The Grace of Discipline

9 Tips for Elevating your Heart Rate! Rowing + Home Gym + Strength Training

Quick! Can you tell me how many minutes a week you elevate your heart rate to a moderate or vigorous intensity aerobic level?  Me neither... But I'm on a new mission to track this figure. This blog post will encourage you to join me in elevating your heart rate regularly through aerobic activity. I'll share 9 tips that include what I've learned from my doctor (and Hugh Jackman!) and some of the exercises and equipment I use. Tip #5 will explain the magical power of working out on a rower, which is in the photo below of my basement home gym. Before we go further, let me share with you this encouraging news: your energy level throughout the day will go UP significantly IF you regularly elevate your heart rate by exercising.

1. Heart Disease is real: The older we get, the more important it is to elevate our heart rate throughout the week to keep our hearts healthy, which requires discipline. I'm sure you've heard this before, but take moment to really let this sink in: Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, causing about 1 in 4 deaths. Elevating your heart rate improves your metabolic health, which in turn also helps you drop excess weight and stay lean. Our hearts need to be exercised!

2. Consult your Doctor: One important note before we go further: please consult your doctor before embarking on an exercise regime that will elevate your heart rate throughout the week. Elevating your heart rate regularly should be a gradual building up process over time. If you overdo it too quickly, you can cause a heart attack.

3. Aerobic exercise is key: When I had elevated cholesterol a few years ago, my doctor shared with me this terrific advice from The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: "For substantial health benefits, adults should do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) to 300 minutes (5 hours) a week of moderate-intensity, or 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) to 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity, or an equivalent combination... Preferably, aerobic activity should be spread throughout the week." Thanks in part to this advice, I was able to reduce my cholesterol and drop 20 lbs of weight through a mix of eating health and exercise, which you can read about at this link.

4. Build out a home gym: I believe the best way to get regular aerobic exercise is to be able to do it in your own house! Truly. You reduce the "friction" of working out when you don't have to drive to a gym. Ideally you roll out of bed in the morning and get your workout in before the day begins. Calculate how much per month you spend in gym memberships per year. Then, instead of spending that amount at a gym, invest it in a home gym equipment. Ideally start with some cardio equipment - a rower, treadmill, bike, elliptical - and then start building up your strength training equipment. Retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink inspired me to build out a home gym, and I wrote about Jocko at this link. #getafterit

5. Rowers are magic!  Okay, if you can only invest in one piece of home equipment, I would start with a rower. It is one of the best all-body cardio workouts you can do! I honestly never used a rower until about a month ago and I'm hooked. Don't laugh, but I listened to a podcast interview of Hugh Jackman where Tim Ferris asked Hugh if he was on a desert island and could only have one piece of gym equipment, what would it be? Hugh responded quickly: "a rower." He went on to say that it is a hard workout that most people avoid, but a great workout if you want to get lean. (and I want to get lean!)  Hugh recommended rowing hard for only 10 minutes a day, 4 days a week. Well, I got so motivated by this podcast, that I bought this rower on Amazon for $260 right away. I have since been rowing 15 to 30 minutes a day, about 4 days a week. It has been incredible! Rowing elevates my heart rate much more quickly and sustainably than other aerobic activity. While I really do like the rower I bought on Amazon, ultimately I'm sure I'll invest in a Concept 2 rowing machine in the future. (Make sure you watch some rowing technique videos before you start rowing for the first time.)

6. Apple/Smart Watch: You'll see in my photo above that my Apple Watch tracks my heart rate throughout a workout, which is super helpful. I highly recommend investing in some sort of smart watch that will help you track your heart rate during workouts. One reason I really like the Apple Watch is because of it's ability to alert you to irregular heart patterns 24 x 7.

7. Strength training is important: Okay, with all of this talk above about the importance of aerobic exercise, don't forget that strength training is so important for our health too as we get older. Per the American Cancer Society, 5 benefits of two or three strength training sessions weekly are: increased muscle mass, strong bones, joint flexibility, weight control and balance. You can actually do a lot of strength training with just your body weight, such as push-ups, sit ups, and burpees. And you can invest in some home gym equipment. So far I've invested $200 in a tower for pull ups, dips, and crunches, $200 in a weight bench, and a few hundred more buying an Olympic bar and weight plates on eBay. During this pandemic eBay is one of the few places to find some sports equipment, but watch out for price gouging.

8. Audio when working out: I realize that not everyone can do this, but I have found that I can generally multi-task when working out. What I mean by this is that I can listen to an audio book or podcast when working out, so that I can learn while I sweat! :) Currently I listen to the One Year Bible's daily readings when rowing, followed by an audio book and then occasionally music when I simply need motivation. I listen to audio via my iPhone and these cheap but effective $20 bluetooth wireless headphones. (AirPods don't work for me - they fall out of my ears when working out.)

9. Closing Scripture Verse: In my life I have found that I cannot self discipline myself to workout regularly. I need God's Grace. I need the Grace of Discipline. I'll close this blog post out with this Scripture verse for you to meditate upon:  "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies." – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV

I hope this blog post inspires you to get moving regularly to benefit your heart health! What tips or advice have I missed? Please share in the comments below!

Blessings!
Mike

p.s. The  purpose of this blog is to encourage you to live a more disciplined life, by God's Grace. I'd be honored if you'd subscribe to my blog's emails to alert you of new blog posts at: www.mikepritchard.com/subscribe.html

Parents: Gospel of John + Superbook + Torchlighters + Spirit of Goodwill Band

Parents, it can be tough to find great video content for our kids to watch. I want to share 4 resources my wife and I have found to be terrific for our 10 and 12-year old daughters, all of which are available for free on Amazon Prime Video. I would like to hear about resources you have found helpful for your kids, if you would share in the comments below?

1. The Gospel of John is a terrific 3-hour movie that is a word-for-word reenactment of the entire Gospel. It is incredibly well acted with great scenery! It is available to watch for free on Amazon Prime Video at this link.  If you are reading this and you don't have kids, I still encourage you to watch this film! I was blessed to see this movie when it was first released in theaters back in 2003. One of my new goals in life is to watch this powerful film once a year.

2. Superbook has been a fun resource for our daughters to learn many of the classic Bible stories.  They are 26-minute animated episodes told from the perspective of two kids, Chris and Joy, and their Robot buddy named Gizmo. Chris and Joy come across an ancient Bible in their grandfather's attic that transports them into the Bible stories. Superbook seasons 1 and 2 are available for free on Amazon Prime Video at this link. Or you can download the Superbook app on your iPad or smartphone to view episodes and play some related games. Lastly, they have an interactive website and can also mail you DVDs at this link.

3. The Torchlighters: Heroes of the Faith is a wonderful series of 30-minute animated episodes featuring heroes of the Christian faith, such as St. Patrick, Harriett Tubman, Corrie Ten Bloom, Augustine, Martin Luther and many others.  Again, you can watch season 1 of the Torchlighters for free on Amazon Prime Video at this link. Or you can watch more episodes and related content on The Torchlighters website at this link.

