Quotes Self-Knowledge
You can always make things worse
19 March, 2016
“No matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse.”  —Randy Pausch
Leadership + Team
How we work at Ascendio
07 March, 2016
Everyone is accountable. We are professionals.   We get things done. If it doesn’t have a deadline, it’s not a project.
Politics + Society Quotes
What privilege means
19 February, 2016
“Privilege does not mean you’re rich, a bad person, have had everything handed to you or have never had challenges or struggles.  Privilege just means there are some challenges and struggles you won’t experience because of who you are.” —from “Why does privilege make people...
Philosophy + Existence
Martin short on organized religion
11 February, 2016
What role does religion play in your life now? No role. I’m not a big fan of organized religion. It’s caused a lot of despair and prejudice throughout the world. Some people in aspects of organized religion do wonderful work, but overall I’m not a fan. Even at 13 I used to think, “Wait a second, I’m...
Self-Knowledge
The nine categories
11 February, 2016
Martin Short has always had a knack for seeing and working to make even low points a positive experience. In 1975, while between acting jobs, he created a nine point checklist that he called the ‘Accountability Checklist.’ Accountability Checklist Self (your weight, any illness, overall health) Immediate...
Culture + Entertainment Leadership + Team
Team as a way of life
10 February, 2016
The beauty—and comedy—of Parks & Recreation was in the striving of flawed people that routinely put aside self-interest to invest in each other and fix a broken culture. These people came to recognize the importance of interdependence—that “team” was more than a way of doing business, but a way of...
Philosophy + Existence Quotes
Kindness is strength
02 February, 2016
“Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
Quotes Self-Knowledge
We are just one model of reality
30 January, 2016
“The world in which you were born is just one model of reality. Other cultures are not failed attempts at being you; they are unique manifestations of the human spirit.” – Wade Davis
Philosophy + Existence
On apologetics
25 January, 2016
I spent the better part of a decade obsessed with Christian apologetics. That, by no means, makes me an expert on anything —let alone Christian apologetics. However, now that I’ve broken through to the other side of this conversation—I do have an observation. Apologetics isn’t so much about convincing...
Quotes Self-Knowledge
Everything is a miracle
29 September, 2015
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” – Albert Einstein
Self-Knowledge
Discomfort and progress
30 July, 2015
“When you’re accustomed to privilege equality feels like oppression.” – An expression that makes a lot of sense Equality can feel like oppression. But it’s not. What you’re feeling is just the discomfort of losing a little bit of your privilege. Dive into this perspective...
My Deconversion Story
A start of wisdom
17 July, 2015
Part 5 of 5 of my deconversion story. “I came to the realization that it wasn’t just the answers that didn’t fit anymore. It was the questions too.” My departure from Evangelical Christianity was my first attempt at finding better answers. How do I know anything at all about God? How do I...
My Deconversion Story
Left behind
16 July, 2015
Part 4 of 5 of my deconversion story. “I had transformed God from my loving father in heaven into a subject I could master, into a set of rules I had to follow, into an equation I could solve.” As I started realizing that the god described by the bible, by the church, by pastors, by books,...
My Deconversion Story
Life in the bubble
15 July, 2015
Part 3 of 5 of my deconversion story. “I was so afraid of doubt that I never learned to wrestle with mystery.” Straight out of the gates, Christianity offers profound comfort and hope. An all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful God who loves you like a father, has a specific plan for your life, and has...
My Deconversion Story
My journey to faith
14 July, 2015
Part 2 of 5 of my deconversion story. “I felt the desire for significance and a deeper purpose for who I was becoming.” The journey to earnest faith is very personal. Everyone has specific circumstances that leave them searching for something bigger; something meaningful; something stable. For me—when...
My Deconversion Story
From faith to wonder
13 July, 2015
Part 1 of 5 of my deconversion story. “I don’t believe I’m a Christian anymore.”  As the words parted my lips, it felt as if I was standing outside myself. It hadn’t happened in that moment, but it was right then that I recognized just how far my journey had taken me. I was on a path. One paved with...
Quotes Self-Knowledge
The virtue of gratitude
19 June, 2015
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.” —Marcus Tullius Cicero
Leadership + Team Quotes Self-Knowledge
Everything we call life
19 June, 2015
“When you grow up you tend to get told that the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world—try not to bash into the walls too much, try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money. But life—that’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you...
