New @netflix special with @chrisrock is incredible. 30 minutes in he start talking about porn, marriage and why things fell apart and then gives some great tips for married folks that include the F WORD a few times.

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@craiggross
New @netflix special with @chrisrock is incredible. 30 minutes in he start talking about porn, marriage and why things fell apart and then gives some great tips for married folks that include the F WORD a few times.
Crazy email from an eighth grader about 50 shades. Wish more adults were as smart as this kid.
Five things I learned about Fifty Shades Of Grey blog up on @x3church in the morning but here is my first take on #fiftyshadesfreed
I’m not good at being a mom! 👵
Call Me Maybe...Because I Might Not Get Your Text
You ever sit on a plane and have someone paint their nails next to you?
How about eat a tuna sandwich?
Pass gas? (That's me :) )
Have you ever sat next to someone who has the keyboard sound turned on their phone, so when they type it makes a loud clicking noise?
Have you ever watched a grown man work on his computer but his screen is full of notifications that range from sports scores, twitter updates and “like” notifications from their social?
Have you ever been on a screen sharing conference call with someone who doesn’t turn off his notifications and you get to know that he got 5 text messages while you were conferencing with him/her?
Well, that person is not very productive. How do I know that? Because one cannot focus with endless distractions and that is what notifications are.
Have you ever been in a business meeting or a lunch with a friend and they can’t put their phone down for the entire meeting or the entire meal?
Have you ever tried to turn off all your notifications on your computer? I'm not talking about “do not disturb” temporarily. I'm talking about turning everything off that dings or pops up at any given time. I turned them all off on my mac-it takes some time to go down the lists of all the apps to make it work. You also have to go inside a lot of the apps themselves and then turn them off.
I don't like Facebook notifications or any social notifications ever. Never.
I recently asked my friend Aaron who works at Apple, "How do I turn off text message or iMessage on my phone?"
He was confused why and I told him. I want to go back to the days of an answering machine where you used to return calls when you got home and could listen to the message. I wanted to get away from the expectation to return a text instantly. Aaron laughed and tried 3-4 things and they didn't work and then he discovered with two-step authentication you have to text on your phone so disabling from your carrier is not an option plus I want text messages on my computer so when I am working on my computer I can text or email but I don't want text while on my phone.
That text ding takes you away and your focus from who you are with. Even if you just read the text and don't respond, it takes your attention away from being present and gets you to think of the message and response.
A few minutes later, Aaron smiled and said he had it.
It's under notifications not under messages.
Here is screen.
I turned it off.
My messages are still there but they don’t have a red number next to them and no ding. I removed the message app from my home screen so I don't look at them while on my phone. When I get to my computer, I know that is the time when I can start going through them and doing some undistracted work.
My point.
We live in a world where Amazon delivers you anything you want in a day, most other business can't match that.
We live in a world where everyone is connected on social and watching everyone else's lives at the expense of missing out on their own.
We live in a world where we are recording all our moments and missing those moments in order to capture those moments for someone else to watch on a screen instead of live their life.
We live in a world where no one calls anyone anymore but emojis and text have replaced phone calls.
We live in a world where most people don't even turn off their phones to sleep.
We live in a world where people check their phones an average of 110 times a day and touch our phones over 2617 times a day (by every interaction, I mean every tap, type, swipe and click).
This article is great and talks about why we're all addicted to Texts, Twitter and Google?
Dopamine makes you addicted to seeking information in an endless loop.
I loved this part in the article
Dopamine loops — With the internet, twitter, and texting you now have almost instant gratification of your desire to seek. Want to talk to someone right away? Send a text and they respond in a few seconds. Want to look up some information? Just type your request into google. Want to see what your colleagues are up to? Go to Linked In. It's easy to get in a dopamine induced loop. Dopamine starts you seeking, then you get rewarded for the seeking which makes you seek more. It becomes harder and harder to stop looking at email, stop texting, or stop checking your cell phone to see if you have a message or a new text.
So I made some changes recently. Here are a few:
Call me if you want to talk.
If it's work, I'll get to in when I am in front of a computer working. Those hours are all over the place but when I am focused and in front of a computer, I can respond via Basecamp, text and email. None of those things ding or pop-up but I do check them while I'm working.
My daughter sorted my apps by color, which has helped if you want to spend less time on your phone. Everything is so hard to find, so I give up sometimes.
I moved anything not crucial off my phone’s home screen menu, so when I turn on my phone I’m not tempted to look at anything.
I don't have the Facebook app on my phone, Twitter bores me and I enjoy Instagram while on the toilet .
My family and I got a private text messaging app for just us that we use to communicate if they don't want to talk.
I don’t have a home line at my house but if I did I would share my number so you could leave me a message on my answering machine. You do what you want with your phones but this is my experiment. Try something new though because what we are doing with technology isn’t working.
Craig
P.S - Anyone seen this or got theirs yet?
P. P.S - Anyone watch What The Health documentary yet? INCREDIBLE - That has nothing to do with my post but just watched it and was blown away.
Get Off Social Media and Call Someone Already!
My friend says that sometimes my tweets on Twitter make him cringe. So, Levi, this might be one of those cringing moments.
Yesterday was my birthday. 41 is no 40, so nothing monumental. I didn’t get on Facebook all day. Like most days, I actually don’t spend time on Facebook. I enjoy Instagram more than Facebook and Twitter and I am not on Snapchat. Facebook has too much noise for me and I’m not that interested. At midnight last night, I said to Jeanette, “My mom didn’t call me today” and then I said, “ I bet she said Happy Birthday on Facebook.”
Facebook reminds you of your memories, your year in review and any of your friends birthdays.
One sign that you had a great birthday…you are not on social media.
One sign that the world we are living in is not better off than the landline days of pre-internet...we replace real interactions, real phone calls and face to face interactions with texts, emojis and facebook messages.
One of my favorites is when people post HAPPY BIRTHDAY on Facebook to someone that is not even on Facebook.
My mom used to get mad at me if I didn’t send an actual card on a holiday or birthday, even though I would call. She wanted a card.
I get it and think hand written notes and cards mean more now than they did even 10 years ago. My mom actually did send me a Happy Birthday wish on Facebook yesterday, but didn’t call me. I did see her the day before and gave me a nice card and shirt so this is not a bash on my mom post.