4. For One in My Life is a wonderful documentary about The Spirit of Goodwill band in Miami, Florida, that my wife and I watched with our daughters last weekend. They loved it! It is a 90-minute film about a band comprised of individuals with various mental and physical disabilities who all work at Goodwill in Miami. You can watch the documentary for free on Amazon Prime Video at this link. I was blessed to introduce this film at The Boulder Film Festival in 2011, where it won the Call 2 Action award. Also, I was incredibly blessed to see The Spirit of Goodwill band perform live at a Goodwill conference in Miami in 2012. They were absolutely incredible, as you'll see when you watch this film. Below is the trailer for this fantastic film:

https://youtu.be/8aFExf4O6cM

 

Parents, I hope you find these resources to be helpful! If you would, please do share your favorite video resources for your kids in the comments section below? I would love to learn about additional great resources. Thanks!

Blessings!
Mike

Parents: The Porn-Free Family Plan + OpenDNS Family Shield. Please read. 6 tips.

Parents, okay, let's talk pornography and your kids. Not a fun subject I realize. But an important one. Your kids will be exposed to pornography at some point in their young lives. Are you up for the challenge of delaying that exposure?  Me too.  Please keep reading.

Pornography will seek your kids out, even if they never go looking for it. Pop-ups, ads, and redirected URLs will expose them to pornography at some point. Smart phones, iPads, laptops and now even the challenge of stay-at-home orders with more time spent on the internet increase the odds of our kids being exposed to pornography. Is there anything we can do about it?  Fortunately, yes.  But it will require a bit of work on your part. I trust you are up for this important work? Below are 5 tips to help you out.

1. If you do nothing else, set up OpenDNS Family Shield on your family's home internet router right now. It is free and it is pre-configured to block the majority of pornography websites on the internet. I've embedded 2 YouTube videos in this post in point #6 below that will walk you through this process. Configuring your router is the only slightly complex task and you might need to buy a new router that will allow you to update your DNS settings. Watch the videos below and then go to this website link to get started: www.opendns.com/home-internet-security

2. I highly encourage you to watch the first 39 minutes of this video embedded below which details an incredibly helpful "The Porn-Free Family Plan." It is a plan developed by Tim Challies. He gave this talk at a church in Colorado in February of 2020. Tim does such a great job of first explaining the dangers of internet pornography for our kids. Then he gives parents super practical tips on how you can protect your family.  It was this video that taught me about OpenDNS, Covenant Eyes and the Circle Parental Controls device - points #3 and #4 below. In addition to watching this video below, I highly encourage you to read Tim's blog post about The Porn-Free Family Plan at this link: www.challies.com/articles/the-porn-free-family-plan/

www.vimeo.com/394063153

3. In addition to OpenDNS, in the video above Tim refers to Covenant Eyes as a helpful website that you can learn more about at this link:  www.covenanteyes.com

4. Tim also references the Circle Parental Controls device in the video above, which you can learn more about at this link:  www.meetcircle.com

5. Parents I know have recommended the books  for kids Good Pictures Bad Pictures Jr and Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn Proofing Today's Young Kids.

6. Below are two helpful videos about how to set up OpenDNS Family Shield on your home internet router:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzylyyCbdrk

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvI_10WGBTE

(Note that the home internet router I leased from my internet service provider would not allow me to change DNS settings, so I could not utilize OpenDNS Family Shield. I ended up purchasing this router which allows for DNS setting changes: www.asus.com/us/Networking/CM-32-AC2600)

Parents, what other tips would you share to protect your kids online?  Please share in the comments below, thanks!

Blessings!
Mike

10 Self-Care Tips during a Stay-At-Home Order

Friends, these are unprecedented times. These are also stressful times, which can cause us all to neglect our physical, mental and spiritual health. You must not let these deteriorate.  It is important for your immunity system that you stay physically, mentally and spiritually healthy. Your health is your wealth. You may have recently lost some money in your retirement funds. Don't lose your health.

Important note: This blog post does not apply to you if you have the coronavirus. You must listen to your doctors and not me. (Though, a few of the tips below around staying mentally or spiritually healthy might still be helpful to you.)

Below are 10 tips to stay physically, mentally and spiritually healthy during a stay-at-home order:

1. Eat Healthy: It is hard to eat healthy in a time of stress and also when it is literally hard to find food at grocery stores. (Interestingly, I have noticed produce sections are generally not depleted when going to grocery stores recently...  Tip: buy produce.) We all can have the tendency to eat comfort foods when stressed. Make a commitment to yourself to eat healthy and then take it day by day. Plan out your meals and snacks. Give yourself grace when you eat unhealthy. Just get back on track. Check out a blog post I wrote with a lot of healthy eating tips at this link.

2. Exercise: I realize this one is tough when you are being ordered to stay home. But it is not impossible. You must find away to stay active. Many of us can still go outside for walks or runs, while keeping socially distant from others. Or, if you have a treadmill at home you can use, use it. I encourage you to set a goal of getting 10,000 steps a day. This is good for you physically and mentally. Exercise helps you reduce stress. Additionally, I encourage you to do some sort of strength training at least 3 times a week. You can do many body weight exercises at home. Check out this link for a great list of body weight exercises. Also, YouTube and other websites have a plethora of exercises you can do in the comfort of your own home. Get after it! My daily goal is to run or walk 3 miles a day and do at least 100 push-ups a day. I just read a great article about how 79-year old Dr. Anthony Fauci runs 3.5 miles a day while working 19-hour days to combat the coronavirus, which you can read at this link.

3. Sleep: Sleep is so important for your immunity! Aim to get 7 to 8 hours of solid sleep a night. Also, aim to get at least 90 minutes of deep sleep and 90 minutes of REM sleep.  The only way to really know this data is by using a smart watch when you sleep. Check out this blog post I wrote with a lot of great sleep tips at this link.

4. Reduce Stress: It is understandable that we are all probably worrying a lot during this time of coronavirus. Some level of worry is good in that it can drive us to take precautions, such as practice social distancing. The problem is when we over-worry about things we don't have control over. Worry moves into stress and then we're tense and can't relax. Worse, we can't sleep, and our health and immunity starts to deteriorate.  So, we need to reduce worry and stress. I recommend you significantly reduce the amount of news you are consuming. Stay up with the latest important news in your community, but don't obsess and read every single article about coronavirus. Also, you may want to reduce your social media usage if it creates stress for you. Lastly, figure out things you can do to reduce stress.  Pray, meditate, connect with family and friends, and exercise.

5. Connect: During this time of extreme social distancing, we need to find ways to connect with family and friends. I encourage you to daily email, call, text message, FaceTime and even Zoom video-conference with your friends! Don't let your self get isolated and discouraged. Others that you reach out to will be wanting to connect too! While I cautioned above that social media might cause stress, it also can be a positive way to connect with others. Just make sure you're using social media for connection and not news/media consumption that might stress you out. I really do love Zoom and they have a free plan for up to 100 participants and a 40 minute video-conference, which you can learn about at this link.

