Good Adventures, No Matter the Outcome January 12, 2012
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This picture was taken in my garage. It shows some of my race numbers that I wore in mountain bike races I have taken part in over the past several years. Several of them are from the 24 Hours of Snowshoe race where my teammates and I completed as many circuits, up and down Snowshoe Mountain, in West Virgina, over a 24 hour period. The other numbers are from the Iceman mountain bike race held each early November in Traverse City, Michigan. Snow, ice, cold, rain, mud and mayhem is an expected element as you participate in this race.
What none of these numbers have attached to them are trophies or winning ribbons. That has never happened and most probably never will. You see, my passion has never been to become a pro and win the race. That’s someone else’s passion. Mine has always been to enter the race and finish, all-the-while having a great time doing it. And I have always been successful at that… until this year. This year I did not finish.
Two-thirds into this year’s race, my rear dérailleur snapped off and got caught up in my spokes, stretching my shift cable and snapping my chain. As much as I tried, I wasn’t going to be able to perform successful, trail-side surgery on that bike. A little later, a support truck delivered me and my broken bike back to the campsite where the rest of my team was celebrating their finishes and waiting for my return. Frustrated and humiliated, I dropped in a chair and related my mishap.
Sitting there, feeling sorry for myself, my friend Pete walked up and shoved a beer in my hand.
“Cheer up, Buddy!” he exclaimed. “Did you have fun out there?”
“Well, yeah, until my bike failed me.” I replied, a bit glumly.
“Then that’s what it’s all about; getting out there and having fun! None of us came expecting to win. We came to ride!” he said as he slapped me on the back.
I looked up at him and couldn’t help grinning. “You’re trying to push your Zen mountain biking crap on me again, aren’t you?”
Pete was always pushing his “be-in-the-moment-when-you-ride” philosophy on us. His idea of a good race is the one where he makes friends along the course or stops several times during the event to help other riders who have broke down. He rides for the experience, for the adventure. It sometimes takes a good buddy to remind you of that.
“You bet!” Pete said as he clinked his beer bottle into mine in a toast of agreement.
I sat back feeling a little better and began to enjoy the company of friends, joining in with them as we recounted our anecdotes and stories of the race.
Good race. Good ride. Good Adventure, no matter the outcome.
Anatomy of an Adventure (in Everything) January 10, 2012
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I met Matt Walker last year when I attended the Cochise Stronghold Rock Climbing Camp, hosted by his adventure company, Inner Passage. Matts patience as a teacher and leader made the three days of instruction and climbing in the desert south of Tuscon, Arizona, an amazing experience. I walked away from that camp learning far more about myself and what I can accomplish. It was an incredible adventure.
Prior to attending the climbing camp, Matt assigned us readings to complete, one of those was his Five Elements of Adventure, which he has since published in his inspiring and motivational book, Adventure in Everything. The premise of the five elements is to guide the reader in discovering and developing adventure in all aspects of his or her life.
I have to be honest, I had hesitations in taking on my “50 Adventures” project until I sat down and finally read a copy of the book he had sent me a few months earlier. It’s what opened my eyes and helped me to understand that adventure in someone’s life is more than a mountain to climb; it is, as he put is “finding it is a lifestyle choice that reconnects you with your dreams and passions”.
A synopsis of those five elements are below. Read them once and then read them a second time. Then, read them one more time and this time ask yourself the question: “How can adventure be a part of my life?”
The Five Elements of Adventure (from Matt Walker’s book, Adventure in Everything):
- High Endeavor – To aim for a life with high endeavor is to set goals for ourselves that are worthy of our energy, love and passion.
- Uncertain Outcome – adventures suggests not knowing how something is going to [ultimately] turn out; a series of uncertain outcomes and coming to peace with this concept allows for opportunity. Opportunity activates adventure.
- Totally Committed – pursuit with flexibility about its outcome, detachment from its results and complete and total focus on the task at hand.
- Tolerance for Adversity – Being nimble in the face of seeming defeat; we can either succumb to defeat or turn the situation into an opportunity to find more creative ways to triumph.
- Great Companionship – When we pursue our endeavors with the benefit of the company of others, we have the opportunity to give unselfishly, receive sincere feedback, support one another and work together to reach goals that are unattainable on our own.
Her Race… Her Story January 5, 2012
Posted by Marc Troeger in adventure.Tags: 50adventures, Adventure, inspire
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My wife was doing consulting work in the Greenville, South Carolina area which required her to be there over New Years. Instead of letting her celebrate alone, I surprised her by flying down that weekend to be with her.
In support of my endeavor of “50 Adventures”, my wife asked to join me on my first adventure: a New Year’s Eve Resolution 5K race in Anderson, SC. While the race started before the stroke of midnight, the ending results and festivities carried over to the New Year, and, with my wife by my side, it made for a very special start to this grand adventure.
Both my wife and I completed the race with respectable times (though, we later found out the vehicle that was pacing the leaders took a wrong turn and cut the race short by about three tenths of a mile!). Later, while we waited to celebrate the stroke of midnight with all the other finishers, a woman crossed the finish line huffing and puffing… excited and beaming… with a Cheshire Cat smile… on crutches. The crowd clapped and cheered; many hugs and pats on the back. The woman was elated and excited, tears in her eyes. A companion, who had stayed with her along the way, gave her several high-fives.
