly be happy if I didn't get her anything (really) or if it was something really meaningful that had little actual dollar cost to it. Quality isn't necessarily a big deal to her. She would prefer time with me or a thoughtful note or gesture. So what happens when the gift giver and the receiver don't align? Well... it can create some fireworks OR it's an opportunity for grace and thankfulness. It's also an opportunity to talk and understand the other person better. How do you approach giving a gift? How do you handle receiving a gift?

I enjoy a good alliteration. I tend to notice them a lot in sermons, but in any talk it's can be a helpful way for me to remember a point. There's just something about starting all words with the same letter sound that makes the phrase stand out more to me.

I'm not really sure what the fox says, but my son who turns 2 this next month can tell you a lot about animals. He can identify them, tell you what sound they make, and identify them by sound. When you think about it it's really amazing, because 1 year ago he couldn't say much of anything and within less than a year he's started to develop a whole vocabulary and is now just starting to put together sentences. Between words, sounds and images there is a strong connection and it's very obvious with animals in the case of my son. It makes me think of marketing as well as I think of words, logos and jingles. They all work together to help you remember something.

We had a big snow storm last night and right now I'm trying to get myself psyched to go outside and shovel the driveway. We have a double car car garage in back of the house, a long drive way leading up to it and a snow shovel. So, it takes a while. It's at these points when I think it'd be nice to have a snow blower, but that's about the only time I think about it.

It is so easy to search for homes today and get a lot of information and even see what the home looks like. All of this has come with the internet, but the internet still hasn't replaced the physical part of actually going and looking at the house in person. I had an experience yesterday where my wife found a house to look at that I thought sounded too small and didn't really look that good online by the photos. But, we went and looked at it and I was floored. It was way bigger than I thought it was and way nicer overall for the price. This just emphasized to me the idea that "you can't judge a book by it's cover." In a day when photos are everything, photos still aren't everything.

The best part of Black Friday for me was at the end of the day at my in-laws. It started with my sister-in-law playing "Duck, duck, goose" with all the kids. The kids, especially the younger ones, 3 and under didn't really understand the game, but they had a blast. Once a kid said goose they all got up and started running around in a circle. This turned into all the adults playing "Duck, duck, goose" with the kids, which turned into "Ring around the rosie", then "The hokey pokey", which then turned into "The action dance". Sometimes it's the little things. It doesn't take a lot to have fun with kids. A song or game with some actions is all it took.

With over 20 million users, 60% which are under the age of 20, spending an average of 51 minutes a day, the app Houseparty is definitely getting screen time. Yet I'd never heard of it until yesterday. I asked a parent of teenager what the biggest challenge on devices was for their family was and she mentioned the Houseparty app. Of which I had to ask more questions because I knew nothing about it. She said her daughter who is 13 could spend up to 2 hours on the app in a day on it with up to 8 other friends video chatting. The mom mentioned some of the time they just point their device at whatever they are watching on TV and the other kids might watch it. It looks like it was just launched on the App store this year and is similar to FaceTime or Google Duo, but there's the ability to talk to up to 8 people. You can form "parties" which others can technically even sneak into, but I believe there's enough visibility that you are notified if it's someone you d...

Today as we celebrate Thanksgiving I want to just spend time reflecting on all I'm thankful for. It's an exercise that I should do more and helps get my heart in the right place. I'm thankful for... warmth of a home clothes to wear freedom to worship God freedom to share ideas my kids my wife loving parents sisters co-workers Precision Planting Bethany Baptist church in-laws food in our fridge grocery stores that have all kinds of food available lights to turn on when it's dark cars to go places my kids when they snuggle with me doctors that can help diagnose sickness coffee in the morning ability to read and write clean water garbage services restrooms that get rid of my waste photos that can capture moments I might otherwise forget friends that keep in touch over years people that challenge me musicians that continue to make good music those that write stories and create movies shoes that protect my feet toothbrushes and floss to keep ...

The general manager of our company, Justin Kauffman stopped by my desk yesterday and showed me a new book he purchased. It was Seth Godin's new book "This is Marketing." He then proceeded to open up the book cover and show me the inside of the cover. It was covered with a couple hundred portraits of individuals and smack dab in the dead center of all of the images was our general manager's portrait! "Can you believe it?" he exclaimed. I was floored. We talked about how that could have happened. Was it a marketing tactic where anyone that pre-ordered the book was smack dab in the center of the inside of the book cover? He then went on to tell me that after seeing it he made a trip to Barnes & Noble to check the inside of another book cover to see if it was more than his book copy that had his picture in it. Sure enough, his portrait was in the same place in the book covers at Barnes & Noble as well. Then he remembered sharing a photo of himself afte...