I just laughed because the thing that made her birthday so special this past year was that my adopted brother actually called her on the phone. So, she went from really wanting a card from us to being over the moon about a phone call.
My wife just sent her friend a birthday card in the mail and her friend said, “You are officially the only person that sent me a Birthday card this year for my Birthday."
A card now makes you the best friend in the world?
A phone call can make your mom's day?
My son had a team soccer party the other night. About eight boys that are 13 or 14 years old hanging and eating at a pizza place. They made it to the semi- finals and had a great season. The party was not really a party. The party was every boy on his iPhone staring at the screen instead of hanging with their teammates. My wife left after the coach made a speech and honored each player because Nolan isn’t allowed to be on his phone during social times. She was a little irritated that no other parent had told their kids to actually have human contact with other humans in the room. So, she left.
I wrote about our family rule here - http://www.craiggross.com/post/107977555521/why-my-kids-cant-play-on-their-ipodsphones-when
I wrote about other things I don’t like about Facebook here http://www.craiggross.com/post/120574705996/i-dont-hate-everyone-on-facebook
In the end. It’s the holidays.
Go buy a card.
Go dial NOT text a friend or family member.
Go get on a plane and see someone face to face.
Get your butt off Facebook and stop playing with those new emoji updates.
Doing simple things today go so much further than they used to because no one does them. That doesn’t mean YOU can’t.
Craig
I am Christian But I Don’t Talk Like One
I’m a Christian but I don’t talk like one. I hope that sounds OK.
I don’t say things like:
I’m praying for Jesus to show me my next move.“
"I’m waiting on the Lord.”
I don’t sign my emails, “In Christ.“
I don’t pray before every meal.
I don’t like how a lot of people who claim to love Jesus talk about Jesus. They have a hard time understanding how Jesus speaks to people and only want to hear the things they want to hear from Jesus.
My wife hears from the Lord, a lot. That might sound strange for you to hear and even unbelievable to many, but not to me. Sometimes, she feels things and she will tell me. I always encourage her to share things but she is not one to share something with someone if it is not asked of her.
The Bibles says "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me”
When you pray and ask God to reveal something to you or ask God to show you something and then you get a feeling in your gut or what I would call “spirit” that gives you clear direction or something specific, I believe that is God speaking to you.
I don’t know how he speaks to you but the bible says “My sheep hear my voice.”
I think sometimes that can be clear things that are directly related to things you have asked the Lord for or sometimes maybe God just shares with you something. I have heard my wife say “women’s intuition” a bunch of times. We are used to hearing things like that today and no one blinks but why don’t we take the Bible as truth and be bold and say “God showed me that”.
Do we believe God speaks audibly to people today? I don’t rule it out but have yet to hear God pop in audibly through my speakers or headphones.
Do we believe God speaks to people through people? Absolutely!
The Bible wasn’t penned by God. Think about it…it was inspired by God and written by people who heard from God and then spoke it or wrote it down.
Same thing in 2016.
"Hey Bill…my wife just did this and I am hurt. I don’t know what to do and I am praying, asking God to show me.”
“Hey Jack, thanks for sharing. I’ll pray for you.” This is the common christian response.
Do you pray for Jack?
If you do and you hear from God on what Jack needs to do or something clear from the Lord for Jack, what do you do?
Me- I tell Jack what I heard from God.
Most people- Keep it to yourself because how about if it makes Jack uncomfortable? How about if this is hard for Jack to hear? How about if this is not what Jack will want to hear?
So, you tell Jack and Jack says I’m going to keep praying and see what the Lord shows me.
Why would the Lord reveal more to you when you won’t listen to what he has already told you? How can you sit in prayer to God all the while ignoring what you know he already told you?
Here is why…because it is hard to hear anything you don’t want to hear and in our Christianize make believe world we often tune out the voices around us in exchange for waiting to hear straight from God. We don’t respond until what we hear from God is exactly what we want to hear from him. Half the time I would say we manipulate those things to make them fit what it is we really want.
Jesus works and speaks through people, starting from the very beginning of time. What makes you think it’s not how He still works?
UBER - It’s Not A Job or Is It?
I heard a commercial for UBER the other day and it says “Uber is Not a Job.”
My wife and I headed to the Hollywood Bowl last Sunday night to see the artist Bon Iver play. Parking sucks there, so we called an UBER. A young man picked us up who was maybe 20 years old, we actually wondered how long he had been driving because he looked so young. We found out he is a part-time college student who was going to stop driving that night at 9:00pm so he could study for a test on Monday. From the moment we got into his Camry, his music was louder than normal and was on a rap playlist from his phone, not my phone.
The word fuck played through the speakers a few times and then his phone rang. He took the call and thankfully shut the music off because if he hadn’t, his conversation would have played through the car speakers. The call dropped twice and so the third time he answered the call on speaker phone (which is not allowed while driving) and continued to talk. He then sent a quick text message to his friend saying he would meet up later in the evening. The music came back on and it was some song with the line, “I want to fuck you on the first date.” I laughed. He was driving two middle aged white folks to a low key Bon Iver concert blasting a song with the lyrics, "I want to fuck you on the first date.” I said jokingly while trying to make it obvious, “Does this say I want to fuck you on the first date?” He laughed and said, “Yes, sorry about my music-I just like the beat." I told him no worries and asked later on, “Do you play this on your dates?" He laughed and I said I would make sure to play the songs for my kids, since it was so enjoyable.
We got to the show and Jeanette and I talked about it.
We live in Los Angeles and we have seen so many young adults move here to be actors, performers and work at Starbucks? A lot of them. You don’t meet people who say they moved to Hollywood to work at Starbucks. I believe UBER and Lyft are creating an even more toxic work culture for the youth of today than Starbucks. Now, I can’t say this first hand from personal experience, but I know several people who talk about how miserable it is/was to work at Starbucks. Not because the company as a whole was bad to their employees, but because no ones real passion is to work at Starbucks.