Politics + Society
RBG is a national treasure
29 April, 2015
Ruth Bader Ginsburg shuts down gay-marriage challengers
Family + Relationships
Be the one
28 March, 2015
“There are no words to express the abyss between isolation and having one ally.” – G.K. Chesterton
Quotes Self-Knowledge
The value of worry
05 March, 2015
“Everything in your life turned out the way it did whether you worried about it or not.” – I don’t know who said it, but I like it. 
Quotes Self-Knowledge
The three kinds of things anyone need ever do
12 February, 2015
“Remember that there are only three kinds of things anyone need ever do. (1) Things we ought to do (2) Things we’ve got to do (3) Things we like doing. I say this because some people seem to spend so much of their time doing things for none of the three reasons, things like reading books they don’t like...
Brand + Design Leadership + Team
Good design is the outcome of good process
09 February, 2015
The reason good design delivers both a pleasing user experience and the desired outcomes has infinitely more to do with the designer’s process and strategic thinking than it does with any artistic sensibility.   Your process is amongst the greatest values you provide to a project. 
Philosophy + Existence
False confidence
22 January, 2015
A reason Christians become so confident in their worldview is that they spend most of their time debating each other—only to forget that the premises of their perspective don’t move the needle for the rest of the world. This may explain why there are so many denominations. But it certainly helps...
Philosophy + Existence
Certainty is not clarity
22 January, 2015
There’s a phase of faith where it’s easy to get stuck—where we become a walking list of things we don’t do. And in many ways this is natural. The binary is so clear, even if it is wrong. The problem is that its easy to confuse certainty for clarity. The more I embrace mystery—the less...
Quotes Self-Knowledge
True humility
07 December, 2014
“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” —C.S. Lewis
Lists
My favorite athletes of all time, for the record
30 November, 2014
In my long tradition of making unrequested, unimportant lists, here are my top five favorite athletes—and then the honorable mentions, in no particular order. My hall of fame: Landon Donovan Dirk Nowitzki Demarcus Beasley Magic Johnson Andre Dawson A few honorable mentions, but really… this list...
Leadership + Team Quotes
The team and the individual
01 November, 2014
“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.”  —Phil Jackson
Quotes Self-Knowledge
Actions speak louder
01 October, 2014
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” – John F. Kennedy
Quotes Self-Knowledge
Necessary risk
14 September, 2014
“And the trouble is, if you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.” – Erica Jong
Leadership + Team Quotes Self-Knowledge
On feedback
14 September, 2014
“When people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.” – Neil Gaiman Taken from: Ten Rules for Writing Fiction, part one.
Lists
My all-time best USMNT players
14 September, 2014
I don’t typically make “best” lists. I tend to go with “favorites” because I’m a coward. 🙃 But here it is—my list of the all-time best men’s players to ever represent the Stars and Stripes (written in September of 2014), in no particular order: Kasey Keller Brad Friedel Tim Howard   Tab Ramos  Claudio...
Entrepreneurship Quotes
The best customers
10 September, 2014
“Experience has shown that our best customers are ones who have as much respect for our time as we have for theirs.” – Alex King
Quotes Self-Knowledge
Safety not guaranteed
12 August, 2014
“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” – William Shedd
Family + Relationships Technology
The depths of relationship are up to the people involved
23 July, 2014
I saw a conversation online about technology causing depersonalization in society.  I jotted down some thoughts. “The best time to come pay me a visit is by telephone.” – my grandpa, probably “A phone call is just a way to avoid the intimacy that you only find on the wagon train together.” –...
Self-Knowledge
Know your limits
04 July, 2014
If you don’t push yourself, you have no idea what your limits are. 
Self-Knowledge
A way to make better decisions
06 June, 2014
Something to ask before doing anything: “Will I be happier for having done this?”   This is especially valuable for things that are difficult or undesirable.   Asking this question helps me (in theory) make better decisions. 
Politics + Society Quotes
The scarcity of truth
05 February, 2014
“The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.” – Thomas Sowell
Self-Knowledge
There’s always room for beers with a friend
31 January, 2014
A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor then picked...
Quotes Self-Knowledge
We learn to dance with a limp
20 December, 2013
“You will lose someone you can’t live without, and your heart will be badly broken, and the bad news is that you never completely get over the loss of your beloved. But this is also the good news. They live forever in your broken heart that doesn’t seal back up. And you come through. It’s like...
Philosophy + Existence Quotes
The paradoxical commandments
12 December, 2013
The verses below penned originally by Dr. Kent Keith in 1968 as part of a booklet for student leaders.  The Paradoxical Commandments People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.Love them anyway. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.Do good anyway. If you are successful,...