6. Give: Now is the time to keep giving to others. Give to your family. Give to your friends. Give to your community. Today, be the encouragement that someone didn't see coming. If you can find ways to volunteer with nonprofits, do that. If you can give financially, now is a great time to support your favorite nonprofits. For those of you in Colorado, you can give both your time and finances at this website link. Also, if you are in Colorado, I invite you to join me in supporting Volunteers of America with your time, treasure and talents at this link. (thank you!)

7. Grow Spiritually: This season can be a season of reflection, if you will let it. Revisit your spiritual traditions. Pray. Or meditate and pursue a mindfulness practice. I personally find peace and strength in the habit of reading the Bible daily, following the one year plan at this link.

8. Read: Now is the time to read the books stacking up on your night shelf. Grow your mind and grow your skills. If you are looking for a good book to read, Atomic Habits by James Clear is a great one!

9. Work: This is a complex point. I realize that some of you reading this might have recently lost a job due to the coronavirus.I encourage you to not give up on work, even if you may not be getting a paycheck currently. Work at finding your next job.  Work at growing your skills. Work on projects at home. For those of you still working at a formal job, and perhaps working remotely, continue to work hard for your employer. Don't slack off. Don't pick up bad habits that will be hard to break later. Lastly, some of you may be suddenly working to help educate your children as they are learning remotely. Teaching your children will be a unique new job for you to take on day by day.

10. Remain Hopeful: Don't lose hope. The coronavirus will impact us all in different ways. By now you very likely know someone who has the virus. You may even know someone who has died from it. Despair would be understandable. Somehow, someway, pursue hope.  If you find yourself in despair, reach out to someone. Get counseling. Here's a quote I found helpful recently: “Today, the coronavirus has thrown us all in the mud. We are cold, wet and miserable, and the dawn seems a long way off. But while we should not be cavalier about the dangers of this pandemic, neither should we feel hopeless and paralyzed with fear. Hope abounds.” -Ret. Admiral William H. McRaven, Navy SEAL, from an article at this link.  Men, if you are feeling down, one great resource to explore is a website called Man Therapy, which I encourage men to spend some time on now at this link. Men and women, if you ever feel like you're even starting to think about suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 and visit their website at this link. 

I hope these 10 tips have been helpful to you.  What else would you add to this list? Please share in the comments below.

Blessings!
Mike

My Dad's Eulogy. The Top 10 Traits of Michael Pritchard

On December 28, 2019, I shared the eulogy below at my Dad's Memorial Service. We celebrated his life well and then laid him to rest at Olinger Chapel Hill. Their team was terrific to work with throughout this period of grief. You can view the nice obituary and memory sharing page they put together for my Dad, including a tribute video to him with 200 photos from his life at this link. For the eulogy, I decided to share my Dad's top 10 traits along with a related memory for each trait. Note that I have abbreviated the eulogy in this written format. I spoke from the heart when giving the actual eulogy, which is not fully captured below. Dad, I hope this eulogy honored you and celebrated your life well. We love you. We miss you. Rest in peace.

Good afternoon. Thank you all for being here today. It means so much to Justin and me to have you all here to celebrate our Dad's life.  Thank you to my cousin Jessica for being such a great caregiver for my Dad and Mom these past few years. Thank you to Anna for playing the piano today. Thank you to my beautiful wife and daughters for all of their support of me as I've spent many hours with my Dad and Mom over the past few years. Thank you to Chris for being our celebrant today.

Today is a day of grief and mourning. My Dad was taken from us far too young at the age of 73 because of Parkinson's disease. It is a disease that my Dad valiantly battled over the past 8 years. What makes today especially sad is that my Mom passed away only 2 months prior to my Dad this year. Many of you were sitting in this same chapel celebrating my Mom's life. My Mom was the faithful primary caregiver to my Dad until she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease 2 years ago. I will say that both of my parents navigated these brutal diseases with grace and strength. They lived life as fully as they could until their last days.

Most of you here today know that my parents were born in the same small hometown of Hopewell, Virginia. They lived about half of their lives in Virginia and half of their lives in Colorado, raising Justin and me. I want to share with you all that we will be doing a joint Memorial Service for both of my parents in Hopewell on March 21, 2020, at 2:00 PM at St. John's Episcopal Church. This is a beautiful old red brick church founded in 1840 that my Dad attended growing up. This joint Memorial Service will be an opportunity to celebrate both of my parents lives with their many family and friends in Virginia.

Two months ago I shared my Mom's eulogy and here I am today sharing my Dad's eulogy. I wrote my Mom's eulogy by sharing the top 10 traits of my Mom and a related memory. I'm going to follow that same format today. And yes, my Dad was a big David Letterman fan, so I think he'll be okay with me borrowing Dave's top 10 list idea for his eulogy. :)

So, here we go. Here are the top 10 traits of my Dad, Michael Douglas Pritchard:

1. Loving: My Dad loved his family and friends deeply and well. This can best be seen in his marriage to my Mom for 51 years. They were high school sweethearts that met when my Dad was 16 years old and my Mom was 14 years old in their hometown of Hopewell, Virginia.  My parents married in 1968 and then moved to Colorado in the early 1970s to be close to my Mom's sister, Phyllis, and her husband, Barry.  My brother and I were both born and raised in the Congress Park neighborhood of Denver. My Dad loved my wife, Marcia, and our daughters so very much, often babysitting for us so he could spend time with his granddaughters.  Memory: You also saw so many great photos before the service of my Mom and Dad together. They were always together. I will always carry the memory of how much my Dad cared for my Mom in their final years in their retirement communities. When my Mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, the care giving roles were reversed. My Dad became a caregiver for my Mom. He talked to her all of the time, even when she couldn't really reply back due to Alzheimer's. After my Mom passed away on September 22, my Dad entered a season of deep grief, losing his best friend of 57 years. (married 51 years) The caregivers at my Dad's retirement home said that he clearly had a broken heart and was ready to go be with my Mom. They are back together now.

2. Provider: My Dad was an incredible provider for my Mom, brother Justin and me. He had a very successful career in investor relations at Public Service Company of Colorado, New Century Energies and Xcel Energy. My Dad was frugal and loved to save money rather than spend it! A bit of a rarity these days. :) Memory: My parents wisely bought a house in the Congress Park neighborhood on 9th and St. Paul. It was a small house. I actually just went on Zillow this week and learned it was 1,200 square feet. I remember once asking my Dad, "hey, why can't we have a bigger house like my friends?" I remember my Dad wisely replying to me, "Well, do you want us to help you pay for college? Do you want to go on family vacations? I presume so. We won't be moving to a bigger house."  :)

3. Friendly: My Dad was a true Southern Gentleman. He was incredibly polite to everyone he ever met and he could make small talk with the best of them. Memory: My Dad's friendly nature really came out in his later years the retirement communities he lived in.  While his body was failing him, his mind was sharp. Every single nurse and care provider that worked with my Dad said he was so incredibly friendly. Which, if you've spent much time in retirement communities, you will know that not everybody is friendly when they are in their later years....  My Dad's caregivers just loved him because of how friendly he was and his great sense of humor, which leads me into his next trait.

