Paradox – Disney Creativity and Innovation Keynote Speaker

The thing about everything, home

Woody from Toy Story graphic — We waited and waited. And waited some more. Eight years of waiting. Never saw an invisible disability coming.

The thing about everything is that everything takes longer than you plan.

Noteworthy, there’s an exception to nearly every rule.

Exceptions are rare.

We planned on having kids.

We started later than many, but thought that within a year of ‘starting to try’, we’d be parents.

We waited to ‘start trying’ until we moved into our second house, the one we have lived in for 35 years and counting.

We never planned on being married for 17 years before becoming parents. It took eight years (from ‘starting to try’), not one, to be blessed with our son.

So yes, nearly everything takes longer than planned.

My advice to myself, plan accordingly.

• • • • •

This website is about our HOME. This is the fifth of five daily, differently-themed blog posts about: (1) mind, (2) body, (3) spirit, (4) work, (5) home. To return to Mid Life Celebration, the site about MIND, click here.

Not easy and not hard, home

Important stuff, like running a home, for a lifetime.

Important stuff like establishing life priorities.

Important stuff like prioritizing those priorities.

Most stuff in life is not easy.

Most stuff in life is also not hard.

Paradox.

Great news, if you believe it.

Greater news if you use the wisdom.

• • • • •

Beware of doubt

Beware of doubt.

Why?

Doubt has robbed me (and most) of pursuing alternatives to social norms.

Norms like closed-mindset.

Norms like a sedentary lifestyle, fueled with mostly processed foods.

Norms like being a Christian with our smile, but not with our heart.

Norms like sacrificing health and family for career ladder climbing.

Norms like living a life that’s architected by default, not by design.

Norms like thinking someone else is in charge of your life.

When was the last time you convinced yourself, “I’m the CEO of Me, Inc?”

Had a nice ring to it when i thought it up, and convinced myself, “Jeff, you are The CEO of You, Inc.”

• • • • •

If you want a good home

If you want a good home, think about what your worst priorities yield you.

Then think about what your best priorities yield you.

So obvious, the choice.

• • • • •

More room, less space

woman holding a touring bicycle near an ocean — For two and a half weeks, this was all we had. Photo: Gazing out at the Pacific Ocean from a “San Juan” Island. A belated (by 14 months) honeymoon trip bicycling across Washington State, West to East. Note: Cheryl is also holding my bike while i snapped this pic.

Over the decades Americans have gradually lived in bigger houses, with less space.

Bigger dwelling.

Less space.

Paradox.

• • • • •