What is it about air fryers that has made them THE big kitchen gadget for Christmas the last 2 years? I think there's a few things. One it saves cooking time. Two it saves time cooking greasy good food that otherwise you would have to cook in a deep fryer, pan, or oven. Three it feels healthier because you use less oil with a similar result. Four I think some of the allure is even in the name "air" fryer. It sounds like I'm making a healthy choice using air to fry my food instead of a bunch of grease. In the end this gadget will probably go the way of other kitchen gadgets and be part of everyone's garage sale, like the George Foreman grill. But for now it appeals to some "real" needs that people have; cooking fried food fast with "air" instead of lots of oil, making you feel like you're making a healthier choice.

A friend of mine mentioned a company he'd worked with recently saying,"They're really smart." I questioned him and said, "What exactly does that mean?" He went on to say that in working with them they sum up a project with 1 of 4 different words. That 1 word is then given to those working on the project as the end goal of what needs to be communicated. 2 of the words were wisdom and rugged. The details of the project could have been anything, but if it didn't deliver in the end to communicate the 1 word, rugged for instance, it failed. This brought a lot of clarity as well as creative freedom to those working on the project because there was no question what the end game was supposed to communicate. So what makes a company really smart in this example? 1 simple word that everyone can understand. What's yours?

We have started a tradition in our home of alternating between colored lights and white lights on the Christmas tree. My wife and now my daughter like colored lights and I prefer white. So... we decided to alternate between each every year. This year is the colored lights year and there's something about it that I kind of enjoy knowing that it's what makes my wife and daughter happy. I don't hate colored lights I just prefer white. My preference when combined with my love for my wife and kids creates a compromise that makes something I wouldn't have preferred still enjoyable because of who likes it. I'm glad we don't all like the same things. Some things just aren't negotiable, but there's a lot of things that are preference. So try to find ways to see something in what others like too.

I had no idea until about a month ago when I first heard about this technology that the majority of the music industry uses a technology called Auto-Tune to make sure they have perfect pitch both in recording as well as in concert. It's a technology that's taken a lot of heat, but sounds like it's here to stay. Auto-Tune is an algorithm, invented by Andy Hildebrand, a geophysicist. It basically takes the pitches of a singer or guitar and finds the nearest perfect pitches and corrects it, even in concert as the musician is singing or playing. Which brings up the question of how good are the artists today really? Do they actually have a good voice or do they just know how to use Auto-Tune really well? Artist are saying that Auto-Tune has become the Photoshop of the music industry. Some artists are calling for honesty in live shows with a campaign called, "Live Means Live", so the audience knows there's no Auto-Tuning happening.

I stumbled across this antisocial campaign in a magazine last year and thought it was really clever. Created by Mike Campau, a digital artist. Social media is another one of those love and hate type of things. There's a lot of great applications, but there's also an aspect that each one of these apps can be an isolating and unrealistic representation of ourselves and others. My challenge today on social media would be to be real and share things that matter.

Really good ideas. I mean the really good ones, are like a bubble your kid blows outside. The big idea forms really quickly, the wind starts to take it away and you watch it for a few seconds and then POP it's gone. Why do I bring this up? I think it's important to realize how quickly some of the best ideas come and go in our heads. Somehow we need to force ourselves to remember these ideas. Take a picture, write it down, record a voice memo, somehow capture that moment in time so you don't forget it later. The other question you may ask is whey wouldn't I record it if it was such a good idea? Glad you asked. Most of the time the really good ideas come when you're not prepared to capture them. Like when you're in the shower or driving to work or exercising or doing something else that's not sitting behind a computer, at your desk or somewhere when the typical tools to capture an idea are available. So always be ready.

