2016 was a fantastic year for me. I started my blogs, entered the next phase in my career as a business architect, and welcomed a beautiful baby girl into my life. I look forward to 2017, and like most people, I am setting my own version of a New Year's resolution. As my regular readers know, my recent focus has been on the works of Scott Adams, and we've covered Trump's hypnotic techniques and the power of affirmations in former posts. Finishing out this trifecta of posts, I want to cover one final piece that correlates well to my 2017 New Year's resolution: cultivating systems over goals. What this means is that I'm going to focus on things that make me better overall that don't necessarily have a measurable end. This is a little different from what I've done in the past. I've set goals like losing 100 pounds, getting my Master's degree, and getting certifications like my PMP. Don't get me wrong, these are noble goals for anybody, but ...

In a recent podcast episode of the Adam Carolla Show, host Adam Carolla interviewed Bryan Cranston, Megan Mullally, and James Franco following a screening of their new movie, Why Him? Being a comedy podcast, Cranston and Mullally were more than willing to go along with Carolla's antics. They were very positive and upbeat, and I could tell the crowd was enthralled with them. Franco, on the other hand, was... disengaged. I'm trying to reserve judgment of the actor since I don't know what he's like on a regular basis. Maybe he was just having an off night. But it was pretty clear he was just not into it. His answers to Carolla's questions were pretty straightforward, and Franco took no action to put any comedic spin on anything he said. That's a problem.

I'm quickly becoming a huge fan of Scott Adams. Best known for his comic strip, Dilbert, I have run into his other work twice now that I've found very fascinating. The first was his assertion that Donald Trump used hypnotic persuasion techniques to capture the presidency, and I covered that in a previous post . The second interesting idea is analyzed in his interview with Tim Ferriss. I am currently reading Ferriss's new book, Tools of Titans (review in progress), and Ferriss mentions Scott Adams' second idea briefly, which prompted me to immediately listen to the full podcast interview. What's that second idea?

One of the best things about living in Bloomington-Normal is the diversity of restaurant choices we have to choose from. Want one of the big chains? We've probably got it. Nice local restaurants? Yup. Italian, Chinese, American, Thai, and Indian places? Check. Ironically, one of the worst things about living in Bloomington-Normal is, you guessed it, the diversity of restaurant choices we have to choose from.

As you're probably aware, I recently started a new role as a business architect for State Farm. It was a big move for me, and one that I was naturally proud of. I was excited to share this big news with my family and did so immediately via a group text to all of them. Being a caring family, they all responded kindly. But I really haven't heard much praise or approval from them since. Naturally, they're more excited about the baby coming, but it almost surprises me how little they've talked about this career move with me. Don't get me wrong, my family absolutely does care about me, but this isn't wholly out of the norm for them. A lot of this stems from my mom who always pushes us to be better. If I got all A's and one B on a report card, she'd focus on why that last B isn't also an A. Again, this isn't because she's a mean person but rather that she wants the best for us. We all need that person around us. If we're getting fat, we n...

Psychology is an interesting thing. Interesting in the fact that it doesn't always align with what seems like common sense. We, as humans, are more apt to act out the the experiences of our past than to avoid them. The son of the alcoholic dad becomes the alcoholic dad. The girl who was raped sexually abuses a child as an adult. Naturally, it's hard for me to understand because I have not lived through this. In my mind, I would think that one would do everything they can to avoid becoming the monster they once encountered. Sadly, that's not true in many cases. There is good news, though: we are not condemned to make the same choices as those who have wronged us. We can take a stand and choose to be better.

When I was a junior in high school, I dated a girl in her freshman year. She was an interesting gal in the fact that she was big into horror movies. It so happened that weeks after we started dating, the third entry in the Saw  series ( Saw III ) was just coming into theaters. Given that she was too young to purchase a rated-R movie ticket herself, she asked me to take her on a date to see the film. I wasn't excited about seeing it myself, but hey, when you're 17, you'll do anything to impress a girl. I knew my parents would be mad with this prospect, so I didn't tell them. I can't remember the lame excuse I used to not say I was taking my girlfriend to see a rated-R movie. In my brain, I thought there was no way they'd figure out my con.

If there's one thing I struggle with most when writing these blog posts, its knowing how long to make them. If I make them too long, I risk the reader losing attention. On the other end of the spectrum, making them too short runs the risk of not explaining something thoroughly enough. In most cases, I think making them shorter is probably better. Pretty much everything life is better when its shorter, hence why I'm labeling "brevity" as a key competency.

