Sports and Hobbies – Entertainment or Distraction?
When my wife Angie and I first met in 1999, I was a passionate Baltimore Ravens football fan. Soon after our first date, I bought us season tickets, and we went to every home game over the next few years until we moved. We found some friends who were Ravens fans, so we made a big deal about away games, too, spending numerous hours partying it up, celebrating our team. In order to keep up with the football world, I listened to nothing but sports talk, watched nothing but ESPN, watched football on Monday night, Thursday night, and of course, […]
Keep reading...
Do You Feel Significant?
I grew up in a German-Catholic family and neighborhood and went to a Catholic school from first grade to eighth grade. It was a tight-knit community and a very small school. I remember one key message I learned at home, in school, and at church – “It’s a sin to think highly of yourself.” I remember thinking, from a very young age, that shrinking myself was the key to heaven and to gaining favor in the world. It was the key alright – the key to feeling pain and insignificance. I went through life thinking and feeling like I couldn’t […]
Keep reading...
Are You Surviving or Leading?
I would venture to guess that well over 90 percent of humanity is living in survival mode as opposed to living in their purpose. Let me explain. Picture a continuum, with fear on the left side and purpose on the right. Place a marker in the middle, and label this marker the ‘critical purpose decision.’ I would suggest – and I fully acknowledge that this is not scientific, in the least – that well over 90 percent of people are to the left of the critical purpose decision. Why is that? Most people are running from fear. That leaves less […]
Keep reading...
Are You Emotionally Available?
A few months ago, I was asked to speak at an event in St. Louis for about 75 women. The room was full of professional women who were there to step into higher levels of power in their lives and businesses. My wife Angie had spoken there a few months before, telling the story of her rise from childhood poverty, neglect, addiction. She was received so warmly and powerfully that they asked me to speak as well. I began by telling the audience of my struggles with codependency, alcoholism, and trying to create a 1950’s-style family hierarchy in the home […]
Keep reading...
Words Will Never Hurt Me
I grew up in a lower-middle-class neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland. My neighborhood had bars on every corner and thrived when the steel mill was booming. I was born into a blue-collar family, and the blue-collar, rough-and-tumble mentality surrounded me at all times. I kept my guard and demonstrated a tough exterior at home, school, and on the playground. I didn’t do a great job of it, and I was bullied everywhere I went. My brother was one of the tough guys in the neighborhood. No one messed with him. My dad had toughened him up to the point that he […]
Keep reading...
Have You Lost Your Fire?
Please allow me to paint a picture for you. You’re watching a movie and the story revolves around a middle-aged guy who has a professional title, a big bank account, and a beautiful family. His life may look perfect from the outside, but inside he is completely restless, uncertain, and unsatisfied with his life. He’s lost his fire. This is the stereotypical mid-life crisis, right? At this point in our movie, and according to the traditional stereotype, our guy buys a Corvette or a motorcycle, gets a divorce and then marries a younger woman, and shifts into an entirely new […]
Keep reading...
Are You Aligned With Your Purpose?
I had a high paying job and a big title, but I was miserable. I had the appearance of a perfect family, but we were imploding. I was living life the way I thought I was supposed to live it, but I just wanted to end it all. Thankfully, I never pulled the trigger, but I had been seconds away. I remember being at my corporate desk thinking that I didn’t want to be where I was, so I thought there was only one place to go – up or out. Either I would be promoted, or I would look […]
Keep reading...
The Stronger You Need to Appear, The Weaker You Are
I connect with audiences on social media. Platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn provide a ready-made outlet to deliver messages, videos, and articles to a pre-built audience, and from those messages and audiences, business naturally develops. I’ve sold courses, books, and even coaching programs on both of these outlets. I’m certainly not the only one. There are many coaches and businesses doing the same thing. My coaching is certainly not for everyone, just like businesses cannot serve everyone. My business is best appreciated by male leaders who have achieved success and financial health, but still feel that something is missing. The […]
Keep reading...
Find Your Inner Compass
For 43 years, I settled. I separated life and work. I thought there was work time and off time. Work time meant that I would leave the place I wanted to be, and those I wanted to be around, to go a place I didn’t want to be to do something I didn’t want to do. After I was done being where I didn’t want to be, I would leave there and go back to the place I wanted to be. Work paid the bills and provided for my family and my role in their lives was doing things I […]
Keep reading...Are you ready to awaken your leadership?
Sign up for Mike's free 10-day online training!