Everyone has their own definition of success. Mine is not to own a jet, hobnob with CEOs, or work a mere four hours a week. My definition of success is to be a force for good in the world and to make a decent living doing what I love while spending lots of time with people I care about. So far, so good.

The middle part — the “making a decent living doing what I love” part — THAT took the longest. Way longer than I’d imagined or hoped.

Success is not that hard. But it is rare because not many people are willing to do the work. The biggest requirement for success is just sticking to something for as long as it takes until you get the desired result (or something better.)

When I say as long as it takes, what I really mean is: AS LONG AS IT TAKES. I can’t tell you if it will take months or years or decades. It just takes as long as it takes. Don’t get fooled into thinking that anything good happens overnight, and don’t get discouraged by the rejections, failures, and the 12-car pileups that will surely come your way. Even if you have some early success, the lumps will get you eventually. It’s the Universe’s way of seeing what you’re made of.

Stick with it long enough, and you’ll figure things out.

One caveat: Doing something that doesn’t work over and over and over again is NOT persistence. It’s stupid. You’ve got to keep trying new stuff, doing more of the stuff that works and less of the stuff that doesn’t. Dimitri Martin has a neat drawing in his book This Is A Book that illustrates this:

That seems about right, in my experience. In the long run, you end up where you were hoping, but the path is never direct. There are times when you feel like you might be going backwards, or repeating the same failure over and over again. There are times when you’ll feel hopelessly lost. That’s part of the process. See the arrow on the left? That’s fiction. Don’t compare your journey to the arrow on the left, because it doesn’t exist in reality.

So keep going. Keep tinkering. Don’t give up.

You can do it. Just stick to it.

[ About the Art: Can a cactus ever look cute? I think I pulled it off on this one. I'm pretty happy with how this piece turned out, especially since the color scheme was very experimental for me. Although it wasn't the main subject, I wanted to capture the big sky and sweeping vista of the desert. The sky could indicate that it's either just after sunrise or just before sunset, which actually works great. If it's in the morning, it's preparing you to brace yourself for the long haul. If it's in the evening, it's reassuring you that the persistence is part of the process. At least that's the hope. ]

Basketball Hall-of-Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar recently wrote an article for Esquire magazine entitled, 20 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Was 30. This one is my favorite:

9. Career is never as important as family. The better you are at your job, the more you’re rewarded, financially and spiritually, by doing it. You know how to solve problems for which you receive praise and money. Home life is more chaotic. Solving problems is less prescriptive and no one’s applauding or throwing money if you do it right. That’s why so many young professionals spend more time at work with the excuse, “I’m sacrificing for my family.” Bullshit. Learn to embrace the chaos of family life and enjoy the small victories. This hit me one night after we’d won an especially emotional game against the Celtics. I’d left the stadium listening to thousands of strangers chanting “Kareem! Kareem!” I felt flush with the sense of accomplishment, for me, for the Lakers, and for the fans. But when I stepped into my home and my son said, “Daddy!” the victory, the chanting, the league standings, all faded into a distant memory.

I struggle with this one almost daily. It’s hard when we are wired to spend more time on the things that give us an immediate or financial payoff. And it’s especially tricky when one’s career is very mission-based, like mine.

Adultitis will use anything it can to distract us from the things that are most important. Sometimes it can be pretty darn convincing.

“Sacrificing for your family” sounds like a noble pursuit, if it means that you’re sacrificing your body or your time with them in order to keep them from starving or freezing or living on the street. Except that most of the time, in these days, in this country, that’s just not the case.

Most of the time, we are actually sacrificing our family FOR the more feature-laden vehicle, newer gadgets, extended cable package, tuition for a more prestigious school, or the bigger house we THINK we need.

The rationalization to provide these things sounds great, but it’s a tradeoff that in retrospect, after it’s too late to do anything differently, always turns out to be a bad deal.

A better choice might be to sacrifice at least a few of these superfluous things FOR our family, so that they can have from us what they need most: our time.

[ About the Art: I give you the Lincoln Family. Just playing around one day thinking about the different sizes of Lincoln Logs and how they could resemble a family. Whenever my daughter Lucy has three similar objects, the biggest one is always the daddy, the middle one is the mama, and the little one is the baby. I went with a color scheme and costuming that resembled an antique photograph. Partially because I needed to draw one of them with a killer mustache. ]

I’ll just state the obvious, because we’ve all thought it: We need more giant rubber duckies floating around in our lakes, rivers, and harbors. We also need more artists to think of ideas like this.

The giant yellow ambassador of fun pictured above is the work of conceptual artist Florentijin Hofman, who states:

The Rubber Duck knows no frontiers, it doesn’t discriminate people and doesn’t have a political connotation. The friendly, floating Rubber Duck has healing properties: it can relieve mondial tensions as well as define them. The rubber duck is soft, friendly and suitable for all ages!

The duck in question is about 46 feet tall and 55 feet long and is currently hanging out in Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. Hoffman is well-known for larger-than-life works of whimsy. Here are a few of my favorites:

Signpost 5. Three (really) grand pianos washed upon the shore.

The Big Yellow Rabbit.

Fat Monkey – look close; it’s made with flip flops!

The Steelman.

Thank you Florentijin, for helping fight Adultitis with your wonderful work! You, my friend, are a Champion of Childhood!

Help Wanted: Family CEO
Applicant is responsible for the management and safety of her subordinates at all times. She will be responsible for the overall health and development of those under her supervision, including, but not limited to, ensuring proper regular hygiene, ethics instruction, and recreational activities. She will foster appropriate communication and team building skills within her unit, which shall require expertise status in the areas of conflict resolution and communications. Being particularly fluent in primitive languages is a plus.