UBER's marketing - “It’s not a job” is the quote that attracts the 20 something crowd that kind of wants to work but it’s on his or her terms. I believe that quote could end up bankrupting the company eventually. When kids don’t treat a job like a job, the customer will never be happy. UBER has the ability for me to play my Spotify through my UBER drivers car. Why? Because I am the customer and he/she is the driver and the music should be my choice, not theirs. UBER has the tools and capabilities for this but they don’t have the bought in mind set from their young drivers that don’t treat it like a job. Drivers have some great flexibilities in when they want to work and not work but in the end when they put that sticker on their car that says UBER, they need to treat it like a job. Imagine if you rented a black car from a car service. They would meet you at your front door, open your car door, load your luggage into their trunk, have water for you and have the climate of the car exactly perfect or ask what you want it to be. They would not take incoming phone calls, play their music or do anything unprofessional. Sound fair? Some of you say, “Then get a black car from a car service...you called UBER…you get what you pay for.” I say you are wrong. Whether you pull up to my house in a limo, black car or Prius. You are getting paid to drive me from point A to point B. UBER is sending that driver a check and on their 1099 tax form it will say UBER as their employer. UBER is a job and should be treated like a job. Yes, it is a different job than your parents had and it comes with some extreme flexibilities and advantages over a traditional job. Driving UBER might put you through college or subsidize your income while breaking into Hollywood or help pay down debt. It might not be what the driver ultimately wants to do, but it is helping them accomplish something and that is why they are driving and that is why they should treat it like it could be taken away from them.
This post is not about UBER or Starbucks but rather about a generation of kids that don’t want to work. They don’t want to work for someone else. They don’t want to be told what to do. I am one of those but a bit older. I worked for other people earlier in life and now I have created a different kind of work space for our organization. I don’t take my work freedom for granted-rather I know how things were and how things are now and I am extremely grateful for this kind of work environment. We don’t have any offices for our organization.
We don’t have time clocks and office hours and we don’t have two people on staff who live in the same city or state. It works for some of us but not all of us. It’s still work and it's still a job.
Ryan loves mornings.
I love evenings.
Michelle is East Coast and Jeanette is West Coast.
I go to the gym from 8:45-9:45am most mornings when I can, so I work before and after but take a break to workout. Someone on our staff said, “Must be nice to go to the gym in the morning.” I told them they can go to the gym whenever they want-just go and get in your car. I have no rules that say they can’t-they just have to know their schedule and what they have time for and plan accordingly.
Ultimately, jobs don’t work if you don’t treat it like job. I feel like we’ve sold out when we say things like UBER is a not a job. How does UBER think its drivers are going to care for its customers if they don’t see their driving as a job. It will never work and these kids need a dose of reality that jobs are not given-jobs are earned and should not be taken lightly.
Let’s close this with a quote from my least favorite basketball player of all time - Lebron James. I just watched his show “Cleveland Hustles” and enjoyed that a lot more than watching him play basketball and each show opens with this.
"In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have."
My Travel Rant
This post/rant is only for those who travel. If you don’t travel for business, this blog might bore you and you may think this post sounds entitled or even a bit spoiled. Those who travel will get it. If you want to learn how to travel HACK, check out this blog - http://learntravelhacking.com/
Here it goes….
Traveling takes years off your life. My friend, David Dean, has agreed on this. The grind of the airport, the waiting, the flights and the delays. We often joke as speakers that you don’t pay us for the 1 hour on stage-you are paying for the 2 days of travel it often takes to get to one place via plane. Friends that don’t travel always think it’s strange that I would rather drive then fly. I can leave on my time and return when I want to and there are never any delays. If I drive somewhere in 7 hours or less, I will do that any day of the week than hop on a plane. Even though on paper it could only take an hour via plane. So with that, here are some thoughts on flying/traveling when it comes to rewards and loyalty programs.
If you are going to travel for your job, I would at least recommend you trying to stick with a hotel chain of your choice and be in charge of booking your own hotel rooms instead of somebody else booking the hotels. Let me start with hotels, then I will get to airlines and then cars.
Hotels
I am a Starwood guy. My friend Eric is a Marriott guy and the other big option is Hilton. I can speak on Starwood, which I have platinum status on. If you are going to travel and spend nights in a hotel, pick one brand of hotels and try and just stay at their properties.
Starwood has Four Points, Sheraton, Westin, The W, Element, Aloft, Le Meridien and The St Regis. I like the Aloft and W hotels just for the look and feel of the places. If you have gold status, which is pretty easy to get with an AMEX from Starwood, you get 4pm check-out at all hotels. This is great because it seems like check-outs are getting earlier and earlier and it’s less stressful on the traveler. When you have platinum status, you get the same 4pm check-out and you don’t ever pay for Wifi. On paper, it says you get automatically upgraded to the best room/suite that the hotel has. Plus you get free breakfast for 2 in the morning, a welcome gift or extra points.
If you have stayed at one of their hotels for 75 nights in a year, you get 10 automatic suite upgrades and you can stay for 24 hours. So, if you want to check-in at 6am for your stay, you can. Their reward program is pretty great. You get points every time you book and like I said I have an AMEX for Starwood that racks up points.
You can even transfer points from any American Express account for Starwood. I can make all reservations for my hotel rooms and staff under my name and the day of just add someone on our team name to the reservation and I don’t ever have to go. I keep racking points even if I am not traveling and that person gets the benefits of the upgraded room, breakfast, etc.
If you stay 100 nights in a year, that gets you an Ambassador. I had this in 2015, which gets you an “AMBASSADOR” from starwood that handles all your reservations and is your contact for everything Starwood. This is a nice perk but really since the hotels are all owned individually, your ambassador can’t do that much.
Marriott Hotels are generally not that great. Nowhere as nice as Starwood hotels but their points program is easier to gain free nights than Starwood. But to go to a higher level tier in Marriott is very hard and rare. Marriott just merged with Starwood and in 2018 will have a joint program, which who knows how that will look.
For now, your status on either hotel is matched by the other for 2016-2017, which is cool. I don’t know much on Hilton as I have never got more then silver with them. Starwood and all these I listed let you get more points by hooking up rental car companies and even Uber to your account.
