Read This Book

I'll try to avoid this post being a book report, but since I don't read as much as I should when I come across a book that resonates with me I feel compelled to share. Well Being, by Tom Rath and Jim Harter was one of those books.

It's an easy read (one of the key ingredients of a good book for me) on a topic many people struggle with most of their lives, myself included.  How to get the most out of your life and be balanced and happy.  And this book isn't just the qualified opinions of the authors.  It's backed up by Gallup research that ranks among the largest studies of human behavior on the planet.  They didn't survey 200 people to come up with the findings, rather millions.

And yet, the advice and guidance that comes from this research is very simple. Challenging to live everyday perhaps, but simple.  That's another ingredient of a good book, the ability to take a complex challenge that millions of people wrestle with and boil it down into simple and understandable actions that can address the issue.

So, without further adieu, here's the executive summary (a different way of saying 'book report'). There are five essential elements of Well Being:  Career, social, financial, physical and community. Each plays a prominent role in well being over your lifetime.  The five elements aren't completely mutually exclusive, so some decisions/actions in your life might have a positive/negative impact on multiple elements.  At the end of each chapter outlining each of the five elements there are three recommendations (see, only three) for boosting your well being in that element of your life.

Spoiler alert, here they are:

• Career Well Being
• Everyday, use your strengths (see StrengthFinders)
• Identify someone with a shared mission who encourages your growth, and spend time with them
• Opt into more social time with people and teams you enjoy being around at work
• Social Well Being
•  Spend six hours per day socializing with friends, family and colleagues
• Strengthen mutual connections in your network
• Mix social time with physical activity
• Financial Well Being
• Buy experiences, not material possessions
• Spend on others instead of yourself
• Establish 'default systems' to lessen daily worry
• Physical Well Being
• Get a minimum of 20 minutes of physical activity per day, preferably in the morning
• Sleep enough to feel rested (7-9 hours) but not too much
• Set positive defaults when you grocery shop, focus on buying foods that are red, green or blue
• Community Well Being
• Identify how you can contribute to your community based on your personal mission
• Tell people about your passions/interests so they can connect with you on relevant groups/causes
• Opt into one community group or event, start small

There are some really great nuggets of knowledge that are contained in each chapter on each essential element.  It's a great read, and one I got pretty fired up about after reading it.  I'm not a voracious reader but this book ranks among the best I've read all time.

Off the top of my head here are the books that have resonated with me the most:

• A Whole New Mind
• Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
• Sh*t My Dad Says
• It's All About the Bike
• Rich Dad Poor Dad
• The Richest Man in Babylon
• The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

What are the books off the top of your head that you feel are among the best you've ever read?

Well Being is a superb book and easy read that I highly recommend.  If you're into self help/actualization as much as I am, and perhaps even if you're not.  

The Warriors and the "Regular" Season

To be honest, I haven't thought a whole lot about the Warriors beating the Bulls regular season wins record.  I agree with you Brad, that things change.  And yet everyone is still following the "chase to beat the record."  Is it the same record if it's not the same basketball as it was when the Bulls were kings?  Perhaps I am a curmudgeon, because I'm "old school" in the sense that I think records should be incidental to the game, not the goal or focus of the game.  Just ask Gregg Popovich how he feels about records!  That's why he rested his "big three" for a Friday night prime time match up with the defending champions Miami Heat back in the day (and then got fined for it).  The Spurs were at the end of a long road stretch and didn't need the W - his starters needed rest.  No Ed, it doesn't make for good TV, but in that case I think it did make for an NBA championship.

Don't get me wrong - I am as much about entertainment value as the next guy.  One of the MYRIAD of things that irritate this curmudgeon is the I-like-NCAA-basketball-because-it's-more-fundamentally-sound speech.  I don't watch the NBA to watch lock-down defense and low-scoring affairs.  I like fast breaks, monster dunks, and downtown threes.