It's in the low 30's outside and I'm alone with kids all day in the house. What am I gonna do? That was the question yesterday as I took the day off from work to watch our kids so my wife could work yesterday. The stretch from wake up until nap time can sometimes be brutal, but yesterday we hit the jackpot. I don't remember exactly how we made it to 10AM, maybe it's because we were all looking forward to going to Bass Pro Shop right when it opened, but that's what we did. If you've got little kids and you need something to do in Peoria for an hour or two that's free, go visit Bass Pro Shop. Especially during the holidays, November through Christmas. My kids loved running around in the big store, seeing all the animals, fish, and playing with the toys set up in the Santa Claus area. They're highlight though was the lady in the bowling alley that gave them fish temporary tattoos. We were there for an hour and it went by super fast. Oh and one mor...

Well I'm just getting to my post tonight. I didn't get up quite as early as I normally do and by the time I opened up my laptop to start typing I heard my son wake up. At that point I knew my chances were pretty much over of getting this done in the morning. What I didn't know though was that I would forfeit silence and typing for about 10 minutes of my son just curling up in my lap and snuggling with me. I wouldn't have traded it all. Who knows how many more of those I'm going to get! So this morning was just a reminder to cherish my kids for the short amount of time that they're in our home and take advantage of the opportunity I have to parent them.

Logos are a powerful tool that anyone can understand. I think of both of my kids. One is almost 2 and the other if 3 and a half. They both know what the Chick-fil-a logo looks like. In fact, on our way to Chick-fil-a last week my oldest saw a billboard and asked if that's where Chick-fil-a was. Then as we got closer my son who is not even 2 recognized the Chick-fil-a restaurant and started saying, "Chick-fil-a". A couple more examples of this happened just yesterday in church were my older daughter was looking through the church bulletin and pointed out the "Awana" logo and a QR code mark, which she equates with videos right now. I think these example just show how it doesn't take very many times of seeing a logo/mark and being able to associate it with something. Now say that Chick-fil-a or Awana didn't have a logo and my kids saw the text Chick-fil-a or Awana. I doubt they would know what to associate that text with. The logo does some powerful wor...

I felt like I sometimes do when shopping with my wife yesterday, but my wife wasn't there with me. I got specific instructions at Kroger to use our Kroger card and buy the max amount of shredded cheese that was marked down to 99 cents as long as you loaded the deal on your Kroger app. Well, I scanned my Kroger card at the checkout and scanned my shredded cheese but the price didn't change. So then I'm thinking what did I do wrong? I'm going to pay triple the cost and can't do that because I failed to get the deal! So I waited until a Kroger employee came over to the self checkout area. I'm not good at waiting. I start to feel embarrassed. Embarrassed because others are waiting on me and then I have to tell the employee that I'm not getting the amount off that your promotion says I should. But, I waited... A nice employee came and asked me what I was trying to do and the proceeded to scan back in everything I purchased, all 5 bags of cheese. She had to do...

The Nike swoosh when first created in 1973 by a graphic design student wasn't received very well. It was more like, "I guess that one will work." But over the long haul, through advertising, through it being placed on a good shoe it gained popularity. Graphic designer, Michael Bierut says, "Logos are really about being empty vessels and then you pour the meaning into them." He argues that people getting into arguments over logo design are misguided. "They think they're engaged in judging a diving competition, but really they're in a swimming competition. It's not what kind of splash you make in the water, but how long you keep your head above the water." Logos need to be designed for the long haul not for a few people that get to vote on it to like today. What makes a truly great logo? This makes me think of the updating of Precision Planting's logo that happened about 4 years ago. I believe it was necessary, but perhaps not for the...

Email. It's something that's probably not going away anytime soon and it has tremendous value, but it also tends to distract very quickly and can really own me if I'm not careful. I'm guilty of being a slave at work to my email inbox. I've also been a slave to trying to file everything away, only to never ever look for the email filed away again. I wish there was a way that would just read my mind and take care of my emails once I've read them in a way that makes sense to me, but that doesn't exist. I wish there was a way to always find the exact email that I remember seeing a few days earlier or months ago, which sometimes I can find and sometimes I can't. I don't think there's a perfect system, but I have found in the last month some help in checking my email less frequently and placing emails I don't have time for at the moment into one of three folders, Answer, Hold or Read. Everything else gets responded to when I check my email beca...