Family + Relationships Quotes
The circle of life
05 December, 2013
“By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong.” – Charles Wadsworth
Entrepreneurship Quotes
The best place to succeed
01 December, 2013
“The best place to succeed is where you are with what you have.” – Charles Schwab
Philosophy + Existence Self-Knowledge
The revolution of tenderness
28 November, 2013
“The Christian ideal will always be a summons to overcome suspicion, habitual mistrust, fear of losing our privacy, all the defensive attitudes which today’s world imposes on us. Many try to escape from others and take refuge in the comfort of their privacy or in a small circle of close friends,...
Family + Relationships Quotes
Grown-up love
31 October, 2013
“I love watching my kids grow up. But I hate it that they’re growing up.” – Frank Barnett
Family + Relationships Quotes
Mischievous growth
07 October, 2013
“Being a father now, I know what it’s like to see your children do something mischievous, but also appreciating what they’re doing because they’re experimenting and trying to learn.” – Cameron Moll
Quotes Self-Knowledge
It's ok to change your mind
12 September, 2013
“Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.” – John Kenneth Galbraith
Leadership + Team Quotes
Be generous with affirmation of others
04 September, 2013
“Celebrate what you want to see more of.” —Tom Peters
Brand + Design Leadership + Team
Conversations about budget
28 August, 2013
If a potential client is unwilling to answer the “budget” question, then you are starting from a point of distrust. This doesn’t have to be a deal breaker, but it is a red flag and an opportunity to course correct and build trust.  “If I tell you my budget is $80k, then you’ll...
Philosophy + Existence Self-Knowledge
Theology vs. wisdom
23 July, 2013
Theological agreement is not a basis upon which I determine if I can learn from someone. Wisdom is not theology. Theology is not wisdom. Life is more than a stockpiling of knowledge.  Without goodness, I know the story—but I lose the meaning. When I do good, I make the world a better place.  Otherwise,...
Quotes Self-Knowledge
Always help people
06 June, 2013
“When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.” – Thomas Sowell
Family + Relationships Quotes Self-Knowledge
ROI and being a dad
02 May, 2013
“I once attended a seminar on time management where the speaker advised trimming obligations down to those that were high-priority, high-yield. After the seminar, I told the speaker he had just described the juggling act of parenting. Rid your agenda of low-priority, low-yield tasks that suck up your...
Culture + Entertainment Self-Knowledge
Prayer for our beloved who have passed on
29 March, 2013
Our pain is in the measure of our blessing.  What we have lost is a reflection of how we have loved.  They return to us, ourbeloved, in flashes of memory, in moments of sweet, anguished recollection.  We remember the smile and grieve that it is gone. We will never again touch the hand that guided us,...
Brand + Design Leadership + Team Nonprofits + Fundraising
Donors, dollars, and communication
25 February, 2013
At Ascendio we do a lot of thinking around how technology can bridge the gap between the collecting and leveraging of data. In our world this typically deals with how organizations relate to donors (and potential donors) online. What is the most effective way to ask for information or a gift?  Why would...
Entrepreneurship Leadership + Team
On partnerships
25 February, 2013
Every business owner wears several hats. There is no exception. Therefore, choosing a partner isn’t about design or code.  A partner must be both willing and able to invest in a collection of hats to wear. My business partner and I met in university. We had a complimentary skill set, shared contracts,...
Family + Relationships Philosophy + Existence
Assembly required
30 January, 2013
Recently, I spent an afternoon assembling a playground toy for my sons. Piece by piece. Hesitation after hesitation. I bumbled through the process as it slowly transformed from a disorganized mess into a completed masterpiece. My four year old stood by throughout the entire process. Impatiently, he wondered...
Culture + Entertainment
Dallas sports radio
20 January, 2013
Talk radio has had a place in my life since childhood. Politics, religion, culture and sports all have a forum on the radio waves – and i have always made time to indulge in the conversation. As a child, I recall tucking headphones under my pillow case in order to covertly listen to Sports Byline with...
Family + Relationships
I was wrong vs I'm sorry
17 January, 2013
Admitting fault is a conduit to reconciliation. “I was wrong” is far more disarming than “I am sorry” when apologizing. I break this little rule more often than I care to admit.  And it certainly isn’t because I am always right. It is because I want to win.   The problem...
Brand + Design Leadership + Team
Expertise vs. low cost
15 January, 2013
Are you being hired based on expertise or cost? The answer to this question shapes how clients will relate to you. If their expectations are different than yours, then you will have an enormous chasm of understanding. 