I'll be honest: I'm kind of surprised I'm writing another one of these posts. I have already written two sets of five tips on how to run more effective meetings (that can be found here and here ), and I keep finding even more tips. Apparently, there is no end to handing out meeting tips! Without delaying anymore, let's just get into it.

Here in the land of the free and home of the brave, we are taught this idea of the American dream at a very young age: work, and you will be rewarded. That idea of a "reward" is generalized to having a decent job, getting paid a decent wage to raise a family, and retiring around the age of 60. This group aptly became known as the middle class. Over the last decade, pundits have lamented the loss of the middle class. People are no longer staying in the same 9-to-5 job forever, and salary distribution is all over the map. These pundits long for a day when we can get back to that generalized idea of a middle class. One that our fathers grew up on. But what if I told you that middle class is never coming back? Moreover, what if I told you it is being replaced by a newer, better middle class?

The holidays are just around the corner, and you know what that means: seeing the friends and family you love and adore. Well, mostly. We all know people that we have to see but really don't want to see. Family members who ask for money. (Thank goodness I've not had that problem.) Friends who talk endlessly about their woes. (Been there.) Coworkers who share a little too much about their personal life. (Always a disaster.) Just for the fun of it, here are ten things you should probably not say at any holiday get-together! And yes, I do have personal experience with some of these. 

The Amazon Kindle Fire tablet is $50 and often goes on sale for cheaper than that. You can get free wifi almost anywhere, including most McDonald's locations. The best email platforms, Gmail and Yahoo, are free . Almost all social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, are free . My blog is hosted on the Blogger platform, which is free to use. If you have a library card, you can probably checkout digital ebooks for free via Overdrive. Apps like WhatsApp allow you to make calls to people for free . Interacting with people on social forums like Reddit is free . The barriers to entry have been lowered significantly. You don't have an excuse why you're not making yourself better anymore.

Along with a job change naturally comes a re-thinking of personal finances. What do I do with my 401k? Do I want to consider new financial avenues given that I'll also be having a baby soon? Should I move some of my savings into an IRA?  I am not a financial savant, by any means, so these questions baffle me equally as much as they would the next person. I wish I could tell you what to invest your money in that would give you the absolute most return on your investment. Then it hit me: I'm pretty sure I know what the best investment is. The one that will give you the most bang for your buck. It's a little unorthodox, but I think you'll agree with me in the end.

As an avid listener of The Tim Ferriss Show  podcast, I listened to a recently uploaded episode complementary to his new book Tools of Titans (review incoming) that covered a number of tough questions he encouraged everybody to ask themselves. One of the questions he shared was, "How would you run your business if you were only allowed to work that business two hours a week?"

Cash is king. I have to start of the post this way because I'm not a fan of credit, especially credit cards. It enables people to do dumb things with their money (or lack thereof), and people drive themselves into piles and piles of debt. It's a hole you can very quickly dig yourself into. That said, credit is a necessary part of life. Albeit, an annoying one. There's no such thing as "good credit", only bad credit, and bad credit is like that annoying relative who reminds you about that dumb thing you did at every holiday event even though it took place decades ago.

I have an M.A. in Organizational Leadership. I also have my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. Add to that two Scrum Alliance certifications, an ITIL Foundations certificate, and a Six Sigma Green Belt and you've got a ton of letters trailing after my name in my email signature. If I'm being totally honest... I don't really care about any of them.

There's no doubt that the outcome of the recent election had arguably the most divisive outcome in American history. People have not been afraid to voice their anger and concerns about Trump's election on social media. From what I've seen, the most vocalization has come from the left, and I honestly haven't seen a lot of overt support from the right. (That's another topic altogether.) What has quietly gone unaddressed is another issue that has stemmed from the election: a Christian civil war. As somebody who cares for the church, this something I definitely think needs addressed sooner rather than later.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin I'm not an uber-Hunger Games fan. I tried reading the books and honestly couldn't just get into them; however, I did enjoy the movies quite a bit. While they weren't nearly as quotable as the Harry Potter series, there was one quote that did stick out to me.  You'll have to forgive me since I don't remember the precise context, but at one point in Catching Fire , the character Finnick Odair remarks to Katniss that he isn't necessarily interested in money. Rather, he is interested in trading secrets. That quote stuck with me because I think that when people think about "getting paid", they instantly think about money and that anything that doesn't involve money isn't "getting paid". I think that line of thinking isn't necessarily correct, and let's get into why.