I'm lovin' it. What's in your wallet? Eat fresh. Nothing runs like a deer. Eat more chicken. Just do it. Think different. These are just a few that came to mind for me quickly. There may be others for you. But my guess is that you could tell me what brand each of these lines is associated with. How did this happen? How many times did we hear each one of these messages to get it in our brain that I should associate Subway with "eating fresh" or that Nike is all about "just doing it"? My guess is a lot of times. Research says at least 8 times to recall something, but I would say in these cases you've heard it a lot more than 8. I've said it before, but there is power in repeating the same message, but it also has to be the right message and the other part is it has to be simple. Notice anything about the lines above. The longest one is 5 words and shortest one is 2, yet they each get across the main message of the company.

This concept, called the 40% rule, is used by the Navy SEALS to increase mental toughness when they get to a place where they feel like quitting. In summary the idea is that when you hit a wall and you're mind says "I'm done", you're actually only at about 40% of what you're capable of doing. The example was given that 99% of those start a marathon finish it and everyone that does a marathon knows that you hit a wall at some point, yet you still push through it and finish. This idea is fascinating to me and is an encouragement to push myself in areas when I say, "I can't." or "It hurts too much." or "It can't be done." It might be really hard, but there's more in the reserve tank than I think.

Popularity. Why do certain things become so popular and others don't? What does it take for the masses to like something? Why is it that the most little girls get into Disney princesses? Why in a culture that prides it self on being an individual do we gravitate towards many of the same things? Don't get me wrong. There are more options today than ever before of things to "like", but the interesting thing is that in the multitude of options most people gravitate towards a select few. We want to be unique, or think that we are, yet we tend to like what the everyone else like.

Idols aren't just manmade statues that are worshipped. An idol is anything that we love more than we love God... anything other than God that we rely upon for our happiness... anything other than God that we depend upon for protection against our fears... anything that receives the first fruits of our time, the first fruits of our resources, the first fruits of our commitments. So I ask myself the questions. Am I loving anything more than God? Am I relying on anything besides God to make me happy? Am depending on anything other than God to ultimately protect and provide for me? Am I giving anything other God the very first of my time, first of what I have, first of what I commit to each day? These are great questions to ask yourself each week. It is so tempting to worship the created rather than the Creator, but creation can never ever give us what the Creator alone can give. The created things are not in themselves evil, they are actually good and are signs that point us to ...

Just last week a friend of ours received  2 Sports Illustrated magazines that evidently were lost in the mail for 26 years. They were delivered wrapped in plastic with a message printed on the outside of the plastic that says "WE CARE" and a letter from the postmaster about the damage to the mail during handling and because of the great volume and rapid processing this sometimes happens. There's so much to this story that I'm curious about. How did this piece of mail surface after being mailed out originally in 1992? Did it fall behind some wall and just resurface after some remodeling at the post office? Is there some sort of code that makes the postal workers responsible for any mail no matter how old that hasn't been delivered if found that must be delivered? How often does this kind of thing happen? According to an article back in 2012 the U.S. Postal Service handles over 160 billion pieces of mail a year, which is over 6,400 items a second. It's amazi...

Every few months JC Penney does a $10 OFF $10 or more coupon that typically gets our family in their store to try to get a couple FREE items. We usually are able to come pretty close to getting $10 worth of goods for about $1 (you have to spend over $10 to qualify). This strategy of discounting definitely gets us in the store, but we typically don't spend much more than we have to in order to get in on the deal. So... in the case of JC Penney who is really struggling to make it these days I wonder how well this strategy of giving away $10 to any customer that comes in every few months is working out?

I've noticed my daughter in the past month has started singing the station identification jingle for one of the radio stations we listen to frequently in the car. I think she knows this better than just about any song she might hear on the radio and she's 3. This got me thinking where did this whole thing with station call letters start? And then why do they use jingles? Glad you asked. Call letters started back in the early 1990s with wireless telegraphic signaling between ships at sea and stations on land. The stations adopted "call signs" to help identify each other. In 1912 each country was given certain prefix letters. The United States was given K, N and W. Later when commercial radio took off these prefixes were used as a way to identify each radio stations. The next problem to solve as commercial advertisers became involved was how know which radio stations had the most listeners. They did this based on ratings through a survey. Listeners had to recall t...

