I kicked all of this off by sharing how close I came in my late teens to tangling with a giant oak tree just a few miles from where we live today. Just after that, I shared the two conversations I had while mulling the idea behind Making the Best of YOUR Bad Situations, and one the men followed up o...
Iā€™ve been very intentional about sticking to a timeline, with the exception of the overlap between how global disruptions forced us to adapt through unforeseeable situations and how we had to take a firm stand in defending the vulnerable during that stretch. My goal in following that step-by-step pr...
Granny passed away on August 3, 2020; not from Covid or from a lack of care. Had it not been for the family who cared for her in their home, Iā€™m not sure either of those could have been said. What I am sure of is that we would not have had the time with her through the final weeks of her life that w...
More than any other adversity I can point to, dealing with the facility being paid to care for Granny through the first six months of 2020 - and being barred from even visiting her through most of that - gave me perspective for sympathy. In complete transparency, Iā€™m developing some of that perspect...
Despite the tremendous concern and compassion I felt through so much of what we were attempting to work through with the team being paid (heavily) to care for Granny, I maintained all the self-control I could muster with hopes of displaying enough of a pleasing personality to earn at least adequate ...
Albeit years later, I remember seeing Grannyā€™s black eyes like it was yesterday. Iā€™m a fixer, sympathy has never really been something Iā€™ve done well with. That said, Iā€™ll let you guess at the emotions I was flooded with. Unless Iā€™ve missed one unintentionally, weā€™ve looked at all eleven of Napoleon...
Our conversation with the CEO and nursing director, neither of which had a direct hand in any of Grannyā€™s day to day care but did hold final responsibility for the staff who did, was on February 14, 2020. We were cordial, but we were also very direct in detailing the twenty-plus falls in just three ...
I canā€™t say I ever enjoyed doing incident investigations through all the years I spent in safety. That said, the investigations were much easier for me to stomach that providing direct care. Iā€™m fine with seeing my own blood, give me a piece of duct tape and weā€™re good to go, but I might just pass o...
Each adversity Iā€™ve walked through to this point has been sequential. Truth be told, thatā€™s how life works: a series of highs and lows that we each work through. If weā€™re intentional about identifying and nurturing any possible seed from each adversity, we have a strong shot at making sure each high...
Nearly every time Cindy and I help a group learn to understand the science backing the DISC Model of Human Behavior, I explain how my behavior and communication changes from a heavy focus on results with a solid mix of fun and attention to detail when things going smoothly to full-on results when th...
Beginning in November 2017, Cindy and I had both stepped away from full-time employment. Less than 18 months prior, our combined salaries were nearly triple what we had earned as recently as 2012. When Cindy stepped away from her position and into the world of self-employment, it was based on a sign...
Iā€™m forever grateful for the opportunity I had to maintain the part-time position with that small company through 2018 and 2019. The 15-20 hours I spent with them each week helped build systems many smaller businesses never establish, but it also provided us with a bit of stability while we built mo...
