What I'm Up To - Vol. 94

Hey friends,​

Here’s what I’ve been up to since Vol. 93…​

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1. April Happenings

‍Wendy accepted the treasurer role for Explore Austin this year. The nonprofit pairs adults with young people from 7th to 12th grade for outdoor adventures and mentoring. 🎣 We brought our real estate and home services teams to the annual fundraiser and helped raise $330,000! Fun was had. 🍸Ubers were hailed.

We launched our second group coaching cohort for The ONE Thing with a 4-day bootcamp. We have a small team and it was a BIG lift. 💪 I’m super proud of the results. We had 363 enrolled in the bootcamp. They showed up, engaged with the materials, and ignited the comments on Zoom. Presumably, everyone identified 4 hours they could reclaim each week because no one asked for a refund. ⏳ Afterward, 96 of them rolled into our 8-week group coaching. So nice to see the momentum building.

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I attended Mo Bunnell and Shawn Blanc’s MashUp Mastermind in Atlanta for a third time. Each time, I leave energized and bubbling with insights. They’ve assembled a group of world-changers who love to give. 👏 My kind of people.

In family news, Gus is wrapping up his Sophomore year at Southwestern. He’s working part-time as a sign runner for the real estate team. 🏡 He’s saving money to move out of the dorms and into an apartment. Gus landed two internships for the summer: one with Brandon Turner’s BetterLife and another with Rusty Shelton’s Zilker Media. Our youngest is wrapping up freshman classes at ACC. Talk about value. Great school and only $100 a semester!

I also became a double-offender in the great-uncle category. My niece Natalie gave birth to Charles Robert Milam on April 17th. Charlie was 6lbs and 15oz. It took a couple of days for him to catch his breath before going home. They are doing great, and Mia is a proud big sister.

Everyone has a “we should really” they tote around too long like an old suitcase you can’t part with. We should really [fill in the blank]. You say it. You mean it. Yet life always seems to put up detour signs. The highlight of the month was finally having Carly, Adam, Sadie, and Margot out to Better Ranch. We’ve been saying “we should really all go to the ranch” for far too long. We explored in the buggy. Drew chalk animals on the concrete porch. Spotted deer and marvelled at our ridiculously cute emu babies. The girls learned how to scale fences and will now never be contained.

As some of you know, we’re putting the property on the market next month. As much as we love it, we need a getaway with less maintenance. We currently buy 8,000 lbs of food a month for our menagerie. We’ll be looking for a smaller place closer to home.​

Wendy and I got to see Brianna Wiest at her book signing. She’s such a lovely human. We ran into multiple friends waiting our turn – Deborah, Mary, Rachel, and my new pal, Jillian. 🤣 We also enjoyed a great double date with Jennie and Lonnie to see David Sedaris at the Paramount.

I’ve been realigning my time this year. Consider this my belated “out with the old and in with the new.” I said no to Wordle and Spanagram in January. I still do the mini crossword and have more time for early morning reading. Lock picking is back. I took it up after reading The Lock Artist years ago but stopped tinkering. Picking locks is calming and meditative. I’m also saying yes to more outdoor adventures (fishing, etc) and prioritizing more coffee dates with friends with Jillian as my co-conspirator. Finally, I’m just saying “I love you” without hesitation. Life’s too short.

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2. What I’m Reading

I only finished two books this month.🤦♂️ In the mornings, I read through Somehow: Thoughts on Love by Anne Lamott. “Eighty percent of everything that is true and beautiful can be experienced on any ten-minute walk.” I’ve always liked her essays even if she can be a bit much. My favorite essay was “Hinges” about her parents' broken marriage and the legacy they left her. “Minus Tide” about saying the final goodbye to a lifelong friend also stood out.

I also read Wild Courage: Go After What You Want and Get It by my friend Jenny Wood. It’s loaded with great career advice. Jenny led teams at Google for 15 years and knows all the cheat codes. If you never had an executive sponsor at work (someone who mentors you and promotes your work) Wood’s book is a good stand-in. “Success at anything requires doing a lot of something: pitching, submitting, speaking, writing, etc. Mistakes are inevitable when you do something a lot, no matter how many precautions you take. Perfection isn't an option; it's a direction, not a destination. All you can do is minimize mistakes, get comfortable with the idea of making mistakes, and, in some cases, use your mistakes once you've made them.”

Also, “no one has ever been promoted for being ultra-responsive on email.” Be still, my beating heart. Preach, Jenny!

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3. What I’m Watching

I wrapped up season 3 of Reacher (Amazon), which was better than the last. I still think something is missing. Reacher’s size and strength aren’t the point. To me, his personal code and cunning are far more interesting than headbutts and broken arms. I also finished the reboot of Daredevil: Born Again (Disney). The first season was magic. I’m sticking around out of loyalty to one of my favorite comic books.

Wendy and I loved White Lotus, season 3 (MAX). Sam Rockwell’s nearly five-minute monologue immediately joins the cannon alongside Christopher Walken’s gold watch and Robert Shaw’s U.S.S. Indianapolis. Either you love White Lotus or don’t get it at all. Almost all the characters are unlikeable. And the suspense is over which one will die.

Finally, I watched Black Bag with Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender in Steve Soderbergh’s stylish (aren’t all his films?) spy thriller who-done-it.Kathyrn: “Will it be another mess to clean up?”​George: “Only if we do it right.”

That’s it for this month. Please reply back and let me know what you’re up to!

Be well, do good deeds, and eat tacos!

Jay