I regularly serve Wednesday nights at my wife's ministry and usually bring her dinner prior to the start of the event. Between getting off work, grabbing dinner, and making it to the church, I am always in a mega rush. (Not sure why, but traffic in Bloomington always seems heaviest on Wednesday afternoons!) A few Wednesdays ago, I decided to get us Chipotle for dinner. I eat there pretty frequently, so I can recite my order in my sleep. I got stuck in line behind three college-aged kids who were taking their sweet, sweet time with their order. Getting irritated that they didn't let me go first, I quickly ordered my food and dashed over to the fountain machine to fill our drinks... ...only to accidentally spill Coke Zero all over my pants and floor.

Yesterday, I had a bit of a wake-up call. Both of my blogs, LYEATT and Engedi Artistry, were created to serve a purpose. For LYEATT, it's developing a community amongst professionals of all ages (and young professionals, in particular) to share emerging ideas in business. For Engedi Artistry, it's creating a community that appreciates art in all aspects of life. And, because I try to be as transparent as possible, the meta-theme for both blogs is reintroducing you to a faith that has probably been tainted by somebody or some group in the past. I've said before that I don't really care about the numbers, but if I'm honest with myself, they do. That became super apparent yesterday.

Whether it's assembling a new piece of IKEA furniture or replacing that flaky light switch, you're going to want to have some tools around the house. Now, you don't have to be like my dad and have every single tool Craftsmen has to offer, but you'll want to have a core few of them around. We'll take some time in this post looking at a few recommendations. I'm going to skip a few obvious (but still essential) ones like hammers, screwdrivers, and tape measures and instead opt for a couple you might not regularly think about. (And just to make it even easier on y'all, I'll include pictures of each tool and a link to buy them on Amazon!) Let's get into it!

While most of the content on this blog is geared toward all ages and all audiences, I have  stated numerous times that this blog is geared toward young professionals. I was thinking about this on the elliptical this morning and realizing... hey, there's really not a ton of content on here for that very specific audience. Time to change that!

On Christmas Day of 2002, 55-year-old Jack Whittaker was lucky enough to pick the winning numbers of the Powerball, earning him a whopping $314.9 million, the largest ever lottery win at the time. Jack was already doing pretty well for himself as the president of a construction company, so this windfall had pretty much set Jack for life. Shortly after his win, Jack seemed to have his life on track. He donated a good chunk of money to philanthropic efforts. But this lifestyle wasn't to last. Things quickly took a turn for the worse. Foolish with his money, Jack carried around enormous sums of cash in briefcases just because. Because of his reputation of carrying around this cash, he was robbed multiple times. Jack also lost a ton of money literally gambling it away. And if that isn't bad, it gets worse. Jack's granddaughter, only 17 years old, was found dead (presumably murdered), wrapped in a tarp and dumped behind a van, reportedly with many drugs in her system....

Well, folks, we've made it another year, and what a year it has been. It simultaneously went by really quickly but also really "slow" in a way, too. Slow in the sense that this was a very big year for me. There is a lot to be grateful for, and given that I think gratitude is a key competency, I think it's only appropriate to spend this Thanksgiving expressing my gratitude for 2016.

Several weeks ago, I published a post on five tips for running an effective meeting and promised in there that I would be publishing another set of five tips soon. Well, "soon" came and went, and I completely forgot to publish my other five tips. Until now! These tips are meant to work in conjunction with the previously suggested tips, so if you need a refresher on what those original tips were, click this hyperlink .

So like I mention in my review of the book , there's definitely a reason I chose to pick up The Dip again now. It's an interesting time in my life. An exciting time, mostly, but unfortunately I have to concede to my own limitations.

If you think you've seen this book before, you're probably not mistaken. It's not a new book at all. It came out in 2007, and the first time I read this book was actually back in 2011. For personal reasons, I chose to pick it back up, and I'll talk about that in a separate post. Having been five years since my last read, I'm glad I dug this back up. It's a pretty teeny book, as you can see in the image below. A person can definitely breeze through the entire book in an hour or two. Anyway, this is a book review! How does this book hold up in the nine years since it's initial release? Let's get into it.

