Musings at Altitude

Faith and doubt are opposite ends of the same spectrum, both responses to things unseen. Faith manifests itself in eternal optimism, with an individual fully believing in the true potential of something yet to come. Doubt manifests itself in unusual pessimism, with an individual typically expecting the worst rather than the best and preparing themselves […]

I walked into the fitness center this morning at 4:50.  Three others beat me in, one being on the elliptical, one being on a stationary bike, and the third being on the treadmill.  All of them were older than me, and I’m half dead at 50.  In the previous four days, I had been the […]

I was watching the race yesterday and for some particular reason began staring at the smallest of names on the cars and the uniforms of the drivers.  Some of the companies that were named I had heard of before, but many I had not. I’m assuming that each of those named companies paid some money […]

Time. It’s fixed. It’s limited. It’s passing. It’s precious. So how much of your time is spent on things that aren’t something you’re passionate about? If, indeed, time is fixed, limited, passing, and precious, how can you maximize the amount of time that you spend on those things that amp your passion and thus maximize […]

We often hear that 90% of our time is spent on the least important 10% of issues in an organization.  Or maybe it was 80% of our time spent on the least important 20%.  I can’t remember.  We’re spending too much time on the things that don’t really matter! But I’d like to add another […]

After reading my “Humility” post, Warren wisely reminded me that I should have gone to him to build my shelf.  Warren has made two beautiful pieces for me over the years – my desk and my credenza.  Here’s the credenza: And here’s the shelf I bought instead of asking Warren to build me a new one: […]

The buzz over the Super Bowl commercials was enormous. Yet folks seemed to be disappointed with those commercials. So, what would you “sell” if you too had 30 seconds to lay it out so folks would see you as you are? Here are some suggestions: thank those who got you to where you are today […]

My wife and I found the perfect shelf for my home office a week or so ago.  It was the exact dimensions to squeeze between my two CD towers at a height that came up just high enough to snuggly fit right under the window sill.  AND, its shelf space was exactly what I needed to […]

I canvassed my team at the end of last year, and they said I needed to work on the following things: (1) Structure – I’m too loose; I need to be more structured and force them to be more structured as well (2) Timeliness – I let things sit if I don’t have time to […]