But let's get back to where the REAL money is in sports, and that's in post-season wins, and especially championships.  The Warriors have to know that if they don't take home the O'Brien trophy when it's all said and done, then in a couple of years no one will remember that they won 73 games.  The reason people remember the 96 Bulls is because they won the championship.  The Spurs have had 17 consecutive 50-win seasons.  You'll hear that mentioned occasionally, but not much.  Why?  Because it's not a championship.  The Warriors BETTER win it all.  I doubt that the two of you have to search very hard to find near-and-dear examples of excellent regular seasons that ended in forgettable fashion.

I will take a side trail for a moment to talk about something that you touched on Brad.  I actually LOVE the debates about players or teams from different generations and who is better.  And the reason is because they CANNOT be answered.  You guys have heard me mention before (probably) that human beings used to debate trivial things for hours and hours because there was no definitive answer handy.  That doesn't happen anymore.  If someone makes a comment like, "Notre Dame has won more football National Championships than Alabama has," then people could pass hours arguing about it.  But not anymore, thanks to Google and his cousin Siri, we can get a definitive answer almost instantaneously.  But those generational questions?  Well, no one will ever be able to answer those questions, and THAT is what makes it a fun discussion.

Scottie Pippen says that the '96 Bulls would sweep the Warriors.  So what do you think?

Ed on Warriors

Nice post Brad.  I agree with the generational comparisons and with the changes in the game that these comparisons don't do justice to how different the game really is.   I also agree that the greatest players from each generation are perfectly suited for playing the game in their generation - an insightful point.

I've told friends that the Warriors to me are the Spurs with more sugar and pizazz.  I didn't and don't like the Spurs, not because they aren't or weren't a great team, but because they were boring to watch. Sure, an occasional great pass or spectacular shot, but generally they just put the ball in the hole, played great defense and won lots of games.  As a spectator that doesn't benefit or lose from wins/losses, I want and prefer entertainment in addition to sound basketball.  That's the Warriors.  As you pointed out, the Warriors play team basketball, but in an exciting way that's tons more fun to watch than the Spurs.  My point is not to pick on the Spurs (sorry Marco), but rather, to praise the Warriors.

I'm a self-admitted fair-weather NBA fan but I must admit that because the Warriors are chasing the Bulls record I want to know if Golden State won nearly every night.  Checking my phone or ESPN to find out, and seeing the highlights of what they do to win basketball games.  It's exciting and fun even for someone who doesn't generally follow the NBA.  The Warriors chasing the record set by the Bulls in the Jordan era has been very good for ratings, the NBA, and fans.  Any time you can take one of the game's most iconic players (I was careful not to say greatest of all time!) and insert him into discussions about the current year's teams it is going to be a huge win.  

One further note, and comparison.  The 'my generation' Detroit Pistons also played team basketball that was exciting to watch.  They won lots of games and had a colorful cast of characters that played the game as a band of brothers.  But they were thugs and they prided themselves on that.  Another admirable element of the Warriors seems to be the way the players carry themselves ... on and off the court.

I read a story about Steph Curry being interviewed by Craig Sager following one of the Warriors wins (I'm fairly certain you both saw it as well so I won't attach it here) where Steph was asked about whether they should pursue the Bulls regular season record, or rest players in preparation for the playoffs. Given what Craig is wrestling with Curry had the perfect answer, "I mean, seeing you and what you're doing, we've got no excuses. Your an inspiration for us to just keep doing what we're doing, keep fighting, and that's the mentality that we have and it's kind of contagious, so thank you."

With that on and off court presence and mentality I don't think there are many people cheering against Steph Curry and the Warriors.  So I'm eagerly watching to see if they break the Bulls record, and their probability increases with every win.  I believe they will.  And if a record goes down by my beloved Bulls (I have the same admiration for those Bulls teams that you do Brad) then I hope it goes down at the hands of this Warriors team.

Fun to watch and full of class (from what I can tell) ... GO WARRIORS!

