Hello Everyone,
Happy Holidays! I hope 2007 has been as great a year for you as it has been for me and Anna. We bought our first home. I landed a great new job. Anna became Director at her company. I finished the Burrito Project and put three more marathons under the belt.
When I last reached out to everyone regarding the end of my previous “Project” some of you took notice that I used a different email address other than my norm. The reveal is I have become an enthusiast of Stephen Covey’s four dimensions of renewal (physical, mental, spiritual, and social/emotional) and have been looking for an efficacious way to progress in these four areas. Voilà! I created The Live [a] Life [you] Love Project as a de facto lynchpin to address them all under an umbrella concept.
The short version of the new project is I am creating a personal 25-year plan. In that time I want to meet and learn from 200 thought-leaders. Experience life in 100 new and exciting ways and give $65,000 (plus volunteer 2000 hours) to charity.
It has been said by some that the strongest commitments are publicly made, so the idea is to check in with you once a quarter for the next 25 years and let you know how things are going.
The first wellness leader is Dr. Michael Gervais. His forte is developing systems and strategies for improving performance for individuals and organizations. Dr. Gervais, as the CEO of Pinnacle Performance, Inc., is an authority on the psychology of performance excellence. Throughout the past ten years, Michael has consulted with numerous NHL, NBA, NFL, MLS, AVP, MMA, Olympic, collegiate, and high school athletes. He is an internationally recognized speaker on issues related to human performance. My five questions with Michael Gervais about Sport Psychology can be found here.
The first business leader is Stuart MacFarlane. Stu has been a good friend to Anna and I and was very patient as my first subject (so thanks Stu). I singled him out because of his recent work on a fairly new development platform (Ruby on Rails), which I believe is going to do for back-end Web technology what Flash did for front-end Web technology. Stuart was the COO and founder of MXG Media, an executive at idealab!, and the CEO of Insider Pages (one of the first large-scale Ruby on Rail commercial projects). He is now Managing Director at Momentum Venture Management where he aids early-stage technology companies to gain the necessary traction to turn their ideas into successful businesses. My five questions with Stuart MacFarlane about Venture Capital can be found here.
My first exciting life experience to report is going to La Tomatina in Spain. The festival was absolutely amazing and definitely a must for everyone’s “bucket list”.
As far as contribution, I am not going to give myself credit for any of my volunteer work to date, but I am going to count the recent monetary donations I gave Adrene, Pat, Roger, Karen, Tracey, Ashley, and Mark for their athletic achievements. I know first-hand that it is not easy to ask your friends for money. I don’t have much to give, but if a few bucks get my friends across the finish line, then I have helped them knock out a few of Covey’s dimensions and helped myself (through reciprocity) too. What a bargain!
Thanks for listening to my ramblings. Being the extrovert that I am, reaching out to you is what keeps me going. If I can help you at all in your journey, please let me know.
Here is to a great 2008!
Warm regards,
Michael
Wow! Man you are inspiring. Well done to you and Anna on the job front. I have had a bit of a tough year I guess, but have taken the good… trying to learn! …dont get me wrong its still been fun! The way you pull through with such positivity Mike is inspirational. I’ve met a few new friends the last few months from Espania, and still learning my Spanish, so a trip back to different parts where some of the fun times were made might be coming up. That charity stuff definitely interests me. Happy New Year mate to… Read more »