Life Is About Experiences Not Things is about sharing travels and insights from the neighborhood and
Last year, my business partner and I drove up to Lake Tahoe for a charity golf tournament at Edgewood Resort.
We hadn't sponsored the event. No meetings were lined up. No clients to impress. We registered because it was a good cause and — honestly — because any excuse to spend a weekend at Tahoe is a good excuse.
The last evening, we ended up at the bar with a few guys we'd crossed paths with on the course. Someone suggested dinner. We said yes.
Over the next few hours, we talked about everything and nothing — golf, life, business, the usual. Then someone asked what are you working on. Turns out a few of the men at that table were major investors in our industry.
By the end of the weekend, we were driving home with five new business deals in the works.
No pitch deck. No cold outreach. No hustling for business cards.
Just two guys who showed up, let go of the agenda, and were present enough to recognize an opportunity when it walked through the door.
I've spent a lot of years believing that results come from relentless effort — from grinding harder, staying later, and squeezing every hour for output. And effort matters. But some of the most significant opportunities in my career have come from the moments I gave myself permission to step away from the machine.
The dinner I almost skipped. The trip I almost postponed. The weekend I finally stopped optimizing and just showed up.
You cannot manufacture presence. You can only put yourself in the room.
If you're a founder or executive reading this — when was the last time you went somewhere with zero agenda and let something unexpected happen? I'd genuinely love to hear it in the comments.
(My book Permission to Unplug launches September 8. Pre-order link in bio — and if you want the first chapter right now, drop UNPLUG in the comments.)
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My favorite part Of camping is When i don't go and Instead fly Business Class To the Maldives on @qatarairways with @americanexpress
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#campingtrend #permissiontounplug #bookthetrip #BusinessClass #qatarairways
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I've worked with enough leaders to know what's actually stopping them.
It's not time. You can make time.
It's not money. You've spent more on things that mattered less.
It's one of these three:
1. You believe the business will fall apart without you.
It won't. And if it will — that's the real problem you're avoiding.
2. Your identity is so fused to the work that rest feels like failure.
The hustle badge has a cost. You're paying it every day.
3. You're waiting for a good time.
I've been in business for 20 years. That date has never appeared on my calendar.
Which one is actually stopping you?
1, 2, or 3 — drop it below.
#permissiontounplug #leadershiplessons #bookthetrip
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