4. Funny: My Dad had a terrific sense of humor! Truly. It was a dry and wry sense of humor, but it always put the other person at ease. He'd lightly make fun of himself or a situation to keep the mood light. Memory: My Dad's nurses and caregivers constantly told me and Jessica how funny my Dad was, and we saw it in action. My Dad would make jokes when getting bathed or clothes by his caregivers. He'd often crack smiles. He just knew how to make another person feel good when around him, which was a wonderful gift. I hope when I am old I am funny and friendly like my Dad was!

5. Athletic: My Dad stayed active and fit throughout his life, even working out in his last days with Parkinson's. He was a marathon runner, who completed both the Denver and New York City marathons. He also loved shooting hoops.  My Dad had this unique goal of making sure he made at least as many free throws in a row as he was in age. So, this meant at the age of 30 he had to make 30 free throws in a row. He would often stay on the basketball court for an hour or so until he made the right number of free throws in a row. I am pretty sure he was able to carry this tradition forward until about the age of 65 when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's. Memory: One of my favorite childhood memories was my brother and I going to the downtown Denver YMCA with my Dad on Saturday mornings and playing basketball with him. I think this is in large part while I have the great habit of working out regularly - thank you Dad.  I actually still go to the downtown Denver YMCA and remember those Saturdays with my Dad when I'm there. Another fun related memory, after we worked out at the Y, my Dad would take my brother and me to the Delectable Egg on 16th and Court for breakfast, which we loved. I still go to the Delectable Egg these days, in large part to remember times there with my Dad. 

6. Music Lover: My Dad loved listening to music! Pretty much anything from the 1960s. Motown music, Elvis, the Beatles, the Beach boys, you name it. Music lit him up.  I'd say I have that same characteristic of loving music, as my family knows. Memories:  I have a couple memories here. I distinctly remember as a child putting my Dad's records on the record player in our house on 9th and St. Paul and just listening to music for hours while lying on the couch. One of my favorite records I recall listening to as a child was the rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, over and over again. I loved the music, the lyrics and have no doubt I was intrigued by who was this superstar named Jesus they were all singing about. The other memory to share is that in my Dad's last days at his retirement I found the oldies music channel on cable TV and softly played oldies around the clock for him. I know he loved music so much, that I figured the oldies music would be soothing to him in his final days and hours. I have shared with my wife, Marcia, to please do the same for me in my final days and hours. Just play me a mix of Chris Tomlin songs and I'll be good to go.

7. TV Lover: Do you remember NBC's Thursday night's Must See TV in the 80s? My Dad loved Thursday night TV! And my Mom, brother and I often watched it all with him. This included the shows Cheers, Seinfeld, Family Ties and Night Court. Classics. Memory: I remember that Thursday nights meant my Dad would always have pizza and wine when watching the Must See TV line up.

8. Sports Lover: My Dad loved to watch sporting events, mostly on TV, but sometimes in person. He in particular loved watching the Broncos, the Nuggets and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) College Basketball. He loved talking about sports too, particularly in his later years. Memory: One of my favorite memories of my Dad was when he was a volunteer usher for University of Colorado Buffaloes football games on Saturdays in Boulder in the late 70s and early 80s.  He did this volunteering with my Uncle Barry, who is here with us today. They wore CU colored blazers and ushered in the east stands during the 1st half of the game. During the second half of the game they'd then be able to sit and watch the game. I think this might be in part why my brother and I both attended and graduated from CU Boulder. Thank you, Dad, and of course: Go Buffs!  :)

9. Traveler: My Dad and Mom loved to travel. My Dad's job in Investor Relations at Xcel Energy gave him the opportunity to travel throughout the United States and he would often bring along my Mom or my brother or me, when he could. Also, one of his favorite travel destinations since his childhood was Nags Head beach in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. He would go there as a child and continued going there late into life. If I recall it was generally the last week or two of August that my Dad and much of his family would pack up the car in Virginia and drive down to North Carolina. Memories: Justin and I of course went to Nags Head many times with my parents growing up. I have such great memories of playing on the sand dunes there, close to where the Wright Brothers took their first airplane flight! My other fun travel memory with my Dad is when he took me to San Fransisco as a teenager on one of his business trips and toured us around Fisherman's Wharf. It was such a great trip. I remember staying in some fancy hotel room for the first time and just looking out the window marveling at the big city sights and sounds, including the trolley cars.

10. Left a Legacy: Okay, so I might be biased, but I think my Dad left a great legacy in my brother, Justin, and me. :) He and my Mom were great parents that provided so well for us. Thank you, Dad and Mom. Memories: My Dad leaves with us all an incredible legacy of memories, many of which we saw on the slide show pictures earlier. Thank you so much for all of the memories of my Dad you all have shared on the obituary website, via emails, via sympathy cards and by being here today. It is so great to read about all of wonderful memories of my Dad. He leaves behind such an incredible legacy.

In closing, I do believe that my Dad and my Mom are in heaven now. I believe in God. I believe in life after death. I believe my parents are watching us right now. I think if there was something my parents might want to say to us as we remember and celebrate their lives, it might be these three short but powerful words: God is good. All the time. Even in the midst of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. Even in the midst of the our grief over the loss of my parents. God is good.

Thank you all again for being here today. Again, thank you to Chris Anderson for being our celebrant for both of my parents memorial services. (Learn more about his celebrant services at this link.)

You can read my Mom's Eulogy at this link: My Mom's Eulogy: Top 10 traits of Joyce Pritchard

My Mom's Eulogy: Top 10 traits of Joyce Pritchard

On November 2, 2019, I shared the eulogy below at my Mom's Memorial Service. We celebrated her life well and then laid her to rest at Olinger Chapel Hill. Their team was terrific to work with throughout this period of grief. Check out the nice obituary and memory sharing page they put together for my Mom, including a tribute video to her with 250 photos from her life at this link. For the eulogy, I decided to share my Mom's top 10 traits along with a related memory for each trait. Note that I have abbreviated the eulogy in this written format. I spoke from the heart when giving the actual eulogy, which is not fully captured below. Mom, I hope this eulogy honored you and celebrated your life. We love you. We miss you. Rest in peace.

Good afternoon. Thank you all for being here today. It means so much to my Dad, Justin and me to have you all here to celebrate my Mom's life.  Thank you to my cousin Jessica for being such a great caregiver for my Mom and Dad these past few years. Thank you to Anna for playing the piano today. Thank you to my beautiful wife and daughters for all of their support of me as I've spent many hours with my Mom and Dad over the past few years. Thank you to Peter for being here today to help take care of my Dad, so that he could join us at this service.

