Beyond The Selfie: Loved Ones

October 2022

Oct 03, 2022

Spend Time with Loved Ones

I want to start this with a stunning admission. I am an introvert. I have always been one. I enjoy sitting down with a book and just spending alone time with the material and even more time in quiet with my thoughts. For those of you that follow me, you know that my place of sanctity is my reading nook that I created this year in a corner of my office/studio. It is that place that I go to be alone and I have to say that I love it. On the surface, I would define myself as being most happy while I am alone doing what I love. But the more I evaluate my life and read over my notes in my journal there is something surprising. I notice that almost every time I write down what I enjoyed each day, with a few exceptions, it all centers around spending time someone that I love. It can be something as simple as watching a movie on Netflix with my wife or as exciting as hanging out with my kids. When it comes to pure enjoyment, it is not work or hobbies or passions that make the list. It is spending time with my loved ones.

Fortunately for me, I married the perfect woman for me because she knows when to shut me down and force me to come out of my reading nook to spend some time. Admittingly, I am not always willing to stop what I am doing but after some prodding and nudging I know when I have to give in. This has always proven to be the most enjoyable part of my day.

Here are some of my actual journal entries :

You can see from this that some of the most enjoyable things have been:

🍿Watching Movies with my wife. There are a bunch of movies I can recommend. Most notably Elvis on HBO Max, and The Banker, Mo, and The Model Family on Netflix.

🎳Going bowling with my wife, my daughter and her husband.

🎱Same thing with Billiards. Family Time

🚗Going on a road trip with my wife to Houston TX and spending some time with my sister in law and mother in law.

🍴Trying new places to eat with my wife. FishLips in Port Canaveral, Villa Palma in Cocoa Village, and KISS Lounge and Restaurant in Houston TX.

Now I know that some of you may not be as fortunate as me in that regard. Not all of us are married or in relationships with someone that forces us to look beyond ourselves. But we all have people in our lives that we love. Whether that is our children, parents, friends or significant others, we all have someone that we love. We all must find some time to spend with them. I challenge you to try it.

For some of you, this may already be the normal and that is fantastic. You are a step ahead of others. I am sure that you will have my back on this. But for most of us, finding time to spend with the ones we love can be something that gets pushed to the back burner. We let life get in the way. Maybe for some of you, getting together with family and loved ones can be a source of stress and anxiety because you know with that comes questions and expectations. Maybe some of you have been in bad relationships in the past and are turned off by trusting or loving anyone. I get it. I have been hurt before. I have spent way too much time with people that did not love me back but, I can tell you this, even when I had arguments and disagreements, even when I had been disappointed and been taken advantage of, there were still moments of enjoyment and excitement.

As we close out this year, with the holidays approaching us here in the US, what can you do over the next couple of months to free up some capacity to spend time with your loved ones? Put the phones and the books down. Step away from the computer and just enjoy the company of another person. Your life will be better for it. Modify the selfie. Include others in that photo.

Here are some updates on my journey:

🏗️CURRENT PROJECTS:

🔥New Business Endeavor

Launching this month. Follow me on Twitter to get the latest news when it launches.

💯 100 Days of No Code challenge

I started the challenge on Oct. 1 and will be learning how to use No-Code tools to improve lives and businesses for the next 100 days.

🎬YouTube:

My YouTube Channel has surpassed 10,000 views. Make sure you are subscribed to get the latest tools, books, tips and resources on how you can skill up to improve your life and your business.

🌱Learning:

I have been taking additional courses through O’Reilly and LinkedIn for my own professional development. Courses I have taken include:

AI and Machine Learning
No Code Tools
Video Editing
Microsoft Excel
Power BI

I also did some research on a bunch of speeches and presentations for a template that I am working on.

📚Reading:

Here is a list of what I am reading now:

You Owe You by Eric Thomas
Church 3.0 by Neil Cole
Future Skills by Bernard Marr
Die with Zero by Bill Perkins

For a complete list of all of my readings and book summaries make sure you go to my website My Complete Reading List and Summaries.

🚀My Latest Templates:

I just launched my Self Development Journal Template on Notion. You can check it out here: Self Development Journal Template

I am currently working on the Airtable version.

To access my full list of templates for Airtable and Notion you can visit my website here: My Complete List of Templates for Notion and Airtable

What to expect next?

Next month we will focus on the next step to Live an Extraordinary Life. Step 2: Expand Your Circle of Friends and Network