Anything goes Thursday - Nile Kinnick

Nile Kinnick, 1939 Heisman Winner

Hey Lucy,

It is Anything Goes Thursday, and I don't have much, but I got this. Nile Kinnick was a student and a college football player at the University of Iowa. He won the 1939 Heisman Trophy and was a consensus All-American. He died during a training flight while serving as a United States Navy aviator in World War II. 

My good friend Jerry Ellis is a Hawkeye and he recently sent this quote to our Rudy's 360 Men's Group. Nile wrote this in a letter two days before he died:

“How I wish I could sing and play the piano! It is a sad mistake to be the head man in everything you attempt. The axiom ‘If it’s worth doing at all, it’s worth doing well’ has its limitations. Stay on the ball most of the time, but learn to coast between moments of all-out effort.”  

Kinnick's quote reminded me of Kyle and his buddies learning to play the piano after football practice at Yale. Nile seemed to understand, at a young age, that life is short, so stop and smell the roses. While it is wise to be focused and driven towards specific goals, perfection in every area is not something that has to be obtained, especially at the expense of taking time to try new things.

There is also an element of Jim Loehr's teachings in Kinnick's quote. Jim, along with Tony Schwartz, wrote one of my favorite books, The Power of Full Engagement, subtitled 'Managing Energy, not Time is the Key to High Perfomance and Personal Renewal'. Here and below is a great video discussing the importance of recovery rituals and how we keep our four energy forces healthy and full. I bet you can guess what those four energy focuses are? Take nine minutes to watch and think about the video one day soon.

Stay on the ball but learn to coast and recover Lu!

Speaking of, How's your Zoomba class?

Dad

Woman Power Wednesday - LIL!

Hey Lucy. I've got so much good material for Woman Power Wednesday I can't figure out where to go? For example, I want you to know more about your cousin Nancy Senseney, who is Chairman of the Board of Seattle Children's Hospital, the largest pediatric hospital in the nation. I want you to know more about our favorite trainer and friend at Train 4 The Game, Jessica Vaiana who is always posting great inspiration on her social media feeds, in addition to inspiring so many workout enthusiast at the gym. I want you to know more about my bosses, boss - Stephanie Graf, who was recently promoted to Director level at Autodesk and has built a remarkable team of which I am fortunate to be a member. I will save those for another day.

For today, I am going to go with your younger cousin Lilli Smith, who started her Senior Year of high school in Charlotte a week or so ago with a bit of a set back. Lilli, as you know, lost an entire front tooth in a field hockey game. But doctors were able to save the tooth and 'transplant' it back in her mouth! Which makes Lilli, along with your Aunt Gay and your dad, the only family members to proudly own a successful tooth transplant. In the case of Gay and your dad, our transplants were done in the early 70's at Harvard Dental School by Dr. Leanord B. Shulman, who later became head of the dental school. Here's an article I found by Dr. Shulman, titled The Transplantation Antigenicity of Tooth Homografts. You can't make this stuff up!

Go Lil. Woman Power!

Tuesday morning with Coach Dodge

Sent from my iPhone

Stay Whole Tuesday - Another throw back

Hey Lucy,

It was great to see you yesterday! You look amazing. I can tell you are taking care of yourself, getting rest and exercise. My favorite part of brunch was listening to you describe your classes and the interesting differences in your professor who is Buddhist and your professor who is Christian. That is what makes college so special. The world gets a lot bigger, doesn't it? 

Let's stay with the 'throw back' theme and check in on Sally's first Stay Whole Tuesday, September 10, 2010.

I feel like you probably know my favorite sentence by heart?

“When you engage in a work that taps your talent and fuels your passion -- that rises out of a great need in the world that you feel drawn by conscience to meet -- therein lies your voice, your calling, your soul's code.”

When looking around for other 'Stay Whole' material from past Nuggets, I stumbled into this classic post, titled Sally - no more wisdom teeth. 

So only fair that I post a little video from Lucy's wisdom teeth extraction this summer. You are so pretty!

Stay whole Goose,

Dad

Lunch with Lucy May today!

Make it a Great Monday Lucy May

Lucy and her camp friend Emma Isenhart

Morning Sunshine,

Here is what I had to say to Sally on the first Make it a great Monday - September 6, 2010, also a Labor Day:

Hey Sally. "Make it a great Monday." I like that expression. Some people might say, "kick Monday's ass." Same thing. The point is, it is always up to you to start your day, and your week, with a great attitude. It is up to you to take what God is giving you today, and turn it into something good.

And how about this one from Monday, September 10, 2012 - Emily's first day of classes at SCAD. Check out those faces on 'Goose and Georgia'!

Lucy, try to always remember that Mondays are no different than any other day of the week. Oh sure, they may feel a little stressful when thinking about what is ahead. And lots of people will say, "I hate Mondays" but that is a self-defeating, negative-energy way to start the week. Why not Make it a Great Monday, by simply staying positive and saying things like, "I got this!" or "Bring it on world, I am ready." You will be amazed at how that simple 'shift' in attitude / self-talk will help you get your week off on the right foot. Or, if you are left-footed (like Kyle and Sally) on the left foot. Ha!

(For the record, our football teams went 3 and 1 this weekend. Aggies rolled Direction U on Thursday night, Westlake started the season with a nice win on the road, Dawgs destroyed the Governors of Austin Peay (I can only imagine what was said about the name of that opponent on the Dawg Deck), and the Tar Heels rallied late, but could not beat Cal on the road.)

Labor Day Weekend photos from ATX

Kettle bell walk at sunrise, Amazing Grace at St Michael's, and first time at Hatcreek since eBug and I had breakfast with Billy Nachman, the Criquet shirt co-founder. https://criquetshirts.com/

Also, special cousins Stew and Margaret visiting from Dallas. Plus a shot from the farm in Virginia and another special cousin (Godson Thomas Oakey) looking good in Aggie hoodie!

Sent from my iPhone