"What I’ve found is this–after people get to posting #200 or beyond, they uniformly report that they’re glad they did it." Seth Godin I can already say writing every morning has become part of my morning routine and I'm starting to enjoy it. I don't know that my writing is getting any better or that I'm communicating clearer, but I can say it's been an exercise that's been positive and I'm surprised that I've already hit the 1 month mark. The above quote is something for me to aim for as well as hitting 1,000 posts (about 3 years from now). I know that hardly anyone reads any of these and I'm fine with that. I've heard Seth Godin talk a few different times about regularly blogging and in the back of my mind I'm holding on to the idea that this exercise produces something that he describes as "magic" the more that you do it. So here's to another 31 days.

Within 20 minutes we forget 40% of what we learned. After another 40 minutes, we forget half of it. One day later, we will have lost more than 70%. We only retain about 30% of what we learn. Typically what touches or interests us according to German philosopher, Hermann Ebbinghaus. So how do we remember more? Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. Repeating something learned 3 times will help in remembering more of it. After learning something go over the information again one day later, then 3 days later and then 6 days later and your retention will be much greater. A lot of times I learn something and then never go back to it again and my retention is poor. Or I can remember in college spending hours cramming all at one time right before a test and also not retaining much. As I've been reading more, listening to podcasts and attempting to learn more lately I've noticed that repetition is a big player in those that are good "teachers". They say the same or simil...

Have you ever had something stolen or broken into? It's a weird feeling that comes over you. I can remember when my car got broken into my first year in Chicago and my Kenwood stereo and 6 disc CD changer was stolen out of the car. I remember walking up to my car right in front of my house and seeing the passenger window busted and being totally shocked that this happened to me. In last 2 years in Peoria, two of our neighbors have now had their cars stolen. One neighbor found there's on the cul-de-sac of our street because it was a stick shift vehicle and those that stole couldn't figure out how to get it in reverse. Our other neighbors haven't found their vehicle yet. It just happened two days ago. In both instances with our neighbors they shared on our Facebook group message feed to let everyone else know to lock your car doors and if you can keep your cars off the street. Along with the shock that this happened to me, comes wanting to let others know what ...

If I give a group of people an opportunity to participate in a discount program and there is never a deadline to get in on the discount, the likelihood of them participating in the program is very low. But, give them same group of people a deadline around 2 or 3 weeks from when the program starts and you'll see a much larger amount of participation. Typically the majority of the participation will be towards the end of that deadline. So what is this actually doing? It's pushing the procrastinator to make a decision by a certain point. The procrastinator is typically the majority, because the amount of people that don't wait until the last day or two of the discount is typically very small. Are you needing people to make a decision? In many cases giving a deadline and being persistent on communicating that deadline can be a good motivator.

We went for a walk last night on Grandview Drive in Peoria Heights and saw at least 12 people within a half hour taking photos. Why so many? Well it's a beautiful spot and kind of a cliché place to take a picture in the central Illinois area, but this time of year it is about the best time with all of the leaves changing color. Why does everyone want to take pictures with a background of red, yellow, orange, green and a multitude of other colors of trees? I don't know really know, but I think some has to do with just the scarcity of it and some of it has to do with the beauty of it. It's only a short period of time in the fall when trees have such diverse color. People don't come out in droves to capture a landscape of trees that are all green.

If everything in our house got put away, organized and was the way I wanted it today would I be truly happy? No. I do like things a certain way and despise clutter, but we have two little kids and my wife is now pregnant with our third. So, I can choose to be about me and what I think would make me happy on a Saturday or what would bless my family on this day. What I proposed at the very beginning of this post is not a bad thing at all, but if the only reason it's being done is for myself and the rest of my family is ignored on a day when I'm around all day I might as well have just gone to the office. So on Saturdays, self take a seat.

Little kids say hilarious things. Especially when they use the wrong words with emotion. Josie recently said, "I'm so complicated!" When she really meant, "I'm so constipated!" And she kept saying the same thing using the word complicated over and over again. She's also gotten pretty close to memorizing the Pledge of Allegiance since she's been going to AWANA, but currently she says, "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the AWANA States of America... with liberty and practice for all."

I find thinking about time interesting because it's something all of have and everyone probably uses it somewhat differently at least after you get your sleep out of the way. After watching a video from a co-worker recently that has a daughter diagnosed with Leukemia AML and hearing him talk about spending time with his kids it made me think about how much time I typically have with my kids a week. So I did a little math for an average week. It ended up being a little under 2 full 24 hour days a week. Or to put another way of my awake hours a little under 3 days out of a week I'm around my kids. That's roughly 156 days a year out of 365. Put one more way I get to spend roughly 40% of every week while I'm awake with my kids. It's actually more than I thought when I think about the amount of time during the work week that I'm home with my kids and the amount of time that my wife is with them. But it's still not a lot and it's only for a short period o...

