I wrote “When We Decided to Start” last year around this time, and it still holds true to now. I’m just starting to build a team, and the questions we’re asking ourselves were the same questions we asked ourselves then. Just as it was back then, I’m noticing that the exercise of deciding “how” pays off in dividends.Deciding “how” we do things is just as, if not more, important than deciding “what” we do.

You can make a really good brisket at home. Buy a brisket and stab it with a knife.Fill the holes with garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil.Put the brisket over a bed of onions. Low and slow in your oven for as long as you can tolerate. Really good things don’t need to be complicated. Sometimes the simplest things are the best. That’s true outside of cooking too.

It’s the thing we don’t do enough.Brings levity.Helps us take ourselves less seriously.Shows love.They’re contagious, others laugh with you.Lifts spirits.Can change a mood, can make a day, can get us over the hump.Never enough.There’s always time.

You may or may not need to write a resume at this season in your life. But you likely know someone that does. If that’s the case… please share the following with that person.Consistently, the resumes that perform best are the ones written for the benefit of the reader. Most work, no matter what that work is, is best done when it’s for the benefit of the person receiving the work.An example. I drive our continuous improvement program to maximize ROi for business stakeholders while establishing clear lines of site to multiple cross-functional teams. My commentary: So what does that mean? What do you do? An example that speaks to me:I increased revenue by 180%. Ask me how I did it. My commentary: I would probably hire this person in a heartbeat; very much my style. Seriously though, it’s straightforward, direct, and yes - could be fleshed out and less tongue-and-cheek.Another example:Highly experienced marketing professional that obsesses over customer needs. My commentary: uhhh…..Perhaps something like…10 years in B2B marketing. Skilled at developing and executing go-to-market strategies that yield X % in ROI as measured by ___. My commentary: YES!! Hire this person. Less puff… more direct communication.Why the resume blog?Because work that matters is work that benefits the person being served. A resume is a piece of work that shows the would-be employer that you understand and can speak to their needs. Work to serve (others).

In music, it’s often thought that the best musician ought to be the leader. If only musical skill and managerial ability correlated - but they very much don’t. The best managers were the most effective communicators and enablers of great performance. Outside of music, a manager is no different. They are the enablers of great performance.

Multiple friends of mine have lost loved ones recently. I love those people and I hope they have tons of comfort and support through this journey. While I sat reflecting on the memorial service I attended most recently, I thought… I think we’re missing the point. Think about this…Every day we decide and we act. We put energy into the world and that energy interacts with others. We leave an imprint on them. But while we live, that imprint stays just as it is - like a recession. Then, upon our death, the imprint starts to glow - like a beacon. During the memorial service people spoke about their experience with the person who passed. They spoke about what they loved most; even things that annoyed them most will be things their surviving loved ones will miss. It’s almost as if the imprint that was left on us glows like a beacon signaling, “hey, I’m still here, just now I’m even more alive in you than I was before.”The words that keep coming to my mind are, “death is the birth of legacy.”And if I think about death that way, it makes me love living that much more.

If it’s emotional and important and important and you have the opportunity to decided tomorrow - decide tomorrow. Deciding tomorrow gives you the opportunity to learn more, to develop a more informed opinion. Deciding tomorrow allows what John Steinbeck calls the “committee of sleep” to work the problem.Deciding tomorrow makes your decision about the future and not about the past.But once you decide, act.

I use a daily planner to guide me. However, the last couple of weeks felt like a hurricane. I didn’t keep up with my planner. When I returned to the planner yesterday I thought it might feel like I missed months and months of time… When you get used to a habit, the absence of that habit feels heavy. I was relieved to find that I only missed 5 days. Who knew that 5 days could feel like an eternity?How many other things do we out and over perceive? P.S. Go to bed, Martin.

You get to choose to play or not play. If you’re playing all the time, you get to choose to stop and regroup.If you’ve not been playing for a while, you get to choose to start.Time is short, energy is precious, and all you have is now. Sometimes it’s okay to decide not to play. It’s okay to say - this time is for me, to sit, rest, and be a friend to myself.

On Saturdays I drive to the grocery store. On my way, I always see people walking their dogs. Or, is there dog walking them?Picture a dog. Happy, panting, checking out fire hydrants, excited about a new smell. Oh look! The dog discovered something, it’s tail wagging furiously, it looks up at the owner with that huge dog smile as if to say, “hey hey hey! look at what I found!!!” And there’s the attentive owner. Standing tall, leash in hand, looking down towards the ground, and focused.Many people have become so addicted to their phones that they miss out on what’s happening around them. Missing out on things like the excitement their dogs have discovering new smells. I often wonder if the dogs realize that we’re getting lazy. I wonder if they are walking us. Woof, woof.