People keep reacting to my diet with, "Wow, you're so disciplined," as if it takes willpower to eat as I do. You know what took willpower? When I always had a container of ice cream in my freezer and potato chips, pretzels, or both in my cupboard. Not eating them took mental work that distracted me from everything else. The longer I eat like this: the more I love vegetables from farmers markets and CSAs. Moreover I can eat until I'm full while staying fit. So every meal is satisfying, usually sweet, and cheap. In the meantime, the more apples and fresh fruit I eat, the sweeter they taste. But beyond sweet, they also have nuanced, subtle, complex flavors. In ice cream, candy, and engineered…

I wrote before about how the longer I go without flying, the more people talking about flying sounds like they're talking about heroin. They sound like they're craving. They don't care how much they'll allow their life to fall apart to make it happen. They don't care whom their habits hurt. They sound entitled, often whiny. My friend who works with addicts described the squalor they allow themselves to live in. Hotel rooms scattered with syringes, bodily fluids, garbage, and so on. It sounded like how many tourist places have become with plastic, trash, poverty, and so on. I found a site with pictures of tourist destinations as people envision them, which is like the beautiful water the addict in Trainspotting envisions while reaching for…

I just got back from seeing (and hearing) my niece perform in her junior high school orchestra. On the back of the music program, a section described the value of learning music -- not how great learning music was, but how music developed skills and prepared students for other things in life, like math. What happened to us as a culture that anyone feels compelled to justify learning music in terms of something else, or anything else? How is it not obvious that music stands as its own value? On the one hand I know I don't have to worry about music going away. It's part of being human. But who felt compelled to describe how music had value? How did they not consider its…

When last we heard from Dov, about a year ago, he had limited driving his James Bond Jaguar, enjoyed the experience beyond expectation, and said he was considering getting rid of it. For a year I've wondered what came of his commitment. Many people "forget" or give up on commitments to bring mugs with them to cafés. What could I expect from a guy who aspired since childhood for a specific car to show the world he arrived from the ghetto to success? For people who insist remembering to bring a bag to a grocery store is impossibly difficult, surely anything about a car is too much. But Dov isn't anybody. A wrinkle? Tomorrow my book Initiative launches. Launching a book takes incredible time and…

Burpees began eight-and-a-half years ago. Burpees begat other bodyweight exercises and stretches. Bodyweight exercises begat kettlebell exercises. Kettlebell exercises begat bigger shoulders, biceps, thighs, and calves. As I got more fit, I wondered how I wanted to look. At 47, I probably don't have the testosterone to get jacked, which I think is the technical term for having unusually large muscles. But I never wanted huge muscles. I also don't want to rely on a gym, since accessibility is important to me. That is, I want what I achieve and others might want to replicate -- in my diet, exercise, and other habits -- to comprise only what others can do. I like using minimal equipment and for what I use to cost little and…

I posted a simple book page for Initiative: A Proven Method to Bring Your Passions to Life (and Work) where you can download a sneak preview of the book's preface. Click to go to the page, scroll down to enter your email and download the sneak preview. A screen shot of Initiative's simple book page

Friend and podcaster Jim Harshaw Junior posted our conversation on Initiative to his Success Through Failure podcast. Jim and I have appeared on each other's podcast twice each and met in person, so the conversation is friendly and open. I refer to his conversations on my podcast more than almost any other for his facing and overcoming his environmental challenge by involving his family in the process, bringing them closer. Many people don't act because they see others as potential problems. Jim does and teaches what leaders do: he sees others as part of the solution. We cover my new book from several angles. I also answered Jim's trademark question on a failure I learned from, so you get to hear me share a vulnerability…

Would you rather believe you can't achieve something you haven't but that others have, or that you chose not to? I don't know if there's a right answer, but I find the question interesting. If you aren't as fit as you like, do you prefer believing that you couldn't if you tried or that you chose not to try? Have you not negotiated that raise or promotion because you can't or won't? How about asking out that girl or guy? Or starting your company? Can't or won't? Take athleticism or fitness. We can't all be LeBron James but we can be more fit and athletic. Man exercising In my life, I specifically choose accessible health and fitness behaviors -- that is, ones anyone can do.…

Get the inside scoop! The first radio interview on my new book, Initiative, launching May 21, went up today with Ed Brzychcy's Leadership Update Brief. Listen for sneak previews and behind-the-scenes motivation and origin stories. The book's full title is INITIATIVE: A Proven Method to Bring Your Passions to Life (and Work) Even (Especially) If You Don't Know Yours Yet Stay tuned. Over the next couple weeks, until launch, I'll share more sneak previews, early reviews, excerpts, pictures of the cover, and more. In the meantime, listen to my conversation with Ed for the first inside views.