My only beef that bothers me about Starwood is that on paper their rewards benefits are better than anyone, but sometimes that paper doesn’t matter. All of their hotels are privately owned and so they only share a few of the same benefits. Some may have the 24 hour check-in rule, while others don’t. Or you are supposed to get a room upgrade to a suite automatically and they all of a sudden don’t have any suites available (but it says I can book it online). I can’t tell you how many times this happens, even when I have an ambassador to fight for me, it doesn’t matter. You have to be firm and kind of make a scene every time you check-in. It goes something like this:
"I’m here to check in."
"Okay Mr. Gross, we have upgraded your room to a higher room with a view."
"Cool, were their no suites available?"
"Ya, we are sold out."
"I am on the SPG app right now and it shows me that you have 3 different suites available for tonight only and I am only in one night, why didn’t I get the upgrade to one of those?"
"Oh! Our system is updated more than the app."
"Really...how is that since you have no suites but I can purchase one on the app right now and you say you don’t have it."
"Ya, we are sold out on suites."
"Really...it is Tuesday night at 10pm, are you really sold out? Or you just don’t want to give me the upgrade and you want to sell the room instead? Isn’t your policy that I should get the best room available?"
"Yes that is Starwood’s policy but we don’t have it."
"Can I speak with a manager?"
“Okay...let me look…OH guess what I just found!!! A suite. Sorry about that."
That has happened 30 plus times to me. Less that 5% of the time do I get an email saying I have been automatically upgraded like I should. You have to fight for things that are promised and when I am tired of fighting, I will call my ambassador and she will get on the phone and fight with them. If you are too passive and nice they will just lie to you over and over and over. I wish the hotels, which are independently owned, would value the top tier loyal customers.
Now, on busy weekends or holidays when they are truly sold out, don’t expect the upgrade or if you are staying multiple nights in a row it is tougher. One last thing…you can’t use Expedia or other sites to book hotel rooms anymore, you have to book directly on the hotel chains app or website for ALL the upgrades-this is key.
I have been with Starwood for over 10 years and 2 times out of 400’s of stays, I have been upgraded to the Penthouse Suite. Once in San Diego with my family and once in Beverly Hills. This is amazing and technically on paper should happen more but just 2 times. They get a bit stingy now with the suites they upgrade you to and most of the time just upgrade you to the next tier of room not the highest tier like their program states.
Expedia.com
Let me just explain Expedia, which I use a lot for my travel and others on our team do as well. It's a great site and super easy to use. Their rewards program is garbage. You get $100 towards travel for every $10,000 you spend or something crazy...hardly worth it. The reason you have to stop using Expedia.com and similar sites is because airlines and hotels treat you more like crap when you book on these sites. I have gold status with Delta and I booked my mom and I on Delta for a recent trip with Ron Jeremy for a debate. I tried to select a seat and Delta, even though I have gold status, said the fares on Expedia don’t come with seat assignments. You have to wait to get to the gate to get a seat. That is crap. You hotel rooms and flights are not eligible for upgrades if you book from these sites as well. Use expedia.com and find the cheapest fare and then go book directly with the airline. On the flight home with my mom, the Delta plane was broke and there were only 54 out of 152 seats taken. So many empty seats in comfort and first class and even though I am gold, they would not upgrade me because I bought my ticket on-you guessed it-Expedia. So, the airlines don’t value the loyalty of the customer, they just care how much you paid for the flight.
Airfare
All the airlines used to be way more amazing than they are now. Since travel is so tough, I no longer care about getting upgraded or if my luggage is free. The biggest thing I look for when booking flights is who can get me there on a direct flight with no stops. If I don’t have to change flights, I will pick that flight. Recently, I flew SPIRIT (the worst airline imaginable..well, maybe a tie with Allegiant and US AIRWAYS) because they did direct from LAX to New Orleans. If I can’t get direct, then I will look at Burbank. Burbank and smaller airports are so much better than huge airports like Atlanta or LAX. Everything is easier.
If I have to pick two airlines to talk about, I am going to go with Southwest and Delta. Here is why:
Southwest is still the best airline when it comes to being most friendly. Many people don’t like the cattle call for boarding but since when is getting on the plane early really that great? If you check-in to your flight 24 hours in advance, you will get a decent boarding pass number and won’t get stuck with a middle seat. If you wait too late to check-in- you are screwed and sit in the middle. Their rewards program used to be amazing. It used to be based on trips taken, not distance flown. So, a trip from LAX to LAS VEGAS was worth the same amount as a trip from LAX to NYC. There are still some great benefits left, like no change fees and 2 bags fly free. Even though I will never check bags when flying. Get a smaller suitcase and never pack multiple bags, ever. Way too many problems. One of the coolest things with Southwest, unlike many other airlines, if you get a Southwest Visa card from Chase you get 50K miles plus 10K as a bonus. You only need to rack up 50K more miles and you get a companion pass from Southwest for the whole next calendar year. Let me explain. I got the Chase card and had a huge number of purchases I was making on a credit card and earned a companion pass in 2 months. I don’t even have A-list on Southwest right now which tells you I don’t fly with them a ton but I earned a companion pass for the rest of this year and the whole 2017 year. Anywhere I fly on Southwest, a companion flies free with me. I can change that person up to three times a year and it's all done online. Pretty awesome! No strings attached and super easy to book. Nothing else like this with any airline. One more thing-their in-flight internet is $8, which is cheaper than any other airline.
You can’t find a better airline than Southwest. Even how they fly is smarter than any airline. You don’t stop in hubs out of the way you stop at places that are on the way to your destination most of the time making for shorter trips.
Moving on to Delta. After I earned the Southwest companion pass, I thought let me work on Delta since Southwest doesn’t fly everywhere. I would use Delta as my back-up. The American Express Delta card says it gives you 50K points and gold status. I signed up for that card and got the 50K points, which will get you two roundtrip tickets anywhere in the USA and gold status. I get that because Starwood hotels are independently owned that they may not fully participate in the rewards program. Delta owns all their flights, so this is why I have a bigger problem with Delta.
I am flying tonight at midnight. Gold status says 3 days prior to your flight, you can be upgraded to First Class on a fare you purchase. It also says that upon booking, you get upgraded immediately to Delta Comfort Plus. I bought the ticket and Comfort Plus was not an option. It's not first class but the next section of the plane where there is more leg room. Delta doesn’t care that you have status, all they care about is how much you paid for your ticket and if someone else paid more. The higher priced ticket would get the upgrade first. Comfort Plus is now it’s own category, which is hilarious. It's not that nice and inches more of leg room and now it is it’s own category.