73 -9

I've been contemplating for the last couple months how I feel about the run of the Golden State Warriors this year. An increasingly prevalent story line for this incredible team has been their pursuit of the Bulls record wins in a season. 72-10 is the best 82 game record and occurred during the Bulls heyday when I was a huge fan of the team and Michael Jordan. It appears inevitable that this year's Warriors team will eclipse that record. How do I feel about that?

My initial perspective was that I didn't want them to beat the record. The Bulls were my team at the time that I played and was most interested in basketball. I want to remember that Bulls stretch as the best team in regular season history. But as I thought about it I found myself sounding like all those retired professional athletes that lament the game (not just basketball; baseball, football, etc.) that is played today, how pampered players are today, and how their teams would have kicked the teams of today's butts.

Here is the news flash to our father as well as the rest of the world: things change. Everything changes over a 20, 30, 50 year stretch. And just because it changes doesn't mean its bad, it doesn't mean the people involved aren't as good (as players or people), or that there is some nefarious conspiracy that favors current events. It simply means that things have changed.

In order to fill the void driven by 24 hour sports TV and radio, discussions about "the best players/teams of all time" and comparing players across generations have become necessary. The best 50 NBA players of all time. These are incredibly difficult comparisons and do an incredible injustice to all players or teams involved in the comparison. The game Julius Erving played was different than Rudy Tomjanovich, which is different than the game played by Michael Jordan, which is different than the game played by Kobe Bryant. I don't think Lebron would be as successful as he is today if he had to play in the 70s. And I don't think Jerry West would be nearly as successful if he had to play the game of today. Players and teams are a product of the game as it is played in their generation. They aren't better or worse, they are perfectly suited to the game that they played when they played it.

I'm not going to be one of those curmudgeons that wants my era of basketball to always be considered the best. The Bulls teams during the run led by Michael Jordan were the best of that era of basketball. And the current run of the Golden State Warriors is the best we are seeing in the game right now. I'm excited to see history, I hope they beat the Bulls 72-10 and I hope they win another NBA championship.

One other important component to me is that I like the Golden State team, I like their players, and I think they play the game the right way. It is a team sport and the reason they win is not because Stephen Curry is the best player in the NBA. They win because they play as a team. Curry is Jordan, Klay Thompson is Scottie Pippen, Draymond Green is Horace Grant. Andre Iguodala is Dennis Rodman. They've figured out how to put their egos and bank accounts aside and sacrifice just a little personal gratification to win the ultimate team prize. The San Antonio Spurs are the same way. And the Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder probably won't win an NBA title until their leaders learn the same lessons and are willing to make the same sacrifices.

Go Warriors!

Where did March go?

Didn't want March to slip into oblivion without a post from any of us.  And since I seem to have the most free time on my hands I thought I would pen a quick post. 

I know I've been too concerned with what I perceive as "strong content" before I'm willing to post. Well, sometimes just writing is better than nothing at all.

As Spring arrives with occasional bursts of Winter hanging on, I'm longing for warmer weather, outdoor activities and my next career opportunity.  The warmer weather and outdoor activity that are on tap for me include:

• Cycling, training for RAGBRAI
• Fishing
• Doing a 14er
• Lawn care

I'm really looking forward to RAGBRAI and spending a week with my two brothers on a trek across Iowa, with 20k of our closest friends.  The cycling is secondary to the time we spend together.

Fishing - I finally extended myself to find some nearby bass fishing here in Denver.  And to my pleasant surprise there are some lakes with pretty good bass populations in them.  I'm eager to try them out pre-spawn once the water warms a bit more.

The 14er is something I said I've wanted to do since I moved to Colorado.  I'm mixed on how much conditioning I need to have in order to do one.  I'm targeting one of the two easiest so I'm hoping that I'll be in good enough shape with my RAGBRAI training that I can do one with Haley and the boys without too much trouble this Summer.  