She will serve as the company’s accountant, overseeing a strict budget and handling all accounts receivable and payable. She will be in charge of securing the supplies necessary to provide proper nutrition and will use said supplies to prepare and serve three nutritious meals a day. Applicant will assume all janitorial and laundering duties for the premises of the entire office.

Applicant will also be responsible for managing the daily and nightly agenda for all those under her supervision, while providing transportation to and from social activities and meetings with peers, physicians, and various mascots, muppets or clowns. Traditionally, the holder of this job also assumes the role of the one-person party planning committee.

An ideal candidate will be exceedingly patient, kind, and caring, skilled at doing more with less, while possessing quick decision making skills and a willingness to answer several hundred questions a day. Other duties as assigned.

Salary & Benefits: Starting salary range is between zero and zilch. We are unable to provide health insurance or a retirement program, but the rest of the benefits are great and working from home is encouraged. Vacation days are generously provided, as long as the candidate is willing to take her subordinates with her and maintain all job responsibilities while on vacation or is willing to pay someone else a hefty sum to assume them in her absence. Interested applicants should apply within.

If you haven’t figured it out already, this is a job description for a stay-at-home mom, written in corporate speak.

My mom was a stay-at-home mom. I know a number of mothers who are, although their number is dwindling. That’s because to be a stay-at-home mom, a woman must give up her career, her income, her ambition, her identity, her sense of self. Or so it is assumed.

Being a stay-at-home mom is not considered a very cool job to have. In fact, it’s barely considered a job at all.

I just think it’s a job with a lousy title.

It would appear that the number one requirement of a stay-at-home mom is to…stay home, while everyone else trudges off to work their “real” jobs. I mean, how hard is that? Staying at home is so easy, that apparently now even men can do it. We call them stay-at-home dads.

What’s apparently not so obvious is that the job requires a lot more than simply being a parent and staying at home, as the sample job description above indicates. Clearly, “Stay-At-Home Parent” doesn’t seem to cut it as an accurate job title. I propose Family CEO.

The position of Family CEO is more demanding and requires a more diverse skill set than just about any job you can name. And the duties assigned to a Family CEO are not optional. They need to be taken care of one way or another, whether you stay at home or not.

Some people outsource many of the tasks to family members, friends, or strangers, while others try to squeeze them in and around their other full-time jobs. In fact, that’s what most people do. In the sum of my travels around this country, I have noticed that the families who are most overwhelmed by stress often have two parents who work outside the home. Family life is chaos. There is no structure, no balance, no peace. It is my assertion that the reason for this is because there is no dedicated Family CEO. One or both parents are trying to squeeze the responsibilities around their other jobs. Unfortunately, it’s too big of a job to do part-time during your non-peak energy areas.

Most people will say that they need two incomes in order to live. I would argue that they need both incomes in order to maintain their standard of living. Upon honestly counting the costs of day care, transportation, convenience food, and most importantly, the STRESS that comes with both parents working outside the home, I wonder how many people would come to the conclusion that they’d be better off hiring a Family CEO from within.

Make no mistake: It’s a hard job. And you’re borderline crazy to even consider it. But its importance is unparalleled and the benefits are out of this world.

Thanks, Mom.

Spatula City is a meal in which everyone eats dinner with unconventional utensils. Think spatulas, spaghetti forks and soup ladels.

Barbarian Spaghetti is when you eat spaghetti without plates.

Crazy might be when you combine them both.

We tried it for Ben’s first birthday and it was a smash hit. Recently, Missy Herman of North Dakota took the plunge for her son’s first birthday as well. (See photos above). My favorite part of the video she sent me on Facebook occurred right after the the pile of spaghetti and meatballs had been dumped on the table. One of the kids gleefully exclaimed to the people just entering the room, “Dad did that on purpose!”

One thing’s for sure: spaghetti may have been on the menu, but fun was the main course.

It reminds me of Corinne Hanson, who also pulled off the Barbaria Spaghetti / Spatula City double doozy with her family on on Christmas Eve.

I share this idea often in my speaking programs, and lots of people laugh at the idea of it. But it takes a special person to have the courage to try it out on unsuspecting friends and family.

We call them Champions. Congrats, Missy and Corinne!

* * * * *

A Champion of Childhood is someone instilled with the soaring spirit of childhood who rallies against rules that don’t exist while engaging in ruthless, senseless acts of silliness that undermine the slavery of Adultitis and its unadventurous version of adulthood. We like shining a light upon the most remarkable among us, holding them up as a dazzling example of what we should strive for in this epic battle against Adultitis. See more here.

Mary Nuckolls is a Champion of Childhood because she gives away money.

But not the way you think.

She’s not some rich heiress who has so much money she doesn’t know what to do with it. She’s not a professional philanthropist. She works at a preschool.

But sometimes, she finds money on the street, like we all do from time to time. She once heard that when you find a penny, someone in heaven is thinking about you. Mary often finds pennies in threes: one for her mom, dad, and brother. Even if it’s only three cents, such occurrences lift her spirit. So she has taken up the habit of dropping money after she comes out of stores. In her own words:

It’s not much, usually a penny or a nickel. I think that maybe in some small way, I am brightening someone else’s day. Sometimes I leave a couple of quarters at the car wash when I am done. Makes someone’s day. I also buy McDonald’s tickets for ice cream and leave them where a kid will find them. Kinda silly, but then, isn’t that what it’s all about?

Yes, Mary, that is what it’s all about: doing things — sometimes big, but mostly small things — that brighten the world around us.

In a world rocked by war, terror and heartbreaking acts of senseless violence, it’s these small rebellions that give us the humor, hope and healing that we so desperately need.