Writing my Mom's eulogy is one of the hardest and one of the most beautiful things I've ever done in my life. The idea came to me of sharing with you all the top 10 traits of my Mom and a related memory. And, yes, my Mom and Dad were David Letterman fans, so I think she'll be okay with me borrowing his top 10 list idea for her eulogy. :)

Before I celebrate the top 10 traits of my Mom, let me first acknowledge this is a day of grief and mourning. My Mom was taken from us far too young at the age of 71 because of Alzheimer's disease. It is a brutal disease that moved rapidly in my Mom over just the past 2 years. Prior to this my Mom was the faithful primary caregiver for my Dad, who has had Parkinson's disease for 7 years now. I do want to share this with you: my Mom was smiley and happy until the very end of her life. Sometimes Alzheimer's can turn people agitated. Fortunately, in my Mom's case, the disease moved her into what I called "happy land." She was always smiling and laughing, when she wasn't sleeping. Her happy countenance was a blessing. Okay, onto the top 10 traits of my Mom as we celebrate her life today.

1. Loving: My Mom loved her family and friends deeply and well. This can best be seen in her marriage to my Dad for 51 years. They were high school sweethearts that met when my Mom was 14 years old in their hometown of Hopewell, Virginia.  My parents married in 1968 and then moved to Colorado in the early 1970s to be close to my Mom's sister, Phyllis, and her husband, Barry.  My brother and I were both born and raised in the Congress Park neighborhood of Denver. My Mom loved my wife, Marcia, and our daughters so very much, often babysitting for us so she could spend time with her granddaughters.  Memory: My Mom baked a cake for every wedding anniversary with my Dad, with the anniversary number prominently displayed on the cake. You saw several of those cakes in the slide show. You also saw so many great photos of my Mom and Dad together. They were always together. This is a season of deep grief for my Dad, losing best friend of 57 years. (married 51 years)

2. Friendly: My Mom made friends literally every where she went! She never met a stranger. Each of you here today is a great example of how my Mom made friends and kept them over the years. It has been humbling to receive so many sympathy cards, emails and phone calls from Mom's friends from over the years. Everyone misses her so very much. Memories: One of my favorite memories growing up was spending each Easter Sunday afternoon at Missy and Trevor's house in Congress Park with so many of my Mom's friends. Many of you are here today. I also remember so many fun Thanksgiving's and 4th of July's at the Goldmuntz home in Manitou Springs - thank you, Barry. And of course my Mom has so many friends in her hometown of Hopewell, Virginia. Thank you, Hopewell!

3. Serving / Energetic:  So, I think it is fair to say that my Mom had a lot of energy. :) You all know this very well. She was always working on some project! She was never idle. One of you shared with me just a moment ago that my Mom only liked to sleep 4 hours a night, so that she could get more done in a day. Memory: Mom was always volunteering for a good cause. Celebrating and preserving her Czech-Slovak heritage was one cause she was so passionate about. In 2003 she co-founded the Virginia CzechSlovak Heritage Society with Marie Pearson, which you can learn more about at www.virginiaczechslovak.org.

4. Adventurous: My Mom was always up for an adventure! Often this meant accompanying my Dad on his business trips when he led investor relations at Public Service and Xcel Energy. In a way, it seemed like every day was an adventure for my Mom. She definitely lived by the motto carpe diem. Memories: My Mom loved to travel internationally. Four trips come to mind. First, she joined Marcia in Ethiopia to help her out when we were finalizing our first adoption and had to wait weeks for paperwork to get finalized. Second, she wanted to see Machu Picchu, Peru, so badly and my Dad didn't really want to go. So, she took me. :) It was an awesome trip of a lifetime with my Mom! Third, my Mom traveled to Ecuador to meet up with my brother, Justin, when he was traveling throughout South America. Fourth, she traveled to Czechoslovakia with her sister, Phyllis, to find and meet distant relatives. Mom was always up for an adventure.

5. Creative: My Mom was incredibly creative. She quilted, macramed and designed labyrinths, to name just a few hobbies. Memory: One of my favorite memories of my Mom is the creativity she put into Justin and my birthday parties growing up. I distinctly remember my Mom having a Star Wars themed birthday party for me in the late 70s with an R2-D2 cake and she created light sabers for all of my friends. My Mom was definitely the coolest Mom in Congress Park that year. :)

6. Healthy: Mom was a health nut in the 70s. She fed my brother and me some interesting food when we were growing up. I don't think we had any white sugar until we got invited to another friend's birthday party.  :) I should mention that most of the cakes my Mom made for my birthday parties were free of white sugar. They were made out of dates, apricots, raisins, carrots and all natural carob chips. Memory: My Mom was an organic home gardener before it was hip. She created amazing food gardens annually at our home in Congress Park. She was a pro at tilling the soil and keeping birds, bugs and squirrels away. We had some amazing garden fresh vegetables throughout my childhood.

7. Learner: My Mom was always reading, studying or listening to radio shows to learn new things. She was one of the very few women in the early 80s to get a Masters Degree in Computer Science at the University of Denver. I proudly remember going to her graduation ceremony at DU when I was a teenager. Her professor and long time friend, Joel Cohen, shared with me that my Mom was a "super star student." She loved learning and discussing algorithms and FORTRAN language and mathematics. (I had to google search FORTRAN to see what in the world that is...)  Joel thought my Mom should get her Ph.D. in Computer Science and become a professor, but she told him she "wanted to make real money" and went to work for IBM.  :) Memory:  I have wonderful memories of my Mom bringing home gigantic computers in the early 80s that worked off reams of paper and connected to the DU network via its modem and our rotary dial telephone. I had fun communicating with her classmates on that computer as a kid. This was pre-internet and it was awesome!

8. Organized: Mom was super organized throughout her life. This has been helpful in recent years as Jessica and I have helped move my parents from various retirement apartments and communities. My Mom labeled every single box and saved pretty much everything of meaning and value. Memory: My Mom was a genealogist, researching and creating intricate hand drawn family trees before there were internet sites that could help do this. She also created wonderful scrapbooks with titles like "Women of the Family" or "Men of the Family."  It is so wonderful to have these family trees and scrapbooks, preserving my Mom's hours of work on our family's genealogies.

9. Left a Legacy: Okay, so I might be biased, but I think my Mom left a great legacy in my brother, Justin, and me. :) She and my Dad were great parents that provided so well for us. Thank you, Mom and Dad. Memories: My Mom leaves with us all an incredible legacy of memories, many of which we saw on the slide show pictures earlier. Thank you so much for all of the memories of my Mom you all have shared on the obituary website, via emails, via sympathy cards and via a Hopewell Facebook group. It was so poignant to read about all of wonderful memories of my Mom. Such an incredible legacy.

