I think the writer Henry James said it best: “Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.” Kindness. Plain old just being nice to other people. It is so underrated in today’s society. We often run around…

In his acclaimed book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, best-selling author and speaker Stephen R. Covey discussed how the problems, challenges, and opportunities we face fall into two areas—Circle of Concern and Circle of Influence. Simply put, effective people focus their energies on their Circle of Influence. They work on those things they…

It is so easy to get swept up in our day to day lives and lose perspective. So easy to focus on seemingly important goals and activities that, in the long run, really aren’t all that important. Is it important to be responsible and plan for retirement? Of course. But we don’t have to be…

In a previous post, I shared how Jill and I tackled our weed-filled flower bed, taking it all the way down to the dirt. We did this in order to create a clean slate from which to rebuild and regrow. Well, I did it again to a different flower bed this weekend. Very satisfying, although…