I couldn’t help the smile breaking across my own face. Her race… her adventure… her own story to tell. That’s what an adventure is all about.
A tribute to Steve Jobs… in his own words “You’ve got to find what you love.” October 6, 2011
Posted by Marc Troeger in ambition, excellence, journey, life, Passion, Technology.Tags: ambition, apple, excellence, inspiration, motivation, passion, Steve Jobs
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‘You’ve got to find what you love,’ Jobs says
This is a prepared text of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005.
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.
This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960’s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.
Some numbers to think about… January 2, 2011
Posted by Marc Troeger in population, World.Tags: balance, over-population, population, world
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The history and future of our world population…
1800 1 billion people
1930 2 billion people
1960 3 billion people
1974 4 billion people
1987 5 billion people
1999 6 billion people
2011 7 billion people
2045 9+ billion people
Right now, there are 7 billion reasons to think about our future, and the balancing act before us.
How do you Mountain? December 7, 2010
Posted by Marc Troeger in ambition, goals, journey, life, mountains.Tags: Adventure, mountains, perseverance
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Be humbled… be inspired… and ask yourself, How do you mountain?
Kitty Comfort October 22, 2010
Posted by Marc Troeger in cat, humor, pets, stress.Tags: bald, cat, cats, humor, kitty, pets, stress
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With my wife away at a medical conference, I returned home from a long business trip to an empty house. And a bald cat.
Coming through the back door, I was greeted by our orange tabby cat, Pumpkin, sitting in the hallway. His entire hindquarters were minus all hair.
I spotted the note on the counter, left by my wife:
“Be back on Friday. The cat’s going bald. He has a vet appointment at 8:00AM tomorrow morning. Fish sticks are in the freezer.”
He looked at me with his big, yellow, pleading eyes wanting to be scratched. I got the heebie-jeebies as I reached down to pet a cat with no hair.
I arose early the next morning, knowing the challenge it would be to squeeze a large (bald) cat into a small travel crate. No disappointments here. As usual, the task resulted in overturned furniture and a bit of (my) blood shed. Arriving ten minutes late to the Vet’s office wasn’t too bad.
“You’ve got a bald cat.” Dr. George stated as he entered the examining room. I’ve learned over our frequent visits that Dr. George was a man of few words who was gentle with pets but a bit less personable to his human counterparts.
“Yes, I do, Dr. George.” I responded.
“Know why?” he asked as he began examining the cat.
“Afraid not. Was hoping you could tell me”
“You didn’t shave him, did you?” he questioned, without looking up.
“I wouldn’t even want to attempt to shave a cat.” I replied, a little irritated.
“Doesn’t look like fleas.” he commented, combing through the cat’s hair.
“Any changes at your house?” he asked.
Thinking, I responded “My step-daughter just went off to her first year of college and my wife’s been traveling a bit more. I travel frequently myself. I guess the cat’s been alone more often these days.”
“Uh, huh.” he replied, finishing up his examination.
He started scribbling something on a pad. “You’re cat’s got a case of the nerves.” He stated as he wrote.
“The nerves?” I questioned, a little puzzled.
“Changes to his environment. New situations in life. Nothing to worry about.” he finished writing, tore the paper from the pad and handed it to me. “Give him one of these each morning and he will be fine. The hair will eventually grow back.”
“This is something to grow his hair back?” I asked, rereading the prescription.
“No.” He stated. “It’s for his nerves. It’s a little kitty comfort.”
“Kitty Comfort?” I looked up at him, puzzled.
“It’s Prozac” He answered flatly.
“Prozac? For a cat?” I asked, staring at the prescription again. “Is this the same Prozac my 78 year-old Aunt Edna was put on to help her with the stress that led to the compulsive shoplifting problem? “
“The same stuff, only smaller dosage.” Dr. George replied.
“So you’re saying stress made him lose his hair and Prozac will help it grow back.” I thought out loud.
“Give it a few weeks and it should do the trick.” He said, easily coaxing Pumpkin back into his travel crate.
I paid my bill, put the cat in the trunk and drove home. Halfway there, I picked up my cell phone and called my dad.
“Hey, Dad.” I asked. “Remember when you told me that you started going bald right about the time I was born?”
“Yeah…” He answered, a little confused.
“Well, I think I might know why and have a cure for you.”
Cochise Rock Climbing Camp… here I come! October 21, 2010
Posted by Marc Troeger in ambition, journey, life, Patience.Tags: accomplishment, achievement, Adventure, enjoy life, goals, journey, mountain climbing, passion, rock climbing
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This is where I’ll be and what I’ll be doing in a few days. Come join me on the adventure…
Don’t Forget the Journey September 27, 2010
Posted by Marc Troeger in ambition, goals, journey, Passion.Tags: accomplishment, achievement, goals, journey, life
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One of my favorite essays of all time is Robert J. Hastings, “The Station”. It speaks volumes about where you want to be in life, what you want to accomplish, and how far you want to go in order to meet your goals. But, what Hastings makes you realize at the end of his essay is that the goals, the achievements, that one place you want to be… your station… those are the ends to which you arrive. It’s the trip you took getting there that is the most important part.
I read this essay often. And I don’t read it enough. I constantly want to be reminded about the journey.