Thank you for your example Mary, and thank you for being a true Champion of Childhood!

Photo Credit: JD Hancock

* * * * *

A Champion of Childhood is someone instilled with the soaring spirit of childhood who rallies against rules that don’t exist while engaging in ruthless, senseless acts of silliness that undermine the slavery of Adultitis and its unadventurous version of adulthood. We like shining a light upon the most remarkable among us, holding them up as a dazzling example of what we should strive for in this epic battle against Adultitis. See more here.

Kim and I attended our first homeschooling conference this past weekend. With a December birthday, Lucy wouldn’t be entering kindergarten for another year and a half, but we wanted to get more information about this life-changing decision we’d been considering. To be honest, we each felt a little uncertain and overwhelmed at the prospect of going all-in.

Although homeschooling is quickly growing in popularity (about 2 million kids aged 5-17 are homeschooled in the U.S., twice as many as in 1999), it’s still not the norm. There’s a lot of misinformation out here, and many people still think that homeschooled kids are socially awkward recluses, and unable to compete academically with their public school counterparts. The truth is that most homeschooled kids are extremely self-confident, well-adjusted, and academically bright, often scoring better on standardized tests than their public-schooled peers. In fact, many colleges are creating special scholarships just for homeschooled kids because they are such an asset to the school.

And yet, homeschooling still raises eyebrows.

Meanwhile, I do a lot of speaking in the education market, and it feels sort of strange to speak to public school teachers and then reveal that I actually homeschool my kids. But the truth is, it’s never been the teachers Kim and I have had a problem with (she was one herself for half a decade). They are some of the biggest-hearted, hardest working people on the planet, in my opinion. Rather, it’s the system, the bureaucracy, and the one-size-fits-all approach that has caused us to consider homeschooling.

Now, we’re used to doing things differently than others. We call it opting-out. It’s part of the whole escape adulthood thing, and we champion breaking rules that don’t exist. But still, everything we do is with mindful intention, not for shock value or for being different for different’s sake. Homeschooling is a viable option for the education for our children, an option that wasn’t as commonplace a generation ago. And so even though it’s nowhere near mainstream, we felt it was well-worth considering.

Interestingly, I arrived early for a session about incorporating the kitchen into your curriculum and I ended up chatting with the woman giving the workshop. I told her that since my daughter was not even five, we hadn’t yet started homeschooling, and she gently reminded me, “You’ve actually been homeschooling this whole time.”

So true.

One of the highlights was attending the graduation ceremony on Saturday. Six high school seniors were honored as they officially ended their homeschool education. Each gave a short speech, followed by an opportunity for the parents to say a few words. It was a moving occasion. As I sat there, I marveled at the poise and confidence these six young men and women displayed as they shared their experience and appreciation for having been homeschooled. I was awed at the respect and love they had for their parents. I was impressed by the things they’d been able to accomplish and the dreams they outlined for their future. Then I thought back to my own high school graduating class of 300 kids. I figured there would be less than 10 that could have been put in a similar situation and responded with as much grace and wit and wisdom. A vast majority them would have been in Metallica t-shirts shouting something barely intelligible, like, “School sucks, I’m outta here!”

Time and again, I was blown away by the accomplishments proud parents shared about their homeschooled adult children. Masters degrees from prestigious universities. Great jobs in the field of engineering, physics, and business. Volunteer and ministry experiences that made me feel like Ebeneezer Scrooge. Not only have they become successful, but they are among the best our society has to offer.

Kim and I gained a lot of perspective and ideas, but no one there ever pushed the “right way” to homeschool. We discovered that there really are as many ways to homeschool as there are homeschooling families. Everyone has a different personality, which is cool. I think the lack of judgement comes from having to constantly answer critics and fight for their rights as parents. The prevailing sentiment seems to be, “I don’t want anyone telling me what’s best for my family, so I won’t tell you what’s best for yours.” As someone who lives in a pretty politically charged state, it was cool to see a mix of families — conservative and liberal, Christian and non-religious, big families and one-child families — unified as one voice, eager to give support and share tips with one another. Just amazing.

Going into the weekend, my prayer was that if homeschooling wasn’t for us, we’d be willing to walk away. But if it was, I prayed for confidence and enthusiasm.

I come away with both, in spades.

We now see that although homeschooling is not right for everyone, it is for us. We are excited about the freedom and possibilities before us. Yes, there is more responsibility that comes with this choice, but we have come to see that it is a choice that offers more fun, and, believe it or not, less stress.

In no particular order, here are some of our favorite things about homeschooling:

The Hope for a Brighter Future for Our Kids
We believe that for our children’s futures, success will require the ability to think creatively, easily adapt to change, and find answers on one’s own. Homeschooling excels at this. Regular school is broken, based on an outdated model born out of the Industrial Revolution. It’s also bogged down in bureaucracy and slow to change. Kim and I see homeschooling as our chance to BE the much-needed change for our kids, rather than hope and wait for things to get better.

Creativity and Control
We’ll have more control over what our kids learn than some politician, administrator, or school board. We can customize our kids’ education based on their specific needs and interests. Contrary to the way a normal school day flows, learning does not happen in clearly delineated blocks of time and topic areas (i.e. science THEN math THEN history). In reality, everything is connected! An interest in horses may involve science AND math AND history AND literature AND art AND music — all at once! Kim and I get to guide our children’s learning in a way that is relevant and meaningful to their lives.