*Update-on a Delta plane today. Booked on Delta.com and was upgraded to Comfort Plus-big deal. When asked about First Class, I was #10 of 27 on upgrade list for first class. Seems like a lot of us got that AMEX and have zero chance ever of getting upgraded.
*Update from yesterday -Flew from Raleigh Durham to LAX and was magically upgraded to First Class. This is not that popular of a flight and was shocked when I got that. First time I have been upgraded so far on Delta.
Other Airlines
Never fly American. Horrible and their planes are like Holiday Inn’s from 1984.
I love Jetblue and Virgin. They do things right and non stops across the country or over to Australia on Virgin is pretty awesome.
Rental Cars
Out of the major players, the only one I ever want to deal with is Hertz. All the others ones make you wait in line, fill out paper, talk to your new best friend at Enterprise and so on. Sign up for Hertz Gold membership and your car is waiting for you.
If you want to avoid the major players, I have used this company once and was awesome!
A few more things….
• If you want to fly First Class and know you will never get upgraded, email this guy-Gary Ginzburg at [email protected]. He has a great way of offering first class tickets for CHEAP. The way he does it is brilliant and I used him only once to fly to Australia for the weekend because I had to get some sleep on that flight.
• The Travel Hack blog is great. I get the emails from this guy and find out the best ways to earn points-http://learntravelhacking.com/
Is College a Waste of Time?
I recently finished There is Life After College by Jeffrey J. Sellingo. I have said I believe College is a waste of time for 90% of kids today. In this book, it is nice to not just hear opinions but data supporting a lot of this thought. Here are some thoughts and things that stood out. These are just raw notes below the book is an amazing read.
College diploma is the new High school diploma.
Kids are starting work later in life and also going to work later into their life
A Masters Degree is the new Bachelors.
It takes till 30 years old till a College student today lands on their own two feet.
College in the future will be a starting platform for life long learning that we step on and off of as we need it with a wider array of provides offering short and long term courses
The timetable to adulthood is taking longer than ever before and this 18-25 time frame is called EMERGING ADULTHOOD.
Kids need a business plan for life that engages their talents and interested
Best time to take risks in early 20’s and the reward will be higher.
Three types of Kids Today
Sprinters start fast and lazer focused on what they want to do. No student loan debt normally so money doesn’t hold them back. Unafraid to change jobs.
Wanderers take jobs unrelated to their majors. Some have a plan but lack clarity.
Stragglers don’t go to college or don’t finish. If went to college not focused and didn’t do an internship.
College is taught but students are not learning. Kids need to learn not just be taught.
Relationships you make in College more important than textbooks you study.
Have to take college serious if you go.
Most people gained no knew knowledge in things they were taught in college.
Don’t see college as a four year vacation. If you don’t finish College.. DON’T GO.
Most people gained no new knowledge in things they were taught.
Companies would rather hire kids from a failed startup then just a 4 year college because they have experience failing.
Top skills needed in the workforce today.
Communication
Organization
Writing
Detailed oriented
Understanding of Spreadsheets and data
What’s more important than College?
Curiosity
Creativity
Grit
Digital awareness
Learner for life
Ask questions
School kills kids asking questions because they are rewarded for answers not questions . Pre-k kids ask 100 questions a day.
Adults need to realize learning is self directed but school kills this.
New working world is unstructured.
People know how to take a class but need to know how to learn.
Being able to get stuff done is important.
Need to constantly be asking what is next.
Can't run a business without being curiosity.
Employers want to know:
Books read
Movies watched
Places traveled
Want to see your curious
Take risks
Work in teams and multi task
A ton of College graduates lack commitment and drive.
Drive to win
Overcome failure
A will to win.
Passion and proficiency to go deep. Well rounded students don't focus. Need to focus and go deep
Jack of all trades not important into today's workplace
Best employees are problem solvers
Think on their feet
Problem solving
Decisions making and priorities most college kids lack. Decision were made for them so they can't pull the trigger and make their own
Fill every minute of schedule for your kids will screw up your kids.
“A” is the most common grade given on college campuses Students don't experience failure .
Every job is a tech job
Even non technical jobs are tech jobs
Need to not just use tech but be active with TECH
Employees who can cope with unknown on daily basis will survive.
Excelling at any jobs is about doing the things you were not asked to do
Kids need ability to hear negative feedback. Not everyone gets a trophy or a raise.
Employees just can't only text. Have to communicate.
Kids today can't get to their point quick enough.
We like to learn by doing
Have to learn…Unlearn …Relearn
Tradition is biggest obstacle to change
Talk from this past weekend!
My Name Is Craig and Can You Join My Pyramid Scheme?
If I opened my conversation like this title in this blog, you would run away as fast as you could. I remember hearing from a friend I knew when I was 14, 10 years later. He called and I was happy to hear from him. We met up at a “meeting”. I soon found out it was an Amway meeting. I was so pissed. I was now just a contact on his list and he had no intention of hanging out he just wanted to put me under his account and suck me into Amway.
Amway has great products though right? It’s just the people that sell it to you are so annoying and no one wants to be involved a pyramid scheme. That is what I thought but something has changed and this blog post will piss off quite a few women because guess what you are all involved in the new pyramid scheme of the internet except you just don’t know it.
Let me explain.
This blog is for husbands. Thank me lady for saving you a ton of cash and for the wives that don’t understand what they have got themselves into online. Yes, women you are joining more and more pyramid schemes then ever before and most of you don’t even know it.
Let me get into the big ones. Before you beat me up, I am not saying some of these products are not good. Remember, Amway has good products but it is still a pyramid scheme and so are these.
Now you can google “Multi Level Marketing” and see for yourself the biggest ones out there. For the sake of this blog, I am only going to talk about the ones my wife got sucked into before I pulled the plug on this crap. Plus one bonus one.
Essential Oils - The two biggest ones that are the most overpriced and biggest scams - YOUNG LIVING and doTERRA oils.
