I consider myself a creative guy. I like to write. I like to sing. I love public speaking. Being creative in these ways feels right…and is crazy hard half the time too. So, while I have always considered myself creative, I have not consistently created over the years. There is a definite difference.

This difference was really brought to light for me through a book I just finished called Creative Calling. It is by photographer/entrepreneur Chase Jarvis. In the book he details how he went from following a very traditional path of playing college sports and going to med school, to giving it all up after his grandfather passed away to pursue being a photographer.

To say the book was inspiring would be an understatement. It was like the guy was reading all of my mail and my excuses and telling me to get past my bologna and create anyway. The writing that has appeared in this blog for the last three weeks is me pushing the processed meat aside and following the instructions I have been given.

At one point I believe I read this: we are what we do, not what we say we are going to do. I had to wrestle with that one. I know that I can talk a good game. I have to admit that I have talked a lot over the years, but haven’t really followed through. I have great intentions, but…we know where intentions go.

In the book he offers encouragement and guidance to help get past what I have described above. In that encouragement he even said start small. I can do something creative every day. Even if it is just writing one sentence, singing a few lines of one of my songs, or working on my next speech project. I can do something every day. You can too.

Are you creative? Yes. You are. We are human and by nature are all creative in some way. It just had to be cultivated. It may not come natural, but it is a muscle that can be built. I am all in on the journey to being my best creative self. I hope you will join me…and check out the book too. It was good stuff.

It is hard to believe that I got my first job 29 years ago. Was 1994 really that long ago? Man, it doesn’t seem like it. It seems like it was just yesterday and I was showing up to Taco Bell for the first time…to work there and not eat.

Do you remember your first job? When I was 16 I was a bit naive…granted we all were at that age. In being naive, I thought that the managers of the store would have their stuff together. I thought that Taco Bell would be a well run machine. After all, I liked the food, so what would be so hard about working there. Yeah, the shine wore off real fast.

I didn’t realize back in the day that when you go to work for a place, there is a fine line you walk between knowing what the end product is and really knowing how it is made. To this day I will not eat the bean burritos there. Or the tacos. Or…eat there at all. Part of it is because fast food really isn’t good for me. The other part? I know how the food was made back then…can anyone say boiled in a bag?

It was also the first time that I remember being stuck in a place that I couldn’t leave for a predetermined amount of time, doing things that I did not consider fun. I can look back now and see the lessons I was learning much clearer than I saw them then for sure. I don’t remember the manager’s name, but I do remember her as an abrasive, do it because I told you to type. These days I deal with people like that often and I know how to handle the interactions. Back then, I had no idea what to do.

I can also look back and see the obvious business lessons I was learning. I remember having to weigh the ingredients that went into the food. I don’t remember the manager ever telling me it was to control food cost and overall spend. I wouldn’t have understood those terms then anyway, but I sure do now. I also remember having a crash course in customer service. It was really hard then to be really nice to some people that would come to the counter. Let’s face it, Taco Bell on the late shift is a magnet for strangeness.

I am glad I had that job though. It only paid me 4.75 per hour, but it gave me a lot of pride in making my own money. I took pride in how I treated people. I tried to do my very best. These are things that I work tirelessly on now. Everything I learned back then is still very applicable today.

I am glad to have moved beyond making retried beans in a bag and burritos, but I do appreciate the memories and lessons it gave me. It was far from perfect, but it was a good first job.

What do you do when you make it to the end of the day and the majority of your daily goals are unmet? You work until you get done what you can get done. That day was today.

We attended the funeral of a very sweet lady today. We stood with family and friends and said goodbye. It was a time I would not have missed.

We got home this evening at 7:45. Seven of my eight daily goals were still unmet. I thought about blowing them off. I thought about curling up and going to sleep. However, I said I was going to do them. So, I got up and got them done.

I have found a lot of freedom in this. Yeah, I know. That sounds like it shouldn’t make sense. You have found freedom in having 8 daily tasked to achieve. Yes. Let me explain.

I am a citizen of the United States. I live in a free country. I can do what I want as long as it is not against the law. To accomplish this, I have to have a pretty good idea of what not to do. When I know that, I am free to do everything else.

I have eight daily tasks/goals that I have set out to achieve. Some of them involve not doing specific things. I can’t follow a nutritional diet and also eat a tub of ice cream a day. So I keep the diet and eat the ice cream in moderation. It is a boundary I have set for myself.

All this to say, I did what I needed to do today. I spent time with the ones I love. And, I was still able to get what I needed to do done, because there is freedom and flexibility that come when operating inside guidelines.

Day six is in the books.

It is hard to capture the affect someone can have on your life. Your encounters may have been brief, but the impact was lasting. I know someone like that. I was honored to know her.

I have had a few careers in my adult life. I work in data management now. Once upon a time I was an insurance adjuster and an office manager. Before that I slung pizza and sprayed yards. However, the job that started my career in the adult big leagues was as a music and youth pastor at a small church in Oklahoma City.

I was 20 years old when I took the job. I was two weeks from getting married to the love of my life and figured I needed to be gainfully employed if I was going to be successful as a husband. So, when the church offered me the position I was ready and eager.

Let’s be honest here, I had no idea what I was doing. It was all on the job training. I did not know that I was about to undergo one of the greatest learning curves of my life. I held on as tight as I could for a bumpy ride.

I wasn’t without help. Here enters one of the many wonderful people that helped me along my way, Bonnie – the most awesome church secretary.

It is always easier to do a job when you know you have people on your side. Every time I walked into the office Bonnie greeted me warmly. She showed care and concern. She helped show me the ropes. She made the atmosphere brighter because of who she was.

I could say many things about Bonnie. I admired her work at the church. She did what she did with excellence. She stood up for what she believed in. She made people feel welcome, including me. (She was also camp cook for both summers we took teenagers to camp! Good food!!)

She also gave me a great gift. I have had the honor for over 23 years of calling Bonnie’s son one of my best friends. We have been through a lot of life together and I am beyond grateful.

Bonnie passed away last Thursday. She had lived a long full life and was tired and ready to join her husband in Heaven. She is now free of pain and in a place that I look forward to one day being, with Jesus.

We will celebrate her tomorrow at her service. I am so thankful for her life and her impact on me. Her influence has been one of the factors that has helped me be who I am today. I am thankful for her and for the friendships/family I have because of her. She will be missed.

I said it before in a previous post, but it bears repeating…I love words. I love uncovering the meaning in them.

What word am I thinking about today? Agency.

What does this word mean?

We all know the common definition. A business that transacts agreements between two or mor parties. Think insurance agency. This is not what I am after.

The next definition states – a thing or person that acts to produce a particular result.

We have agency. We have the ability inside us to decide what results we want to see and then go after it. It may not seem like we have it, but we do.

This 100 days is not starting out as well as the last one did. I feel sluggish. I have hit a weight loss wall. It feels like I won’t hit any more of the goals I have set out for myself. That is how it “feels”.

Then I remember that I have agency. I have the ability to determine a particular result and go after my with a ferocious intensity. That power to choose is mine. Sluggish or not, there are things to be done. Goals to be achieved.

It is time to keep moving forward. I made the choice. Now it is time to follow through.