pickadirection @mikemccann3 - Tumblr Blog

Polar Plunge (FL version 😎) with Momma (at Jacksonville Beach, Florida) https://www.instagram.com/p/BsGGonhAs_7/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=106yt5kc7b8uz

Love that I get to decorate Christmas every year with Momma! (at Neptune Beach, Florida) https://www.instagram.com/p/BqtKd_kA1j8/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=aakh2z38sccx

Gradin + Uncle @arelbrkr + Uncle Michael = great Saturday morning at McKenzie’s Run! (at McKenzie's Run) https://www.instagram.com/p/BqSZ9_YgUJ3/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=m3h91rz9n4w6

Lease is signed. Construction has begun. Tons happening behind the scenes. @jaxcofurniture is in the works and I am so excited to be chasing down this dream! PS follow @jaxcofurniture for store opening updates 🤘 (at Jacksonville, Florida) https://www.instagram.com/p/BpH4sHQAaS6/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=ctjp0wfntzy0

Friends & family, I’m pumped to announce that @jaxcofurniture is coming to Jacksonville later this year! This is a labor of love and it would be amazing if you followed @jaxcofurniture and signed up for our email list (link in bio) so I can share full details. Swipe ➡️ for an example of what we’ll carry! (at Jacksonville, Florida) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo9fVZnBJA9/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1jrpi5s8d9k9l

The last few months have been extremely stressful. Part of how I balance life is through exercise. @rgotate13 @cody1sammons and everyone at @crossfitblackhive have been there by my side when I just need to go sweat. Had a blast at @thegritgames competing ALL DAY with team Snatches & Staches! (at The Grit Games at the Jax Beach Fitness Festival) https://www.instagram.com/p/BootAKShumt/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=cet3rbjitpqj

I don’t know what I’d do without you Paul Martin. I’m proud to call you my brother, even though you never learned to shave... Happy birthday big dude, can’t wait for you to add “amazing father” to your already impressive resume! (at Jacksonville Beach, Florida) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bobtmhdh3yu/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=tmm6pk2exqox

Dad, you were my best friend and I miss you like crazy. You taught me so much and I hope I can make a fraction of the impact you have. Can’t wait for one of those Bear hugs when I see you in heaven. (at Jacksonville Beach, Florida) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnmSzWRBXFg/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=14mz31mzyqkpz

I can almost grow a beard half as nice as my “little” brother’s. Beard envy or not, he means the world to me.

Home (at Neptune Beach, Florida)

Education Reform Could Be Crucial http://pickadirection.com/education-reform/

The System

For the longest time I felt that the education system in which I was raised failed me. I was taught to take tests, not question authority, follow rules, and fit in.

It was only later in life, much after high school, I realized that tests weren’t multiple choice. That those who questioned authority were the people who were most successful. That following the rules isn’t always what’s right. And that I have no desire to fit in.

Our education system is dated. There are tons of arguments, blogs, and videos about this sprinkled across the internet. There are numerous musings about why our education system has been so static and theories on why Americans haven’t demanded change. My favorite compilation of thoughts are here (and a manifesto here) from one of my favorite authors, Mr. Seth Godin.

Revised and Updated

I’m not smart enough to participate in those conversations. What I can comment on is what I wish I would have been educated on instead of, and/or in addition to, my school experience.

A typical high school curriculum includes Language arts (literature, composition, grammar, vocab), Social studies (geography, history, government), various Math courses (algebra, geometry, trig, calculus), Science (biology, chemistry, physics), and various electives like physical education, home economics, health, typing, computers, woodworking, or art.

I’m really glad I learned about parallelograms instead of taxes. It’s really coming in handy this parallelogram season. — Leo Blake Carter (@LeoBlakeCarter on Twitter)

As adults, most of us don’t use a large majority of the knowledge gained from those courses in our everyday lives. It’s not all a waste, but the fluff to substance ratio is backward. Memorizing specific dates and answers is a waste of time because of the internet and our instant access to all the information on the world wide web.

Some of the biggest issues facing Americans today include healthcare (over 3.7 trillion three years ago), and obesity. Those issues aren’t addressed by traditional “core competencies” like trigonometry or geography. Rather, students are possibly taught about them by “electives.” Many of which are quickly being cut from programs across the country.

Overall, we are focusing our educational efforts in the wrong places simply because that’s how we’ve always done it.