My wife got sold doTerra from a friend who “will sell to her at wholesale”. Her friend doesn’t need to make money with this, just wants to sell enough of this product so she can get her products for free. This is the latest out there with women. They don’t want to be annoying sales people like the old Amway or Mary Kay ladies but they did make an investment in their starter kit and do need to post on facebook and message all their friends to by this product each month. So, my wife started with these and personally I was not a fan. These are not cheap and there is no data whatsoever that any of this stuff works. She swears by these oils now and I hear so many women talking about them. Here is the real facts ladies.
I asked my wife why do we have to buy from your friend and not on amazon?
She said “doTERRA are CPTG”. Whatever that means.
Here is what that means.
doTERRA was claiming that their products were certified as therapeutic grade by the FDA and that they show a seal with registered trademark CPTG (Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade) as proof. In fact the CPTG trademark is one that doTERRA created and has nothing to do with the FDA at all.
This is brilliant marketing. doTERRA just trademarked the term Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade but never filed anything with the FDA.
You can trademark any slogan you want if it is available. I could trademark “World’s Best Cupcake Maker” that doesn’t mean there is any truth to that. doTERRA just uses that in their marketing to be able to charge an insane price on their stuff.
Don’t believe me? They got enough heat over this they posted this on their website.
Q: doTERRA's essential oils are trademarked as "CPTG Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade™". What does this term mean, and what evidence is there to prove the efficacy and purity of your oils?
A: doTERRA's essential oils are trademarked and registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office as CPTG Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade™. This term means that our essential oils will always maintain the highest quality standard in therapeutic grade essential oils for purity and efficacy.
A research article here says the following:
CERTIFIED PURE THERAPEUTIC GRADE: This is a relatively new trademark by a multi-level marketing company. It gives the appearance of being approved by some kind of higher authority and it has been said that the company states it is a FDA approved to use this label. According to Elston (2009), 'This registered word mark has not been provided to them by the FDA as they claim and is meaningless in proving that an outside certifying body has declared or designated that DoTERRA's essential oils are certified pure therapeutic grade. DoTERRA, LLC owns the right to exclusive use of the mark (however not the exclusive right to the actual words 'Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade' which is revealing). This seal or word mark is nothing more than a commercial trademark that they have registered and paid a fee for."
This is just a trick and one reason this company is a scam.
If something can actually help you with a condition it can be certified with the FDA. Think of Vitamin D. doTERRA has never gone through the process with the FDA because they don’t believe their products can actually live up to what they market.
If a product can help with a condition, it can be certified with the FDA just like calcium and vitamin D are for bone health. It doesn't look like doTERRA has gone through the process which tells me they don’t believe in their product to prove the claims.
But they sell it? How.
They provide the ladies who sell this so much information about how great it is and then they are excited to sell it so they get it for free. Young Living is even more overpriced but both company have had letters from the FDA warning them about their marketing.
So, nothing is certified or better with their products except for their great marketing which is a scam. Sadly, this will now hurt your friendships when you call your best friend and say stop selling me this crap, I will just go buy it on amazon.
Still don’t believe me. Look here.
4 oz bottle of Lavender from amazon $12.99 -
15 mil of lavender from doTERRA $23.10 -
I showed this to my wife and she said “I don’t mind paying a little but more it helps a friend.”
Then I had to get out the calculator.
There are roughly 30 ML in an ounce. So, lavender from amazon I can get 120 ML for 12.99 vs 15 ML for 23 bucks. That is 10 times cheaper!!!!!! and you don’t have to wait for your friend to place her order. You can get it on amazon prime or your local Whole Foods and not be in a pyramid scheme.
So, this debate is still not going to solve the question.. do these oils even work? I am still not sure. But if you have to have them at least buy them from your local grocery store not your friend on Facebook whose in pyramid scheme.
Plexus Slim and ALL Plexus Products
Wow! Thankfully, my wife didn’t get sucked into this one but many of her friends have. Here is why…
FAKE REVIEWS.
"Is [insert product] for real? We have the truth. [Insert a bunch of misleading claims about said product.] Yes [insert product] 'works.' Now go buy it from me here! [Or alternatively, join my system to build your BUSINESS here]"
This company promotes everything from weight loss crap to pretty much products that will change your life. Except.. the FDA has an issue with them as well - READ BELOW
"Your Fast Relief, ProBio5 and BioCleanse are not generally recognized as safe and effective for the above referenced uses and, therefore, the products are “new drugs” under section 201(p) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 321(p)]. New drugs may not be legally introduced or delivered for introduction into interstate commerce without prior approval from FDA, as described in section 505(a) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 355(a)]; see also section 301(d) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 331(d)]. The FDA approves a new drug on the basis of scientific data submitted by a drug sponsor to demonstrate that the drug is safe and effective.
Furthermore, your Fast Relief, ProBio5 and BioCleanse are offered for conditions that are not amenable to self-diagnosis and treatment by individuals who are not medical practitioners; therefore, adequate directions for use cannot be written so that a layperson can use these drugs safely for their intended purposes. Thus, these drugs are misbranded under section 502(f)(1) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 352(f)(1)] in that their labeling fails to bear adequate directions for use. The introduction of a misbranded drug into interstate commerce is a violation of section 301(a) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 331(a)].
The violations cited in this letter are not intended to be an all-inclusive list of violations that exist in connection with your products. You are responsible for investigating and determining the causes of the violations identified above and for preventing their recurrence or the occurrence of other violations. It is your responsibility to ensure that all products marketed by your firm comply with all requirements of federal law and FDA regulations."
What that says is they are illegally marketing these products as drugs which they are not.
Come to find out these products unlike the oils, can cause MAJOR problems to your health.
These products have been BANNED from Amazon but your best friend on Facebook is promoting it to you. Huh.
Ladies, hit the gym stop eating crap food and you can save yourself some money buy not buying anything from this company.
Nerium and Nu Skin
I don’t know Nu Skin, but my wife had Nerium delivered every month to our house and it went unused so she would just sell it on Ebay. Then I asked her can we just please stop getting this? Why do you need to buy face cream from someone instead of going to RITE AID or Macy’s.
