Chopbiscuit

I’m not a big French Press fan. I think it creates an unhealthy richness and chewy taste to any preferred roast. But, if you like the French - here’s a good graphic to show you the steps.

A Fresh Brew of Coffee infographic

Throughout the years I’ve rarely excelled in anything. I was sequentially average in school, rarely making honors or winning any academia awards. I was consistently average in my athletic prowess, making a few All Star teams throughout my childhood. When I was younger, this used to bother me tremendously, but as I matured, I’ve come to acknowledge this was a blessing in disguise.

What I ultimately came to realize is that by never establishing unrealistic goals to any of my work or hobbies, you can actually get things done and be at ease by your finished project. Let’s face it, not all of us can be elite. Not all of us can keep climbing to the peak of glory and be the next Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg. I would never be able to defend Lebron James from going to the basket, no matter how much practice or effort I put into it. Some folks are just given a gift, or curse, depending how you look at it. For most people, it’s disappointing to be average, as many strongly believe most of us have an inherent desire to be the best at what we do. That makes sense, we’re constantly pushed to give it our best. Unfortunately, the standard bell curve says that 60-70% of us are in the middle of the pack. Therefore, most of us are probably average, or will encounter mediocrity at some point in our work and in our lives.

So, what I’m trying to say is that you should embrace this ordinariness because it will eventually open your life up to more possibilities. By not trying to be the best at everything I do, I’ve come to appreciate a multitude of things I would have normally missed.

So, what’s the upside of being average?

You’re able to do what you want to do

Lets be honest, you work to provide yourself the platform to live your life. With less time trying to be the top employee, you’re able to focus on your hobbies and life activities that truly make you happy. Some people love playing sports, others may love to travel, read and write. Without the immutable stress to perform at an extremely high level, you suddenly feel free and flexible to be open for new experiences.

Your relationship with your family and friends improve

There’s nothing more important than a deep, trusting relationship with your family and friends. Ultimately, this and your health trumps everything. Being exceptional and investing a tremendous amount of time and energy focused on work, will ultimately disrupt those bonds.

Nobody wants to take you out

As an average performer, you will never be the target of hostility, hatred, or jealousy.  You don’t have to fear anybody stealing your thunder and taking your ideas because nobody generally cares. You’ll hardly ever be under a magnifying glass and that opens you up to new possibilities. Being a number 2, 3 or 4 guy or gal can be a great thing. Knowing that you never want to own the top position puts everything and everyone around you at ease.

You appreciate what you have

When you compete against high-performers, not all high performers will be rewarded which creates a tremendous amount of distaste if you are one of the failures. As an average performer, you no longer have those disappointments, therefore expectations are aligned and you go about your work and enjoy your Happy Hour on the porch.

Let me make a few things clear. You still can be a great performer and passionate individual and still be average. You have to remember that at the end of the day, it’s the experience you take home. All the experiences that life offers, gives you the ability enjoy what you currently have. Being average can leverage the simple things in life you often take for granted and keep you from focusing on being bigger, faster, stronger.

Hey there, it’s been a bit. I took a month or so off to calibrate my life in lieu of a potential event. That event never took place, so I calibrated my life for nothing. Now, I have two Ponies that I don’t know what to do with?

With the help of my faith, I will get through this.

I’m often asked when traveling, “what are five things you can do right now?” That’s a great question. In a hyper, micro world of trying to be extremely efficient - here are five things you can do right now, for the sake of just doing something…..right now.

*These are proven practices that I will speak about in a future blog post.

5. Don’t learn to play the guitar

This world has way too many people who can barely play the guitar. Instead, don’t learn to play the guitar. Sit there and try not to learn any chords. Get up, walk outside and throw an empty beer bottle in the sky.

4. Watch Cannonball Run

That’s it, just watch the movie. After it ends, you’re pretty much able to do whatever.

3. Eat something

The great thing about America is that we have plenty to eat. Eat something from your local farm, or a twinkie that has over 25 ingredients. Either or, you’ve ate something. Starting to get it right?

2. Practice round house kicks with your friends

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s practicing round house kicks boosts moral. It’s a lost art, practice on one of your relatives or a TSA agent.

1. Don’t do anything

I would say that doing things are overrated. Everyone is doing something - stand out and don’t do anything. Just hold still and maybe clap your hands every 30 minutes or so.

It’s this simple folks. Five proven things you can do right now.

For someone that has been in the industry for quite awhile, I’ve never really spent too many hours on a Nut Farm. Shame on me. It’s actually pretty incredible how nuts grow and become….Grown-Up Nuts.

For example, cashews are a tropical plant that produces an apple-like fruit and a nut that grows out of each fruit. The apple, which starts out yellow and becomes red when ripe, is edible and high in vitamin C, but it’s reportedly not that tasty. Also, most cashews are linked to the terrorism group Hezbollah. That’s a shame.

