Bird, Krit’s, Miss, Tay, Clients AND Coldplay…

This week was a beautiful blur.  It started with some great client meetings in Columbus on monday AND a great practice with one of my favorite teams on Tuesday.  By tuesday night I was in my car and driving toward Kansas City.  I listened to Coldplay, Arcade Fire, John Mellencamp, and U2 through the night.  Loved getting lost in song.  I also spoke to a number of family, friends, and clients while traversing through the corn fields of Indiana and Illinois.  When I got tired, I pulled over at the nearest Hilton Garden Inn.  Love those Garden Inns.

Wednesday morning I continued my drive toward KC.  As I drove by St. Louis, I called a friend and former client.  We met just off I-70 for a “stinkin’ AWESOME” 45 minute coffee and catch up.  He fed me a couple potential new clients and I fed him some new BUILT TO LEAD playbooks and some work on his CORE.  Very cool.  We hugged and high fived and agreed to coffee again.  

Back in the car to some more Arcade Fire…toward KC.

I arrived in KC around lunch time and had lunch with another former client turned current friend.  We caught up on all fronts.  Next I headed to the top floor to visit one of my clients.  We had another great time together and worked on a number of problems, discussed some history, covered some people issues, and left with some homework to be done.  Cool.

We went deeper than normal, this client and I, but then again…what is NORMAL?

I left him at about 4pm and headed, you guessed it, back to my car for some more time with myself.  This time nothing but the Kansas countryside for company.  I drove about 45 minutes and lo and behold there was the University of Kansas…again.  I called my best girl Krit’s and she was out of the dorm moments after I arrived.  We hugged and headed out.  Ran some errands, got some apples and headed out for some Sushi.  We met “Big Bird” for dinner.  Bird is a friend from forever.  We met in 5th grade when they consolidated his school into mine.  He was this “stranger” that sat down next to me in our homeroom class and immediately made fun of my “Connie” shoebox.  What was I to keep my supplies in…really!!

We had great fun watching Bird try sushi for the first time.  He had a gagging reaction to his first swallow but he somehow kept it down.  His chicken came just in time.  How funny…

On thursday, after a great workout, Krits and I headed to KC.  She would shop till she dropped…which was NEVER, and I would work with a couple clients.  I told her to enjoy her time shopping.  She replied…”Have FUN with your work.”

I would.

It’s always fun to be a catalyst for another’s growth.  These clients are growing.  Both these guys are long standing clients that are building mass faster than Jose Conseco.  IT’s so much fun to challenge people to grow when they’ve got the bug.  Moving on…

Of course, all these clients are also loaded with FEAR.  We all are, and always will be.  They are simply learning, regardless of the current crisis, that FEAR is tamed through disciplined courage and the greatest source of courage is their LOVE.  FEAR lost some ground as their OPUS continued to edge it out.  I love watching people fall.  Fall in love that is.  There is nothing better than seeing my family, friends, and clients choose OPUS over labor, LOVE over fear, meaning over money, and on and on.  

I walked outside after my opus with my work and headed to my opus in life.  My daughter had just finished her shopping, and we gathered her stuff and headed to dinner.  Dinner was downtown KC and just a short walk to the Sprint center and the concert.

COLDPLAY.

We got there early and sat around and talked about work and life.  Krits wanted to know what my favorite time of life has been.  I told her right NOW.  I told her why.  She asked me some more questions and we took pictures and laughed.  Krits is my OPUS and she knows it.  Very cool.

The concert was amazing.  We even liked the warm up band!!  Of course, Coldplay knocked it out.  They played their entire new album and tons of stuff from their first three records.  We left there at 11pm and headed back to KU.  We stopped at McDonalds for a coke and then said our goodbye’s.  We hugged.  AND, just like that, another memory was made.  Very cool.

Back on the road by midnight, I was off again.  I turned Coldplay up loud in the car and hit the gas.  Now was not the time for slowing down.  I sped off as the rain started to fall.  I made KC by a quarter to one and wasn’t even feeling sleepy.  I played Coldplay all the way through Columbia, Missouri.  I held my breath all the way through that town.  You know why?  That’s where the University of Misery is located…

About 50 miles outside of St. Louis I hit the wall and pulled off to sleep a few hours.  I slept for 3.5 hours and was back on the road again.  This time I mostly talked with clients.  The time flew by.  By just after noon I was pulling into a potential new clients company parking lot.  The CEO and I met for a couple hours and educated each other on our work.  How fun was that!!  We agreed to meet again in January and pick up the conversation where we left it.  I can’t wait.

Friday at 4pm I’m back in the car and headed for our home.  Before I would reach home I would listen to some more U2, a little Foo Fighters and have an hour long session with one of my new clients.  

HOME.

Hugs for Miss and Tay.  And, off to basketball.  We would head to the “Y” and I would feed Taylor some “pumpers” as my Dad used to describe it.  In essence, he would shoot and I would keep feeding him the rock.  We laughed and had a great reunion.  I know, I was only gone since tuesday night, but it was still a reunion.  Miss and I went to dinner and saw family and friends by accident there.  Very cool.  

Very integrated.  Very much a work and play filled week.  This is the BTL way.  We love our work and we love our lives.  We learn to integrate early and often.  Balance is NOT the goal.  Integration is the one you want.

How well did you integrate this week?

Tell me more…