Day 165 - Hey readers. If the title of this post, Project 14, sounds like the title of a top secret experiment, then let your imagination run wild with government conspiracies and covert operations. Or, let me tell you about Project 14, which could be considered an experiment but definitely not a secret.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about about my struggle and success in the altMBA workshop. I'm not going to sugar coat it for you. It was an intense four weeks. While in the middle of the workshop, my life became a mess. There were days I ended up eating a cold corn dog for dinner at eleven-thirty at night. I'd be hammering away at deep philosophical learnings while trying to solve how to make an impact with my life. In short, my brain hurt. Everything felt uncomfortable. To put it lightly, I stretched myself beyond the person I thought I could be. The altMBA, however, was short term pain for a long term gain. Looking back it was an incredible four weeks, full of amazing people, and the opportunity to see my life from a wide-frame perspective.

Let's get back to Project 14. It's the last and final project for the altMBA. In this project, I am asked to share with you my incredible learnings gathered over the course. Some of you as readers, friends and family have already asked the following questions: "What is the altMBA?" "Do you get a certificate?" "Was it worth the time sink?" "Who is Seth Godin?" "Why did you do the class?" "Why did you disappear for four weeks?" "Did you like the class?" "What did you learn?" and the list goes on. In short, people were and are curious. While each person's experience at the altMBA can be very different, this video captures my key learnings of the altMBA. I hope the video answers some of your pressing questions:

Have more questions? Still curious? Do you want to talk more, grab coffee and a donut? Today's project is to create dialogue and drop me an email to get chatting. This workshop changed me. I'm confident if you are ready, it will change you too. Looking forward to hearing from you, future students.

Day 128 - Hey there. Ah. Saturday. It's a day for getting outside, hopefully connecting with the family or in my case catching up on everything that fell through the cracks this week. As I was cleaning off my desk, I was reminded of another part of a recent assignment from the altMBA. The assignment was about "closing the sale." For most of us, we don't think of selling much unless we are faced with buying something expensive and urgent. However, we sell to each other everyday. We sell ideas, emotions and actions. One key point in the learning was: to sell is to create stress. To be good at selling, we have to practice being very comfortable in a tense situation.

To practice, create stress today by using silence to create tension and then resolution. Stop yourself from rushing into speaking when the moment seems awkward or uncomfortable. Say nothing for 3, 5 or 12 seconds. Just experiment and see what the silence creates. Here is an example where I created tension:

It was interesting to watch my daughter struggle and for me to internally feel uncomfortable with the lack of action I was taking. It felt stressful and the feeling could be compared to a bottle of soda that has just gone through a washing machine. In all the stress, I ended up blurting out a compliment and her face lit up with joy. A few minutes later she ran up to me and thanked me for being a good mom. 

Try that golden silence today and let me if anything golden happens. Have a great Saturday and see you tomorrow!

Day 127 - Hey you! Woop Woop. It's Friday. This is going to be a short post today because although I didn't have any margaritas yesterday, I think I have a hangover. It's a knowledge hangover. The altMBA has pushed me to think very differently and not unlike the Apple Super Bowl commercial of the 80's, it's smashing the idea of myself. (Not to be confuse with the Wendy's "Where's The Beef?" commercial.) It's making me realize how I can be a more generous, a bigger and better person. One idea that we are discussing is how to be a "Goodfinder." 

Here is the project today. Three times today, find someone doing something right. Be a "Goodfinder." Tell someone in person, write them or call them to tell them what they are doing right. Create a practice that nourishes you and the person you are praising.

Let me give you a personal example of how this can be powerful. I have realized I have gotten into the terrible habit of becoming negative. After sending a text praising this person, here is the text exchange:

Gulp. This made me realize I need to do a better job of finding good and praising people in my life. I have spent too much time on the negative. I'm going to work on being a "Goodfinder" today and always.

Let me know how your "Goodfinding" creates change. See you tomorrow!

Day 124 - Hello again! It's Tuesday and it seems like it's one of those days where hitting pause would make life magically fall inline. Speaking of which, I just wrapped up a big project over in my altMBA class which was about pausing before making action. The project had it's ups and downs and team turmoils but the project ended with a developed marketing campaign. I won't go into too much detail about the project but funny enough as I was going through my day today, I used this pause it idea several times. Specifically to stop negativity or stop myself from making a bad of the moment decision. However, there were also a few moments to pause and take in something positive about the day. This pause idea seems powerful. Hum.

Todays, project is to create pause. When you feel yourself making a decision where emotions rule, hit the pause button. Examples could be pause before eating, pause before blurting out words, pause as the kids snuggle into bed or just hit pause when you need to take a breath.

Let me know how hitting the pause button feels. I'm going to get back to studying up for my next project but I will see you tomorrow!

Day 120 - Hey! Ever studied so hard that knowledge came out your nose when you sneezed? No? Well, it's just me I guess. Suit yourself! I am not sure "Suit yourself" is the correct phrase to use within this context but who cares! All I can tell you is I am burnt out and totally slap happy. Remember in college when things started to look fuzzy on the pages and an order of Papa John's pokey sticks and a six pack of Mike's Hard Lemonade would fix a mind right up?

