Normal 40

Your life has a thief; it’s called indecision. Indecision is the quiet enemy of progress. It masquerades as patience, whispers that waiting is wise, and convinces you that doing nothing is the safest option. But indecision has a cost. It looks like aging. It feels like frustration. And over time, it turns into toleration—a slow surrender to a life you no longer recognize as your own. You’re not stuck because there aren’t choices. You’re stuck because you won’t make one. Waiting isn’t harmless; it’s a thief. It steals your time, your energy, and your potential. It lets the days pass while nothing changes except the regret piling up. Here’s the truth: waiting doesn’t solve anything. It doesn’t make decisions for you. It doesn’t bring clarity. All it does is delay the inevitable—until one day, you wake up realizing you’ve tolerated too much for too long. Indecision keeps you aging in place. Action moves you forward. The hardest part isn’t knowing what to do; it’s giving yourself permission to do it. Waiting feels safer, but it’s not. You’re betting your future on time fixing what only you can change. So, what’s the decision you’re avoiding? What’s the step you know you need to take? Today, stop tolerating. Choose to act. Because every day you don’t is another day you give to indecision—and it won’t give anything back. Know thy thief and remove them. Let’s be up to something. #normal40 #coach #thetrade

I don’t have market data about who shows up here. I don’t have numerical validation for the thousands of you who invisibly fly by and take what’s needed to survive the day. I don’t have clinical proof that something happens to each of us while at the top of our game that confuses the path. But I do have thousands of hours with people like you. I do know… you can surpass your own definition of success and still wake up one day wondering if this is all there is. If this is all you will ever do. If this is all you are here to be. If this is it. I do know… the higher you climb, the harder it becomes to leave to chase your dreams. I do know… you will lock it up, wish it away, and feel shame and guilt for having so much and feeling so little. And I do know… most of you don’t want to need what I write, but find some relief in knowing it’s here. I’m here because I know there’s a better story in you. You’re here because you know there is, too. I’m not here to sell you anything. If you lump me into that bucket, you have it wrong—you have me mistaken. You have my mission wrong. I’m here to get you to do something; to start. Not for me—I’ll be fine. For you. For your family. For your legacy. For the chance to look back on your life and know you went for it when it was your turn. To take the shot and be glad you did it. Book a ramble with me. Put something on your calendar to look forward to. Quit wondering and start learning. I do free rambles. I’ve done +750 in the last two years. You’ll have to wait several weeks to find a slot, but you’ve already waited a few years to get here. One more thing I know … There comes a time in your life when the people who take a risk on you are gone. It will be just you, your gifts, your skills, and your move. It’s a time of weighty decisions, sunk costs, sacrifices lived, and a call to something else—something worthy of a legacy. It’s when the once-full gym of your life feels lonely and alone. A time when the ball bounces hard, the net still whistle with sweetness, and the shots go up pure, but nobody is in the stands cheering. It’s only you, a ball, a clock marching onward, and the frustration over what to do with it all. You. I am talking to you. The one in the gym again today. Standing there alone. You. The best days of your lifetime are here. And these days are numbered. Quit taking up space in someone else’s dream, and start taking up space in yours. When you’re ready, send me a note. Not so that you’re part of my funnel—so that I am part of yours. It’s time to be up to something. It’s your ball, boss. Take the shot. #normal40 #thetrade #jfds #ramble #coach #leadership

If you are thinking about severence—you are the one currently paying it. You are paying it with your best days, time with family, and your biggest dreams. Your severance payment is due again today. I often hear it: “Sometimes I wish they’d just offer me severance to separate.” You’ve thought about it, too. You’ve thought about what you might do, where you might go, who you might see, and what you might start—if severed. You’ve wondered how life might change and what you would finally be free to do, next. Someone is always paying severence. I used to think about it. Heck, I even had a spreadsheet for it. No shit—the math of my dreams on hold, on a spreadsheet. I wouldn’t say I liked thinking about it or that I was proud of it, but I’m human—and so are you. After our company was acquired, I had a choice: Stay with pay or leave with time. I chose time. That’s when it hit me — If I stayed while dreaming of severance—with money, I was the one paying the severance—with my time. I was paying with my life’s best days. I was paying with my telerance. I was giving up my best self, a shot at a new future, a bet on me—for pay to stay. I was the one paying the severance. Look, dreaming of severance isn’t bad. You are human. Oh, and your boss—she dreams about it too. She’s probably reading this. After all, we are a quiet bunch. When the dream of something more finds you, you have to let it in. You have to lean into your curiosity and be open to where it takes you. Not because it’s easy, but because you are ready—ready to start chasing you and ready to be done paying the severance. This post isn’t really about severance. It’s about the limited days you have left and the dreams you have yet to chase. The one that’s dancing around in your chest right now. It’s about knowing when your work is done and finding a community to help you make The Trade. It’s okay to dream about severance. It’s OK to have a different dream. It’s OK to want to write another chapter. It’s OK to dream. It’s not okay to wait until your best days are behind you. Today, let's dream about severance. Let’s make this day about you. Then … Let’s be up to something. #normal40 #thetrade #coach #leadership #JFDS ____________________________________________ I am the best-selling author of “The Trade.” A book that continues to change lives, one page at a time. The Trade is the best work of my lifetime. Not because of what it got out of me … Becuase of what it will get out of you.