Ex. Healthcare

We’re treating symptoms instead of getting to the root cause of the problem when it comes to major issues in our country. Healthcare is a trillion dollar industry. A majority of that is spent treating problems, not preventing them. Americans, as a whole, don’t understand how to take care of themselves with diet (see the elective home economics) and exercise (see the elective physical education). How would our country and the healthcare system be different if we put a focus on this in grade school?

Keep in mind this is a hypothesis, but I predict that if we educated young Americans better on health and wellness as part of a revised core curriculum… obesity rates would go down (as would insurance costs), Type II diabetes rates would go down (providers would be freed up to give better quality of care with less patients), Americans would eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and less fast food (supporting local economies, eating less mass farmed meat and more sustainable foods – another issue we face), Americans would look to food/exercise before turning to drugs (the opioid crisis would decrease, overpriced drugs become less of an issue, etc.).

Requested Curriculum

The second and third tier consequences of education reform could be tremendous if we gave them a shot. Here are a few categories of things I wish I would have been taught growing up.

Revised High School Curriculum:

Movement (exercise, stretching)

Nutrition (reading food labels, vitamins/nutrients, food preparation, how to cook)

Health (mental, spiritual, sleep, journaling, gratitude)

Self-development (becoming a lifelong learner)

Entrepreneurship/Work (how to freelance, how to start a business, how to act in the workplace)

Money (taxes, how to live below your means, budgeting/saving/investing, basic accounting)

Communication (public speaking, networking, body language)

Technology (typing, Word/Excel/Power Point)

Art (music, drawing, painting, writing, etc.)

Psychology (statistics, basics of psychology and how to apply this to everyday life)

Trades (plumbing, carpentry, etc. for children who like to work with their hands)

What kind of courses would you like to see in a revised high school curriculum?

Talent Begets Talent http://pickadirection.com/talent-begets-talent/

Sprints

It was a scorching Friday afternoon. The sun beat down on our backs and sweat drenched what little clothes we were still wearing. Ross, Hannah, and I had been at the gym for two hours already, but nobody was going home. Not this close to the finish line. A few more four hundred meter sprints were the only thing between us and tacos.

Ross and I walked the allotted hundred meters of rest in between sprints with our hands on our hips. We squinted into the afternoon sun and we spoke in short snippets while trying to regulate our breathe. We discussed how neither of us would be there without the others. We agreed that our daily competition with each other was motivating.

We turned at the fifty meter mark and headed back toward our starting line. We passed Hannah on the way with encouraging but silent high fives. She stuck out her tongue to express her exhaustion. Her legs couldn’t carry her quite as fast as ours, but she ran with just as much ferocity. She didn’t need to be a part of the conversation, she knew what we were talking about. The three of us pushed each other regularly.

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays were Competition Training days. Days when extra work was listed on our gym’s daily planner. In addition to the regular workout, those who wanted to compete and get better at Crossfit would have the option to add more training to their day.

A year ago I wouldn’t have taken on this challenge. But over the past 12 months, the internal competition (the level to which each of the athletes pushed each other during workouts) at the gym steadily increased. Members like Ross and Hannah found members like me to compete with. We gave our best efforts in workouts because we knew the others would be watching. We knew that the others would call us out if we slacked. Not to mention, beat our scores. We fiercely competed with each other and we had all improved.

Ross, Hannah, and I would all likely have improved if we hadn’t exercised together. However, there was a compounding effect from us being together and pushing each other to new heights that none of us could have attained individually.

Talent Begets Talent

When you work with professionals, you want to bring your best to work. Most people want to pull their weight. Most people don’t want to sit idly by as someone else carries them. Not all, but most.

When your organization attracts new talent, your current team (and you) will often rise or fall to the new person’s ability. At the same time, the new person will likely have the same reaction to your existing team. This is what happened at the gym: talent begot talent.

When everyone strives to do their best work, good things happen. If there are a few influencers with negative or lazy attitudes, the outcome is bleak.

The “Sum of Five” is a principle from Jim Rohn that was impressed upon me by my former boss. Even though I no longer work for him, this is one of the ideas that I’ve adopted from my old mentor. The principle goes something like this: You are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with. For many of us, the people we spend the most time with are the ones we work alongside – for better or worse.

