Goal for the summer:

Allow beautiful things to blow the whole structure of the world out of my mind. Sunsets and sunrises, laughter and bird chirping, rock n' roll and fireworks, her smile and night swimming...these things are what really make sense. They should dethrone bills to be paid and ladder climbing.

Comfort and prosperity are the easiest ways for numbness to knit my soul to the world.

If you're looking for the answer to a problem to be your fulfillment then you'll never receive the answer. You can't see right when you're in that mental state.

If you look for God to be your fulfillment in the midst of the problem then you'll find what you were looking for. He wants to be what He was meant to be...the answer. Then the answer may come along as it was meant to be...a blessing.

Whether it's a vital soulmate, a new girlfriend, a reconnection after years, or the fifth conversation of the day...here are a few things I've learned about talking on the phone.

1) Tell stories. Give details. The "what did you do today?" question can either be the beginning of boredom or the source of sharing life with the other person. Lean towards story telling, not the rundown of the schedule.
2) Plan ahead. Whether it's business or pleasure, respect the person's quality of time by thinking through the topics of discussion in your head before you call.
3) Ask good questions. "What's up?" is ok. "How are you feeling now that your project is finished?" shows that you remember what's going on in their life and that you don't always just think about your own.
4) You can call them back. There are times when you have to take a call. However, there aren't as many as you might think. Respect the person you set up lunch with, ran into at the mall, and, for heaven's sake, the cashier by calling what's-his-name back in ten minutes when you can actually focus on one conversation at a time.
5) Texts are efficient and cowardly. They are great for sharing information letting your girlfriend or wife know you're thinking about her as you run in and out of meetings or jump on the plane. However, never try to get a girlfriend or wife by using a text.
6) Send them pictures of things you know they would be interested in. Cameras are on phones now. Use them. Wisely. Tip to remember...Your girlfriend wants to know you're thinking about her. Your bros...not so much.
7) Tone is everything. "Hello" can say anything from "you're an inconvenience right now" to "yo dude you're the man" to "make it quick or I'm going to get mad for no reason" to "hey baby girl I'm your biggest fan." Know what you're sayin'.
8) Sometimes the phone won't cut it. They can't see you and you can't see them. Humans were meant to relate face to face. You know what conversations just need to be over a meal or on a front porch.

"A person's name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language." -Dale Carnegie

We've told ourselves that it's acceptable to never remember the names of people we've just met. I've done it for a long time so I totally get it. However here's what I've realized..."I'm terrible at names," just means, "I'm totally focused on what I'm going to say next so I'm not paying attention to you at all."

Now if the key to being a charismatic person is making others feel important then this is a habit I will be dropping.
Find a method that works for you and join me.
My name is Zac, by the way. Good to meet you.

I you're like me and you love the summer, then you love swimming pools.

However, swimming pools are strange.
They prove how primal all sophisticated humans still really are.
We have the mentality of water buffaloes.
We either wallow around in liquid with twenty people with very little clothing on...or, even better, we sit in a circle with very little clothing on while watching people wallowing in liquid with very little clothing on.

Right now I'm looking at people in a swimming pool imagining how hilarious this scene would be without any water in the pool.

But the pool is full so can-opener or swan dive?

"The hardest one to write is the first one. And it doesn't even have to be good. It just has to be done."
A wise friend said that to me on Wednesday.

And with that I will tell you something that scares me.

I will finish my first book by my 24th birthday.

"All victories are in the mind."

I recently read a great book on leadership.
No steps to success.
No marketing strategies.
Just an intriguing story.
It was actually a kid's sci-fi book called Ender's Game about a boy trying to save Earth from invading aliens.

One take away...observe the game before you play.

"It is the empty tin that rattles most. Be honest. Be loyal. Be kind. Remember that the hardest thing to acquire is the faculty of being unselfish. As a quality it is one of the finest attributes of manliness. Oh, and love the sea, the ringing beach, and the open downs."
-Sir Frederick Treves.

The future.
What is in it and what is not?

Here are two different sources saying the same thing beautifully.

"My bones are straining under the weight of the life I'm not living. Why didn't I treat every time like it was my last time? My greatest regret is how much I believed in the future." -Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

"The Present is the point at which time touches eternity. In a word, the Future is, of all things, the least like eternity. It is the most completely temporal part of time--for the Past is frozen and no longer flows, and the Present is all lit up with eternal rays. We (forces of evil) want a whole race perpetually in pursuit of the rainbow's end, never honest, nor kind, nor happy now, but always using as a mere fuel wherewith to heap the altar of the future every real gift which is offered them in the Present." -The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

So what should I do?
Well, asking that question is a good start. However, I must only ask once and then I must just begin. For even asking a good question for too long becomes a vain pursuit.
Just live.

Today I will.

The Law of Undulation.

You and I move in waves.
Actually, all of life is characterized by continual waves of change because to exist in time means to change.
Change is the only constant.
We have to embrace the waves.

So yeah, peaks and troughs are inevitable.
But you can't live outside the pool.
The only way you can be truly alive is to stop trying to build your dreams and to start living them.



And there are plenty of ways to get in the pool.
The stairs just aren't one of them.

Note to self:
Sunsets keep everything in perspective. Notice them.

Taken by Kyle DeLoach.