Jan 20
Leaving the Garage Door Up
About me: Steve Thomas — people who know me call me “ST”
This idea reaches back to an apocryphal American suburbia in the ’60s. On a Saturday evening, you could walk down a street of tract homes, and there would be garage doors up where you could see guys working on their hot rod or someone refinishing their grandma’s dresser or that neighbor pumping weights under flickering fluorescence lights.
You saw what they were working on as they worked on it. That’s what I’m going to do here.
Here’s what I’m working on:
1. I turned 65 recently, I have a new life ahead. I’m not ready to retire, but a transition is ahead. I have to shepherd a succession plan for my business to succeed. My work continues, but I plan on stepping out of the CEO role sooner than later. That’s a change of work but also a change of identity.
2. I have a “what’s next” for my work-life to craft.
3. I have to figure out the spiritual portion of this part of the path.
4. I’m a life-long athlete with a new brand-new injury. After years of endurance running and obstacle course racing, I have a brutal plantar fasciitis flare-up that is changing the course of my training. So now, what will be the outlet for my need for physical challenges?
5. Sarcopenia is my #1 opponent now (and if you’re over 40, it’s yours as well). Adding muscle is an extra challenge, so I’m going to work on that. I’m not ready to be a frail old guy yet.
I believe we need more “working with the garage door up” in our lives. We get enough polished, filtered, and perfect. That’s something our world specializes in. But, while we might enjoy the ideal, that doesn’t connect to our real lives. And most of that perfect isn’t real anyway. Plus, perfect, filtered, and safe are dull.
I’m drawn to the reality of regular people tackling challenging problems with risk. Don’t tell me how billionaires start their day unless you can also provide me live-in staff and a personal trainer. Don’t point me to professional fitness trainers whose job’s to maintain 6% body fat.
None of that is even realistically aspirational.
Show me real people solving real problems with risk.
I’m going to experiment. My purpose is to test-drive some different writing and communicating skills than what I do in my day job. Maybe you’ll stumble across this and find it helpful, maybe not, knowing how Medium works these days.
If you benefit, I’m delighted. I’ve coached more than a few successful people in their lives, and it’s a joy to serve someone who’s working to improve.
My day job is CEO of a boutique ad agency. My business partner (and wife) and I have built a thriving small business. We have a blended family and even grandkids (that’s an entirely wonderful and strange experience). I follow Jesus but struggle with religion and what’s called “Christianity” in the US today. I’m a life-long athlete: runner, obstacle course racer, endurance-event fanatic. I love food, travel, and adventure. Right now, I live in the DFW area of Texas with my Beloved, but we spend as much time as possible in the Seattle area.
I’d love to know what you’re working on. Let me know what you’re thinking.
st
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