The best way to raise the level of talent in your organization, whether it’s a gym or a small business or a Fortune 500 company, is to find people who will push each other.

When I use the term “push” I mean that individuals do a few things for each other. First, they challenge each other to want to do more, create better, and bring out the best version of the others. Next, they keep each other accountable (if I skip a workout, I’m guaranteed to get a text from Hannah and/or Ross asking where I was). And finally, they will encourage each other when things don’t go as planned.

If the five people you interact with most are challenging you, encouraging you, and keeping you accountable, you will accomplish things you never thought were possible. Now imagine if that were the case for everyone in your organization.

It’s not feasible for one person to influence everyone all the time, not on an individual level at least. That is not scalable. However, you can create an environment where everyone wants to compete and can compete with each other.

Hope, Hire, or Train

The owner of our gym may or may not have intentionally attracted higher-caliber athletes to the gym. However, he saw that it was happening and enabled growth by offering the competition training program. He wanted to help us reach our goals because he knew that happy athletes create a positive environment. He knew that if his gym was “home” to athletes who did well in competitions, that more people would know about our gym. There was no down-side to fostering a competitive environment for us to work within.

The first strategy, outlined above, is to train your team to always push for more. This requires the right people who are willing to push each other to new heights. One talented person surrounded by duds will likely become a dud or leave. There are always exceptions and some “rock stars” have huge egos that prohibit them from playing well with others. But for the most part, they are like Alpacas, they tend to need company if you want them to stick around.

You cannot force this kind of growth. But, you can create a environment where this is possible: allow/encourage the team to compete, continually teach them, incentivize them, and champion the people who are always honing their craft.

The next strategy, which couples with training, is hiring the right people.

Assuming you don’t have the competitive environment you desire, take action to change it. Find new talent. Surround yourself with people who will lift you up, push you harder, and keep you accountable. Ross and Hannah do that for me at the gym. And when you find them, go back to the first strategy above.

Conversely, if you have someone with a negative attitude who discourages growth, get rid of them as quickly as possible. These people will be a cancer to your organization. They will infect others faster than you realize, deeper than you imagine. Point out their shortcomings and give them opportunities to change, but do not tolerate people who actively discourage growth.

Finally, your last strategy is to hope that you attract more talent. You aren’t intentional about fostering growth. You aren’t aggressively pursuing new talent to raise the organizational bar. And your Sum of Five is a group of people who drags you down.

Pro Tip: Hope is not a strategy.

Dad had a VERY long week at Baptist Beaches. He’s fine and back home now (swipe 👈) after an endoscopy for an ulcer on Wednesday. Thank you to everyone for their prayers and all of you who offered to help out the family! Never pass up an opportunity to love on your family or serve them in any capacity. I can tel you from experience that you will never regret it. (at Baptist Medical Center Beaches)

Did someone say freedom? Happy (belated) Independence Day #tbt (at Charleston, South Carolina)

#tbt

I had a hard time whittling down the photos from Haiti to 10. The people of Bayonnais are amazing and this captures SOME of an amazing trip 🇭🇹 1) This is how I spent much of my trip, surrounded by the children who simply wanted to spend time with us and ask us in Kreyol accents, “What is your name?” with infectious smiles 2) Packing medicine for the elderly in the community 3) Teaching my man Jeff how to play Fùtbol Tennis. I spent no less than an hour every day with a fùtbol at my feet or on my head. 4) Wenzie and I had a connection from Day 1. He would shoot me smirks and I’d chase him around the mission. At the end of the trip I gave him my bracelet 💜 5) Those who came down to serve with those who took “ekselan” care of us while they continued to serve 6) Some of my fùtbol boys in their new kicks (they prefer to look cool instead of smiling) Your donations matter! 7) The girls actually smiled when they got new shoes 😎 every one of them sprinted to grab a fùtbol as soon as they were laced up! 8) I’ve held lots of friends’ babies recently so I felt at home when a stranger asked me to hold hers. We are extremely fortunate in America, never forget that! This was such a reminder that we are all human and that there is more connecting us than there is separating us. 9) Inspecting muscles 💪 10) Weesley (wide brim hat) and his friends helped me build, saw, screw, hammer, and carry materials for hours on end. They wanted nothing more than to help and be around us. I couldn’t be happier to oblige and leave a few hats as a token of my appreciation 🤙 (at Bayonnais, Artibonite, Haiti)

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