10. Spiritual: My Mom was on a spiritual journey throughout her life and I believe it continues for her today. She was raised Catholic and attended Catholic schools in Hopewell. She raised my brother and me Catholic as well, and I attended St. Philomena, Good Shepherd, Blessed Sacrament and Machebeuf Catholic schools. My Dad was raised Episcopalian in Hopewell, and later in life my Mom attended St. John's Cathedral and Christ Episcopal Church with my Dad. Until Alzheimer's took over my Mom's mind, she prayed regularly and kept a diary with her spiritual musings. Memory: One of my favorite early memories was going to 10:30 Catholic Community Church on 11th and Fillmore with my Mom. It was in the 70s and basically was a "hippy" Catholic Church. Everyone had long hair and sang a lot of songs and hymns with acoustic guitars. I loved it. It may be why I'm still such a big fan of acoustic songwriters today, such as David Wilcox.

In closing, I do believe that my Mom is in heaven now. I believe in God. I believe in life after death. I believe she’s watching us right now. I think if there was something Mom might want to say to us as we celebrate her life today, it might be these three short but powerful words: God is good. All the time. Even in the midst of the our grief over the loss of my Mom. God is good.

Thank you all again for being here today. Thank you to Chris Anderson for being our celebrant today. (Learn more about his celebrant services at this link.)

You can read my Dad's Eulogy at this link: My Dad's Eulogy. The Top 10 Traits of Michael Pritchard

Eat That Frog! 9 tips from an epic time management book

Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy has a catchy title for one of the best time management books on the planet. If you haven't read it yet, you should. It is a short 144 pages that can be read in a couple of hours. I try to read this book annually, because it has so many great productivity tips. Below are 9 takeaways and quotes from this epic book that can easily double your productivity - if you'll apply its teachings.

1. Eat that Frog is comprised of 21 short chapters, all on the topic of productivity and time management. Brian gets to the point quickly in each chapter, which I appreciate. He doesn't belabor each chapter with long stories, but quickly explains the productivity tip and how you can apply it right away. I find that many nonfiction books are about twice as long as they need to be, due to long stories. This book is just the right length. Brian is a prolific author and teacher who has written 70 books. Learn more about him here: www.briantracy.com

2. “If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first. This is another way of saying that if you have two important tasks before you, start with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first.” The title of this book is based on the concept that it is best to tackle your most important priority at work first thing in the day. Get it done before you get sidetracked on other less important but perhaps more seemingly "urgent" tasks that come up. If you have two important tasks, do the most important one first. Eat that frog!

3. “One of the very worst uses of time is to do something very well that need not to be done at all.”  This is one of my favorite quotes of the book. It's simple and yet so profound. How much time do we each waste doing things that don't need to be done at all? This quote reminds me of Jim Collin's advocating in his classic book, Good to Great, that we each should have a "stop doing list." What are some tasks in your life you should simply stop doing? We all have some. Perhaps many things we should stop doing... 

4. “Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement. The bigger your goals and the clearer they are, the more excited you become about achieving them. The more you think about your goals, the greater becomes your inner drive and desire to accomplish them.”  Brian Tracy is a big believer in goal setting. In fact, he wrote another favorite book of mine, Goals, which I heartily recommend to you. I confess that I haven't been the best goal-setter in my life. I'm naturally driven, which is generally helpful, but I see the wisdom in setting big and clear goals. As I type this, I realize that I need to read Goals again too... :) 

5. “Rule: Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field.” This is such a powerful quote and is so very true. We need to be continuous learners in our lives.  Never stop learning and growing. In fact, this is why I advocate on this blog that we should all #readmorebooks. :) Reading books is indeed one of the best ways to continually improve yourself. Brian does make the point in this book that you should aim to read 1 hour a day materials that are related to your career: books, articles, blogs, etc. 

6. “The Key to Success is Action." Okay this might seem like a no-duh quote, but it gives a great snapshot of this book. This is an action-oriented book that will encourage and propel you toward action. Planning is nice, but execution is everything. You will only be successful in work and life to the extent you are action-oriented. This book will give you some great tools to not only take action, but take the right actions every day. Go the extra mile. As another great quote says: "There are no traffic jams on the extra mile." :)

7. “Rule: It is the quality of time at work that counts and the quantity of time at home that matters.”  I will close with this quote from Brian because it is again epic. Work hard at work. Work smart at work. But then when you are at home, just spend time with your family. Don't try to be "efficient" or just have "quality time" with your family. We need to have "QUANTITY time" with our family. The hours matter. Be present with your family. Be efficient at work so you can spend more time at home with your family.

8. A fun animated 7-minute video overview of Eat that Frog is below:

https://youtu.be/y6mGuFe5YNc

9. Eat that Frog's 21 chapters, listed below, will give you a good overview of this book's structure:

1. Set the Table

2. Plan Every Day In Advance

3. Apply the 80/20 Rule to Everything

4. Consider the Consequences

5. Practice Creative Procrastination

6. Use the ABCDE Method Continually

7. Focus on Key Result Areas

8. The Law of Three

9. Prepare Thoroughly Before You Begin

10. Take It One Oil Barrel at a Time

11. Upgrade Your Key Skills

12. Leverage Your Special Talents

13. Identify Your Key Constraints

14. Put the Pressure on Yourself

15. Maximize Your Personal Power

16. Motivate Yourself into Action

17. Get Out of the Technological Time Sinks

18. Slice and Dice the Task

19. Create Large Chunks of Time

20. Develop a Sense of Urgency

21. Single Handle Every Task

 

Have you read Eat That Frog or any of Brian Tracy's other books? What are some of your favorite productivity tips? Please share in the comments section below, thanks!  

Read More Books,
Mike

p.s. I blog to encourage you to live a better life by reading more books. I'd be honored if you'd subscribe to my blog's emails at: www.mikepritchard.com/subscribe.html

 

Digital Minimalism! 10 tips to break your social media addiction.

Do you have a Facebook-Instagram-Twitter-LinkedIn account? If so, you need to read Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport! This book opened my eyes to the truly addictive nature of social media. Guess what? You are the product on social media. You essentially have no privacy, even if your account settings are set to private. Your data, your posts, and your likes are all being aggregated by massive advertising databases and algorithms so that products can be target-marketed to you. Worse than the privacy risk is the risk of literally wasting hours of your life on social media. Digital Minimalism is call to action to live a deeper life offline by minimizing or even quitting your use of social media. Below are 10 tips from this powerful book, including several quotes, a video and some actions I personally have taken recently to reduce my use of social media.

1. Cal Newport is one of my favorite authors on the planet. He blogs at www.calnewport.com and wrote Deep Work, which is a terrific book about personal productivity at work. Deep Work advocates that we each aim for 4 hours a day of "deep work," to truly make a difference in our jobs and world. Most of us do "shallow work" most of the time: meetings, emails, and low priority tasks. Deep Work has changed the way I work. I make sure not to over-schedule myself with shallow tasks during the day and I do seek to schedule at least 4 hours a day of "deep work." At the end of Deep Work, Cal advocates quitting social media, which is a very shallow activity. Digital Minimalism picks up where Deep Work left off. (If you liked the book Essentialism by Greg McKeown, you'll appreciate Deep Work.)