My wife made a comment to me last night about people using an "*" to alter a curse word in their post on Facebook, saying "I don't get it." I agree. I'm not sure what the point is. If you're going to write a curse word why try to hide or soften what you're actually doing? Either commit to the word or just don't use it. I'm guessing if there's some sort of conviction about the word and you need to get creative on how to use it without using it, then maybe you should just be more creative and find a better word to use. So in conclusion just write it or don't.

Just thinking through the creative process this morning some as I've been in the thick of it right now at the office. A lot of times I've got these feelings in my gut of anxiousness and excitement a lot as I'm trying to accomplish the work. Since much of what I do is pretty objective there's no simple formula to get the best print ad, video, email, etc. But, I read a couple interesting articles this morning on creativity that surprised me talking about why our best ideas come when we least expect them NOT when we're the most awake but actually when we're more tired. When we get to a point that we're tired and have been thinking about something for a while doing something else like exercise, a shower or driving home are good distractions that also increase dopamine in the process and help us relax. During these moments many of our best ideas come and the key is to just be ready to capture them before they're gone. Really interesting article can be fou...

I took our kids to our small group bible study last night with out my wife and I came back home with more than we left with. My son came home with a mark across his cheek that I have no idea how he got. My daughter came home with a skinned up face from falling on the driveway while playing with the other kids. And I came home with a thankfulness in my heart that I don't have to do this parenting thing alone on a regular basis. It's tough. Tough to have conversations with other adults, tough to make sure your kids have what they need, tough to make sure you didn't forget anything when it's just you and the kids. I realize my wife does the solo parenting thing more than me on a regular basis, but I'm thankful that we can take turns going into the ring. Ultimately, I'm thankful for how God designed family where there's a mom and dad sharing the load of joy of teaching kids. Thankful that mom's and dad's also have another they can go to when the burd...

"If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter." I've often heard this quote attributed to Mark Twain, but digging in it actually appears to have first been stated by Blaise Pascal. “My dear Reverend Fathers, my letters did not use to follow each other so closely, nor did they use to be so extended. The little time that I have had has been the cause of both these things. I only made this letter longer because I had not the leisure to make it shorter.” — 16th letter The point here is that it easy to write a bunch of stuff down and send it out into the world. It's much more work to labor over it, condense it down and just communicate what's really important.

Last night our family picked up a Little Caesar's pepperoni pizza and "Toy Story 3" from the library. We shared an experience together of the same pizza and the same movie and I would say it was way better together than if I'd done the exact same things on my own. There just something about my 1 year old saying "Big one!" referring to his pizza. Or my 3 year old that asks, "When is the movie going to be done?" as the movie is getting to the climax. These moments that are shared by our family when we're doing something pretty normal together are what make it memorable and a highlight of my day. Sometimes I'm ready to just have some of my own time, but I need to remember to be engaged, because time together is what's going to build up our family.

Coming out of the workshop we attended this week for the first time in a while our plan has become very clear as to what our marketing needs to accomplish over all. Because our overall plan has clarity our team has confidence and is taking a lot of action quickly. A meeting yesterday comes to mind where we walked our website agency through a major shift of the homepage of our website. Prior to this meeting we believed that overall where we were going was looking good and had given little direction. But, with the 2 day workshop behind us from this week we had a plan and confidence to really evaluate where our website was headed and provide clear action steps on what was needed to get it to the place it really needs to be.

I work within a culture where we would say we want to be "fast to fail". In this type of environment struggle happens on a daily basis. We come up with what we think is a solution, get it out in the world to test it, realize it needs refinement and go back to the drawing board. There's more risk in this philosophy, but there's also more reward as well when you get it right much quicker than the organization that methodically plods along with a mindset of "failure is not an option". In the struggle is where we learn so much more than in the trying to avoid all struggle. We do remember the point when everything comes together, but where the story is really interesting is when those crucial points come when it's we have 24 hours to solve this problem or we fail. This is an area where our culture thrives. And these type of moments within our culture when we share the struggle infuses within our DNA a philosophy that there's always an answer and our tea...