Family + Relationships
You don't have to win
15 January, 2013
I overheard a conversation about how to best work through arguments with partners and spouses. I don’t know these people, but I thought they were dropping some truth bombs so I jotted down a few notes: Let your partner be heard. Let them be right… Let them win. Let go of the need to leave an argument...
Family + Relationships Philosophy + Existence
Compassion vs. standards
10 January, 2013
I have a philosophy that helps shape my behavior: On the issues have standards.  With people have compassion. Not everyone will share my opinions and perspectives—yes, even the ones I hold closest to my heart.  In fact, to put it the exact opposite way—other people have opinions, perspectives,...
Leadership + Team
Designing for outcomes
08 January, 2013
This is a brilliant perspective from Teehan + Lax on focusing first on impact, goals, and outcome and then proceeding to the actual deliverable. How often, when you begin an assignment, do you have a clear understanding of what outcomes are desired by your client?  An outcome is different than a deliverable....
Leadership + Team Quotes
"Difficult" is a feature, not a bug
07 January, 2013
“That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly.” -Thomas Paine There are fewer feelings better than starting out thinking you can’t do something and ending up being able to do it.
Philosophy + Existence
A new hope
04 January, 2013
I love the new year. Not because there’s any particular significance to the calendar turning the page.  But because it has a sort of rejuvenating effect on society.   People feel hopeful. Optimistic.  The proverbial new lease on life.  Some of us focus on the annoyances of people resolved to change....
Brand + Design
In graphic design, nothing is what it actually is
02 January, 2013
I like these thoughts by Andy Rutledge: In graphic design, nothing is what it actually is. Everything other than content is representative of something else. A line isn’t a line, it’s a boundary. Don’t need a boundary? Or is that boundary already clear by some other means? Don’t use a line. Same goes...
Philosophy + Existence
A gospel of action
18 December, 2012
What makes a better world – people committed to so-called right belief or right action? Is it one or the other? Is it both? For the theologian, that’s a far more complicated question. In many spheres of Christian theology the issue goes straight into a matter of life and death.  As you can...
Philosophy + Existence
Godless good
30 October, 2012
If people of different faiths all work together to help feed the hungry and care for the widows in their community… does God view all of their work as good? Not according to many of my evangelical friends. Their basis is that only if we are following God’s will… i.e. “Christian” will…...
Philosophy + Existence
Virtue begins at the coffee maker
26 October, 2012
My daily ritual at the office begins at the Keurig. There’s something cathartic about enjoying a cup together with my team. Our shared kinship with Newman’s Own Extra Bold and it’s wondrous dark magic brings me unspeakable joy.  However, I’ve realized that I introduce needless stress to...
Family + Relationships Philosophy + Existence
A philosophy of life
25 October, 2012
A friend and I once had the audacity to discuss the meaning of life.  To make matters even more pretentious, this was the first day we met … and the first conversation we ever had.   A couple of wild and crazy guys. Here’s how we summarized our philosophy of life in the simplest terms possible....
Leadership + Team
Billing projects on a regular schedule rather than a milestone
12 October, 2012
I heard Carl Smith discussing this a while ago and found it useful to post my notes here. I have a love/hate relationship with hourly billing, but this perspective creates mutual transparency and accountability.  When billing projects, bill to a regular schedule vs a milestone. When you bill to a milestone...
Leadership + Team Self-Knowledge
Respect your time
12 October, 2012
If you don’t respect your own time, then no one else will. 
Leadership + Team Self-Knowledge
Formula for accountability
11 October, 2012
From the brilliant Senator Cory Booker:  The formula for accountability: standards, measures, and consequences for failure.
Brand + Design Leadership + Team
On confusing landing pages
08 October, 2012
When a site visitor is confused the easiest path of resolution is the back button. 
Philosophy + Existence
Our own religion
07 October, 2012
People often reference their personal relationship with God as a replacement for church, community, and/or organized religion. However, this is a false dichotomy. We enter this world with no knowledge or understanding of God. Without religion we have no concept, no shape, no identity for who God is or...
Brand + Design Leadership + Team Nonprofits + Fundraising
Raise donors, not dollars
03 October, 2012
Today I want to briefly address partnership programs. In other words, donors who commit to support your organization on an ongoing basis. Growing relationships with donors isn’t completely different from how you’d cultivate a strong relationship with a friend. Honesty, transparency and accountability...