Freedom to Grow
I love the idea of being able to give my kids freedom to follow their passions and pursue their interests fearlessly and confidently. Learning will happen at their own pace, not at the one-size-fits-all standard. They’ll be neither bored waiting for everyone else to catch up, nor left behind and at risk of being labeled slow or stupid. And there is no sound of a bell telling them that they have to be done with an activity they’re really into.

Freedom of Schedule
We are stoked at the prospect of being free from the standard school schedule, which will give us a more flexible daily and weekly schedule. It also means no painfully early mornings, no parent teacher conferences, no homework at night, and no restrictions on when we take a vacation! In traditional schooling, there is a lot of wasted time on busywork and adminstrivia, so I appreciate the more efficient use of time in general.

Freedom of Place
Homeschooling can happen anywhere. You can do school inside at the kitchen table, outside in the grass, or in a fort made of couch cushions and blankets. And we can continue to be heavy travelers, learning on the road wherever we go.

More Family Time
This is huge: I get to see more of my kids as they grow up. The years go fast enough; I can’t imagine how much faster they’d go if they were somewhere else being taught by someone else. Plus they get to spend more time with their siblings, creating closer relationships. Although it seems unthinkable for more time together to be a GOOD thing, the homeschooled siblings I’ve encountered all get along really well and actually enjoy being together. Who knew?

Socialization
Socialization is usually looked at the the main disadvantage of of homeschooling. But we see it as one of the biggest advantages. First, in terms of time spent together, Kim and I are the primary role models, not their peers. It is OUR faith and values that will be the dominant force in their life. Secondly, my kids will be less peer dependent, making them less susceptible to negative peer pressure. But, contrary to popular belief, homeschoolers are not locked inside all day long, away from the outside world. Instead, they have freedom to go on more field trips, do more volunteering, and gain more experience working with people of all ages, which is better training for the real world. And with a large homeschooling network in our community, our kids will be able to connect with good friends their own age, who aren’t concerned with what’s currently popular at school.

Lifelong Learning
The most exciting thing of all is the chance to cultivate curiosity and foster a lifelong love for learning in our children. Too many schools churn out unengaged, rule-following robots who think learning is boring. Consider these sad facts:

• 58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
• 42% of college graduates never read another book.
• 80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
• 70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.

One workshop leader, when asked about whether or not his family takes summers off, replied, “Why would we take summers off from learning? We just keep on reading books and learning about stuff that excites us. When you make learning enjoyable, schooling IS the vacation.”

Wow.

I was also struck by another woman who said, “Our kids are all grown now, so now we get to homeschool ourselves.”

Double wow.

No doubt, homeschooling will be a challenge. But then again, all worthwhile things are. Kim and I are looking forward to sharing in the learning and doing new things WITH our kids, while taking advantage of the opportunity to turn everyday events into adventures!

You can be sure that we will share many of our adventures here. :)

* [ Update: The Downsides of Homeschooling? ] *

I was asked to share some of the downsides of homeschooling, in order to help those who might be considering it themselves. While we’re still in the rookie stage of this whole thing, I am happy to share some of those which we are aware of and have even considered ourselves. I also apparently felt that this post wasn’t long enough as it was, so here goes:

Time. It would appear that one of the downsides of homeschooling is the extra time involved. Interestingly, it is not necessarily the amount of instruction time required, however. In fact, I heard one veteran assure a working mother that nights and weekends are sufficient for covering what’s necessary, because the education is so customized and you don’t have all the administrivia that comes when you’re managing 25 bodies. But make no mistake, there is a lot of thinking (and effort) involved, which takes a lot of time. There are many different curricula and approaches to consider, and every stage of your child’s life will bring new challenges to sort out. It’s interesting to keep in mind that no one else is going to put anywhere near this amount of time and consideration into my child’s educational journey. Kim and I think our kids are worth it, and we figure that if our kids went to a traditional school, we’d be spending a lot of time helping them with homework and getting them to and from school every day.

Money. Public school is free. Private school is not. Homeschooling seems to be somewhere in the middle. It’s true that some of the curricula can be expensive, but the best resource is the free public library and there are many books and websites devoted to homeschooling on a shoestring budget.

Keeping Records and Jumping Through Hoops. Every state has different legislation and requirements regarding homeschooling, and some have some pretty stringent reporting policies, which can be a real pain. I can’t speak to all of them, but we discovered this weekend that Wisconsin is one of the most homeschool-friendly states around. For that, we are extremely grateful.

Missing Out on High School Sports and Things Like Prom. Many states require school attendance in to participate in high school sports. That kind of stinks, especially since Kim played volleyball in high school and I played varsity baseball. However, some homeschool networks have their own leagues, and of course there are public summer leagues available as well. We also heard that a lot of homeschoolers participate in sports that can be enjoyed throughout their entire lives, including activities like golf, karate, skiing, and rowing. On the topic of prom and other similar large social activities, yes, these are things that are hard to replicate in a homeschool setting. I think the loss of these experiences takes on more significance because most people don’t have a reference for the types of things homeschoolers get to experience that traditionally-schooled things don’t. Yes, our kids may miss out on some things that their peers enjoy, but we feel like the benefits they’ll receive will be far more valuable.

Having To Teach Things You’re Not That Good At. I scored well on my ACT, but these days, I barely remember algebra, let alone trigonometry! And how can I possibly teach chemistry as well as Mr. Navin, who spent his whole life in the field? That was probably my biggest fear going into this weekend. Sure, I can get my kids up to speed through middle school, but after that, there could be some rough seas ahead. The thing I was relieved to discover is that Kim and I don’t have to be experts on all things in order to give them an outstanding education. Our job is to be more like a guidance counselor rather than a teacher. There are scores of resources out there, from textbooks to tutors to video series that will help them learn what they need to. Our job is to help our kids uncover their interests and point them in the direction of knowledge. I was assured that in high school (and even in middle school), homeschoolers know how to find their own information. You don’t teach them, you just guide them. And I was encouraged by stories like the one of a boy who went on to excel in physics, even though his parents both hated math. It would seem that we too often underestimate the insatiable desire of human beings to learn, particularly the things that interest them.