Even if you've not heard of it, I'm sure you can guess the show's premise just from the title. Extreme Couponing is a show on TLC that, naturally, follows the lives and habits of extreme couponers. The show generally begins by showing the habits and rituals that an extreme couponer does to prepare themselves for the big trip and ends with them saving big at the cash register. These folks certainly seem to save big. I've seen people on the show walk up to the register with $500 in merchandise and walk away spending only a few bucks, if anything at all. Heck, I've even seen a few folks that walk away with all the merchandise AND extra cash in their pocket. As impressive as it all sounds, it's actually really dumb and shares a bad message. And there are several reasons for this.

It's that time of year again. If you're like me, the trees in your yard have gone past that pretty orange stage and leaves have fallen on the ground. Time to pull out your rake! So, this challenge might seem pretty obvious, but there's a little more to it. Obviously, you're getting your yard clean. (And if you're married like me, a happy wife = a happy life!) If you don't have a yard with mature trees, I'm sure you have a relative or friend that has a yard that needs raked, and I'm sure they'd appreciate you raking it for them! There's a two-fold reason I suggest this challenge to you all.

Amongst my family and friends, and I am known as the tech guru. Any time they have any questions, I'm usually the first guy they call. And it's pretty understandable why: 9 times out of 10, I can help solve their problems. It's kinda weird and doesn't make sense to me. For example, I've been asked numerous times for help with something on Facebook. Um...... I don't have Facebook. (Well, at least, not anymore. I had one from 2008-2011 but haven't had one since.) This isn't to say, however, that I am useless here. In fact, my track record for solving Facebook questions is 100% so far. So what is it about me? As the title of this posts suggests, I'll be the first to raise my hand and tell you that I am not a tech expert. I have no formal training, no formal IT certifications, and only took one computer programming class in high school. So what I hope you learn from this post is what you can apply to become a "tech expert" yourself.

You may have noticed that I have referenced this book in several posts before. Obviously, I am just now posting a review, so to answer that question in the back of your head, yes, I just now finished the book. This might sound crazy, but I started reading this book back when it came out in the fall of 2014. Yikes. That was over two years ago now! So why is it that it took me so long to actually finish the book? Is it because I found it so dripping with useful information that I let it all sink in over time? Or was I just being lazy about it? We'll answer those questions and more down in the review below.

Even though I don't work in a church, it's no secret that I have very close ties to the church. I attended undergrad at a Christian university, so most of my friends are pastors. My wife works at our church. I volunteer in two areas at the church. So it's pretty safe to say that me and the church are like PB&J. (I'll let you make the call whether I'm the peanut butter or the jelly.) Let's face facts: in many senses, the church is a business. Granted, it's a nonprofit, but the church has employees that get paid and work in 40 hour increments. Most pastors I know, since they work Sundays, take off a Monday or a Friday each week, so it's not particularly as if they're working this vast amount of overtime. The church is also very reflective of the government in the way it gets its income. The government gets its income from taxes, and the church gets its income from tithes and offerings, which is very synonymous with taxes. Despite the fact t...

Whereas the first key competency we analyzed, gratitude, may have been more subtle, our second key competency, confidence, is probably a little more obvious to you. I really like how Google defines the word and want to share that here: "Confidence is the feeling or belief on can rely on someone or something; firm trust." I like it because it might not be what you think when you think about confidence, but it's so true. Let's not put your presuppositions about the word aside, though. When you think about a confident person, you probably think about somebody who knows their stuff and isn't afraid to share it. Speaking of that word, "afraid," confident people generally tend to be fearless. One of my favorite illustrations of confidence is actually found in the Bible with none other than Jesus Himself. Let me paint a really quick picture for you. At this point in His ministry, Jesus has been preaching to small communities throughout the countryside. As...

Well, ladies and gents, we have a new president elect: none other than "The Donald" himself. Who could have seen that coming...? Okay, okay, all joking aside, this has been an unprecedented election, to say the least. Regardless of how you feel about the final outcome, I think we can all agree that neither Trump nor Clinton was the ideal presidential candidate in most people's minds. The real question here, then, is how did it get this far? It's not as if these two dropped out of the sky; they were elected in our national primary elections. Clinton seems to make a little more sense given her political history and what not, but Trump is in a league of his own. In Trump, we have somebody with no formal political history and never having served in the military now taking over the @POTUS handle. It's a real mystery how things got this far... ...or is it? Did Trump just get lucky, or did he successfully pull off one of the greatest tricks in American hi...