Entrepreneurship
On value pricing
02 October, 2012
Track your time, but bill your value. 
Philosophy + Existence
Self-made god
01 October, 2012
There’s no more man-made religion than the claim that one’s personal relationship with God is the final arbiter in matters of doctrine and defining the identity of God. Our personal relationship with God shapes how we relate to God—it doesn’t define who God is. If we believe religion...
Leadership + Team
Everybody is a genius
01 October, 2012
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” – Albert Einstein
Self-Knowledge
We choose our response
30 September, 2012
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” – Viktor Frankl 
Brand + Design Leadership + Team
Make friends, not war
30 September, 2012
Collaborate from the start. 
Leadership + Team
Pro tip when planning projects
30 September, 2012
You can fix time and cost; functionality and cost; but not time, functionality, and cost. Plan and act accordingly. 
Leadership + Team
If you want to get paid for your freelance work
20 September, 2012
If you want to get paid for your freelance work …then you should pick yourself and book yourself and publish yourself and stand up and do your work, and do it in a way for which there are no substitutes.
Philosophy + Existence
Do good vs. feel good
12 September, 2012
An important choice in life is between what does good and what feels good. This is more complicated than it sounds. 
Leadership + Team Self-Knowledge
Focus on the core problem your business solves
05 September, 2012
“Focus on the core problem your business solves and put out lots of content and enthusiasm, and ideas about how to solve that problem.” – Laura Fitton
Brand + Design Leadership + Team
Integrity must be pursued
01 September, 2012
Meeting deadlines and keeping promises should be goals we pursue with desire, not consequences we retreat from in fear.  
Philosophy + Existence
Questions of faith
24 August, 2012
If you take your faith seriously—you will likely have issues, doubts, and serious questions. The moment you question—even a basic tenet of your faith—doesn’t mean you are “out” or should go elsewhere. Think of it in a different context. Would your marriage be over if you ever had doubts?...
Brand + Design Leadership + Team Quotes
Design defined
24 August, 2012
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” – Steve Jobs
Leadership + Team Philosophy + Existence
Always vs. never
09 August, 2012
There’s a giant abyss between “always” and “never”.   To say we can’t always help those in need is a far cry from saying we should never help them.  Don’t get sucked into doing nothing because you can’t do everything or have made mistakes in the past.
Entrepreneurship Leadership + Team
The ethics of hourly billing
25 July, 2012
“…hourly billing is inherently unethical. The client’s best interests are served by a quick resolution, but the consultant’s best interests are served by a lengthy encampment. That isn’t what I’d call a partnership.” – Alan Weiss
Brand + Design Leadership + Team Self-Knowledge
Clients don’t have design problems
12 July, 2012
I was chatting with my friend Andy recently and he dropped this wisdom on me: “Clients don’t have design problems and goals. They have business problems and goals. Always keep this in mind when you conduct project discovery.”
Family + Relationships Philosophy + Existence
The kindness equation
14 June, 2012
“All mortals tend to turn into the thing they are pretending to be.” – CS Lewis Kindness doesn’t just happen. It’s a choice.  Kind people make other people’s lives better.  Kind people make the world better.  Think about it. Think about the people you most enjoy. The people...
Leadership + Team
Marketing must first deal with skepticism
08 June, 2012
Too many empty promises have turned the consumer’s default position to “no”.  Marketing is met with skepticism by default. 
Family + Relationships
My boys
04 June, 2012
Good, smart, and successful. This, in that order, is what I want for my boys.
Leadership + Team
Lead vs love
31 May, 2012
In vertical relationships, the desire to lead and the desire to be loved are like oil and water.  The desire to be loved is selfish.  Leaders put others before themselves. 
Brand + Design Leadership + Team
Code of professional conduct
29 May, 2012
Members of The Academy have pledged to uphold, promote, and uncompromisingly adhere to the standards set forth in The Academy’s Code of Professional Conduct. As such, The Academy of Design Professionals represents some of the most responsible and competent professionals in the design world....
Philosophy + Existence
Do something
26 May, 2012
We can only do what we can do. But we can at least do that. And we must. Don’t brag to me about your faith. Or your wife. Or your friends. Just do it. Don’t tell me about your love for the homeless, your broken heart for orphans or how some video about clean water touched your life. Just do something....
Philosophy + Existence
Feelings vs action
12 May, 2012
How you feel is infinitely less important than how you act.  Good intentions don’t matter when bad is done.  If people mean well when they do bad, it only matters that they did bad.
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