Less Interaction with People Their Own Age. As I mentioned above, I think this is actually a GOOD thing. But it is a false view of homeschooling to think that my kids won’t have any friends that aren’t siblings. The cry for socialization is the one thing that gets a homeschooling parent’s eyes to roll more than anything else. If public school is the supposed foolproof method for developing well-adjusted, properly “socialized” citizens, why does it churn out so many misaligned, anti-social individuals who contribute little to society and become a drain on the system? At the very least, it does not appear to be the cure-all it’s claimed to be.

Accountability. The results of your child’s education is all on you, for better or for worse. It’s obviously easier to put the blame on someone else if things go wrong, but with homeschooling, the buck stops here. I’d argue that most problems in our society point back to parenting, but these days, the bad parents have too many excuses at their disposal and things only get worse. I for one, relish the opportunity to call a spade a spade and value the freedom to do my job.

Fear. Of course, all this accountability often comes with a side dish of fear. Kim went to a workshop on handling doubts, and was surprised to see experienced veterans in the session as well. Apparently it’s pretty normal to frequently second-guess yourself, questioning wether you’re really doing the right thing or screwing your kids up beyond repair, especially in the face of outside opposition. I take it as a sign that you care, and I see it as a pretty normal feeling for parenthood in general, whether you homeschool or not. I was able to take a lot of solace in the stories from people who’ve turned out some pretty great kids amidst periodic doubt and uncertainty.

Dealing with Critics. Speaking of outside opposition, there are many people who don’t understand homeschooling and some who work to undermine it. Sometimes friends and family and complete strangers can be very rude and hurtful in their lack of support or outright hostility towards the very idea of it. By all accounts, much progress has been made in the last 20 years, but it can be tiring to always be defending your decision (and right) to do what you feel is best for your family.

Standing Out. Sort of a corollary to the last one. Homeschooling is not mainstream, although it’s becoming more popular every year. Some people will find that it’s more comfortable just blending in. But that’s not how we roll, especially when the stakes are this high.

In closing (I think), here is a fun little video by a homeschooler humorously debunking Seven Lies About Homeschoolers. Enjoy!

Click here to view the embedded video.

It would seem that the subject of possibility and it’s pessimistic cousin, impossibility, is shaping up to be quite the theme around here. Not only did I make art and write about it, but I just read a book about it and I’m finding that I’m living it as well.

It all started in January when Kim and I declared our intent for our business to become debt-free by the end of this year. We have a fairly sizable loan we are slowly paying back, a formidable pile of liability accumulated during our early years in which we were figuring out how to turn our passion into a real business. Alas, the real business was found but the debt remains.

Now, we pay down this loan little by little every month, and should all go according to plan, it will be absolved in the summer of 2017. Getting rid of it by the end of 2013?

Impossible.

And yet, as the year goes on, what once seemed unthinkable is gradually becoming inevitable.

I picked up this t-shirt at Disney World a few weeks ago. I had to have it, because even though it features a quote by Walt Disney, it had my name all over it.

This year has been a year of renewal for me. I have given myself permission to dream again. Not that I ever stopped, really. It’s just that over the years my dreams have imperceptibly gotten smaller as various failures and disappointments piled up. But this year, my dreams have gotten bigger. (Thanks Mary and Judy!) I have been getting back into the habit of not only dreaming impossible things, but trying to DO them as well.

And it turns out that even the trying is fun.

So far, this has been a most exciting year. New opportunities are springing forth. We are experiencing unprecedented growth, and we are on the verge of doing things that once seemed unfathomable. Will we achieve our goal of becoming debt free by the end of 2013? The jury is still out; I believe that we will. But even if we were to fall short, this is already shaping up to the be the most exhilarating, rewarding and fun year in business we’ve ever had.

Here’s what I’ve come to learn: not only is it kind of fun to DO the impossible, it’s even fun just TRYING the impossible.

Sure, when you try the impossible, you might not make it. You may fall woefully short. But at least you know you tried. And you might make it farther that you ever imagined.

Besides, it’s way more fun than expecting the worst, playing it safe, or settling.

Yep, it’s official. We need more “Bams” in the world.

I don’t care whether you work at Wal-Mart or on Wall Street, you are viral. More than ever, little things are big deals.

In the fight against Adultitis, you can either be part of the problem or part of the solution.

Which do you choose?

This tweet was about baseball, but if we looked at “life” as a game, it would still serve as a stirring rallying cry.

When you were a kid, you spent a lot of time imagining the day when you would finally be grown up, with all the amazing powers that came with it, like independence and height and a drivers license. You had dreams and visions of the great adventures to be had, once you finally had the chance to call your own shots and live your own story.

So, are taking advantage of the opportunities now before you?

Are you playing this game of life with the heart and passion and fire of an eight year old?

If not, get to it. This game only has so many innings.

Yes, I love my shiny iPhone and all the wonderful things it lets me do.

But I hate when a family is out to eat and I see them all face down in their smartphones. I hate it because it reminds me of how the pull to check email or send a tweet or scan status updates on Facebook pulls ME away from actually being present in my real life. It often distracts me on my dates with my daughter. And it sucks up the mental space that could have been used to pray or think or — gasp! — just BE.

Oh, the internet and smartphones and wi-fi has gotten us more connected than ever. But are we making any connections?

