What do I have that I can claim is mine? What do I have that You have not first given me? What by my own effort can I maintain? What power do I have to keep even a single breath in my lungs? What power do I have to guarantee even my own life for one moment more? Do I pretend to know the moment of my death? How much more am I powerless to try and guarantee even more? Therefore, let me do away with false pretenses. Let me cast aside the notion that by holding on with tight fist, I can add even a moment more to the span of time these gifts are in my presence. Let me live consistently with the truth of my own powerlessness. Let me live with these gifts sitting on my open hand. Let me be thankful for the time they are
Our lives are often driven by inertia – the force that keeps something moving in the same direction it has been. Sometimes this is for better, but often it is for the worst. This force makes it hard for us to change directions, even if our underlying values or priorities change and the direction our life is heading no longer makes a lot of sense. I’ve found that taking a sabbatical has been a huge inertia killer. In the best ways. Sometimes also in the hardest ways. The Effort To Change Change always requires work. There are times we keep heading in the same direction not because that is right, but because the effort required to do something different seems overwhelming. If the work required to change course is more than the work required to keep going the same direction, that makes a bit of sense. For a lot of
On April 16, 2018 I ran the Boston Marathon, finishing in 2nd to last place overall with a time of 8:09:48 (its a long story…). Here is the race report. Synopsis It isn’t every day you get to be one of the last people to cross the finish line of one of the most famous marathons in the world. After logging 20 miles at 6:30 pace, trying my best to fight through horrible weather that I was not dressed for, my body began to shut down. At mile 23 and I dropped out of the race to get treatment for symptoms of hypothermia. 5 hours later, once safe and warm, I decided that I needed to finish. I put on some warm clothes and went back to where I had dropped out to finish the last miles of the race. Goals Finish – ACCOMPLISHED (I list this as a goal in every
I have now been back at work for about two months and wanted to take this month’s update to reflect on what it is like to be working while trying to take a sabbath year. Last year when I set out to define what our sabbath year would look like – I knew that there were a few major details about the latter half of the year that were yet to be determined. As I speculated on how things might play out, I knew where the risks lied. I wrote: “I am fine with returning to work, but would likely look to set up the first six months in a way that was conducive to the sabbath year principles – either fewer hours, less strenuous projects or staying in familiar territory rather than taking on bold new ventures. This will be an area I will have to pay close attention
With the start of a new year, I take the time to set my focus for the coming year. I believe that by being selective about where I direct my energy, I can achieve results that are exponentially greater than if I split that energy across many different goals. I detailed my 2018 focus here (read that first if you want more context). Here is how I’m progressing. 2018 Theme: First Principles Lifestyle This theme fits nicely with the goal I had set for the second half of my sabbath year (Jan-July) – evaluating the options for our life. This was by design. As such we have put a lot of energy into the theme outside of the specific named challenge, habit and exemplar. This means that I’ve done less with those than I would have wanted, but still stayed on theme. To touch on three items from the theme. Earlier
I have now been back at an office job for about one month. After seven months of experiencing a sabbath where my wife and I were both at home, we’re getting to experience a different way of doing a sabbath year. It will end up being a nice A/B test for our first iteration. By experiencing both ways, we’ll get to see what we like about them and hopefully be able to plan a better version in six years. Some Background When we first started planned our sabbath year, we had to decide what it would look like. Would I continue working, scale back my hours some, take a less stressful role or stop working all together? I think all can be appropriate and have talked to people that have tried similar rest periods using each of the above methods. In our case, because we had three young children, and
In 2017 I decided to mix up my running races. In 2016 I had a great season, but I realized I couldn’t keep training at that intensity as my number of kids went from 2 to 4. I would have to approach futures years a bit differently. Because of that, I took 2017 as a chance to experiment a bit with a few major changes. I’ve found that these types of changes can often add fresh life into an old habit. They are familiar enough that it feels like comfortable but different enough that it feels fresh again. They make the future seem expansive rather than defined. So here are a few of the things I tried to mix up my running in 2017: 1. Running A Trail Race – For Christmas 2016 my wife told me she’s sign me up for the Dipsea race, a long-running and unique race
On July 30, 2017 I ran the Jack & Jill Marathon, finishing in 5th place overall with a time of 2:51:07. The guys I ran, Wes & Jonathan Coopersmith, finished in 3rd & 4th place respectively, with times of 2:47:23 and 2:49:02. Here is the race report. Synopsis This is a race I should be happy with. I didn’t plan on racing this year and only did so to train with my friend Coop so we could get a Boston Marathon Qualifying time for next year. After the time stress of my 2016 season, I had a conversation with my wife and we decided that I should cut my training to three runs per week, 1-2 of which I’d take kids in the running stroller. I averaged just 27 miles (just barely longer than a marathon) each week. Running a 2:51:07 off of that training plan is more than I had
I am currently in the third phase of the sabbath year plan I designed for this year. During this phase the goal is ‘looking around’, which I described as: “The focus of this period is taking a broad look at what is possible. There will be a lot of data collection but not much action. The goal is really to make sure we have as comprehensive as possible a picture of what our options are for the next six years and as detailed as possible a view of what those actually look like. To answer the question ‘what is the life we want to create for ourselves?’” I’ve started to set aside time for me to go do this research, and so far have felt a bit overwhelmed. That is what I am going to write about today. The trouble is there are just so many options. Three Main Decisions
Every year I set a focus for what I want to accomplish during the year. I don’t much believe in setting other goals beyond that, as having too many increases the chances of any one of them failing. I’ve noticed lately that I’ve also started to have a ‘secret goal’ of sorts. Something a few notches down on the priority list from my named focus, but that I think about in the back of my head. Sometimes it is something I want to monitor in case I decide to make it a true focus item in a future year. Sometimes it is a past focus item I’m still keeping an eye on. This year I’m writing it down my secret goal so that I don’t forget it and to see if writing about it is a bad idea altogether. The secret goal for 2018 is to create more than I