Now, I have no problem with affiliate deals. I love Dollar Shave Club. One of the best companies I have seen. I love it and if you sign up off a link I give you, I think I get $5 bucks. Uber, I love...same thing. Sign up for Uber with my code and I get $20 in free rides. The difference is I am not building a business this way nor did I have to buy in to become an ambassador. I just use those products and can promote it if I wish.
Nerium claims their products do wonders and their new one they are selling takes away your wrinkles instantly or in my wife case burns the underneath of your eyes. The only reason I dug into all this is because MY WIFE WENT TO THE DOCTOR AFTER USING THESE PRODUCTS FOR AN ALLERGIC REACTION. Had that not happened, not sure I would have spent the time connecting all these companies and not sure she would have listened to me.
In countless articles you can read all over the internet, there is no proof Nerium is safe and nothing to show that it is effective. There are major issues that the product can cause an allergic reaction as it did in my wife’s case.
Nerium clinical trials were on 4 people. 4 people! Ya.
Overall, Nerium is a scam. Does not use solid reputable marketing and their science is not backed up and another pyramid scheme.
So, if you like throwing money away in the trash can keep reading fake reviews, posts on facebook and buying all this crap or figure out how to spot a pyramid scheme and run away as fast as you can.
**Sorry about my typos- spent too long researching this crap to convince my wife I was right and to stop the madness so didn’t edit this just hit publish
Is ______ a Christian?
Is Justin Bieber a Christian?
Is Selena Gomez a Christian?
Is Chance The Rapper a Christian?
Is Macklemore a Christian?
I got a chance to meet Macklemore last year as I watched him serve the people on the streets in Seattle with The Seattle Gospel Union Mission. I actually watched him take his long winter coat off his own back and give it to a guy who was sleeping underneath the freeway.
His new album is great. There are a lot of references to God in the album.
St. Ides is probably my favorite song and in that song he says.
I never believed in God but things go so f#$ked up that I had to pray.
That is just one line from an album that I can relate with and coming from a guy who talks about his struggles I listened to that and smiled. I don’t know what else is happening in his life but its great truth that he shares.
The new Chance album is ridiculous. He talks about everything from Blessings in his lap to giving Satan a swirly.
I know pastors who have spent a ton of time with Selena and Justin and when you listen to things they have said lately you have to just believe that God is doing something in their life.
We all have ears and eyes to see this for ourself. I can listen to an album and go wow.. something is happening there and it makes me think how cool that is.
But what do most Christians do.. We then do a google search and wonder are they a Christian? Why do we care about labels?
I heard someone they they can’t be a Christian because the album is still explicit or they are too sexy or they are still getting in trouble.
Ok.. so those things all rule out if they are Christian? Don’t we all still fall short? Don’t we all still struggle. Does an album with some great songs that make you think about the Lord not count as “Christian” because other songs have explicit lyrics? Do we have to talk about God in every song in order to get buy in from Christians?
How many actors are Christians but they don’t make “Christian” films?
Artists make art and when I see signs of God working in their life because it makes it way inside their art I think that is awesome.
Some time titles don’t work.
Sometimes Christians just need to be a little smarter and dig in for yourself to see for yourself.
Pretty classic video here from Nolan.
What I Learned From Donald Miller
My friend Donald Miller has spent more than a decade telling his story. He’s the author of a book called Blue Like Jazz and about 6 others that, together, have spent more than a year on the NYT bestsellers list.
Don has recently done something incredible, and I think you’ll love it. After spending all that time telling his story, he’s helping other people tell theirs.
If you have a business, non-profit or just a vision or idea you’ve been wanting to tell the world about, Don can help. His new company StoryBrand is using 2,000 years of best-practices in storytelling to help you engage customers and grow your company.
To be honest, I wondered whether it was a gimmick until I flew to Nashville and experienced it myself.
Wow! I’d say StoryBrand has been one of the most powerful influences on the way I communicate, hands down. What we learned from Don at this workshop was a huge eye opener for us at XXXchurch.com
True to his passion of helping people get their stories out, Don’s offering a free e-course called 5 Minute Marketing Makeover. In it he even talks about how he helped a Presidential candidate re-shape their entire message. The guy is dead serious about helping you.
Click here for instant access.
Once you sign up, Don will likely put you on a list offering you more tips to get your story out, but you can unsubscribe at any point. It’s definitely not for everybody but it was so good I had to share it. Truly, amazing.
You don’t want to miss this. It stinks to not be heard or understood, and Don has practical tips to help.
Get the free e-course right HERE. You’re going to love it, I promise.
P.S. There really is no catch. One of my favorite parts is when Don talks about 5 simple things you should include on your website that helps people understand what you’re trying to say. It’s simple but groundbreaking. Again, you can get it all right HERE for FREE
Haters Gonna Hate
The other day, I posted this.
I have been hearing a lot from people in regards to this new project called My Pilgrimage.
Some great ones like I shared but some other ones from internet trolls just looking to criticize anything that is out of the norm. Here is a copy of my latest response to one of these.
Thanks so much for taking the time to write us with your thoughts about the book Feels Like Redemption. Please know that we read every single email we receive and do our best to respond to all of them, and we wanted to make sure to take the time to respond to yours with the grace, thoughtfulness, and care it deserves.
Let me first tell you how the My Pilgrimage series came to be. I received, through a mutual friend that Seth and I have, an early draft of Seth’s book, “Feels Like Redemption,” and as I read it, I was struck by how outside-the-norm it was. Yes, there was a lot in there I didn’t really dig, but the core message of it—that many people don’t actually struggle with PORN but rather USE porn as a means to cover up some deeper hurt or wound—was something I really wanted to share with others.
At XXXchurch we pride ourselves on having a lot of different resources, because the longer we’ve done this the more we’ve started to see that there’s not really a one-size-fits-all approach to finding freedom from pornography. Some things work for some people, but some of them just don’t. And that’s what Seth’s book spoke to and what I responded to. So I started talking with Seth to see if we could create a series of resources around this core message that would go both broad and deep enough to really help people get it. To help them find freedom when nothing else worked.
Seth also had an idea for a guidebook to help people work through the practices he talks about in the regular book, so we took those two things and gave them to a writer and editor I trust both with words and with theology and let him have at it .This writer and editor is someone that has worked on every book I have written and is the one person who edits all the blogs from various bloggers we have at XXXchurch.