Everything seems so surface level these days; our conversations have deteriorated into small talk boiled down to 140 characters or less. It’s boring, meaningless, and a tragic waste of our precious time. Perhaps the reason we are the loneliest, most depressed, most drug addicted society that has ever lived is because we are lacking real connections.

We deserve better. Our family and our friends deserve better from us.

If you agree, here’s a crazy idea: Next time you’re with someone, put down the phone. Slow down. Shut your pie hole.

Instead, look. Hear. Be. Practice being present once in awhile.

Open your heart, offer your attention, and make a real human connection.

A small thing, perhaps.

But it’s a Small Rebellion of epic proportions.

[ About the Art: Just a little drawing in Photoshop about one downside of our technological renaissance. I was going to draw iPhones starting at iPhones staring at iPhones, but I didn't want your head to blow up. It's weird to think that in five years (maybe less) this drawing will have become adorably antiquated. Maybe I should have cut to the chase and just drew bag phones. ]

Many times, it’s passed down from generation to generation. This cycle needs to stop. But how?

The best way is to model what an Adultitis-free life looks like. Like this Dad:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Our kids listen to what we DO, not what we SAY.

With respect to Adultitis, the prognosis for these girls’ futures looks very positive.

It seems ridiculous at first. What if we dressed our delivery drivers like the Flash? Or the crowd control team at the stadium as Stormtroopers? Or our window washers as…Spiderman?

That’s exactly what John Hopkins All Children’s Hospital did a few months ago.

The upper windows of the hospital are cleaned once a year, and after seeing another hospital make a splash with their own Spiderman window washers, an executive decided to follow suit with his own team of web slingers. My favorite part of the story is how many people were impacted by this small rebellion. Of course, the kids were thrilled:

A little boy too weak to talk smiled and waved as the famed crime-fighter suddenly appeared in his big picture window, swaying back and forth on a his rope, waving back and placing his hands on the pane as if attached in true Spiderman style.

* * * * *

Holly Ott, clinical coordinator for the All Children’s Child Life Department, described how much the happening meant to those kids and families undergoing such stressful times.

“Being in the hospital can be a really challenging experience for patients and families,” she said. “What we try to do is normalize the experience and I think that Spider-Man is actually an extraordinary experience for children. It really makes it very therapeutic time for them and their family.”

But it wasn’t just children who were delighted by the experience:

Soon, the spidery crew dangled outside the windows of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit on the fifth floor, then moved on when their work was done. “I was so excited – I felt like a kid,” said a visitor, Cherie Bjaland, who took in the show. “A few doors down, grandmother Paulette Counts was sleeping on the couch below the window. She hadn’t heard anything about any unusual guests swinging by and awoke to the sight of Spider-Man in the window.

“At first, I didn’t see his rope and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” she said, laughing. “I thought I must have been dreaming!”

And then there were the window washers themselves:

About 10:30 a.m., Robert Powers – or could it have been Peter Parker? – walked back inside the All Children’s lobby in full costume, holding his water bucket. A handful of patients and grown-ups waved enthusiastically as he walked past – and if you could have looked under his mask, you’d have seen a big smile. He made sure that he waved to the entranced onlookers before resuming his high-flying feats outside.

“I’ve never done anything like this, and I’ve been washing windows for 29 years,” said Robert, pulling the suit over his street clothes. “But doing this for the kids, it feels great.”

None of this even mentions the bystanders walking on the street, the news crew covering the spectacle, the people who saw the footage on TV, or even you reading this right now. Kinda neat to think about how much Adultitis treatment happened as a result of renting a few costumes online, isn’t it?

Even neater to use this example as inspiration to provide some magic to the children, customers, or employees YOU interact with every day.

You needn’t have been bitten by a radioactive spider in order win a battle against Adultitis.

Sometimes a simple costume will do the trick.

Sometimes living a better story requires making a big, hairy, scary change. Like moving across the country or taking a pay cut to do what you love. But most of the time we just need to be open to the art of tinkering.

The dictionary says that to tinker is “to repair, adjust, or work with something in an unskilled or experimental manner.”

Take special note of those words “unskilled” and “experimental.” For some reason, we grown-ups think we have to master something on our first attempt. Naturally, that’s impossible, so we don’t even try. Kids are under no such illusions. They tinker all day long.

And when you were a kid, so did you.

If you’re serious about improving your story, just try small things and see what happens. If your inner child whispers something that sounds fun but feels a bit outrageous, commit to trying it just once. Or for a few days.

• Order something off the menu that you normally wouldn’t. Maybe it’ll open up a whole new culinary adventure. Or maybe not. No big deal.
• Get rid of a small box of things. Maybe you’ll appreciate the freedom so much that you’ll give away half your things to Goodwill. Maybe not. No big deal.
• Submit your resumé for that dream job. Maybe they’ll call you for an interview. Maybe not. No big deal.
• Invite that guy out for coffee. Maybe he’ll say yes and it will lead to dinner. Or maybe he doesn’t and it won’t. No big deal.
• Run around the block today. Maybe you’ll be so invigorated that you’ll set the goal of running a marathon in six months. Maybe not. No big deal.

Don’t worry about doing everything perfectly, and don’t bite off more than you can chew. Just do a little of this, a little of that. Cut a little here, a little there. These small actions may lead to big things, sure, but don’t be paralyzed by the belief that in order to make your story better you have to go all nuclear.

Tinker.

