Getting Back to Me

I tend to look more to the future than at the past, but I also don’t mind getting reflective to determine what needs to be done today.

This summer, I’ve done a lot of active reflecting. Looking back at everything, thinking about what worked, things that didn’t quite reach the goals I set, and contemplating all the turns that have happened in my career over the last decade.

After selling The Advance Guard, life was a series of freelancing, speaking, and little stability. A couple of launches crashed due to others' decisions, and one was my mistake. Then a fateful email arrived asking if I was still interested in teaching a college course. I had inquired a few years earlier with a few faculty members I knew, expressing my interest in case there was ever a need.

I fell in love with the classroom. I loved how it felt to help students. I was hooked.

A few semesters later, a new opportunity arose and vanished. Thankfully, another one arrived, and I soon found myself teaching full-time. Over the last eight years, I turned off everything else and focused solely on helping build our new Business major. I was part of the teams that created both our Marketing and our Design majors. I oversaw internships, created new courses, and advised hundreds of students. Our department has grown and continues to do well. There is always work to do, but not the laser focus that was needed to build and grow it.

These last two years, I’ve been consumed with being a Posse Mentor. These ten young people have changed my life for the better, and it is the best “job” I’ve ever had. Our intense, required meeting schedule is no longer in place, which frees up more time. They are forever members of my family, and I can’t wait to see them next week.

Now, I want to get back to all the things I turned off when I shifted to Academia. All the other parts of C.C. that I pulled out of the fire. I’ve spent too much energy only on others and neglected myself.

I plan to create more—writing, maybe some video, definitely plenty of photos. I upgraded my camera gear this summer and put it through the paces in Mexico and Panama. Next year is full of new travel adventures, offering ample opportunities. My wife and I have begun joking about how positive our midlife crisis is going so far, since we are smiling more than anything.

I dusted off a book idea that has never stopped percolating in my brain and wrote the introduction. The publishing world is one I've been away from for a while, so I don’t know if anyone would be interested. But I’m interested in writing it, so it is moving forward.

While I love my job, I let it become my whole being and the focus of the majority of my energy, and that needs to change. I’m still going to give 100% to it because being an educator is who I am, and I love where I work, but I’m going to constantly remind myself that I don’t have to give more than that and that I can (and should) make time for other things.

Does your organization need a new board member? Have an event that needs a speaker to inspire your audience? Your project needs another brain to noodle on it? Reach out to me and let’s chat. Especially if it is during the winter or summer, when my calendar is typically wide open.

Tomorrow is an illusion, so I want to make sure I’m fully living each day.