Posted by Grant on August 14, 2008 – 4:53 am
Filed under Books, My Book
Strike up the band…
Cue the Hallelujah chorus…
The book, Reality Check, is nearly complete!
Yesterday, it was one of the greatest feelings in the world to be able to take the completed manuscript proof to put in the mail. I felt like literally hours and hours of work had come together for that moment. I’m so stoked and can’t wait to get the books back!
From here, the printer will get the book by Monday and will check over the files and develop a sample proof to send me, which I should get about a week and a half from now or so. Once I okay that, print time will be about 3-4 weeks and then they’ll ship out after that. So we’re looking at probably late September to have the finished product in hand!
Posted by Grant on August 14, 2008 – 4:22 am
Filed under Events, Travels
I’m traveling to Connecticut today to speak at a student leadership event on Friday morning. We’ll be doing some group mixers, team building activities, and brainstorming ways to help improve their school. I’m really looking forward to hanging out with these students!
And secretly, I’m hoping to be able to buzz over to Bristol, Connecticut to check out the headquarters for ESPN. It is a journey…a quest…a pilgrimage…that every true sports fan must make once in their lifetime!
Posted by Grant on August 13, 2008 – 9:44 pm
Tonight my wife and I had a really relaxing and enjoyable date night. We try to have a date night without the kids at least once each week. But one thing we noticed is that it is easy to get into a routine with our date night.
We go to the same restaurants or the same stores or go through the same boring routine, which makes for a lousy date night. It’s a routine that becomes stale and dull.
So tonight we mixed things up. We went to a restaurant we had never been to. We went around and went clothes shopping together, which we never do. We were spontaneous and worked to break the routine. And at the end of the night, we both acknowledged, it was a great date night.
What is it in your world that has become dull, dry, and boring that you need to break the routine?
Posted by Grant on August 12, 2008 – 8:02 pm
I wonder if some of the athletes in the Olympics are beginning to ask themselves this question. Think about it. These are individuals who have been training nonstop for the past few years all for this one moment. But just as quickly as it all began, it will soon be over. And you have to ask…
What’s Next?
This is the question I’ve been asking a lot lately. For the past six months or so, much of my professional world has been consumed by writing and publishing my book, Reality Check. But now that this process is essentially coming to an end, I’m beginning to look for the next mountain to climb. Between my A.D.D. mind and my entrepreneur drive, it’s tough to sit still for too long. So I’m really beginning to think through…
What’s Next?
You should be asking yourself the same question. It’s easy to want to live in the moment or linger in the past, but today’s moment will soon be tomorrow’s history (wow, that was deep!). So what’s the next mountain you’re going to climb? What’s the next challenge you’re going to take on? What’s the next adventure you’re going to pursue?
If you have some ideas, let me know!
Posted by Grant on August 9, 2008 – 8:13 pm
I’ve never really been a diehard Olympic fan, but I figured I would record the Opening Ceremonies and check it out. And in the words of the late Chris Farley from Tommy Boy:
I’ve seen a lot of things, but that….was….awesome!
The Opening Ceremonies was truly like watching a show unlike I’ve ever seen. I guess the difference between this “show” and others was that they have been planning this night literally for years; there were 15,000 cast members involved; the use of technology was mind-blowing; and the sheer magnitude of the entire ceremony was astonishing.
There was amazing attention to detail and the elements of the ceremony were performed with such precision and grace. It truly was incredible to watch.
What if you did your job/homework/tasks/responsibilities with the same approach of the opening ceremonies? Not necessarily to the grand scale of it all, but rather, think about this: these people put in countless hours of preparation in order to perform this “show” once. That’s it. It wasn’t like they were prepping for a Broadway show they would perform multiple times every day to a new audience. They had one shot at this. Plus there was the added pressure that the entire freakin’ world was watching.
So again, I come back to that idea…
What if you did your _______ as if the world was watching and you had one shot to get it right?
Now that’s excellence.
Posted by Grant on August 7, 2008 – 6:24 pm
The Slight Edge – the little things in your life that don’t seem like that big of deal, but in reality make a huge difference.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the Olympics. In some races, the difference between a gold medal and no medal at all will literally be tenths of a second. Have you ever stopped to think about how small that increment of time really is? It is seemingly meaningless. And yet, that fraction of time may make or break someone’s career in the next few weeks.
The Slight Edge.
What are you doing today that will give you the slight edge tomorrow?
Posted by Grant on August 6, 2008 – 4:47 pm
As you know, I spend plenty of time on the road and in hotels, so I’m sure I’ve got my share of strange hotel stories. But I’ve never experienced something like what happened to a friend of mine last night.
Check out this guy’s blog for what happened to him. Let’s just say the swat team got involved!
Posted by Grant on August 6, 2008 – 3:53 am
If you’re a sports fan, then no doubt you’ve heard about this saga between Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers. I’m not a diehard football fan by any means, but I can certainly appreciate the talents of Brett Favre as a quarterback and an incredible athlete. I also can appreciate the Green Bay Packers and the legacy that they hold within the National Football League.
But right now, they both look like idiots. And unfortunately, I think Favre is looking stupider at the moment.
He has a tearful goodbye and then has a change of heart a few months later. But what really got to me was his interest in the Packer’s financial offer to stay away. He obviously misses the game, which I can appreciate, but after the Packers offered him $20+ million to stay away, he seemed genuinely interested in taking the money.
I guess I’m confused…does he really want to play football or is the money already running dry in retirement?
I’m assuming he’s okay on cash, but this is just making him look stupid. This game of cat and mouse and trying to force the hand of the Packers, who are obviously trying to leave the past in the past, is getting a little old.
I know every “cheese head” around the country wants Favre to play again, but the rest of us are getting a little tired of the drama.
Posted by Grant on August 5, 2008 – 5:42 pm
I’m sitting in my hotel watching what has to be one of the funniest shows on TV right now: Wipeout. Admittedly, it also has to be one of the stupidest shows on TV as well. If you haven’t seen it, you’re really missing out.
Basically non-athletic people go through an obstacle course and get their butts kicked along the way.
It’s good TV…
Posted by Grant on August 3, 2008 – 9:23 am
Filed under Events, Travels
I’m at home packing up some of my belongings and getting ready to head to the airport. I’ve got a full week ahead of me that should be fun, but I’ll definitely be missing my girls. Having web cams definitely helps though…
Tonight I fly into Pittsburgh and drive a few hours to Altoona, PA, where I’ll be speaking tomorrow. Then I drive over and speak in Greensburg, PA on Tuesday and Pittsburgh on Wednesday. After that, I’ll buzz down to West Virginia and speak in Parkersburg, WV on Thursday and Charleston, WV on Friday. And finally, I get to fly home Friday night.
5 days. 5 cities. 5 different hotels. 5 events.
Yikes.