[ About the Art: I did this one well over a year ago and never had a chance to post it. I was thinking about our favorite toys and how they often have their own personalities, especially when our imaginations are in full swing. Painted with real acrylic paint on real brown kraft paper. I love the tactile nature of doing it this way, but right now I love the way digital helps me go so much faster, especially with ideas coming fast and furious these days. --Jason]

I wonder if the Wright Brothers ever imagined that less than 100 years after their first manned flight, we’d have already taken air travel for granted. And we do, don’t we? Thousands of these “crazy flying machines” take off and land every single day. And yet, at one point, the idea was as crazy as could be. In fact, in 1902 (just ONE year before the Wright Brothers’ great success), Lord Kelvin — the dude who determined the correct value of absolute zero as approximately -273.15 Celsius — said, “No aeroplane will ever be practically successful.”

Back in the late 1800s, the idea of Orville and Wilbur building a flying machine is kind of like someone today boasting about working on a teleportation device. And they way we take it for granted is like my great grandchild giving a talk 100 years from now saying, “Can you believe there was a time we didn’t have teleportation devices?”

Here are few of my favorite quotes from otherwise intelligent people who were a little too shortsighted in their vision of what was and was not possible:

“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. –Western Union internal memo, 1876

“Everything that can be invented has been invented.” –Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899

“It is an idle dream to imagine that automobiles will take the place of railways in the long-distance movement of passengers.” –American Road Congress, 1913

“There is no likelihood that man can ever tap the power of an atom.” –Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize Winner in physics, 1920

“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?” –David Sarnoff’s associates, in response to his urgings for investment in radio in the 1920s

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” –Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

“The concept is interesting… but to earn better than a ‘C,’ the idea must be feasible.” –Yale professor on Fred Smith’s conceptual paper about an overnight delivery service that would eventually become FedEx, 1965

“With over 50 foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn’t likely to carve out a big slice of the U.S. market.” — Business Week, August 2, 1968.

“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” –Ken Olson, president and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

“What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.” –Michael Dell on Apple, 1997

Oops.

Learn from these missteps by expanding your horizon on what you deem “realistic.”

And be very, very cautious about what you label as “impossible.”

For as John Andrew Holmes wisely said, “Never tell a young person that something cannot be done. God may have been waiting centuries for somebody ignorant enough of the impossible to do that thing.”

[ About The Art: This one languished for a long time as a doodle in my sketchbook. A little penguin floating away via balloon. I wasn't sure what to do with it. The day I decided to turn it into a painting and see what happened was, frankly, magic. I was in the zone. Every line, every stroke, every color just flowed out of me. It was weird. And it was one of the rare instances where I sat back after finishing it and said, wow, this is really good. (Mostly because I don't feel like I had all that much to do with it.) Believe it or not, this was made in Photoshop using various splatter and watercolor brushes to give it the painted texture. I added the little band of earthbound penguins at the end. I see them as the naysayers, convening to discuss all of the reasons why a penguin can't fly. -- Jason ]

I have fond memories of getting the big box of 64 Crayola Crayons. All my artistic limitations were cast away as every color in the natural world was now at my disposal. (Mind you, this was before they came out with the massive 96 and 120 count boxes and way before Photoshop would provide me with a million possible color choices.)

Anyhoo, remember the sharpener on the back of that box? I mean that was the bomb. A luxury of luxuries. Well now they have developed the sharpener on the box to a level in which you can actually fashion the points into animals.

Believe it.

Actually, don’t. The photo above is the breathtaking, painstaking work of Diem Chau, a Seattle artist who came to America from Vietnam with her family as refugees in 1986. I’ve never met Diem, but I can only assume she is pretty low on the Adultitis spectrum.

Turns out that the greatest, most advanced tools in the world are still no match to the imagination of an artist who knows how to use them.

We heartily congratulate all the people who took up the challenge to fight Adultitis by whipping up something ugly in the kitchen. And we offer our sincere condolences to any brave souls who ingested any of the creations. (Although to be fair, most were reported to be very delicious.) Take that, Martha Stewart!

Without further ado, check out the gruesome goodness!

Ugly Worm Cake by Pam Cain

Ugly Worm Cake (Close-up of the Worm Hole)

Strawberry Soup by Gigi Dash

Ugly UnBirthday Cake by Nicole Hayes

Rice Krispie Ugly Treat by Brett Carter & Friends

BBQ Mustard & Chocolate Scone by Steven Sauke

Ugly Deer Cake by Debbie Moore Frazier (For her husband’s 51st birthday)

Ugly Deer Cake (Rear View)

Ugly Easter Cookies by Jenna Regis

Ugly Stained Glass Cookie by Jean Hubbartt

Christmas in April by Lora Denniston

For more Ugly Treat inspiration, check out our Flickr group. And even though the “official” Small Rebellion is over, we welcome your Ugly Treat submissions to the group any time you feel Adultitis getting a little too close for comfort!

Amen, sister.

Let’s hear it for being ridiculous.

It is official: making ugly treats is a foolproof way to annihilate Adultitis. Indeed, forgoing the stress that can come from trying to create a confection that might make Martha Stewart weep tears of joy is not nearly as fun as concocting something that would have her wailing and gnashing her teeth.

Although we have extolled the virtues of cooking up ugly cakes and cookies for some time, we had not actually undertaken the task — until now. We used the latest Small Rebellion, aka The Ugly Treat Initiative, as a fitting excuse to jump right in.

It’s easy to be intimidated by some of the giants who have come before us, with cakes so ugly they’d make Sloth from The Goonies recoil in horror. But engaging in some ugly treat frivolity needn’t be a burden. We went a simple route, which proved to be quick and easy without shortchanging any of the fun.

We started with a regular bag of chocolate chip cookie mix. Add eggs and butter and you’re off to the races. For the time being, everything appears normal.

