If you don’t use a Mac, some of this may not make sense – I get that. Because I used to be there. I was using a PC because “I was more of a business user…” whatever. I had my reasons and my reservations. But when Katie got her MacBook in 2006, it wasn’t long until I preferred to write blog posts (like the one you’re reading) on her computer instead of mine. At that point in the game it was simply because the keyboard was so much smoother under my fingertips. Then I started reading blogs of other creative and business-minded professionals and I saw a glaring pattern – they were all on Macs. “There must be something to this Mac cult,” I thought to myself.

Thank you, Steve

I wanted one. If I’m really honest with myself, it started as an elitist mentality and desire. But there’s more to it. It quickly became about productivity and passion. About being a catalyst and part of a movement. When I got my MacBook Pro, I had a machine that inspired me to write and create products with a passion that never came out of my IBM ThinkPad. Please read: I have nothing against PCs and I am not suggesting they are inferior computers. I simply always come back to the following thought: I love working and writing on my Mac. If that’s what it takes to sit down every night, do the work and publish thoughts and projects to the world, then it was worth every penny.

I am a newly converted Apple fan. When I really started to look at the company of Apple and the products they shipped, I continue to grow my admiration for Mr. Jobs. While Apple is known as an innovator, it can be argued that they did less creating and more perfecting. Apple didn’t create the ability to take your music with you. The CEO of Sony one day gave Steve Jobs a Walkman. Mr. Jobs was in awe, returned to Apple and started working on the iPod. At age 11 Mr. Jobs saw his first computer as NASA. He didn’t create the computer, but he started a company that perfected the personal computer we know today.

What I’ve learned from Apple and specifically Steve Jobs is that it takes a ruthless dedication and discipline to think differently. This discipline is essential as one aspires to greatness and attempts to change an industry. Because of Steve Jobs, I can write this post and honestly testify to the world that I am actively working towards greatness and even and industry-altering business model.

I read two profound thoughts on Twitter about the passing of Steve Jobs. First, he will be remembered along side of Einstein and Edison. Second, The way to honor Steve Jobs is to take your current project [today] and turn it upside down and shake it up with all your might!

For inspiration, beautiful design, and the courage to think different, thanks Steve.

Back in March I wrote about my goal for 2011: improve.  I am happy to report that I’ve reached my goal for this year!  Last month (I know, I’ve neglected this storyline) I ran Madison Marathon and improved my half marathon time by three minutes.  I am proud of the performance because I had been injured and unable to run for about 18 days during the last two months leading up to the race.  I had even told myself that I wouldn’t go for that goal in my first race of the season.  I had another race scheduled the following week and I figured it would take two races to get my legs back and in the fall I’d increase my speed work to go for the goal.

"Improve in 2011: check!"

Well on race day I couldn’t find my race watch.  In 5 years of running I have never competed without a watch – talk about feeling naked.  But I went out fast and felt great the whole way.  I knew I was doing well around mile 9 when I found the pace team for a 1:40 finish time.  They were a little off but I knew I was running well.

The last 1.5 miles were tough to hang on.  My feet were getting sore and the uphill climb up East Washington killed me.  Still I came around that Capital Square strong and proud when I crossed the line.

So what’s next?

I’m not quite sure.  Katie and I have discussed adding strength training and speed work to our workouts.  I’m not sure if we’ll register for a race this fall but it’s the best way for me to go after a goal.

Did you take my challenge to improve in 2011?  It’s not too late!  Need help?  Email me or leave a comment.  And you can always click on “Hire Hans” and we can really get after your fitness goals.

Running sucks.  It really does.  Getting up before the sun and running that first 8 minutes before your body warms up is tough.  Kind of sucks, actually.

Running after work sucks, too.  Especially if you have a physically demanding job like mine.  I work in tree care.  I’m climbing trees and wrestling and dragging branches all day.  Sometimes we lift large logs.  We’re always wielding chainsaws.  So after a day of that, you think I want to go for a run? I’m thinking, “running sucks.”

Or after dinner and the kids are in bed.  But I have a 5 mile run scheduled for the day and it hasn’t happened yet.  I’d rather read, write or enjoy an episode of the West Wing with Katie.  But no, I’ve got to go for a run.  And running sucks!

But you know what also sucks?  Cancer.  Diabetes.  obesity.  Heart disease.  These suck.  These really suck.  Maybe I can put up with the running.

