My neighbor published a children’s book, Birdie & Bodhi: Coastal Tails. Our dog, Tide, made it in the book and is friends with Bodhi, one of the main characters. 

I found the story my neighbor told about creating the book very inspiring. She got the idea for the book after her and her daughter got Birdie and Bodhi. She was watching them play often and thought a book would be fun to write. 

She then went out and made it happen by finding an illustrator and someone who can do the publishing and distributing of the book. 

Pretty cool and a lesson in if you have an idea and are passionate about it, find a way to make it happen. 

The book can be pre-ordered here.

I watched the first half of the Iowa vs UConn Women’s Final Four last night. I had to watch these highlights to know more about how the game ended. Worth a watch if you like tight basketball thrillers. I tuned in because a co-worker told me about the game and how good it was going to be. She was right.

I wanted to check out Caitlin Clark. I love watching how the best athletes approach their craft. She taught me two things watching her compete  in the first half and these highlights.

She was focused last night. She showed some frustration in the first half cause they were losing and she didn’t have a great start but through the whole game you could see it on her face and with the plays she was making. She was locked in. There’s a lot of value in bringing focus to your craft.

The second thing I learned is confidence through the highs and lows, especially when things aren’t going your way. She had a pretty rough first half. Something like 0/5 from three pointer or maybe she made one. Also a few turnovers. She could have lost confidence and stopped shooting the ball. She kept shooting. Eventually her shots dropped. She didn’t let the cold start rock her confidence. I love that.

With NC State playing in the final four this weekend, I heard the name Jimmy V a few times. That prompted me to watch his 1993 Espy speech. He had cancer at the time of this and passed away shortly after. He shared some powerful lessons and stories in this speech that I always find heartfelt and uplifting. 

You can tell he loved coaching. He also loved experiencing life for all it had to offer. He’s got a funny story about his first team speech. He also has a famous reminder that a full day means you’ve laughed, you’ve cried, and you’ve thought. 

What a profound statement.

I connected with someone at my company yesterday as part of a peer networking program that we’re trying in 2024. I found it fun and refreshing to have a conversation with someone in my company world but has a very different remit. We connected on a few things: coaching, team building, values are a few. At the end, he asked an interesting question which was, “when you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?” 

I recently read a book that argues against asking this question to kids since it sets expectations and boxes them in. I love that. But as an adult, I also enjoy thinking back on the question. 

I wanted to play professional hockey. When I was 5, I went to my first NHL game. Not in Boston but in Hartford, CT where the Whalers played.  They happened to be playing the Bruins that day. My dad took me, and he knew someone who worked for the Whalers so we got to go to the locker room for autographs. That was my intro to the NHL. From there, I played the sport for about 20 years. I loved playing street hockey and mini hockey in the basement as a kid. Then when I became a teenager, I started to put more serious time in with coaches one on one. In high school it helped me build discipline that serves me today. 

The NHL dream never faded but of course was less and less a reality over time in high school. I learned about division III athletics from a family friend. I was very interested in being able to play competitively but also pursuing academics and having more of a social experience.

That’s what I got to do at Skidmore College. I couldn’t have been happier with that decision. As the academic pursuit led me to what I do today for work.  

The NHL dream lives on. I gave up hockey for 10 years after college for a few reasons but one had to do with the dream never becoming a reality. It hurt a bit for sure. I started playing again and am loving it. Just needed a little time away after it being such an important part of my life for 10 years. 

I think the value of this question in part lies in how you are applying that dream of what you wanted to be to your life today. Is it that you do the activity tied to that professional to still scratch the itch? Do you exhibit qualities and characteristics needed for that profession somewhere else in life? Are you fully at peace with that professional dream fading and don’t care at all? That is okay too.