Podcast Highlights:

• The high’s and low’s of working side-by-side with Steve Jobs for twelve years.
• Discover the power of defeating complexity with simplicity.
• Watch the 1998 TV ads for the iMac with Jeff Goldblum.
• Why is simplicity so difficult to get right?
• Hear the story about the creation of the first Apple Store and naming the Genius Bar.
• Watch Steve Job’s commencement speech at Stanford “You cannot connect the dots going forward”.

I called my friend Gill at 10 am this morning. “Gill I’m calling you back. What’s up?”

“We’re going to climb Pikes Peak today. You should join us Aaron.”

Pause; remind myself that the lists of excuses for saying “No” are not that important or urgent or necessary. “YES. I’ll be there in an hour”.

Movies are extremely helpful in telling parable stories through the lives of someone else. The two movies that reframed my beliefs about risking saying “YES” more often are The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and Yes Man. These are must see films if you think you might be prone to using the words like,

No

Ahhh, I really need to….

Well it’s been a long time since I….

You know my (person) really was expecting me to…

Keep me in mind for next time….

Give me a heads up next time and I’ll be able to plan better.

Think differently

Business travel does not have to be a drag. Remove resignation from your list of excuses. You can fulfill your work obligations and HAVE A GOOD TIME ALSO.

Come prepared

• adventure clothes
• running/walking/hiking shoes
• Petzl headlamp -my favorite Tikkina (cheap, light, easy)
• light jacket (check out Patagonia's Houdini)
• Gear every Road Warrior should carry

Unfortunately, I experience anxiety. I used to resent the feelings of anxiousness, worry and discomfort. I can't say, I like feeling anxious. However, I've learned to embrace anxiety as a necessary, although sometimes irrational, indicator of perceptions, beliefs and risk. I've learned is that anxiety is always trying to alert me. Like the Tsunami warning sirens broadcasting the early warning detection of pending harm, anxiety is trying to educate us about a perceived threat. As I mature, I am learning to embrace the feeling of anxiety as a early warning detection system. 

Your Good Amount of Weird [Episode #64]

Everybody is weird in a good way. Your weird is your superpower. Embrace your weird. Love your weird. Foster your weird. Practice being weird.

A friend of ours told me a story about her son coming home from school sharing his acrostic (the thing you make where each letter in your name has a word associated with it). His name had a “G” in it and after wrestling with the perfect word to describe himself by only selecting words that start with a “G” he told his mom he wrote

A good amount of weird. Amen brother.

I've only recently embraced the belief that my weird is rare and good. I’m not talking about the kind of weird that means you collect toenail clippings from when you were in the third grade. I’m talking about the kind of weird that makes you have powers like a super hero.