Backpacks and Barbells

In 2018, I read 7 Habits of Highly Effective People for the first time. Actually, I listened to it then promptly bought the physical copy and read it cover to cover. Studied it. It’s dense content that had many times before been recommended to me, but for some reason, that summer, it just all sunk in.  The book is divided into three primary goals with the note that you must master them in order:  Personal Victory – Mastery and discipline over oneself Public Victory – Establishing deep relationships of high integrity Sharpening the Sword – Continuous evolution and improvement The author, Stephen Covey, encourages you to imagine yourself at the end of your life – maybe your celebration of life; maybe your 100th birthday – and to visualize who want in the room and what you hope they would say. For me, this is the perfect North Star for the way I want to define success and a life well lived.  With this vision in place, every year for the last six years, I’ve created personal ...

“One day, you’re an athlete. The next, you’re not. The world moves on, and you’re left searching for who you are without the sport that defined you.” Does this statement resonate deep in your heart—tucked away, unspoken , even to those closest to you? If so, know this: you are not alone. The transition from a life filled with pressure-packed, adrenaline-fueled performances to waking up without a single practice on the calendar is, I believe, one of the hardest transitions anyone can face.  There’s no roadmap, very little support, and for so many of us, it’s a chapter we navigated alone, unable to fully put into words what we were experiencing. I believe there has to be a better way. A way to help future generations of athletes excel in their sport while building an identity beyond it. A way to help young men and women stand strong when the inevitable happens: that last practice, that last game. If you are an athlete,  parent, coach, or sports leaders with a perspective on this...

I’m 58 days into my second-ever career pause, having recently closed out a decade-long chapter with the global digital consulting firm, Credera. My first career break was all about personal exploration. I backpacked across Europe, met incredible people from wildly diverse cultures, and gained a sense of independence and confidence that can only come from being lost in a city where you don’t speak the language. Back then, I didn’t think about my career at all—or what I’d do when I got back. This blog was born during that time, and you can find those stories starting here -  It's All Greek To Me This time feels different, though. This pause is about career inspiration. I’m asking myself: What work will I dedicate the back half of my career to? What will bring me joy and leave a meaningful impact on the world? If I had the answer today, I’d share it with you—but I don’t. Right now, my ideas and potential paths all exist in one big, chaotic bundle of energy. I know, I know. Two months ...

Today, I remembered that Owen, my four-year-old son, had show-and-tell at school. We sat at the top of the stairs, talked about the topic and picked an object, in this case his Avalanche jersey, for him to take. It took all of 3 minutes.  But it’s three minutes that I haven’t had the mental capacity for in the last two years.  Don’t worry, Owen has always had something special to share each Thursday, but it’s because Marc was on top of it. The concept of show-and-tell existed loosely in the realms of my consciousness but always in a fleeting, non-essential manner. Too many other tasks clogging the pipes up there.  It’s crazy to me that just under 6 weeks ago, I was using every productivity tool in the book to maximize output. To ensure that every moment of every day was focused so that the house of cards didn’t fall to the ground. That I was present with my boys in the very specific moments that were blocked “Family” on my calendar. That I never dropped a ball, missed a d...

Who’s heard that it takes 21 days to form a habit? It’s an idea that’s been tossed around for years, popularized by books like   The Power of Habit . It sounds simple, right? Stick with something for three weeks, and boom—you’re a whole new person. As someone who lives a life with very little margin (three kids in two years + and an executive job is no joke – yes, my hair is greying), the big changes just were never truly realistic. Somewhere along the way, I came across the quote “If you can get 1% better every day for a year, you’ll end up 37x better by the time you’re done”, and it gave me SO MUCH PEACE. 1%. I can do that.    Yesterday, as I wandered up to bed at 9:15 PM with my phone plugged in downstairs and my sunset alarm on its daily set time of 5:30 AM, I had this moment of realization that “woah, I’m someone who actually prioritizes high-quality sleep” To understand why this was a grand realization, you must first understand that I am a recovering “sleep is for ...