Navel-Gazing Blog

Navel-Gazing

Winners are Failers. Losers are Failures

If you want to succeed, you need to fail – a lot. I hear it frequently. “I wish I could play guitar like you.” My response? You can. You need to fail first. It’s not like I’m a freaking rock star. I have a day job. And this writing side hustle. Guitar slinging isn’t exactly […]

Discipline: The Only Way to Create Lasting Change

No “weird tricks” or “simple hacks” needed I spent a lot of my adulthood as a smoker. Taking up the habit at a young age was a way to rebel against authority. Nobody was going to tell me what I couldn’t do. That worked out…not so well. Another story, another day. As my nicotine dependency […]

One Guaranteed Way to Make People Like You

…while making you hate yourself I wasn’t one of the cool kids in high school. Unathletic, I didn’t do any sports. I didn’t find my abilities on the guitar until college. I spent most of my time working on cars and being too scared to talk to girls. Looking back on it now, I really […]

My Brain Tumor was a Great Teacher

Learning life’s most powerful lessons from its most painful circumstances Halloween day, 2021. Driving through the beautifully desolate Sandhills of Nebraska, I worked my way home from a show with my band the night before. The weekend wannabe rock star lifestyle can be pretty tiring. I was feeling it that lonely morning on the high […]

Developing Powerful Habits to Crush Your Goals

Creating the keys to unlock success As a growth oriented human living in today’s modern world, I have to confess it is difficult for me at times to feel as though I’m making forward progress on my goals. I get mired in the day to day dreariness of a life full of so many potential […]

Goals Blown into Chunks: The Capability of Small Steps to Achieve Big Dreams

Most jobs I’ve held throughout my career have had an annual performance appraisal process. As a manager, I’ve facilitated a number of them as well. I’ve had some employees who have taken the process to heart, particularly when it comes to setting goals for the next year. Others? Not so much. Why Do We Do […]

Achieve Your Goals With These Useful Tactics

We all have goals we want to accomplish in life. Or do we? We say we do, but a goal without a plan, accountability, and a measurement system is nothing more than a wish, the equivalent of hoping a suitcase full of cash falls out of the sky and lands in your lap. You might […]

How to Avoid the Trap of Uncertainty

Uncertainty can drain you. It can cause you to doubt yourself, your decisions, your team and your environment. And it can come from so many different angles. Uncertainty can spring from within, manifesting itself in the forms of self-doubt, low self-esteem and inaction. It may also come from the world around us. It seems to […]

My Goals for 2023

It’s January 23rd. How are those resolutions working out for you? Have you built habits and systems that will result in the accomplishment of your goals, or have you given up on them three weeks into the new year? According to a recent article in the U.S. Sun, this past Monday, January 16th, is the […]

Welcome to Navel Gazing – Let’s Do This!

Hi, I’m Jon, and this is my first blog post. I’m a healthcare executive by day, and a guitar player by night. My passion for personal growth has fueled a thirst for lifelong learning, and I’m hoping that the Navel Gazing Blog will help me to grow and maybe even inspire others to do the […]