Well, those days are gone. My body is too old to consume anything that isn't Metamucil or tap water. This left me thinking about brain food. As any crazed knowledge hound knows, Google knows everything. A Google search determined brain foods include: oats, vegetables, nuts, fish and black currants.

Let's face it. I'm not going to be making a study snack that involves pickled herring. Fish is off the study snack list. Black currants? Delicious, yes. However, I'm saving black currants for my mother-in-laws martini.

That means I need to make a study snack from oats, vegetables and nuts. Challenge accepted. 

Rhubarb Almond Snack Cake

Rhubarb sauce Ingredients:

• 3 cups chopped rhubarb stem (no leaves. they are poisonous)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Almond Cake Ingredients:

• 1 cup room temperature unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs at room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2-1/4 cup oatmeal flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup almonds coarsely chopped
• 1 cup mini white chocolate chips

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 8 x 8 baking disk with parchment paper and grease with pan and parchment with butter.

Step 2: Place chopped rhubarb, honey and vanilla in a small sauce pan on medium high heat. Bring to a boil let cook for 18-20 min until thick. Stir often.

Step 3: In a stand up mixer, add the butter and mix for 3 minutes until soft. Add the eggs one at a time until combined. Add the sugar and honey and mix well.

Step 4: Combine oatmeal flour, baking soda, salt. Add the dry mixture to the wet. Combine well. Add the almonds and white chocolate chips.

Step 5: Spread the dough evenly in the pan and add 9 tablespoons of rhubarb sauce to the top of the dough evenly across the top. Swirl in the rhubarb with a butter knife. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the center comes out clean. Let cool to warm and cut. Top with any left over rhubarb sauce and ice cream

I have got to get back to some more study snacks, err I mean studying. Have great Friday see ya tomorrow!

Day 118 - Hey you. I was thinking again today. Someone stop me! My altMBA classmates have been asking me about this blog and they don't really understanding why I started it or how I can post everyday. One even told me it was a sunk cost and maybe it wasn't worth the time commitment. Today, I started to doubt myself, maybe I should just forget about creating everyday? Maybe I should toss this blog out in the virtual garbage can. After all, maybe It's far better to shut this window right now, turn off my computer and walk away. This blog is risky. It is hard to do everyday. I'm tired. I should just quit.

More thinking brought me to this idea. It would be much easier to never take one step today to create: a book, a haiku, a movie, a new app, write one word, draw a first doodle, shoot for the moon, develop the business plan, write the first line of code, make a new friend, plant the first seed, sing the first bar, click the first photo, make a new YouTube channel, define a goal, gratitude, a quote, a decision tree, a first, a bucket list, a business, a collection, a cartoon, peace, advice, a website, a computer, a beautiful room, a podcast, webcast, a new way of thinking, a manifesto or anything.

It's much easier to sit and tell ourselves, we will buy the right book to set us on our plan, set a milestone to tackle our project, take time to find the perfect workshop and then do it tomorrow. Tomorrow is always reasonable. After all we are so busy today.

In the words of my wise grandmother, that's hog wash. We have to keep going. It's the only way to make change. So today's project is simple. Get started on the project you want to create. Go. Do it. Take one step today. Keep going.

I have to get back to some thinking but drop me a line about your project and I'll catch you on the other side of tomorrow!

Day 116 - Hey There! It's Monday. I'm so glad this post lands on a Monday because we are going to taking about reframing today. Once again this altMBA class is really stretching my grey matter. My head hurts from thinking but let me share what I spent twelve hours doing today. It's something we can all use everyday and no it isn't pint of ice cream. However for the record, I'll take ice cream if anyone is offering.

What is framing? It's a way of sussing out a problem. For instance you might think, "I am gaining so much weight because I am eating ice cream." We might ask 'why' to collect information about this comment. Maybe by asking 'why' we find out your pregnant and your baby needs extra calories to grow. That tells us a different story and reframes the situation and then helps us come up with a better solution to the situation.

Here is a design example of reframing. Each of these ice cream cones has been reframed to tell a different story.

Today, think about a problem you have been working through. Maybe it's how to get eight tons of rocks from your driveway down a huge slope to your backyard, how to loose a few extra pounds or something as simple as what to create next in your life. Reframe the problem by asking "Why?" and then create three solutions for that problem.

If you need to stretch your grey matter more, here is a great article in Fast Company on framing: How Reframing A Problem Unlocks Innovation.

I am going to reframe Monday to seem like Friday by eating some ice cream and relaxing. Hope your Monday is a good one too. See you tomorrow!

Day 112 - Hey Ya! I have to ask a question today. Who else has ever been miserably terrific? Yes, this altMBA class is making me miserably terrific. It's taking me to the brink of breakdown on a physically, mentally and emotionally level and I am only four days into the workshop. It is stretching every DNA molecule in my body and I don't like it. My lizard brain is saying RUN! FAST! GET OUT OF HERE!