I remember when Sorin turned one and I was so excited.  Today as Norah turns one I am so proud.  It’s a different perspective the second time around.  I can enjoy this more and the emotion is much more satisfying.  My daughter is just a joy to watch.  Katie has worked so hard this first year with Norah and juggling two kids for the first time.  Norah is my little baby, my little angel.  We cuddle together a lot when she wakes up from naps.  She sits on my lap a lot when she plays with her favorite green bouncy ball.  And she loves to climb.  At this rate I’m expecting a heart attack from this girl.  She seems fearless.  What have we done?

Happy birthday, Norah!

Norah turns one today and here’s what’s going to happen.  Before she even wakes up, Sorin will be awake and he’ll be asking, “Where’s Norah?”  We’ll tell him that she’s still sleeping.  When she finally gets up, Sorin will say, “Ohh, hi Nowah!”  Norah will come out and see all the window decorations Katie’s put up – birds and flowers.  Yes, today will be all about Norah.  She wants to go to Lazy Jane’s for breakfast (well, maybe Katie and I helped with that decision).  We’re going to play outside on a blanket, go for a walk, and visit the Children’s Museum.

Happy Birthday Norah!

Each year I desperately look forward to the end of the NFL season. I’m a huge football fan, and this year was especially exciting because our Green Bay Packers went to (oh yeah, and WON) Super Bowl XLV. But this had no effect on my anticipation for the day after the big game. Why would a football fan be looking forward to the end of the NFL season? No more sports radio.

I’ll admit: I’m pretty addicted to sports radio. But what really interests me is the NFL talk. When the Super Bowl is over, sports radio tries to hold on to the listeners for a few more weeks, but really the shows become focused on the NBA and Spring Training. No thank you.

So this time of year I fire up my iTunes and audio books onto my iPod and start using my commute time for some learning. Right now I’m going through Francis Chan’s book Crazy Love. I’m also listening to North Point Church’s series on money called Balanced. After that I’m not quite sure where I’m going, but most likely another audiobook.

I have about a 20 minute commute each way to work in the morning. Additionally, I sometimes have windshield time to our job site for the day. This means I can log up to 60 minutes of learning each day. That’s 300 minutes a week. I’m not sure how long an audio book is but this is a big chunk of time I used to spend on sports radio.

Do you have seasons where you read more than others? Do you listen to audiobooks?

In my last post I talked about how easy it is to consume information. I worked off the assumption that successful people are lifelong learners and that they’re constantly challenging themselves to read and learn. I freely admit that I’ve been in situations where I subscribe to too much information and it becomes an overload, and thus overwhelming. Progress is hindered, stress is raised, and everything needs to get reset. So I reset my intake of information and I prioritize it according to Covey’s idea about Big Rocks, putting the most important things first on my schedule. But even if I’m completely happy with what I’m reading and learning, I would argue that I still am not efficiently growing as a leader if I’m only consuming information. What I take in needs to be proportional to what I put out. Consumption needs to lead to creation.

That’s one of my goals with this blog. I need to process what I’m reading and learning and translate it to how it’s helping me grow as a man. Have you ever written in a journal or written a meaningful letter to a friend or family member? Writing forces you to process your thoughts much further than you would just in your mind. You can read about leadership all you want, but until you apply what you’re learning to your work situation, you won’t fully grow as a leader. On a social level, you can look at all your friends’ pictures, but what if you spent 30 minutes creating your own photo album for yourself and for others to enjoy. You can read about the news for hours and know the headlines, but what about writing a personal commentary on it and taking a stand on some of the issues.

I don’t intend to be an expert on this, but I’ve certainly been challenged lately to shift my time in front of the computer from consuming information to creating content.

Last fall I enrolled at the University of Wisconsin as a special student with the purpose of refreshing my learning in the area of exercise physiology and preparing to apply to their new grad program in the fall of 2011.  Very quickly I realized I was a little over my head and that I had a challenging semester ahead of me with reading, studying and falling on my face a few times.  Along the way I learned a few things about myself.

Use it or lose it
It was immediately obvious to me that I had been out of school for a few years – 8 to be exact.  Sure, the level of the class (700) was higher than anything I took as an undergrad, but the pace and the background that the professor assumed and the other students seemed to demonstrate left me at a significant disadvantage.  Still, I recognized the deficiency and dove right in.  But I realized that when you’re not constantly sharpening your sword, it gets dull.  This happens pretty quickly.  It felt great to be back in the classroom and being challenged with new ideas, problems, and workloads.  I was encouraged to stay in the loop of education and continue to challenge my thinking and learning.