And the lawn.  A few weeks ago when it felt like Spring I raked and fertilized my back yard.  Blisters on my hands and a broken rake later I was happy to have manually dethatched my lawn for Spring. Since then we've had 16-20 inches of snow and my snowblower has been used a half dozen times while my lawnmower sits idle.  But I'm hoping that getting it down when I did will make for a quick recovery to a plush green lawn. 

I continue to pursue my next career move and have thoroughly enjoyed spending the increased down time with Holly and the boys.  But I'm also ready to get back at it, but am committed to being pragmatic about making sure the next opportunity is a better cultural fit than my last gig.  

So while I look out the window and blowing snow (we aren't supposed to get more than an inch or two) I'm eagerly looking forward to the warm 65-70 degree weather that is being forecasted for this coming weekend.  

Politics as usual

I really don't have much to add, we are oddly all on the same page on the current political climate. My attempted summary based on my thoughts would include:

1. What has our nation come to that so many people support such a degrading character like Donald Trump? Marc, I like the link you snuck in at the bottom from Max Lucado on decency.

2. Term limits are the only answer. Career politicians, regardless of affiliation, do not represent their constituency.

3. I will be voting for the other guy/gal if Trump wins the Republican nomination bar almost none. My only exception is if Kanye West wins the Democratic nomination.

4. The President is one of the few individuals that billions outside our country see as their frame of reference for the United States. He/she speaks for each of us, let's think about this during the electoral process.

That is all.

The problem with politicians

I'll be up front in saying that I think a lot of problems could be solved with term limits for politicians. I'm not even saying one term, but how about two?  I think that one of the very fundamental problems is that politicians make decisions based on one thing: reelection.  That's the ONLY filter.  Politics involves power and money, and if you manage to stay in office, you keep both.  So all politicians - democrats, republicans, independents, libertarians, green party, tea baggers, freedom party, modern whigs, communists, or transhumanists, they all have a single goal: STAY IN OFFICE.  And how do you do that?  Well, you lie, and you lie A LOT.  You have to tell people what they want to hear, whether it's true or not.  You can't be fiscally responsible, because sometimes that means de-funding good things, and you can't expect people to want to reelect you if you are taking money away from whatever is their special interest.  You have to keep lying, but if you can manage to stay in office, you get the perks of being a pseudo-movie star: free dinners, private planes, trips to exotic locations, people kissing your ass all the time, fancy hotels, and even the attention of real movie stars.

Trump is a train wreck.  I honestly cannot believe that there are people who still support him considering the stuff that comes out his mouth.  The latest one is claim of not wanting to condemn David Duke, an admitted racist, because he "doesn't know him."  He made the same claim for the KKK.  THIS is the guy who apparently a huge portion of America wants to be President?  I can't help but STILL believe in the depths of my soul that the nonsense will come to end in the general election.  I personally know a lot of people who have never voted anything but Republican that have said they will NOT vote from Trump.  I'm one of them.  I just won't.  It's a sad indication of our political environment when people are so divided by party that they will vote for ANY candidate from their chosen party rather than vote for someone else.  If Kim Kardashian won the Republican nomination, the hardcore Republicans would vote for her against ANY Democrat.  That's the sad state of affairs, and unfortunately (this is just my opinion) the Republicans have been getting their asses kicked for eight years (with no end in sight) so they love Trump for the sole reason that he pisses off the Democrats so much.  Is that what the standard is for a President these days?  The person who pisses off the other party the most??  It's just me, but I think that the Democrats LOVE Donald Trump, because he's going to make the general election a breeze for them.  The Republican Party is done.  It's what I honestly believe.  It's done.  I don't think it will ever recover, and you can thank Sarah Palin for that.

I'm embarrassed for our country.  I think we're the laughing stock of the world.  On a personal note, if Trump does win the Presidency, I'm not sure that I'll stick with my profession - he'll have us in four separate wars or more within three months of swearing in, and one of them might be a Southern neighbor (Mexico).  I think I'll be putting in papers to retire if he wins.

Is there no decency in our country?