Friends of Dave #88: Ain't That A Kick In the Head?

Sep 01, 2018

Labor Day Weekend always has a special meaning for me.

Ah, it's the long three day weekend that marks the end of August. Summer is unofficially over. Kids are going back to school (I recently learned it is called "boo hoo, woo hoo" time in some circles due to the mixed feelings parents have). Football season is upon us. And yes, holiday commercials are right around the corner.....

But in our house, Labor Day weekend is different. My wife and I exchanged vows on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend 21 years ago.....and it is crazy how time has flown. When we first got married, the three day weekend offered us the ideal opportunity to celebrate our anniversary by sneaking in one last weekend in at the beach or planning a bonus trip somewhere fun. Then we had children, and soon the weekend became more about getting them ready for school, planning on how to get them the haircuts and outfits that they needed, tracking down last minute supplies and figuring out whether or not a babysitter could be arranged so we could sneak out for a quick dinner. As the kids got older, we found ourselves devoting the long weekend (often times apart) driving to and sitting on fields in various towns and states for marathon Labor Day soccer tournaments (that usually resulted more in sunburns than victory celebrations) or shuttling them to pre-season high school practices and tryouts. And these days, our Labor Days now include the "woo hoos" of college drop offs and their share of "boo hoos" that go along with tuition payments.

When we planned our wedding all those years ago, Labor Day weekend seemed like it would always be the perfect time to just focus on the two of us. But as our lives got more busy and full, it would seem that we were quite naive to think this way -- on the surface, the long weekend at the end of August/beginning of September has been anything but that for most of the last 21 years. But I wouldn't have it any other way -- this will always be my absolute favorite time of year. I'm truly grateful for what life has given me, and the partner that I have with me on this journey. And, to boot, I get an action packed, three day weekend at the end of summer to reflect on this and remind me of how lucky one guy can be. As a fella once said, ain't that a kick in the head?

Enjoy whatever you have planned for your Labor Day weekend, Friends -- whether it be on a beach, a sports field, getting school supplies, or dropping off a kid a college. It sure does go fast, doesn't it? And if you get a chance, please check out some great reads below.

XOXO

Dave

Think on This...

15 Typical Life Problems And How To Solve Them

All of our problems are the same. Problems are forever and we can’t avoid them. Great quick take on how to tackle different types of them when they happen to you.

Ivy League Schools Are Overrated. Send Your Kids Elsewhere.

"I used to think that we needed to create a world where every child had an equal chance to get to the Ivy League. I’ve come to see that what we really need is to create one where you don’t have to go to the Ivy League, or any private college, to get a first-rate education."

Insightful look at the college admissions process and how elite universities are sending brilliant graduates into the world with little ability to manage adversity and think for themselves. Whether you have kids going through process or you manage teams of young professionals, you will find this interesting.

Skim reading is the new normal. The effect on society is profound.

When the reading brain skims texts, we don’t have time to grasp complexity, to understand another’s feelings or to perceive beauty. That leads us to react or draw conclusions without full context -- and ultimately contributes to what divides us.

For Your Day Job...

Distributed teams are rewriting the rules of office(less) politics

For organizations, the single biggest difference between remote and physical teams is the greater dependence on writing to establish the permanence and portability of organizational culture, norms and habits. Writing is different than speaking because it forces concision, deliberation, and structure, and this impacts how politics plays out in remote teams.

It's amazing how much of an impact communication has on politics in a workplace. Great food for thought here as we move to more distributed teams.

Why Doesn’t The Stock Market Care About the News?

Great share by Friend of Dave Franklin Gold this week. Headlines matter very little to investors -- it's the patterns that truly count.

The Future Of Banking: Fintech Or Techfin?

While traditional banking institutions are beginning to embrace the potential of collaboration with FinTech firms, big tech organizations like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple in the U.S. as well as Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent in China may disrupt the entire banking ecosystem right under their noses.