Normal came to a screeching halt when we started to collect the ingredients that would ugly up our mild-mannered cookies. If you want to play at home, raid the cupboard for anything edible that has something to bring to the party: taste, texture, color. If you’re interested in eating your results — which is part of the fun — I recommend using things that are sweet or salty, but don’t be afraid to reach for combinations that may seem unorthodox. We threw a bunch of stuff in a bowl: Peeps, jelly beans, gummy worms, pretzels, cheese crackers, M&Ms, peanuts and Nerds.

This project proved to be a good way to recycle some Easter candy. I also pulled out some bacon bits, because of course, everything is better with bacon.

I also threw in some pickles, creating a combination that I am convinced will become all the rage in the foodie scene. (It’s the new chocolate and peanut butter!)

After plopping some of the prepared dough onto a greased cookie sheet, we just started placing our ingredients randomly on top. Lucy used some colorful sprinkles and Lucky Charms marshmallows to make this cookie magically delicious.

This is a great activity for little helpers, since there is no regard for aesthetics whatsoever. In fact, by watching them carefully, you can discover ways to make your cookies even uglier than you ever before imagined.

This Peep got impaled by a pretzel. No one said this was pretty, folks.

Then it was time to put our creations in the oven. One neat aspect of this approach is the experimental element. The little mad scientist in each of us was eager to see what sorts of results we’d get once the heat was applied.

The gummy worms melted very quickly and the Peeps started to balloon up like floater found in a lake on CSI.

Meanwhile, we decided to add some frosting to the show. A can of store-bought vanilla — quick and easy, baby — was mixed with food coloring. I can’t give you a specific recipe here as we gave Lucy full control over this part. I CAN say that she used all four colors and she used a LOT of it. Probably enough to exceed the most lenient FDA recommendations and give us all cancer. But it resulted in this nice putrid green color.

Pulling the cookies out of the oven is a big part of the fun. As you can see, the gummy worms melted into quite an unrecognizable mess, while the jelly beans and Dots oozed a little color into the cookies but maintained their shape

IN subsequent batches, we added the gummy worms later in the baking process, as seen here surrounding a pretzel covered in bacon (naturally).

This touching piece is entitled, “Peep Mourning Over Fallen Comrade.”

The fun doesn’t end when the baking does, my friend. Oh no, this is when you utilize your frosting and various accoutrements to take things to a whole new level. This is the time to turn things up to 11.

Sprinkles make a wonderful little garnish…

…and add the color that will make your cookies almost appear appetizing.

So that’s about it. The whole process takes less than an hour and is quite creatively gratifying. Rest assured, our first foray into ugly treat making will not be our last!

We’ll be formally posting some of the wonderful ugly treat contributions made by other mad scientists soon, but you can get a peek at some good ones over here. I hope all of these examples will inspire you to get your ugly on, resulting in lots of laughs and a good memory with some people you care about.

When I was a teenager, I worked at a car dealership. The garage where I spent my days smelled of used oil, antifreeze, and in the summer, sweat (hooray for no air conditioning!). My job was to wash cars, run errands, and keep the shop relatively clean. It was good pay for a good job with good bosses and flexible hours. And I learned how to drive a stick shift and detail a car like nobody’s business, which will come in handy when I buy my Porsche someday :) By all accounts, it was a pretty great career for a teenager.

But that doesn’t mean I liked it.

I hated being trapped doing something I didn’t care about. While the clock took its sweet old time plodding toward quitting time, I daydreamed about all the other things I’d rather be doing. Probably not so unusual for a typical teenage job.

But what really impacted me was that, for the most part, this same attitude was shared by the majority of the mechanics who worked there. They were good, but they were also mopey, cynical, and unengaged. I couldn’t wrap my head around it: this was their chosen career, the occupation they had decided to spend the majority of their waking hours doing. Where was the joy? Where was the love? Where was the energy?

I resolved that I would NOT spend the bulk of my days in a job I didn’t like. Not for the money. Not for the benefits package. Not for anything. It was that determination (stubbornness?) that carried me through the hard early days of our business. The days when nothing we tried worked, the tearful nights when we questioned our sanity, and the years when bankruptcy loomed around every corner.

The sad thing is that the story of those mechanics is still being told today. Millions of people feel trapped in jobs they are good at but either don’t really like or outright loathe. They are traveling through life wondering, “Is this all there is? When do I get to the point where I’m finally happy?”

Maybe that’s you.

There are many flavors of career advice out there, some wholly secular, some sprinkled with spirituality. There are assessments, intakes, and tools out the wazoo, but I think that this quote by Howard Thurman distills all of it down to one brilliant and relevant suggestion:

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman

On a near daily basis, I am constantly reminded that I seem to make the biggest impact (and experience the most success) when I’m doing the things that light me up. So that’s what I try and do more of.

The world does not need another decent but disinterested mechanic, a competent but listless lawyer, or an adequate but uninspired teacher.

It needs you, fully alive.

[ About The Art: This piece was inspired by the oft-heard refrain that parents know all too well: "Are we there yet?" I was trying to come up with a sky color that wasn't just your standard Crayola blue. You know, going for a bit more sophistication :) The color scheme I came up with set the whole tone of the piece. I added the field of white dandelions to work with the color scheme to give a feeling of late summer, which mirrors the point of one's life where the big questions really start to mount. Sometimes these questions can cause our souls to feel a bit detached from our bodies, so I added a bokeh texture over the whole thing to stimulate a sense of dreaminess...I've heard people say that they like to know what the artist was thinking when they made something and why they made the choices they did. Sort of like a peek behind the curtain, as it were. So, was any of this interesting to you? Should I keep it up? I'd love to hear your thoughts and questions in the comments. ]