For a quick look at a variety of nuts and their relative growing locations, click here.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to sit back with a Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA and witness my Syracuse Orange basketball team get taken down by the evil Georgetown Hoyas. I had a zen moment. The problem with a Jim Boeheim coached team is that he’s very deliberate, non-innovative and standardized. Everytime you play Syracuse University, you know what to expect. Every, single time. So, I decided to make some changes.

After coming back to realization that my beloved Orange were in fact, defeated, I realized that this is going to be the year that I unleash my imaginative and demiurgic mind. So, I made a list of items that I’m going to hold myself to this year to ignite my innovative inner beast.

Here’s what I came up with.

7. Go Analog

Did you know that sales of LP records have quadrupled since 2007. It’s a powerful reminder that  technology, convenience and accommodation isn’t the only thing people care about. Music, like video and telecommunications, barreled a digital/analog split long ago, and digital won because it’s cheaper, faster, and more convenient. But analog is still around and starting to gain bandwidth as we’re constantly bombarded with digital media. I’ve stopped perusing sites like Facebook, twitter and Stumbleupon for just cerebral amusement.I don’t pull my mobile out when I’m around people and stopped carrying it with me during off work hours. Constantly being connected kickstarted a creative drain in my brain that I’m now reversing, thanks to embracing the beauty and power of analog.

6. Make New Friends

For quite some time now, I’ve had the same group of friends. That’s not a bad thing. Most of my friends are guys and gals that I’ve known since elementary school. The problem, is as we get older we often become extremely comfortable in our surroundings and don’t embrace new people, experiences and opportunities. Over the past year I’ve met some pretty interesting people because I stopped being the ornery business traveler with my face down into my iphone looking at pictures of celebrity sideboobs. Put the phone away, say hello and be earnestly interested in making new friends. You never know, you could be sitting next to Bobcat Goldthwait and not even know it.

5. Listen And Watch Closely To How Young People (Gen Y’ers) Interact

You remember being young and having nobody listen to you right? That feeling of frustration when an elder subset of people feel that you don’t have the experience or wherewithal to make a substantial impact?

Well times have changed.

An entire generation of young people has access to something unprecedented in history: an elaborate and complete ecosystem of services provided by people their own age. When a startup business run by three recent college grads with mustaches can take on a century-old multinational legacy business, it transforms industries. These people know how leverage its enthusiastic peer group, and then grow to rule the world. This is one thing I’ve noticed most Boomers don’t understand and/or care about.

4. Learn A Trade

I’m a self prescribed Generalist. But, there’s nothing wrong with learning new skills and trades. You can prescribe it by saying you’re a “Specialized Generalist”. Having an array of special skill-sets can stage you for success when you’re given new projects at work or home.

3. Turn off your computer. Stand Up. Walk Outside. Run.

If you don’t think that burnin’ some good ole energy outside helps you get your creative juices flowing, you’re probably pretty narrow minded. If possible, I take a run every work day to get me back in the zone. Don’t check out and get disgruntled about “missing out” on something important during a run. The probability and likelihood of anything important happening during such a small time frame is slim to none. It’s actually important to enjoy the process of clearing your mind. Run through the woods, a beach, city blocks or up a mountain.

The benefits of running are well-chronicled. Multiple studies have shown that both habitual and one-time endurance activities can improve brain function. Basically, It makes us smarter. It clears our heads and helps us make better decisions. It helps me personally memorize lyrics to Hall and Oats easier. The great news, it also improves creative thinking, as supported by this study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (Steinberg, et. al., Br J Sports Med 1997;31:240-245 doi:10.1136/bjsm.31.3.240).

2. Close your inbox

This one is pretty self explanatory. Email doesn’t equal work. Work doesn’t equal email. If someone needs to get a hold of you, there’s this new device called the telephone. I’ve been opening my inbox once a day and replying to any pertinent requests. Email can be worse than Facebook, especially if Outlook introduced Farmville.

1. Break Tradition

Try to make everyday different. Eat, listen, act and dress differently. Get rid of tiresome rituals that have crept up on your throughout the years.
Making the next step of development meets a need to put aside traditional culture and experience. Cross-interacting promotes us to advance creatively and intellectually. Traditionally supported society, as usual, is a way of staying the same and missing a chance to change dramatically.

Screw your morning routine.

These unfortunate souls apparently didn’t attend their How To Steal an ATM at Hooters class when they were in college at ITT Tech. So, let me show you the steps on how to Steal an ATM From Hooters. It’s actually quite simple.

1. Cover your face
2. Find a Hooters (*Use your google maps app)
3. Don’t steal Jukebox - very important
4. Steal ATM
5. Leave (Don’t stay and eat chicken wings)

*You can read the amazing article here.