The time is 1:13am. Sleep won't come to me as my eyes remain glued to CNN watching the nation elect its next president. At this time, it appears that Donald Trump has won, so Clinton's campaign manager, John Podesta, appeared in front of the crowd at Clinton's HQ to encourage people to go home and get sleep as the final votes continue to roll in. Meanwhile on CNN, Corey Lewandowski, furiously shared his frustrations about Clinton's no show expressing that Trump would not be shown the same mercy of the tables were turned. Regardless of where you land on this argument, the words shared by CNN pundit Van Jones will stick in my mind as words that extend beyond the election: "Where's the grace gonna come from? It's got to come from ordinary people." No matter your feelings on anything else Van Jones shared tonight, this rings so true. And powerful. Does the president, any president, have an influence on our lives? Sure. But you know who has a stronger ...

They say you can't judge a book by its cover, but let's be honest: in many cases, we do anyway. So about the cover of #GIRLBOSS... let's see... we have a young woman, Sophia Amoruso, wearing a business suit. Hands on her hips and confident look on her face, she looks like she's ready to take on the world. So what's this book about? Is it a memento tearing down the misogynistic foundations of the good ol' boys, or is it something different? Something that doesn't quite align to the powerful image displayed on the cover? Let's get into it!

If you follow me over at my other blog, Engedi Artistry, you'll notice that I have started reviewing music albums. I've found the whole reviewing process to be really fun, and since I do a lot of reading, I wanted to bring that idea on over to LYEATT with books. My book reviews will be a little bit different than my album reviews. At the end of my album reviews, I have a star rating (out of a potential 5), pros, cons, and suggested tracks to check out. I don't really think that is all that appropriate for books, so I'm going to take a different approach to reviewing books instead. And as you saw at the top of the post, I have created some new graphics to accompany them!

After a long day at work, you probably unwind on the couch by picking up your laptop, tablet, or smartphone. Think about the sites (or apps) you engage with on a regular basis. Take a moment to list them out in your head. For me, it's Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, and tech blogs like TechnoBuffalo or MacRumors. (I don't have a Facebook account, but I'm sure many of you would add that to a list like this.) Most of those sites have something in common: they're social platforms. They're ways for people to connect about a particular thing. In the case of LinkedIn, it's about work-related or business stuff. With Reddit (at least for me), it's something to do with video games or technology. We make a big huff about search engine optimization, and don't get me wrong, it's still important. But we have to ask ourselves this fundamental question: why is it we use search engines like Google?

A few posts back, I examined the first key competency of a performer: gratitude. Since posting that, I have thought a lot about that idea in my own life and how we can manifest that in a tangible way. Moreover, I have been thinking about ways to engage you, the readers, on a level that I haven't tried yet, so my thought was to start a set of challenges. I have a few in mind already, and since already talked about gratitude, this is a good start.

As a runner, I spend a lot of time keeping in shape by using the elliptical, and since I have the attention span of an eight year old, I opt toward watching YouTube videos on my iPad instead of full blown TV shows or movies. I have a lot of regular channels I subscribe to, which includes one of my favorites, The Game Theorists. Just like the title of the channel sounds, the channel and its host Matthew Patrick (commonly known as MatPat) create regular video game theories ranging anywhere from why Link is dead in Zelda: Majora's Mask to why Smash Bros creator Masahiro Sakurai is secretly sick of creating the Smash Bros series. They're all excellent and well produced videos, but what some people might not realize is that MatPat is a consultant for other channels on YouTube on helping them optimize their content to gain the most views. He's even posted videos about it a few times, and I would definitely encourage you to watch the video below. To summarize that...

(This post is my first joint piece between LYEATT and Engedi Artistry. In this post, I'll be covering why Diet Coke needs to rethink its branding, and in the other post, I actually redesign Diet Coke's logo using the ideas discussed here. Check out that post at this link .) If you're like me, you're probably a big fan of Coke's products. I am not really a coffee drinker, so if you see me with a cup of anything in the morning, it's most likely a cup of pop. As you all know, I lost 100 pounds between January 2015 and March 2016. Prior to that, I was a big fan of Mountain Dew and regular Coca-Cola. In my attempt to be healthy, I cut out all regular pop and switched to diet. Not being all that big a fan of Diet Mountain Dew, I mostly stuck with Diet Coke and Coke Zero. (Side note: I know there are tons of studies saying that diet colas are bad in their own right, but I'll be honest: they seriously helped me to lose weight and maintain my weight loss. I...

