Welcome to Mindful Monday!

This week, we focus on why we seek big challenges, getting better at getting better, life lessons from Mr. Feeny, 50 years of travel tips, and some wise words from Andrew Luck. And... CLICK HERE to read our USA Today Best-Selling book, The Score That Matters.

#622: Alex Hutchinson - "We are wired to explore."

​Alex Hutchinson is the NY Times bestselling author of Endure and The Explorer's Gene. A former long-distance runner for the Canadian national team, he holds a master’s in journalism from Columbia and a Ph.D. in physics from Cambridge, and he did his post-doctoral research with the National Security Agency. We discuss why we seek big challenges, adding texture to time, Tom Hanks, Pushing our limits, and much more. You can also WATCH our conversation on YouTube.

Getting Better at Getting Better

Embracing the pain of admitting our mistakes is a leadership superpower that can have compounding benefits for the organizations we lead. But the true compounding benefit comes from the impact on the culture. Remember, as the leader, your team watches everything you do. If you act like you have all the answers, your team will too. But if they see you trying things, taking accountability when you screw them up, and getting back up to do it again…they will do that too. The culture will begin to reward boldness, truth-seeking, and speed of learning. CLICK HERE to read more.

Life Lessons From Mr. Feeny

​There’s a great scene from the old TV show, Boy Meets World. The main character, Cory, is in the garden with his teacher, Mr. Feeny, worried about his girlfriend, Topanga, possibly moving away.

Feeny listens, then points to a flower and says: "See that flower? That flower was in a small pot in my living room, but it outgrew its surroundings, so I transplanted it here in the garden." Cory responds, "Seems like it's doing okay." Mr. Feeny nods. "Oh yes, it's flourishing… Now when I pulled the small flower out of the pot in my living room, it resisted a little, you know, tried to hang on by its roots. I had to force it out." Cory asks, "Because you thought it would do better out here, in the world, right?" Feeny corrects him: "No. Because I thought if I left it there, it would stop growing."

That’s how it works. Staying in the pot feels good—until you realize the walls are keeping you small. Moving to something bigger often requires being pulled away from what’s comfortable. But eventually, you’ll look back and realize the discomfort wasn’t punishment—it was necessary.

50 Years of Travel Tips

Kevin Kelly has been traveling the world for 50 years. Here are 50 useful tips.

Wise Words...

"If my worth as a human was going to be tied into how I did- the result of a performance in a football game- then I was going to have, pardon my French, a really shitty life." -- Andrew Luck​

Thank you for reading. Mindful Monday is a reader-supported publication. The best way to support it is to order our book, The Score That Matters. If you've already read it, I'd love for you to CLICK THIS LINK and write a review.

Ryan Hawk Author: The Score That Matters, Welcome to Management, & The Pursuit of Excellence​ Host: The Learning Leader Show​