2. “The tycoons of social media have to stop pretending that they’re friendly nerd gods building a better world and admit they’re just tobacco farmers in T-shirts selling an addictive product to children. Because, let’s face it, checking your “likes” is the new smoking.” This is a bold quote from Bill Maher at the beginning of Digital Minimalism which throws down the gauntlet on Cal's views of social media. Social media is engineered to be addictive. Cal describes how Facebook changed their notifications from the color blue to the color red, because they found that the color red created a more urgent response in social media users to check their notifications. This is one small example of many ways that Digital Minimalism details how social media is engineered as a "virtual slot machine" where we keep scrolling and scrolling while looking for that next jackpot of a dopamine hit. 

3. “Digital Minimalism is a philosophy of technology use in which you focus your online time on a small number of carefully selected and optimized activities that strongly support things you value, and then happily miss out on everything else.” Cal doesn't suggest in this book that we try to live life without the internet or digital tools. He recognizes that there are many technological advances that save us time. The challenge is when we can't turn off our connection to the internet, primarily due to our smart phones and social media usage. One of the problems with social media is FOMO: the fear of missing out. You will always see someone posting something on social media that you might wish you were doing, buying, or consuming. Cal gives some great tips in this book on how to turn your smart phone into a "dumb phone" so that you can focus on living a full and deep life offline. This book can help turn your FOMO into JOMO: the joy of missing out! :-) 

4. “Where we want to be cautious is when the sound of a voice or a cup of coffee with a friend is replaced with ‘likes’ on a post.” I appreciate that Cal doesn't simply malign social media in this book, but he explains what we might be missing out on in real life if we spend too much time online. Cal worries, and I think we'd all agree, that there are times when we or our kids or friends are looking at our smartphones when we should be actually talking to each other. This book does a great job of giving tips on how to turn off the phone and turn on real life engagement for a rich life. Social media promises friendship and engagement, but if we're not careful it can leave us feeling quite empty. 

5. "By cultivating a high-quality leisure life first, it will become easier to minimize low-quality digital diversions later.” Cal advocates in Digital Minimalism that we all develop offline hobbies and friendships to live a full and deep life. These high-quality leisure activities are so much more fulfilling than the low-quality digital distraction of social media. What are some hobbies, activities (exercise...) or friendships you feel like you never have time for?  Might cutting back your time spent online give you back the time you crave? (The answer is... Yes.)

6. Digital Minimalism describes how you can undertake a digital declutter:  "Put aside a thirty-day period during which you will take a break from optional technologies in your life. During this thirty-day break, explore and rediscover activities and behaviors that you find satisfying and meaningful. At the end of the break, reintroduce optional technologies into your life, starting from a blank slate. For each technology you reintroduce, determine what value it serves in your life and how specifically you will use it so as to maximize this value." Cal led this digital declutter experiment with readers of his blog and learned that many of his readers never went back to social media after taking a break from it for 30 days.  Others found that they could check social media for only 30 minutes total a week and get the same benefit of their prior 30+ minute daily usage before the digital declutter. 

7. Digital Minimalism's chapters, listed below, will give you a good overview of this book's structure:

1. A Lopsided Arms Race
2. Digital Minimalism
3. The Digital Declutter
4. Spend Time Alone
5. Don't Click Like
6. Reclaim Leisure
7. Join the Attention Resistance

8. After reading Digital Minimalism, here are the actions I have taken. I started with simply deleting Facebook and Instagram off of my smartphone. This is one of the most powerful steps you can take: get social media off of your phone. You won't have the compulsion to check it throughout the day. I haven't quit Facebook or Instagram, and still check them maybe once day on my computer, but my usage is way down. I am now also in process of getting family photos off of my social media accounts, primarily for privacy reasons. It has been a joy to share our family's adoption journey this past several years on social media, but I'm now wanting to protect my family's privacy going forward. 

9. Digital Minimalism doesn't go into details of cyber security, but it is a personal passion of mine at work and now personally too. I found a terrific 10 point guide that I shared with my team at work and I recommend you read it to protect your privacy and data online at this link.  You might also want to consider how your web browser is tracking your online activity data for advertising purposes and decide to switch to a privacy browser.

10. Check out this video interview with Cal Newport below, which gives a great overview of the book:

https://youtu.be/lHLoE4fCuZ0

Have you taken any steps in your life to reduce your usage of social media? Does anything above stand out to you as an idea you might want to implement? Have you read read Digital Minimalism or any of Cal Newport's other books? Please share in the comments section below, thanks! (I should note that Cal's 2012 book, So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love, is fantastic too! It is particularly great for 20-somethings embarking on their careers.) 

Read More Books,
Mike

p.s. I plan to blog regularly about #readmorebooks in 2019. I'd be honored if you'd subscribe to my blog's emails at: www.mikepritchard.com/subscribe.html

Measure What Matters! OKRs + Google + Bono + You?

This is one of those rare books that I heard rave reviews from friends in a diversity of sectors: startup technology companies, higher education and nonprofits. Measure What Matters by John Doerr is a book that describes the powerful concept of OKRs: Objectives and Key Results. John is the Chairman of Kleiner Perkins, which is a very successful venture capital firm. I heartily recommend this book to you. Below are 7 quotes and my takeaways from this treasure trove of a book.

1. “Objectives and Key Results are the yin and yang of goal setting.”  OKRs are a simple concept that have fueled the success of Google, the Gates Foundation and Bono's ONE Campaign to end poverty.  John describes in detail how you too can set compelling Objectives (the yin) and Key Results (the yang) for your organization. Objectives are what you want to achieve and Key Results are how you are going to achieve the objectives. Google generously shares in depth how they use OKRs at this link.

2 . “Healthy culture and structured goal setting are interdependent.” This book does a terrific job of explaining how structured goal setting actually improves an organization's culture.  Employees want to know what goals they should be working on to move the organization forward. OKRs provide a framework for every employee to be involved in an organization's success. This process improves culture.

3. “Leaders must get across the why as well as the what. Their people need more than milestones for motivation. They are thirsting for meaning, to understand how their goals relate to the mission.”  This quote from the book reminds me of Simon Sinek's TED Talk and terrific book, Start With Why. Employees are indeed thirsting for meaning in their work, and OKRs are a simple yet effective framework for employees to see how their work directly contributes to the organization's success. 

4. “We must realize—and act on the realization—that if we try to focus on everything, we focus on nothing.” The book describes how you ideally want only 3 to 5 Objectives and then 3 to 5 Key Results for each Objective. Less is more. You want a few focused OKRs that are measurable, transparent, inspirational and achievable - with some stretch to achieve them. This concept of focus in goal setting reminds me of the terrific book, The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney, which I reviewed at this link.

5. “Innovation tends to dwell less at the center of an organization than at its edges.” I absolutely love this quote and agree with it. Oftentimes leaders of organizations might think they have all of the answers, and won't listen to their front line employees. I have learned that often the opposite is true: the front line employees have the answers and the leaders simply need to stop and listen to them. OKRs are a way that front line employees can be engaged in an organization's goals and be heard by leaders.