There's a reason why phone numbers are grouped in 3 clusters. There's a reason why an area code is made up of 3 digits. There are primary colors. There's a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in the Olympics that get medals. There's a small, medium and large option at most restaurants. We like the number 3. We like information, but only so much or it begins to paralyze us. It's fairly easy to get people to remember 3 things together, but once you go to 4 it gets a little harder and once you go to 5 it's almost impossible. As I think about communication moving forward, organizing the steps I want someone to remember into no more than 3 parts is going to be something I need to challenge myself with. It's a good exercise with proven results.

I'm half way through a workshop this week in Nashville and we're working through a framework called "Storybrand" and it's challenging. The creative process is messy and even though you want to get it right I'm learning through the process that it's evolving and we're not going to get it perfect in these two days. We're learning some tools that help organize the chaos and form a path ultimately for the customer to walk down that leads to their success.

Ever wonder why the name? There's always a reason. Never thought about this one until yesterday, but why is a combine called a combine? Well, prior to 1835 when it was first built and patented, the harvesting process was 3 steps–reaping, threshing, and winnowing. The invention of the combine "combined" those 3 steps into one machine that did them all together. Next time you hear a name that you don't know the history behind, look it up. You might learn a little something you never knew.

This was on a postcard from my parents who just recently took a trip to Washington D.C. "Never put off tomorrow what you can do today." "Never trouble another for what you can do yourself." "Never spend money before you have earned it." "Never buy what you don't want because it is cheap." "Pride costs more than hunger, thirst and cold." "We seldom repent of having eaten too little." "Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly." "How much pain the evils cost us that never happened." "Take things always by the smooth handle." "When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry count a hundred." Thomas Jefferson

"You made my day." I received the above sentence in my personal email box yesterday that I rarely receive "personal" emails in anymore. I decided to send a thank you to this person to let them know I appreciate the effort they're putting in to a class they are teaching and they came away encourage to the point of this being a highlight of their day. For whatever reason I believe we are far too lazy in offering written words of encouragement via any form of communication than we should be. The response back to my short email was proof that these can be huge in someone's day as long as they are true. Don't just try to inflate someone's ego. But, when you see something in someone that you value, let them know.

I can see now some of the things that I really enjoyed growing up and how those things have fueled where I am today. One memory in particular stands out of planning a concert one Christmas where me and 3 of my cousins played some music for the rest of the family. I remember coloring light bulbs with red and green permanent markers and putting them in my grandparents lamps in the basement to really bring up the feeling of a concert. Permanent marker colored light bulbs give off a distinct smell when they're on for a while! I think we also put together programs. I was all in. Today, I see that Christmas concert along with other "shows" I did as a kid as setting the stage for a lot of what I get to do now. One of the biggest events of the year at my work is our Winter Conference. It's basically a huge show, that I never would have imagined helping envision and create every year as a kid. It's a highlight of my year with close to 5,000 people attending. So if yo...

I've noticed in the last month as I've started helping teach 3 year olds at church that there's one time that they all pay attention the closest out of the roughy 90 minutes that we have them. What do we do that gets their undivided attention? The puppet show. Typically it lasts about 5 minutes, but I've noticed that all of their eyes are glued on the puppets and they are tracking with the story that unfolds as part of the show.

I've come to enjoy the early morning hour more than I ever used to now that I have kids. Back in my post college years when I worked in Chicago for some ad agencies I would stay up late and get up late since I didn't have to be in the office until 9. A lot of times I wasn't up until about 8. Now I'm usually up everyday between 5 and 6 and at the office at 7. I'm also usually in bed by 9 on average. It's a totally different schedule. I've had to change because my kids are up by 6. So, if I want a little time to myself, time to think, read, write, to be quiet, early works best for me when I'm freshest. So I guess you could say I've gone from the 9 to 5 to the 5 to 9.

Did some simple math this morning. Based on the average of 8 hours the National Sleep Foundation recommends adults sleep every day, one third of every week we spend sleeping (56 hours a week). It's something that most days I give little thought to, but everyone needs sleep. No one can go much more than a 24 hour period without needing it. Our bodies were designed to need sleep to recharge. It's just a bizarre thing to think about sometimes (as my wife has told me before) that every person in this world has goes to sleep everyday and sleeps for hours. We are dependent. This is just one little example of our frailty and dependency that I need to be reminded of in a culture that thrives on being independent. God designed us in a way that our bodies are dependent on rest, food, drink and air just to name a few. These things point us to our need for something even greater, the God who created all these things that temporarily satisfy all of those needs. And these ultimately poin...

