Welcome to Improvleadership

Perfect storm anniversary 9/13/25 - September 2025 is the 11th anniversary of the most perfect storm I ever encountered. In September of 2014 I blew the disc at L4/L5 (pretty painful), was going through a divorce, had to find a new job (the company I worked for was being sold), I needed a new car (I was driving 110 miles a day to work with a car that had over 200,000 miles on it but couldn’t buy a new one until I was officially divorced) and I had to find a place to live (that’s all). At the time I had many questions and very few answers. The winds, rain, lightening, hail, and damage are long gone and now a distance memory. I was able to rebuild, clean things up and I learned some lessons. I learned that I could be independent and could navigate life on my own (although I do have to secure a ride home from my colonoscopies)! Most importantly I learned more about myself than I ever would have if I had stayed married. It’s been an interesting time to be alive because I enjoy life more now than ever. I enjoy the work I do (don’t know when I will retire), I have a good relationship with my children, I am in a good relationship, I still have my mother, I have my health, true friends and overall, I am happy. While the storm did disrupt my life, and it tossed me about and at one point, I wasn’t sure life was still worth living, I didn’t give up because the sky eventually cleared, the sun came out and slowly I figured out my new normal. I enjoy the freedom I have and appreciate what I have, and I know who I am (the good, the bad and the ugly) and I like who I am. It took a storm to wake me up; to open my eyes and it made me pay attention to what’s important in life.

  Decline 9/6/25 – a gradual and continuous loss of strength or quality, deteriorate. As my mom ages I can see a steady decline (I see changes, and it seems like they just happened overnight except it has been over a period of time). As I go through my day, I am realistic that I am changing as I age as well (changing not declining to be clear). For example, the morning after playing pickleball I am a little slower getting out of bed and moving around for the first few minutes. I am in no way complaining because it can always be worse. I was also talking with a friend of mine who is close to my age and he also admitted he can see changes in his abilities. It is important to recognize that decline isn’t just something that happens to other people and you need to realize you will experience some changes and hopefully you can adjust accordingly. A quote by Carl Sagan is most fitting, “We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever” - flutter for as long as you can realizing you are more than just a butterfly.

10 rules for Aging 8/30/25 – 1) Always carry a Swifter with you so when you walk into a room and forget what you were going to do you can at least dust and it won’t be a wasted trip, 2) Buy a Dremel tool set and safety glasses (to protect your eyes from the pieces flying everywhere) to trim your toe nails, 3) Don’t clean your mirrors – the more cloudy and dirty the better you will look (hides wrinkles better than Botox)! 4) Realize some of your abilities will start to go (whatever you can no longer do either outsource or stop doing – it can’t be that important), 5) If anyone accuses you of moving slower simply tell them, you are conserving energy because groceries are so expensive you are trying to burn less calories and in turn will need to eat less, 6) Act like you can’t hear and ask people to repeat themselves (even if you can hear OK, it’s fun to watch people say it again, louder and slower), 7) Say pretty much what you want and do pretty much what you want to do – you have earned the right based on the membership dues you have paid to the human race, 8) Even if you are not leaving the house, trim the hair in your ears and in your nose (no one should have to see this), 9) Play music on speaker on your phone to hide the noises your joints and bones make when you walk and lastly 10) Stop coloring your hair and tell people you are now an environmentalist because you don’t want to put any ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, PPD (p-phenylenediamine), resorcinol or phthalates down the drain (or for that matter on your head). 

Why I write 8/23/25 -  A friend of mine recently told me, “Writers write not to express as much as to discover themselves” which I find has some truth to it. I asked myself “Why do I write?” -  Here are some reasons, 1) I enjoy expressing myself through the written word which I find I can do better (at times) than through the spoken word, 2) I hope to solicit a response from others that will spark a dialogue, 3) I find it challenging to come up with a “Thought of the Week” every week especially going on my 21st year of doing this, 4) I like to make others smile, laugh and think for a moment since we can all relate to the shared human experience, 5) I enjoy writing and I find it to be relaxing and a form of meditation, 6) I find it to be a creative outlet, 7) I enjoy storytelling and life to me is a series of stories that are waiting to be told, 8) Lastly, it is about discovery, discovering a little more about myself, others and the world around me. As the Airbnb commercial states, “The world is still full of wonder” and it is a writer’s responsibility to seek out that wonder, write about it and continue to travel on the road to discovery.