A little over two months ago, I started this blog not knowing what to expect. There were times when I worried about not being able to produce enough content, unsure if anybody would ever read the blog, or if I would even have any interest in maintaining this blog. In a little over two months, here we are at post #50. (Well, #62 if you technically count my other blogs.) Here are a couple interesting highlights that have occurred in the past two months: Just this past week, I hit my 1000th view. (Granted, I bet a third of them are from me.) I now average about 12 views per post whereas I averaged about 3 per post in the beginning. (We all have to start somewhere!) I started a second blog focused on art called Engedi Artistry, which is quickly out surpassing the readership of this blog. (Even though I genuinely love both blogs equally.) My last album review of The Dear Hunter's album was liked by two of the actual bandmates from The Dear Hunter. (Neat!) While most of these are...

I got called un-Christian today. Now, I'm purposefully going to conceal the details of the person and situation because I do not seek to shame him, but I still tell this story because I learned a big lesson today that I think we can all learn from. (I will share that this was not a work-related situation, and I only share that in case my employers read this post.) This person approached me about doing two tasks for his benefit that I personally did not think are all that important. He actually pulled me away from another important task I was he saw me working from (for my wife) to explain his concern. The conversation quickly devolved into an argument where he accused me of being un-Christian. I'm not going to lie: I did not handle that situation the best. At the time, I was infuriated, and while I didn't fully backlash on him, I was definitely not nice about it. To that end, I do regret how that conversation went. I wish I would have kept in mind what I'm ...

A quick disclaimer: This post is largely going to work through the analogy of faith, but the implications for business and beyond are huge. Please stick around to the end. A while back, a friend and I were chatting about the church in a public place, and another friend who wasn't a Christian but happened to be listening in decided to chime in with his two cents. He talked about how he grew up in the church and basically was glad he got that out of his way so he'd never have to subject himself or his kids to that ever again.  Granted, I genuinely don't think this person was being malicious or trying to be offensive. I think he just turned off his filter and started rambling off stuff that some would deem offensive. But I don't get offended because I understand many people echo this sentiment. Honestly, if anything, it makes me sad because these people have closed off that part of their minds to the idea of church. I didn't argue back with the person at the ti...

Last week, Nintendo unveiled to the world its next generation of home console: the Nintendo Switch. They did so in a roughly three minute video not specifically talking about the features but rather showcasing what gamers will be able to do in real life situations. If you haven't seen it yet, you can watch the video below: Amidst lots of other chatter about the unveiling, Nintendo was widely praised amongst many outlets for purposefully not using children in their initial unveiling. This is because, as you may be aware, Nintendo has been largely viewed as the video game console maker for kids recently, especially when compared to the likes of PlayStation and Xbox. As a big Nintendo fan myself, I, too, had the same reaction when watching that video. I thought, "Finally, Nintendo is looking to break the mold they set with the last console generations." Here is where things get interesting.

As somebody who uses an elliptical daily, I watch a lot of YouTube videos to pass the time. I'm generally pretty good about making sure I have my content picked out prior to stepping on the machine, but every once in a while, I resort to tapping on random videos to get me through the end of my workout. Most of the time, I inadvertently pick some videos that end up being pretty lame, but yesterday I watched a video from leader Jon Acuff about questions every person should ask themselves. One question that stood out to me in particular was the one in the title.

It's no secret that I think that the ultimate key to be successful in everything (especially business) is humility, but of course, humility is nothing if it stands alone. A person can be humble, but if they are quiet and introverted, people will walk all over them. Recently, I've been thinking a lot about my life as well as the lives of other super successful individuals to see other key competencies they all have in common. This post will be the first in a series God-knows-how-many posts where we'll take a look at some key competencies that you may or may not expect a leader to hold, and we'll start with one you might not expect: gratitude.

The top of my iPhone screen currently says 4:04am. It's not like I set an alarm to wake up at 4:00am. Or that I've particularly gotten plenty of sleep. In fact, I went to sleep at about 10:30pm last night, which is much later than I normally go to bed. It's not as if our bedroom is too hot or anything, too. Our thermostat indicates it is a comfy 72 degrees in our bedroom, and, like most nights, the ceiling fan is spinning in full force above our heads. There's no doubt though, I'm not getting back to sleep.

