Unfrantic

Road Trip Packing List

by

I’m just packing right now for a rather extended road trip. I’m headed to a church for weekend where I’m starting a transitional coaching role, preaching at the services and then carrying on to a pastor’s retreat for a few days. We’re going be on the road for about a week, staying in two different locations. I pulled up my mega road trip list, deleted the things I don’t need to bring and started working through the list packing. 

It raises a few things I’ve added to my list over the years. Some of the things on the list I’ve discovered by trial and error that I’ve needed them, so I thought I’d pass on some of these ideas of my road trip list that might actually work for you. Now this trip I’m going on this time is actually a driving trip and not flying, which changes things on my list a little bit. But some of these ideas work both ways. 

Read more

Missing the Tent

by

Foster Lake near Lynn Lake Manitoba
Foster Lake, near Lynn Lake, Manitoba, winter 1984. I & E (Bjornson) Exploration

During my first three years out of high school, I spent several months each winter living in a tent.

One winter I did a solid three months, January-March with no days back in town.

The tents, usually 14×16 feet in size, made up the camps from which we cut survey lines or did geophysics for mineral exploration.

Since the camps were typically fly-in, with high costs for transporting gear, the weight and volume of our equipment was kept to a minimum.

Read more

An Alternative to Pooled Ignorance

by
what is wisdom?

There’s an old(er) guy at the coffee shop with whom I often indulge in solve-the-world’s-problems bull sessions.

He knows a lot about a lot of things, but as with any far-ranging morning chat with the boys, topics always come up that some or all of us know nothing about.

Most of us just bluff and offer our comments based on something we think we mighta heard somewhere.

The old guy often says “I really don’t know” and sits silently while we keep spouting off and pooling our ignorance.

But when he speaks, we all listen.

I consider him one of the wisest people I know.

Photo by Andre Benz on Unsplash

Slow Learner

by

Delegation, asking for helpSame old mistake.

Fought with a technical issue for half a day without making any progress.

Finally, just before bed, I posted a job on Upwork asking for someone to either do what I needed to do or simply consult with me.

Next morning, Joe from Austin Texas who charges $53 per hour messaged me and said he could help.

Read more

What You Need to Do

by

Delayed GratificationA multiple Grammy award winning solo musical artist once let slip that the reason he did a certain album was so he’d be free to do the kind of music he really wanted.

“I had to do that…so I could this.”

It’s not that the make-money album was a bust. The related performance drew one of his many Grammy nominations.

But it really wasn’t the music he wanted to do. Yet he did it so he could be free to run with his artistic preferences in the future.

This reminds me of a Ziglarism: “If you do what you need to do when you need to do it, the day will come when you can do what you want to do when you want to do it.”

Delayed gratification, a foundational principle for all kinds of success, isn’t just about NOT doing something now. It’s also about DOING the right things in the present as a setup and preparation for the future.

Step away from the donut…and go for a walk.

+ See More Posts