Posted by Grant on August 27, 2008 – 1:45 pm
Filed under Books, My Book
Today, I was completely stoked to have the UPS man drop off the proof of my book, Reality Check. It wasn’t completely in book format, but it was one last chance to look over everything and make sure it was correct.
It was somewhat surreal flipping through the pages and realizing we’re almost at the finish line! I spent some time going through the little details of it and making sure everything looked good. Once I finished, I shipped it back to the printer and now that they have that proof approved, they will start cranking them out!
My birthday is September 23, so I’m shooting for a major book delivery by then!
In the meantime, if you haven’t had a chance to read through a preview of the book, you really should. At the top of the page, click the Reality Check link, or you can download the sample chapters directly from here.
Posted by Grant on August 26, 2008 – 6:32 am
We’re all busy. We all have a lot going on in life. We all live at a very fast pace.
But regardless of how busy you are, we also all have a capacity.
There is only so much that you can do.
If you took a glass and filled it to edge, that represents how most of us live life. No room for margin or error. We live at capacity.
We continue to say ‘yes’ to things that really we can’t handle, because we’re already at capacity.
Here’s a simple idea: If your glass is full, then you can’t add anything to it, until something is first removed from it.
You must say ‘no’ before you can say ‘yes’.
Are you living life at capacity?
Posted by Grant on August 24, 2008 – 2:28 pm
I’m stoked to announce that I’ll be partnering on some events now with Jostens Speakers Bureau. If you’re unfamiliar with Jostens, they are the premiere speaker’s bureau for youth events. They have been in the business for several years and work with many of the top youth speakers in the country. I’m excited to be doing some work with them and look forward to a long term partnership together!
You can even check out my ugly mug on their home page right now!
Posted by Grant on August 24, 2008 – 2:25 pm
So today the Olympics comes to a close.
It’s bittersweet for me considering how enjoyable they have been to watch, but at the same time, they have consumed a ridiculous amount of my time. Not to mention that I find myself watching completely random events that in my right mind, I would never watch!
Here are some final observations regarding the Olympics:
There’s my 2 cents. So goodbye Olympics. It’s been a fun two weeks. See you in London in a few years. Don’t forget to write.
Posted by Grant on August 19, 2008 – 1:02 pm
I sent out a new e-newsletter yesterday but if you’re not currently on my email list and would be interested in checking that out, shoot me an email at grant@grantbaldwin.com and I’ll send you a copy.
Also, I posted a new video on YouTube today. It is some clips from a few of the youth events I spoke at this summer. The footage is better than the other demo video I had.
Check it out here…
Enjoy!
Posted by Grant on August 18, 2008 – 2:30 pm
At a lot of events I speak at, the participants fill out some type of evaluation form regarding what they thought of my talk. Usually I don’t get to see these, but today in the mail, I received a stack of these forms from a recent event I did. As I read through them, I would say that 98% of them were overwhelmingly positive, but then there was maybe 2% that thought my talk should have been more humorous, less humorous; more stories, less stories; more motivational, less motivational.
As I read through these and saw some of the contrasting statements, I wondered if everyone was even hearing the same talk! Why would one person say I was too funny, someone else said I wasn’t funny enough, and others say it was perfect? Go figure! But I guess I was reminded of two simple lessons.
- You can’t please everyone all the time. You’re always going to let someone down no matter what you do. You will never have a 100% approval rating.
- If you have a 100% approval rating, you’re doing something wrong. Yes, you read that correctly. If you’re doing a great job at what you do, you will always rub someone the wrong way. While I enjoy hearing how much students or leaders enjoyed a talk I gave, I also like to see those that disagreed and disapproved of some part of it. To me, that means I’m doing something right.
Posted by Grant on August 16, 2008 – 9:22 pm
I was watching my daily dose of “The Michael Phelps Show” (aka ‘The Olympics’) this evening, and I began to ponder some questions:
- If I was racing Michael Phelps in the 100m freestyle, would I stand a chance against him if I had a 50m lead? (Probably not)
- Will anybody watch the Olympics now that Phelps’ part of the show is over? (I bet ratings drop)
- Is Michael Phelps good at Marco Polo? (I would be a “fish-out-of-water” the entire time)
- In six months, will you watch a swim meet on a Saturday night on NBC? (Me neither)
- I wonder if Michael Phelps’ mom is a good cook? (I bet she is)
- Which is faster: a US men’s relay team or me on a jet ski? (They’re not that good…or are they? Hmm…)
- Do you think Michael Phelps would be good at synchronized swimming or diving? (Stick to swimming)
- As a dude, is it wrong to have a purely heterosexual man crush on Michael Phelps? (I think I do)
- If Phelps was running for President, would you vote for him? (Depends where he stands on the issues but I’d consider it)
- Do you think Michael Phelps ever pees in the water while swimming? (As long as he saves enough for the post-victory test sample)
Posted by Grant on August 14, 2008 – 3:46 pm
I drove over to Bristol, Connecticut this afternoon, which any novice sports fan knows is the home to ESPN. I figured I would drive around the campus and maybe see a Sportscenter anchor walking to their car.
But in fact, that place is locked up like Fort Knox. Gates and security everywhere. It was cool to at least see the place. Here are some pics…
Posted by Grant on August 14, 2008 – 4:53 am
Filed under Books, My Book
Strike up the band…
Cue the Hallelujah chorus…
The book, Reality Check, is nearly complete!
Yesterday, it was one of the greatest feelings in the world to be able to take the completed manuscript proof to put in the mail. I felt like literally hours and hours of work had come together for that moment. I’m so stoked and can’t wait to get the books back!
From here, the printer will get the book by Monday and will check over the files and develop a sample proof to send me, which I should get about a week and a half from now or so. Once I okay that, print time will be about 3-4 weeks and then they’ll ship out after that. So we’re looking at probably late September to have the finished product in hand!
Posted by Grant on August 14, 2008 – 4:22 am
Filed under Events, Travels
I’m traveling to Connecticut today to speak at a student leadership event on Friday morning. We’ll be doing some group mixers, team building activities, and brainstorming ways to help improve their school. I’m really looking forward to hanging out with these students!
And secretly, I’m hoping to be able to buzz over to Bristol, Connecticut to check out the headquarters for ESPN. It is a journey…a quest…a pilgrimage…that every true sports fan must make once in their lifetime!
