Why Am I Doing This?

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read time: 7 minutes?

Welcome to Game On, a weekly newsletter where I aspire to help others see God in all things as I share my journey as a former collegiate athlete, e-commerce operator, husband, and father.?

This Week’s Agenda:

• Inspiration: Defining What I’m Doing Here?
• Word of God: Proverbs & 1 Corinthians?
• Mandatory Movement: Running Calendar?
• Lessons from: Sahil Bloom?

Where’s My Head At - Why Writing?

My four years at Under Armour can be chalked up to doing two monumental routines that have impacted my career and network to this day.?

One of those was leading a 100-person multi-national weekly Friday morning War Room with an audience of Directors, SVPs and C-suite leaders and the entire Supply Chain Organization. I was fortunate that one of my first bosses, during the first week on a new job, asked me to run the then smaller version of War Room as a fill-in. He then saw an opportunity to offload some work on the new guy, so I was stuck with the task.?

War Room was a weekly meeting where everyone in Sourcing, Planning, and Operations got together to review metrics about the business and figure out solutions to hit dates and sales targets. I was simply the guy kicking off the meeting, running the slide deck, taking notes, and sending out follow-ups.?

Quickly, the small meeting grew and changed locations to a massive new 100-person conference room with a two-story screen. We added the China and Panama teams to the call as well as the distribution center and two other buildings. I was tasked with setting the agenda, coordinating the deck, working with leaders to pre-read the big issues, and somewhat moderating the conversation so we could finish in under an hour.?

I went from working in a small corner of the IT department, meeting with 3-5 people over two years to running this massive weekly meeting in the first three months of this new role. All because my boss thought it’d be a good opportunity and he very clearly wanted to get the meeting off his plate.?

So what does this have to do with writing now? Giving back and sharing my experiences.?

From War Room, I was able to convince over 30 different leaders over two years to grab a coffee with me and share their stories. How they thought about their work, what advice they would give, and how they saw their career and progression. They were mentors in a way but also filled me with ideas of aspiration for what was possible.?

Back then, I felt I had little to give, maybe some energy, a little grit, and ambition, but not much in the way of a mentor or advisor.?

After sharing for months on LinkedIn and writing my first few of these, I’d had a number of old teammates and people in my network ask to grab coffee or a meeting, just like I’d done so many times at UA. It has felt like a full circle moment on a number of occasions when those people were the ones I’d sought after for coffee and advice almost 10 years ago.?

Now I’ve got a little more experience under my belt, like War Room, or merchandising at Lands’ End, now running operations at Mugsy. It’s not a full advisory level resume, but it’s enough where I want to start giving back and helping people like I’d been helped way back when I started my career.?

So…let’s?connect! I’d love to hear your story and learn how I can help at all!?

Feed the Spirit - Words From God

Proverbs 3: 5-6.?Trust in the?Lord?with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths?straight.?

1 Corinthians 7:17:?Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever season the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them.?

Two verses this week, one new to me and one I’ve been using since I refound my faith. I heard this week “Trust in the Lord with all your heart” in a way I’d not heard it before. Trusting in Him means that we don’t solely trust in our flesh. We don’t use him to navigate our way out of a situation on our own. We just trust, and surrender. Listen to what he has for us and acknowledge him as the only way forward. Then we navigate out, or we wait and stay still. A new spin on my favorite verse.?

This second verse was new but is something I need to hear in a new season. Being a dad of three has rocked me so far. I no longer feel like I can just leave the house to do as I please, like I’d done through our first two. I was commuting to an office an hour away for our first two kids, but now WFH give me a choice of how to structure my routine. I’d spent the first few weeks of my daughter’s life fighting this hard. But slowly God has worked on my heart to let go and “live in this season he has assigned to me.”?

Movement is Medicine

My running has been abysmal lately and the NYC Marathon gave me a spark to get back to consistently running. I went for a run on Sunday intending to do 3-4 miles. About half a mile in my back flared up, my hips were super tight, and my heart rate through the roof.?

So I stopped at one mile, made a plan to get myself just a little further each day (.25mi), and before Thanksgiving, I’ll be at 10k distance. Give this a try if you’re looking for small and achievable increases in cardio.?

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Who’s Taught Me This Week

Sahil Bloom: “Your anxiety levels will scale proportionally to your ambition”?

This is a stark contrast to what most people think. “Once I get this XYZ ambition I will feel happy, fulfilled, secure, etc.” “As I get closer to XYZ, I’ll feel better”?

But the worries rise as the goals rise. Ride the wave of worry and use it as a tool to fuel your perseverance and determination. It can give you energy if you don’t let it distract you.?

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If you got this far, thanks for reading - shoot me an email if you liked the format and what other topics are of interest. If I can help you on your journey in anyway, let’s jump on a call!