6. “To win in the global marketplace, organizations needs to be more nimble than ever before.” Gone are the days of setting 3, 5 or 10-year strategic plans and thinking those will stand the test of time. Even in one-year goal setting, changes to the plan will come your way. OKRs advocate quarterly goals to be nimble. Every 90 days you set and review your OKRs.  I think there is a lot of wisdom in thinking about "90-day sprints" in goal setting.  Traction by Gino Wickman is another terrific book that advocates quarterly goal setting. 

7. “Annual performance reviews are costly, exhausting, and mostly futile.” I was pleasantly surprised to see this book discuss performance reviews in light of the concept of OKRs.  Instead of annual reviews, the book advocates the use of real-time CFRs: Conversations, Feedback, and Recognition. This is a process where you are having real-time conversations with your employees, giving them feedback right away and recognizing achievements when they happen. This builds culture and buy-in from employees more than the typical annual performance review process.

Check out John's 12-minute TED Talk below, which gives a great overview of the book:

https://youtu.be/L4N1q4RNi9I

Lastly, listen to this book on Audible if you can. Author John Doerr reads the book, but he also integrates in readers for their sections of the book, such as Bono reading about OKRs and the ONE Campaign to end poverty. It is fun to hear a rock star talk about Objectives and Key Results!  :)  There are also readers from Google, the Gates Foundation, and other tech startups in the book. This is a really well done audiobook.

Bonus: My internet friend Nick Gray wrote a great summary of this book, too. You can see it here:  Measure What Matters by John Doerr – Book Club Discussion

Have you read this book? Are you utilizing the concept of OKRs at your organization? How is it going? Please share in the comments section below, thanks!

Be well,
Mike

p.s. I plan to blog regularly about #readmorebooks in 2019. I'd be honored if you'd subscribe to my blog's emails at: www.mikepritchard.com/subscribe.html

Atomic Habits will change your life! 10 takeaways.

Atomic Habits by James Clear is one of those rare books that I immediately read twice in a row. It is filled with dozens of science-backed and actionable nuggets of wisdom. Do you want to improve any habits in your life? I heartily recommend Atomic Habits to you! We are all driven by our habits - many of which are unconscious. Below are 10 quotes and takeaways from this life-changing book:

1. "Getting 1 percent better every day counts for a lot in the long-run." Atomic Habits explains why the little things you do every day matters. Your little habits matter. It may not seem like a big deal to skip a workout or to be kind, but it is a big deal. Imagine if you improved your habits by only 1% every day. You'd be dramatically a different person in a year. Then imagine if you let your habits decline by 1% every day. You'd be in a much worse spot in life overall a year from now. Your little habits - atomic habits - count for a lot in the long run. What little habits are you improving upon (or neglecting...) today?

2. "You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." This is such an important point in the book. Oftentimes we focus on goals in our life, while neglecting to focus on the systems that help us achieve goals. As an example, I had a friend who had the goal to complete a triathlon.  He achieved this goal!  And then he quit working out for the next year and got out of shape... He was so focused on achieving a goal that he neglected his underlying systems of being healthy. Goal achievement can actually set us back if we don't get set up sustainable systems.  Get the systems right and then we'll indeed also achieve our goals. Systems > Goals. 

3. "Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity." I love this quote from the book. Every action - every habit - you take casts a vote for the type of person you want to become. Do you want to be a more organized person? When you develop habits and systems that organize your life, you are casting votes for thinking of yourself as an organized person. You think to yourself, "hey, I'm an organized person." And then you reinforce that belief with your habits and actions - a virtuous cycle! The flip side of this can be true too. What if you often show up late to meetings? You're casting votes that may make you think "well, I'm just a person that is always late." An un-virtuous cycle.  Be careful to make sure that your habits and ultimately your beliefs cast votes for the type of person you want to become and, indeed, who you truly are.

4. "How long does it actually take to form a new habit? You just need to get your reps in." Atomic Habits answers the question of "how much time does it take to form a new habit" with a better answer of : X number of actions.  Meaning, you may need to simply complete a new habit 100 times for it to stick, which could be done in 3 days or 3 weeks or 3 months, depending on the new habit. It is better to think of forming new habits in terms of consistently taking action, versus trying to stick to a habit for just X number of days. Get your reps in.

5. "Reduce friction. Decrease the number of steps between you and your good habits." The inverse of this is also true - increase friction between you and your bad habits! I think about this a lot when it comes to eating healthy. I need to reduce friction by having healthy food in the house and healthy snacks at work. And I need to increase friction by not having candy in the house or in my office! Out of sight, out of mind. In sight, and I eat it. :)  (which of course reminds me of the Dad joke I often tell my girls: "I'm on a seafood diet. I see food and I eat it...) 

6. "Use temptation bundling. Pair an action you want to do with an action you need to do." This is a powerful concept. I put this in practice by only "watching TV" when I'm on the treadmill. I am able to run at a 6 MPH pace and watch TV or videos on the iPad when I'm on a treadmill. So, I generally only watch sporting events or movies or 80s music videos on YouTube when I'm running on the treadmill. This approach actually allows me to run longer if I want to watch a full half of a game, for example. And 80s music videos will often give me the energy to run that extra mile. :)  Think about a new habit you want to start and how you can bundle it with an action you're already taking. Stack them together - i.e. habit stacking.

7. "Use a habit tracker. Keep track of your habit streak and 'don't break the chain.'" Atomic Habits does a nice job of explaining the importance of tracking your habits for success. What gets measured gets managed. One of my favorite habit trackers is a FitBit/Apple Watch, which tracks steps, heart rate, sleep, weight and can even track food intake/calories, if you input this data.  My behavior definitely changes thanks to these habit trackers. Atomic Habits gives you additional habit tracker resources.

8. "Never miss twice. When you forget to do a habit, make sure you get back on track immediately." We all will have days where we fall off the bandwagon and our habits go in reverse. Well, that's okay for one day. Don't let it happen twice. Get back on track as soon as possible. (And, yes, sometimes we miss a habit two days in row. Just don't let it become three days...)

9. Author James Clear gets to the point quickly in Atomic Habits and with actionable advice. James has been blogging about habits, health, happiness, creativity and productivity since 2012. Check out a sampling of his writing at www.jamesclear.com/articles.  (While you're there, subscribe to his terrific weekly newsletter with 445,000+ subscribers!)  James is also fun to follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/JamesClear.  Atomic Habits has 20 relatively short chapters that open with compelling stories and end with helpful chapter summaries. If you listen to books on Audible, I highly recommend the audio book as James reads this book very passionately. 

10. Check out a great interview with author James Clear about Atomic Habits below:

https://youtu.be/xRse5I_p7tA

Have you read Atomic Habits yet? If so, please share your thoughts on the book in the comments section below. Thanks!

Be well,
Mike

p.s. I plan to blog regularly about "Read More Books" in 2019. I'd be honored if you'd subscribe to my blog's emails at: www.mikepritchard.com/subscribe.html