No matter what job or industry you may work in, chances are that you will be asked at some point to create help document for a specific process. It could be for anything as simple as how to work a cash register at a fast food restaurant or as complex as how a car is assembled from end-to-end. As good as somebody may be at executing that process, many people struggle to share that knowledge in a clear, concise way. Oftentimes, there may far too much wording bunched together. Or it is ambiguous when to go to the next step. Or multiple roles may be involved, but you're just not sure who is involved at each step. The list of these confusions and ambiguities can go on for days. I'm a pretty meticulous guy. As one who appreciates fine design even within things like corporate help documents, I have spent several years refining the way I create process guides, and I think I have cracked the code on creating truly helpful process guides. As a guy who wants to see you succeed, I...

Meetings.  When you read that word, I am sure divisive images come to mind. Some of you might love meetings. They're an opportunity for everybody to get together and talk through a certain topic. It's a real time interface that doesn't get lost in a plethora of emails, IMs, and other communication channels. Some of you may think differently of meetings. You may think they are the biggest waste of time on the planet. It's just a way for Person A to talk out loud but not add any real value to anybody's work. Perhaps an email would have sufficed instead of full meeting. Where do I land? I do find meetings valuable, but I can empathize with the groups that don't like meetings. I've been in well run meetings, and I've been in meetings that were, well, awful. The interesting thing is that, regardless of the topic, poor meetings and effective meetings generally share certain attributes applicable to all types of meetings. Instead of focusing on the bad,...

A few days ago, I wrote a post about how corporations need to be mindful of not holding too fast to a legal mindset because it may end up doing more harm than good. When I wrote that post, I did not have the Galaxy Note 7 in mind at all, but that post has huge implications on that issue.

It's no secret that legality has become a huge, huge deal in the United States. We have become a highly litigious society where a person will sue another person at the drop of a hat. Lawyers don't come cheap either. The best lawyers come a significant premium, even costing well into millions of dollars for the biggest companies. Obviously, nobody wants to pay those exorbitant fees, least of all major corporations, so ensuring legality is enforced is super high priority in this companies. I can't blame them, but I also can't help but wonder... Is legality actually killing companies?

I did my undergrad at Lincoln Christian University (LCU). For those of you unfamiliar with LCU, it is a legitimate Christian university. It's not one of those that have heritage in Christianity but basically looks and functions like a secular school today. No, it's very focused on Christian ministry. Just look at some of the majors: Preaching ministry Youth ministry Worship ministry I originally went to LCU with the intentions of becoming a full-time church pastor, and so I majored in preaching ministry for the first two years. Long story short, I found I wasn't really cut out for it, so I switched to Business Administration. (One of the few majors there that isn't specifically church occupational.) I really appreciated a lot of my education. It was interesting to get everything filtered through a Christian perspective. But it was also a bit of a detriment.

When I grew up, my mother told me about this club. It was a ritzy club that had very exclusive, prestigious members. It was praised by the masses as something that everybody wanted to be in. Every day, she would encourage me to do everything I could to join. Fortunately, membership had a relatively low barrier of entry, but it required an ongoing activity. One that would be the death of me, but my mother assured me it was worth it. The name of the club?

As much as the Google Pixel and its implications for Google's future in hardware exites me, I honestly can't see myself moving away from Apple. At least, not for a very long time. There are still several reasons I am tied to Apple. These may or may not apply to you, too. Let's get into the specific reasons why I'll be sticking with Apple.

If you haven't heard about it already, Google announced their first in-house developed smartphone: the Google Pixel (and Pixel XL). There have been other phones that were branded as "Google-made phones" (most notable the now defunct Nexus line), but in reality, those were phones created by other companies like HTC and Huawei. Notably the brains and brawn behind Android, this is the first noteworthy phone to have the hardware and software made by the same company since the iPhone. I think this is a pretty big deal, and the implications of this have me excited for what the future has in store. So in this post, let's delve into the five reasons the Google Pixel excites me.

There's no question that modern technology has radically changed the marketing playing field. Whereas platforms for advertising were limited to things like newspapers and TV commercials, there are hundreds of new platforms like Twitter, YouTube, and more. This allowed also for a lower barrier of entry. It was only big businesses that were able to purchase commercial timeslots or magazine space. Sure, those mediums still exist and are viable to an extent, but the average guy off the street is now equipped with many of the same abilities to market that are available to big businesses. It doesn't cost at all to create an Instagram account, and companies like Wix help regular people make pretty sweet looking websites for pennies on the dollar. With all these changes in marketing, does that mean the general philosophy behind marketing has changed? I think so, and the title of this post might give that away. Let's get into it.