Create, Play, Lead

Improv can seem intimidating if you have only ever seen it on a stage or in a comedy class. You picture the quick thinkers, the bold personalities, the people who seem to pull entire worlds out of thin air with nothing but a sentence and a shrug. But at its heart, improv is not performance. It is presence. It is curiosity. It is the art of letting the story unfold rather than trying to write it in advance. And that means improv is something all of us can do. In fact, we already do it every day. Every conversation, every unexpected moment, every time life changes the plan and you adjust, you are improvising. The more you practice it, the more comfortable you become with surprise, with wonder, with discovery, and with the new parts of yourself that emerge when you just let things unfold.  Now, I'm not saying "Don't have a plan." You should always try to plan when you have the capacity, but life often laughs at our plans and that is where improv skills are a game chan...

The Myth of Perpetual Motion Early in my career I believed that good leaders were the first to arrive, the last to leave, and the ones who could push through exhaustion without complaint. It looked impressive from the outside, but inside I was running on fumes. My creativity dulled, my patience thinned, and my judgment suffered.  From my early twenties until I was about to turn forty, I regularly worked 60-100 hour weeks.  As I was staring at the entrance to my 4th decade on Earth, I realized that something had to change. It took hitting that wall to realize that leadership isn’t a marathon run without water breaks. It’s more like a relay, you have to pace yourself, hand off when needed, and actually breathe between sprints. Rest isn’t a reward for leaders. It’s a requirement. Learning to Switch Off Switching off is harder than it sounds, especially when your work is people-focused. Even after hours you’re still thinking about the meeting tomorrow, the hiring decision nex...

We recently adopted a puppy named Daja. She is an endless well of cuteness, stubbornness, and wiggly energy... even at 3 a.m. At just six months old, she weighs 35 pounds and shows no sign of slowing down. When we went to the shelter, we had a plan. We wanted a medium or small dog between two and five years of age, ideally calm and maybe a little lazy. Instead, we came home with a puppy. A very large, very energetic, and very opinionated puppy. Exactly what we said we didn’t want. And we love her anyway. Sometimes life does that. The version of your story that makes the most sense on paper isn’t the one your heart decides to live out. Daja started her life as a stray, then spent over a month in the shelter. So when we brought her home, everything changed for her. The world opened up in all directions... and every day since, I’ve watched her greet it with wide-eyed enthusiasm ready to explore, learn and play! Exploration: The World Through New Eyes A leaf isn’t ju...

Some people start painting. Some pick up an instrument. Some of us… go outside and put something in the dirt.  I'll be honest; lawncare and gardening are . . . not my art form of choice.  My wife on the other hand, is amazingly talented in this area.  I've found I enjoy the structure of it and I certainly enjoy the fruits of the labor for what is one of my favorite art forms, cooking! Gardening is one of the oldest forms of creativity and one of the most forgiving. It doesn't care if you’ve never done it before. It doesn’t demand perfection. It just asks you to show up, put your hands in the dirt, give some of your attention, and a bit of patience. And in return? It gives you beauty. Nourishment. Peace. Maybe even dinner! Let’s look at how this quiet, grounded form of creation can change more than just your yard. 1. How It Begins It might start with a pot on the windowsill. A basil plant from the grocery store. A trio of succulents you try not to kill.  M...

If you show leadership qualities in your career, or even just stick around long enough, you will probably wind up managing a team.  Leading from where you are and leading a team are two related but vastly different propositions. "Leading from where you are" means showing initiative and elevating others even when you don’t have the title or the power. It’s influence without authority. Leading a team takes that same idea and pumps it with steroids. Now you make the decisions, enforce expectations, and drive productivity. Often you are subject to quotas, goals, or the dreaded KPIs. How can you possibly lead, motivate, and lift up a team, while simultaneously collecting and analyzing data, and doing your own tasks to boot? Let’s dig in! ___________________________________________________________________________________ Know the people (including yourself) We’ve touched on Emotional Intelligence in other posts, but it’s worth retreading a little here because good ...

When most people hear the word play , they think of board games, sports, video games, or tabletop campaigns. And yes, those are all wonderful, joy-sparking, brain-stretching forms of play. But playfulness isn’t limited to games. Sometimes it’s wandering through a thrift store with no goal in mind. Sometimes it’s rearranging your living room just to see what the sunlight does. Sometimes it’s hiking a new trail, pretending you’re an explorer charting unmapped terrain. Sometimes it’s choosing a funky pair of socks because they make you laugh. Playfulness isn’t a pastime. It’s a posture . It’s how we engage with the world when we’re not just trying to survive it but enjoy it. Redefining Play There’s this idea that adults have to “earn” their play. That we can only be playful on weekends, or vacation, or after all the serious work is done. But that assumes play is optional, something we grow out of instead of growing with . If there is one thing I want people to take away from ...

There’s a common idea in creative circles that to be a real artist, you have to be making something all the time. Writing, painting, building, worldbuilding,  producing . But creativity isn’t only fed by output. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is take a pause   and let yourself be moved by someone else’s work. You don’t have to be holding the brush to feel the shift. Sometimes, you’re just standing in front of a canvas, or sitting in a dark theater, reading a good book and something in you clicks. Not in a loud, thunderous way, but in a quiet, "what if" kind of way. That’s the moment of inspiration. Heroic Inspiration! If you’ve played Dungeons & Dragons, you know about Heroic Inspiration. It’s that little boost a DM gives a player for doing something brave, clever, or especially in-character. It’s a reward for engagement and it lets you reroll a bad outcome when it matters most. Appreciating art works the same way. You go to a concert, read a poem, ...