One thing that I personally think is great about Christianity is that there are so many different streams of it, where we all agree on the basics but disagree on the details. We welcome that kind of thinking at XXXchurch. We’re not all of the same denomination and we don’t all agree on every single point of doctrine, but we all love Jesus and have a passionate desire to see people find healing in their lives, especially healing from the use or creation of porn.
So our editor went through the book and guidebook and trimmed them down to make them more practical and understandable, and he also stripped down the theology in order to help people find their way to freedom instead of getting hung up on a minor detail, really so we could lessen the amount of emails like yours! We then sent these edited versions around to our whole team to make sure we’d created something we could all stand behind. And every single one of them signed off on it.
Now a word about Seth Taylor. This is a guy I’ve come to really respect and, in a lot of ways, love. There are A TON of things we disagree on, but I can tell you without any doubt: Seth loves Jesus. Period. Now, Seth is an outspoken guy who really takes a lot of pleasure in shaking things up, so I can’t always stand behind everything he says somewhere. And I’m not going to try to censor him or make him say something he doesn’t believe.
But I can tell you that I stand behind all the resources of My Pilgrimage on MyPilgrimage.com. The video series features Seth and David, yes, but it also features more people from our team, and it is something I would proudly show at any church in America. The video series was something that I personally worked on making sure it would tie together all these resources and be something that fit the tone of the book and guidebook but also worked for our audience at XXXchurch.
I love this new approach. It’s radical, it’s real. It’s going to help a lot of people find freedom from porn AND a completely renewed walk with Christ. But it’s not for everybody.
As someone who is criticized by both ultra-conservative and ultra-liberal Christians, I know that you just can’t please everyone. And I’m okay with that! Some people get uncomfortable when you do anything that runs counter to their theology, and when that happens, we can only work to get back to the common ground we share as Christians, a love for Christ and a belief in his life, ministry, death, and resurrection. That’s where we’re all coming from when it comes to My Pilgrimage.
Thanks again for taking time to write us. We all appreciate the feedback and are praying for the best for you as you do the work to find true, lasting freedom from porn.
Craig
There Really Aren’t Words for this Freedom
We get a lot of emails.
Lately, we have been sending out a lot of emails promoting this new project we have spent 2 years on called “My Pilgrimage”.
Emails like this one are why we do what we do. We got this in the inbox last week and all rejoiced over this man’s incredible story—so much so that we had to share it with you (with the author’s permission). Enjoy!
Craig,
As a former youth pastor who is now managing a store in a high stress, balls-to-the-wall environment, I have been looking at a ton of porn. My wife is hours away with the kids while I live in a sh***y, one-bedroom apartment. Alas, temptation has turned into daily habit: come home, fix a way-too-strong drink, go to my typical websites, get off, feel terrible, look over at the books I should be reading that I brought with me, rinse, repeat.
I am an avid fan of BadChristian. I absolutely love their podcast and have listened to every one of them. What shocked me was when Seth and David Taylor were on there a week or two ago talking about My Pilgrimage. I was driving home to finally spend some-well deserved time with my family, listening to the podcast while driving home: mind blown.
I paused it and went to MyPilgrimage.com right away, mid-podcast. I thought man, if this is serious, I'll buy in. I know it isn't just porn for me; I'll die early (like everyone has told me since I turned 21) because of the amount of alcohol I consume on the daily.
I only have (I think) two more chapters to listen to in the book—there have been many pauses for exercises and whatnot—but that book got me to pray for only the second time since moving here six months ago. The last time I prayed I was face-down in my stand up shower (an impressive feat for such a big dude), curled into a ball, asking God, “Why am I here? Are you even real? Do you give a s*** about me at all? Am I just like my father?” etc., etc., etc.
The other night, I prayed for so long, meditating, searching my soul for these wounds I carry. Every day while I'm at work I keep thinking to myself, "What are they?" What are the wounds that I'm medicating so heavily that I can't stop trying to kill myself with alcohol? What is on my inside that led me to actually Google "can a .22 kill a man?" (as that is the only gun I brought with me on my move, should I get the chance to hit a shooting range).
I'm not fixed, I'm not porn-free, I'm not even fully sober (I am as I write this, but you know what I mean). I will tell you though, I have only looked at porn twice since last Thursday and I've been drunk a considerable amount less, in quantity and quality.
For a guy who used to masturbate 4 or 5 times a day while he watched his marriage and sex life with his wife fall apart, and who drank a half a gallon of whiskey every two days, it feels like a miracle. I can't explain everything going on in me right now, I can't even explain my morning prayers and the thoughts I have while I sit in my truck and wait for the windshield to defrost instead of opting for a morning cigarette (an easily dropped habit for me, but nonetheless).
It is borderline insane to me that I can walk like this, feel like this. To still even be doing what I've been doing, but to be able to watch it slowly die? Yeah, I still desire some things, but this.....it's....free.
Porn has turned into something I just kind of want at moments instead of a driving force that I must have and fulfill the second I walk through my apartment door.
I'm not entirely sure what is at the end of this book, or even this path that I'm on, but I have to say this may be the greatest thing I've ever seen step foot out of your ministry.
You should really advertise this like crazy, too. It changed and is changing my life. I can't express my gratitude enough, I've tried everything. I've tried Every Young Man's Battle, Every Man's Battle, X3watch, Covenant Eyes, and nothing could stop the monster I felt I had become. I always wanted it bad enough at some point that I would start the lies, the bait and switch, the whatever, whatever, whatever to get me to my end goal.
This is truly revolutionary and I am so thankful for this, the message, and the group of you guys out there right now that aren't living in the "under a rock" mentality and ignoring real issues that real people are having. Even if this doesn't reach you personally, even if I'm one of a thousand people that emails you and tells you how amazing this really is, I hope whoever gets this on your behalf just tells you and Seth, “Thanks, man.” Thanks for a new outlook, thanks for at least a little less cloud and depression and confusion on the daily. I wish I could think of something better to say than just thanks, but there really aren't words for this freedom.
--Randy
[Note: this email has been edited slightly for length and clarity.]
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