The message we want our kids to see: “To be successful, learn to find the work you love.” The message our kids actually see: “To be successful, you’ll have to be absent and irritable on most days, tolerate a lack of control over your calendar, endure the worry of being let go without cause, put on the act of joy for friends, become addicted to a lifestyle and eventually learn to hate what you do.” _________________________________________________ In February 2022, I quit being who my kids used to see and started building my life. At the time, I didn’t have the wisdom of knowing what my kids were seeing. I was too busy being important—because it was important to be busy. That feeling you are missing won’t be found in your retirement balance, club memberships, or hotel medallion status. These will be the thieves. That feeling you crave comes from finally knowing who you are and then mustering the courage to stand in it—knowing there won’t be any applause. The best work of your lifetime is somewhere inside you, begging for a shot. When you’re ready to get serious about that work, and the time you have left to chase it, I hope you find me. After two years and 750 free rambles with people around the world, my process is … pure. It’s powerful, and it’s my own. Why do I do it? Sometimes, on a great day, I get to see a ripple in the world that maybe, just maybe, came from a ramble. There’s no greater joy than seeing a ripple in return. It’s my lifetime's ultimate currency—ripples. The world needs the ripple you are uniquely qualified to make. My mission is to inspire change in a thousand lives. My metric is a thousand notes of thanks. None of that happens before there is a ripple. So, let’s be up to something…pure. My ripple is to release yours. Write your ripple. #Normal40 #thetrade #jfds #ripple #coach #leadership ______________________________________________ Before I left my corporate job, I captured a list of fourteen questions that changed my life. You can grab those questions for free on my website.

On July 4, 1776, this LinkedIn post changed the world. It’s a post that started with a list of things we should refuse to tolerate, and ended with a declaration of what we were going to do about it. Today, the Declaration of Independence is 248 years old. What we read today was not a first draft. It was NOT penned in a moment of clarity that inspired a shift in the world's future. It was NOT the product of one person's ideas or one colony's ideals. It was, without question, a representation of the ideals worth the fight. The draft was penned and edited countless times before being sent to the Continental Congress. Then, in Jefferson’s handwriting, he edited a final time before he hit “post.” The edits, remarkably, were not to add the language of grievances against King George III; they removed them. The edits removed mentions of what we were running from—a monarchy, to strengthen what we were running towards—a republic. The edits didn’t guarantee land, wealth, or happiness—only the pursuit of them. The edits didn’t crown a king, but laid the framework for the type of leadership we aspire to have. No, this isn’t fiction, this is us. Many of us talk about the Declaration of Independence, but few have read it since fourth grade. But for anyone who reads these lines, they are inspired by the words that endure. Today, you can read it and be inspired. You can dream of the people who wrote it and marvel at the courage they displayed in signing it. Then, for many of us, we can thank it for what it has done for us. As penned by Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Sherman, and Livingston on this day, 248 years ago: _______________ The Opening To The Declaration Of Independence: “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness….(continued).” _________________ The Founding Fathers knew that there was a time to quit tolerating—and a time to bet on themselves. They didn’t quit before they started; they started building (Continental Congress) so they could one day quit. May we all have the courage and resolve to do the same in our lives, and may we give the Founding Fathers some thanks for helping to make it possible. Today can be about boats and burgers, but it should also be about courage, leadership — and the pursuit of happiness. When the time is right, let’s be up to something. 248 years from now, you will be glad you did it. I guarantee it. #normal40 #thetrade #leadership #JFDS