Our year-round property is just a quarter of a mile down the road on the mainland, so my sense of place is tremendous. All though I did not grow up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, the physical place, this couple mile radius particularly, feels so much like home that I feel a part of it. It’s in my blood.

Figuring It Out

It is interesting deciding where you want to live and then figuring out how you will make it work. It is all I have ever done. The only time I ever moved anywhere for a purpose and not a place was when I went to Beloit College. It was in the middle of cornfield country and that did not do it for me. I left after the first semester. Since then, I have lived in Boulder Colorado, Missoula and West Glacier Montana, Seattle and Port Angels Washington, Houghton Michigan in the U.P., and Sandpoint Idaho, as well as Ashland and Minocqua Wisconsin. I write a lot about leadership and service to others because I believe it is important and fulfilling, but you really do have to be the leader of your own life and decide how you want to live if you going to be truly satisfied with your life. It is harder than it sounds because there are times when the tail starts to wag the dog.

Summertime: Blessing and a Curse

For me, summer gets so busy and there are many demands both social and work, that I operate in a very reactive mode. One of the reasons I live where I do is because my family all comes up to the island in the summer, so I want to spend time with each of them. Also, a stream of friends come to their cabins for a week at a time, all on vacation and sort of assuming that we are too. The social demands are non-stop. It is a blessing and curse, but it is what I chose and that is the big thing.

Sometimes we don’t get to make choices about how we live. Sometimes we get sick or have someone depending on us that ties us down, but for the most part we can really do anything we want and live anywhere we want. We can be anything we want!

Be Intentionally Thankful

So, as I sit and watch the sun rise and the eagle fly by, I give thanks that I made it through the harsh, slow and long winter, to get to be part of this fast paced, full-of-life summer. This moment of reflective bliss is perfect and a big part of what I live for. Now I turn to you and ask, what do you want out of life? Do you have it? Are you ready to take charge and go get it? Are you ready for the sacrifices? Do you even know what it is? I hope so. If not, maybe some reflective time in nature giving thanks will help you find your way and fuel your soul. I am here to help as well. I hope you are enjoying the intensity that is summer.

Keep leading,
Rad

The Wolf Personality

Being a keynote speaker in Chicago doesn’t necessarily make my life easier, because I want to visit and explore while I am there, as things change so much over the years. I guess I try to do it all on my trips. Having the wolf personality, I am kind of partial to having a good time (if you don’t know what I mean about the wolf personality, go take the Animal Leadership personality test at www.AnimalLeadership.com). I like to explore and turn everything into a playful experience. This time,  there was a lot to pack in my experience of being a leadership speaker in Chicago. This time I was able to attend ReptileFest!

ReptileFest

ReptileFest was a pretty cool experience and something I had actually scheduled into the trip. One of the wolf person’s traps are that they sometimes don’t do what they say they are going to do because they run around nipping at too many heels. One of the ways to counteract that is to use a calendar and schedule what is really important.

ReptileFest was important because I got to see, learn about, and hold all these amazing creatures. I also got to hook up with an old friend whom I met when I was giving wolf talks for the Timber Wolf Alliance during the time he was giving talks on reptiles. We were able to reconnect and even found time to talk about scheduling future gigs. Secondarily, I was also assessing the reptiles and seeing what insights we can get from them, and I shot you a quick video on one insight I think fit pretty well with the weekend.

In the video above, I am holding a python, which is a constrictor. Constrictors wrap around their prey and as it breaths out they contract, after several panicked breaths, the prey has no room left to inhale and the snake literally squeezes the life out of the prey, either by suffocating it or sometimes even bursting the heart. I figure, just like this big snake, sometimes we need to really push ourselves to squeeze the life out of our day. Don’t sit back and click on the TV, but rather see what you can fit in your day. See what you can explore, learn, and discover!

For me, this opportunity to keynote as a leadership speaker in Chicago was an opportunity to squeeze the life out of another day; to have fun, learn, network, and live life to its fullest! What are you going to do today to squeeze all the life out? Let me know because I can’t wait to hear about your adventures!

Squeeze the day,
Rad