There will always be a smarter guy than me
And I’m ok with that.  As an undergrad we were all pretty much on the same page.  This introduction to grad school showed me that there will always be some doctoral candidates pursuing degrees way beyond where I want to go with school.  This particular grad program focuses on research, which I have no desire to pursue.  They’ll always be smarter than me, but…

I’m confident in my direction as an exercise specialist
It was crystal clear that most of my classmates are interested in research.  I’m interested in clinical applications.  I kept asking myself (and the class), “So what?”  So what about all these studies on rats’ cardiovascular adaptations to prolonged exercise after drug infusions.  So what that muscles vasodilate but then another system kicks in to achieve certain adaptations.  There were numerous moments of frustration being mixed with people who just care about the scientific research whereas I’m trying to find practical applications to get the next client back into exercising.  This semester reminded me that although the researchers are very important, I find my drive in learning so that I can help people be more active.

Exercise is Medicine
I’ve written about this before, but this class reinforced the notion that exercise is good for everyone.  Specifically, we learned about cardiovascular disease, and without boring you with the details, essentially the idea is that for unhealthy people who have vessels that aren’t supporting proper blood flow (and thus are at risk for disease), 2-4 weeks of structured exercise can facilitate significant improvements for your cardiovascular system.

I’m kind of a geek about school  I could take one class per semester for the next 20 years and be pretty happy.  I worked very hard this semester and it felt very good to get back.  And I learned a few things.
If you went back to school, what class would you take?

If not a class, what would you enjoy studying?

Could your local library or bookstore offer some reading materials to make that happen?

Remember: use it or lose it.

My home started in Pewaukee as a child.  It moved to Madison for college in 1996.  And when Katie and I were married in November 2005, we established our new home together.

Along with that marriage came a second home for me at the Robertson’s in Cedarburg, where Katie was raised.  While Katie and I were dating, I loved coming to this new, second home because I had my own room with my own bathroom.  I guess it doesn’t take much to make a kid from Pewaukee feel pretty special.  But it wasn’t the bed or the bathroom that made my experience special.  It was the work that was put in before my arrival that made it memorable.  And that was all done by Katie’s mom, Sue.

If you know the Robertson family, you know that home is very special.  And even in the months of dating, I was adopted into their family very quickly and very deeply.  Home is where family is.  Home is special.  Home is a gathering place established in love over years and years of good times, with some hard times mixed in.  I could tell very quickly that the Robertson home had that history, that tradition, that lineage of love within those walls.  And it was from within those walls that I looked out the window on a Sunday afternoon to see how that lineage of love was on display – not from the Robertsons, but because of the Robertsons.

Anyone reading these words knows that in the first two weeks of November our mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  In those two weeks we learned that the cancer had already spread to the liver and that Sue was given a few months to live.  Soon Katie and I found ourselves driving to Cedarburg because Mom was going to be admitted to the hospital.  After two long days there she decided she wanted to go home and be on Hospice care.  It was Sunday November 14th.

Mom was home.

We decided to put her in the guest room where I used to stay when Katie and I were dating.  The room that welcomed me into the Robertson family was now Mom’s new home.  Although it was tough for me to transition a room of such fond memories to the current situation of Mom’s health, I was greatly comforted by the fact that the family and the home were still the same.  The walls of the Robertson home still felt as solid as my first night at the house.  And it was from within those walls that I looked out the window to see strangers picking up sticks.

Autumn in Wisconsin brings leaves and sticks to the yard, especially Steve and Sue’s which is surrounded by mature trees and thick underbrush.  We had just got Mom home and we were beginning to prepare for a long period of caring for her.  When I looked out the window and saw a young boy and his sister picking up sticks in the yard, I saw into the future of the tough time ahead for this family and I saw into the past of the lineage of love that my mom had established.

The boy and the girl outside the window were with their dad.  Sue had taught piano lessons for the family years ago.  It was a cold, windy afternoon.  The kids were in their winter coats and had gloves and winter hats on.  But they were outside with their dad, determined to get every stick gathered despite the cold weather.  Having nothing to offer our family in this tough time they offered all they had, their service.

It reminds me of my favorite Christmas song, Little Drummer Boy:
“I have no gifts to bring… shall I play for him… on my drum.”

The little drummer boy has no gift to bring to lay before the king.  All he has is his instrument and the ability to play it.  So he does, because he loves the king.  These kids had nothing they could offer our mom.  So they brought their drum to play, a garbage bag to be filled with sticks.  Because they love our mom.  The rest of our family was looking to the future and caring for mom.  I was watching the past and how mom had worked in the lives of this family.

It’s one of my defining moments of the last three weeks.  When mom needed help the most, this family loved Mom so much that they were compelled to offer anything to help.  What a tribute to Mom.