Just a few things I've jotted down over the last year that I want to become go to sayings in our home. "Obey right away, all the way, with a happy heart." "Whining will keep you from worship." "Worry will keep you from worship."

I asked my daughter this morning what the best part of her day was yesterday was and she replied, "Going to the library." I asked then asked her what was the best part about going to the library and she said, "Getting the new books and the new CD." I had a similar thought yesterday morning about newness as I was driving in to the office yesterday. Not necessarily the best part of my day, but I was also enjoying something new in listening the new music releases that had just come out that morning. There's something about things being "new" to us, whether it's a book, music, movie, clothing, restaurant, destination, etc that brings excitement. There's an aspect of unknown to it, even if we've read the reviews or heard someone talk about it, it's not the same as actually experiencing that newness for the first time. I don't know if everyone is like this, but I think most of us have at least some of this wired in us. I also believ...

Our family eats at Chick-fil-A at least once a month if not more and we don't eat out every week, so this is frequent for us. But, if it wasn't for the Cow Calendar that they offer I'm not sure if it'd be as often. The calendar is a genius idea that provides a monthly "free" item to the customer and gets them in the door on a regular basis. It's a unique way that Chick-fil-A has regularly communicated with customers once the customer has bought the calendar. We've in a sense joined an exclusive club of customers that get special perks on a monthly basis. I bring this up today, because I've heard the calendar is going away after doing it for 20 years. There's even an online petition to bring back the Cow Calendar here . It will be interesting to see if Chick-fil-A will continue to create an exclusive club type of group moo-ving forward.

As an Art Director/Designer by trade I struggle with this idea of perfection in everything I do. Sometimes it can be a good thing pushing me to do the best work I possibly can, but other times it keeps me from doing work that probably should be done because I won't be able to put the time in to get it perfect. I came across something today from Seth Godin that I liked in relation to the idea of perfection and realizing what the driver is. "You can’t name someone you befriended because his eyeglass frames were just the right shape, or the last book you loved because the cover was perfectly typeset. For surface shine, 80% might be more than enough. After that, the tweaking is for us, not those we seek to serve. " As I think specifically about the industry I'm in, this 80% rule rings true and it probably rings true in more industries than we think.

Yesterday our family went to run a few errands. Two stops were in-store pick-ups of items my wife ordered online. The experiences couldn't have been more opposite. I parked in the "15 minute" online pick-up spot after driving around the parking lot for a few minutes with the kids in the car as we waited for my wife to get the item. After at least 20 minutes she finally came out. She explained to me she waited at the counter while the person at the counter took care of a customer on the phone and another employee was taking care of work for his department in lighting. The employees continued to ignore my wife until 4 more people got in line behind her. Then the employee asked that she get more help to take care of the people in line there. The wait was long even though the idea of order online and pick-up in store is supposed to be fast, when employees don't have this as a goal there's a break down of the idea. Fast forward to Target, our next stop, where we al...

Thinking about the opportunity to reach more people with a message as a creative person. I've been intrigued by Andrew Peterson and his latest song "Is He Worthy?" and the reach that it has gotten and I believe it will continue to get. Andrew Peterson have a great following of listeners, and readers as well, but he's definitely not a mainstream artist and I don't know that he desires to be. My main point is to express something I admire in this artist as he's released a song that has resonated deeply with so many people in "Is He Worthy?". He has created something beautiful and then let it go for many others to also recreate it musically that it can reach even more people. Specifically, Chris Tomlin, a friend of his and artist with a huge following, asked him very soon after this song was released if he could put the song on his new album. Many of his fans expressed concern over Andrew's song being recorded by another artist and here was his...

Three words that we're familiar with, whether from the song, from our parents or maybe we learned them in sunday school. But, there is raw truth in these words for those that belong to God. This is not the same love that I have for my favorite food, sports team or rock band. This is love that lays everything down for a whore. For a hater of the lover. A love so strong that the one receiving the love can never ever do enough to repay the love. Ever. I begin to think about this and am absolutely floored. Why me? Jesus don't you know how much I've done against you? Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:25-27 God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we h...