07Jun, 2010

The Absolute Power of an Apology

Posted by Don
67

Last week, Detroit Pitcher Armondo Galarraga threw a perfect game. Through nine complete innings, he struck out or was sloppily hit by twenty-seven consecutive batters to complete the twenty-first perfect game in the history of baseball. But he won’t get credit for it. On the last play, Galarraga ran over to cover first and clearly hit the base before the baserunner Jason Donald arrived, and the umpire blew the call. Galarraga knew it, the fans knew it, and even Jason Donald knew it. Jim Joyce, standing within a few feet of the base, called the runner safe. Replays clearly showed he missed the call. The Tiger’s manager stormed first base irate, but Joyce stood his ground. It wasn’t until the game was over and Joyce saw the replay that he realized he’d blown the call and cost the young pitcher a coveted place in the history books. What happened next, in my opinion, is what really made this game such a great story. Both Galarraga and especially Joyce responded, well, perfectly. It is rare to find a person with the strength to admit they were wrong. Joyce is under no obligation to apologize for a missed call. The human element [...]

Read More
04Jun, 2010

Bob Goff Turns the Idea of Charity Upside Down

Posted by Don
68

My friend Bob Goff started a school in Uganda where he provides an education for children who come from what any American would consider extreme poverty. But you best not call Restore International a charity. Bob won’t have it for a second. Instead of taking funds from wealthy Americans, the kids at Restore are actually growing crops and selling them in order to donate the money to American charities! Why? Because Bob Goff wants to instill dignity and purpose in the lives of his students. Here’s a guest blog from Justin Zoradi, the Marketing Director for The Mentoring Project, the non-profit I started three years ago. Justin reflects on his interaction with Bob and the unusual emotions involved in accepting money from children a half world away: Bob Goff, founder of Restore International, called me last week to let us know young men from The Restore Leadership Academy have decided to make a donation to The Mentoring Project to provide mentors for kids in Portland, Oregon. Apparently, with the help of Restore, a number of these young men have started growing & selling their own crops. After hearing about The Mentoring Project, they wanted to give a small portion of their profits to [...]

Read More
02Jun, 2010

The Power of Writing Down Social Goals

Posted by Don
57

The last few times I’ve interacted with groups on an adventure, I’ve tried something new. Normally, when I meet new people, I act out my insecurities. What I mean is, I’ll drop names or try to control the situation or say things I think will return respect. This never works. While I enjoy the time, I usually feel like I talked too much and didn’t really let people get to know me. I feel more like I put on a show than let my guard down to have a good time. This past week, nine guys from Texas came to Portland to climb Mt. Hood (I’ll write more about that adventure and share some photos in a coming blog) and before they came I sat down with a piece of paper and wrote my ambitions for our time. I’m not talking about the ambition of getting to the top of Hood, I’m talking about social parameters, if you will. I wrote down I wanted to refrain from talking too much, and I wanted to serve. I wrote down that I wanted to make meals, drive cars, set up tents, whatever. I also wrote that I didn’t want to try to [...]

Read More
01Jun, 2010

Healthy Friends are Responsible To, not For Eachother

Posted by Don
64

My friend Pete recently let me in on a paradigm shift I found helpful. He was talking about a friend of his who, for some reason, was taking up a bit too much of his mental space. He was beginning to feel responsible for a friends bad decisions. Another friend of Pete’s said that Pete needed to be responsible TO his friend, not FOR his friend. Pete explained this meant he was responsible to be kind to his friend, understanding, helpful, professional if that’s what the relationships required and so on. But his friend’s decisions and even his emotions were that of his friend not of Pete’s. A lot of this goes back to Henry Cloud and John Townsend’s terrific book Boundaries, but I found the little phrase be responsible To and not For helpful. So, if you’re feeling guilty about somebody else’s mistakes, their depression, or their being irritated, it might be good to ask yourself if you’ve done anything wrong that has caused that, and if not, the problem really is there problem. You can be responsible to them, to be kind and comforting, but when you become responsible for them, you are going to grow tired of [...]

Read More
28May, 2010

Want to Learn More About Living a Better Story?

Posted by Don
25

If you’ve read A Million Miles in a Thousand Years and wanted to know more about starting a new story, or just making your existing story more meaningful, we’ve put together a Living a Better Story Seminar here in Portland at the end of September. It will be a relatively small, intimate and personal seminar in which we will go through the elements of a meaningful life. My hope is that attendees will leave having a clearly mapped out story, and a plan to achieve their life ambition. You can learn more and register here…

Read More
Pages: Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next
Plugin by GrobeKelle

Twitter: donmilleris

  • sorry, twitter is down