In other words, every part of me wants to quit and give up. I keep trying to talk myself into turning in my books and saying, this has been real. See ya folks. I could then have time to do empty work like folding laundry and watching crappy television, which I love. I could eat breakfast at the table versus over the sink. I could go to bed before the birds start chirping. I might not live up to my full potential but isn't it better to be scared and run?

Insert record scratch here.

Wait, I am going to run from something that might stretch me into the a better person? Well, screw that. Bring it on, cheerleading style, and let's make this experience terrific! Yep, sometimes we just need a good cheerleader with two sparkly pom pons and an overtly, cheerful ponytails to fight down that lizard brain.

Today's project is to create a cheerleader for yourself and make that cheerleader you. Grab Post-It Notes and  write at least 10 phrases that will get you through to the other side of today. Here are 10 to make it easy but create your own if you can: Keep Going!, Good Shot!, Work It!, Make It Go!, Strong Start!, Take Time!, Go Up!, You've Got This!, Right Track! and Remarkable!.

That's all I have today. I'm going to go stare at my Cheerleader notes and hope I make it till tomorrow. If I drowned in knowledge and you don't hear from me, send help! 

Day 110 - Hey! It's Tuesday and I am wadding through and almost drowning in my second day of the altMBA workshop. We are talking about goals today in class and defining personal and professional goals. The project has directed us to not be grandiose with our goals because grandiose can lead to hiding. Really? Why wouldn't I want to be grandiose? The famous architect Daniel Burnham say it best:

"Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men`s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever- growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty."

Make Mountains And Move Them Too.

Let's jumping right into the project today. Create a goal. Just one. Not 25 or 4 or 162. Just one goal and make it grandiose. Make it count. It's harder than it looks. Let's check out these seven steps of goal setting.

1. Identify The Goal
2. List The Benefits
3. List The Obstacles To Overcome
4. List The Skills And Knowledge Required
5. Identify The People And Groups To Work With
6. Develop A Plan Of Action
7. Set A Deadline For Achievement

Here is an example of a goal: I am going to eat ice cream, because it is delicious, it might be expensive but walking to the store and scooping the creamy goodness is a one of my skills and I can get a few family members to help eat the ice cream so it feels like a party so I'm going to go out today at 2:58 get 8 ice cream pints, invite my family over and eat  the ice cream by 4:40 today.

On second thought, maybe I should shoot higher than eating ice cream based on Daniel Burnham's quote? Well, back to the drawing board. See you tomorrow!

P.S. How's the Earth Day promise going? Anyone have a cup of take out coffee or tea yesterday? I held firm, for now. 

Day 109 - Monday! Hello. Diving in head first today into my first official day of the altMBA class. With this altMBA class, a lot of thinking takes place and thinking is always a great place to doubt ourselves. Getting trapped in that big old brain can sometimes feel like a hamster on a wheel. Running and running but never going anywhere fast. With all this thinking I took time out today to do even more thinking about why I am taking this class.

The only thing that kept popping into my brain was the phrase "Shoot The Moon" which roughly translates, attempt the near impossible. However, after some thought to "Shoot The Moon" one needs something to shoot it with so this altMBA class is just that. The bow and arrow needed to "Shoot The Moon." With all that thinking I came up with a new phrase. It will be my guide through this altMBA class. 

"Shoot The Moon, But First Learn How To Bow And Arrow."

Today, think about a goal you want achieve. Now think about an old phrase or quote so that it is your champion for your goal. Write it down. Post it on your bathroom mirror, your computer or on the dash of your car. 

I'm going to get back to working on my aim and sharpen my quiver. See you tomorrow.

P.S. Since Wednesday is Earth Day, I'm going to create less waste all week long. No take out coffee or disposable water bottles this week for me. Who's with me?

Day 99 - Hi Ya! Here's Friday. While, I'd love for all of us to go out for a drink and celebrate the end of one more excellent but exhausting week, I have some reading to do. Today, a big brown heavy box was delivered by a very handsome UPS man. However, the contents were even more handsome. Nine interesting reads, a note from the director of the altMBA workshop Wes Kao and a bag of granola. Kidding. They bag looked like granola which would have been amazing because I love granola but what was inside was even more amazing, inspiring words from Wes herself along with a super cool badge of honor.

Some people have been asking me what is the altMBA? Here's the short on the altMBA. It's an online leadership and management workshop created by bestselling author Seth Godin. The long of it is, it provides levers and gears to make change in the world. It pushes the leaders to do more, be more and think more. It's about creating a ruckus and letting go of fear.

Here is another way to think of it. It's like warbling through the worst karaoke song, dropping the mic and then saying "Let's do that it again." It's running away with the ball and starting a new game. It's getting together with all your good friends for beers, thinking up the next big thing and doing it.

I'm really honored to be a part of this workshop. I'll keep you posted on how I have bitten off more than I can chew. In the meantime, let's talk about today's project.

Go start something that scares you today. Make a new recipe, karaoke your heart out, call that person, start writing a chapter, sketch that idea and just go. Start it now. Start it today.

I've got to run. The granola is calling me and so is some serious reading. Until tomorrow...