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Keepin' it 100 with Willy T Try something that I hope will shift your perspective. (Before reading further) Watch this video with the following question in mind: “What are you looking at?” I’m guessing most of you noted that this was a drone timelapse I captured at Wrightsville Beach. You looked at the Atlantic Ocean, waves, clouds, rocks and a boat…. The beauty of the moment shifted when I focused less on “what are you looking at?” and focused more on the question “what do you see?” In this moment, I see: vastness, motion, serenity, a beginning, and the assurance that this journey is guided. Don’t let your standard perspective dictate a standard outcome. Happy August, fam: Have a ship-ton of fun this month! Peace, love, and boat-load of joy,
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FEATURE: Joey Cutting on “living out your values”  To keep things fresh, I’ll sporadically host “Keepin’ it 100” style writeups from colleagues, friends and celebrities. It’s only fitting that for my first feature blog I host someone who is all three! World: meet Joey Cutting. Currently serving as the Assistant Director for Western Carolina’s Catamount Club, he’s the ultimate people person. Together, we co-class-clowned our ways to masters degrees as fellow marketing graduate assistants: Joey in athletics and myself in collegiate recreation. You may know him as “Emcee Joey” rocking the mic at sporting events. He’s probably stolen the show at your local karaoke night by singing (and yes, definitely dancing to) Enrique Iglesias’ “Hero.” If you’ve ever crossed paths with him - you know he embodies the true meaning of a friend. Fortunately, he’s shared the secret to his consistent authenticity: his core values - AKA the Five F’s Filosophy. Before you just assume he’s a terrible speller, let’s let him explain why his values drive his successful life: “1. Faith Faith in myself to do the right thing, believe in my upbringing, and the values my family has instilled in me. 2. Family The driver of my success—making them proud and living up to our name through respect and love. 3. Friendship The reason why life has been enjoyable thus far, plus the social balance needed to break free from adulthood stresses. 4. Fishing My biggest hobby and contributor to my peace and well-being. When I’m on the river, I’m in my happy place. 5. Fundraising Giving back full-time in philanthropy to my passion that will always be part of who I am – collegiate athletics.”
Episode 5: An Acronym That Helps Failure Make Sense I’m only a few blogs in, and I have to be honest - it’s easy for me to super-overthink these. Being limited 100 words is quite the challenge. (Especially for someone who’s rarely is at a loss for words - lol). I find myself staring at the computer screen overthinking it so much that I sometimes fail to even begin. I’m sure I’m not alone in this situation... The anxiety, overthinking, or just fear of failure causes you to shy away from trying. Here’s why I love FAILure. Often times, it’s your First (or if not your first, it’s a Further) Attempt In Learning Don’t let the fear of failure keep you from trying. I try to physically write down this acronym whenever I start a project so I’m visually reminded that life is all one big learning process. Side Note Shoutout - I’d like to thank two giants in my industry, Mirum Washington-White and Dr. R. Kevin Marbury, for teaching me this lesson.
 If you are like most of us you thrive in an environment when you know exactly what’s happening next on your agenda, where you have to go, and when you have to be there. We live our life attached to our Google Calendar; trust me I know. Since I launched this company little over a year ago and made the crazy (maybe courageous?) leap to quitting my full-time job with benefits to become an entrepreneur I have learned many lessons, however here are the two that stick out the most:
Today’s post is about Lesson #1. We will get to Lesson #2 in due time. We will come back later on how to trust in the Universe, but today let’s just stick to opening your mind to the idea of trusting in the Universe. A few weeks ago I started my Monday morning off just like I had intended. I got up at 6:30am and headed over to the beach for my run. I really do enjoy a nice (and short) run; it’s a great way to set your intentions for the day, clear your mind, or just be in the present. Here’s the thing about running for me, I like running alone. I tried joining a run club (okay so it did meet at local brewery...details) but group running just isn't my thing. I came back from the run to shower and grab breakfast before heading into the office. Another lesson I have learned is that I can work from home but not more than one day in a row; more to come on that later. I headed out the door just as the time I had targeted. Smooth sailing right? My plan was going as scheduled; I was going to get to the office then I had a really important conference call followed directly by going on FaceBook Live with ACE Group Fit page to talk about the 4 Tips for Making Your Next Move in the Fitness Industry. I started out to my car and that’s when it happened. It was exactly like the scene in Scary Movie 2 when Brenda is hoping that Cindy doesn’t see her because she is being chased by a skeleton. I looked across the street and there was a german shepherd mix standing at the neighbors fence. The dog made eye contact with me and came running toward me; “great, I thought; I do not have the time to be dealing with a stray dog this morning.” I walked her over to the neighbor’s house as I knew she had a dog but hadn’t seen it before; it wasn’t her dog. Now I was stuck. I couldn’t just leave the dog and she didn’t have tag on her collar. Naturally I posted in our neighborhood Facebook group to see if anyone recognized her. A neighbor suggested I take her to my veterinarian to have them scan her for a microchip but no such luck as the scan came back as no microchip detected. The vet tech said the dog was definitely well taken care of so they took pictures of her as well to share on their social media accounts. I went through all my options but decided to take her to the office with me as I am the proud dog dad to a senior dog who, in her older age, has gotten to the point where she has her four friends and doesn’t want any more new friends (i.e. I could not take the stray dog in my house with Roxy). I took the dog with the office with me, she immediately slipped out of the office and took a lap through the building getting the other dogs to bark all while people are in conference calls and such. After those shenanigans, we got her some food and water and I settled in for the calls. Contrary to my non-perfect morning, the first call went great and the Facebook Live received many views and I felt like it made me feel more “real.” It shows a normally in life; my life isn’t perfect and it’s just normal, like everyone, which usually includes daily chaos, extensive amounts of coffee, and doing your best to look like a duck floating in the water while you can’t see its feet kicking fast and furious underneath. Following the calls I took the stray dog back to the vet to board her for the evening since I had to drive back to the other side of the city to teach a fitness class and by the time that I could get back to the vet after teaching they would’ve closed. Since she wasn’t a patient of theirs I would have to pay to do a wellness exam and make sure her shots are up-to-date but they told me not to worry about it yet because we could get everything squared away when the next part of this “fly by the seat of our pants” type plan was.” I dropped her off and headed across the city to teach my class. Following the class and my world-wind of a day, the vet called me. The social media posts had been shared over a few hundred times and the owners were found. The veterinary hospital said the owners came in and picked up the dog who escaped through a hole in their backyard fence. They paid for half of the vet bill and were coming back later in the week to pay the balance. The rambunctious dog who we thought was a 2 year old puppy was actually 10 years old. I told the vet that I would be stopping by the office in the morning to pay their remaining balance. Although she told me I didn’t have to she was very appreciative that I was going to do that. We also found out a few more things about the dog. The stray’s name was “Whitney” and ironically we live in a neighborhood called Whitney Pines and I live on Whitney Dr. I’ll also always stand by the fact that Whitney Houston will always be the best singer (she also passed away on my birthday #RIPWhitney) and taught us that the only way you should sing the National Anthem at a Super Bowl is in a red, white, and blue tracksuit. After this chaotic day (which many details were left out because, well, I’ve got a blog coming out soon on customer service and this is a blog not a book) I pulled back into my driveway and just had to laugh. I am a big believer that if you trust in the Universe you will do more than survive, you will thrive. Gabby Bernstein speaks of this a lot in her book The Universe has Your Back; if you haven’t read it yet you definitely need too. However, just like adopting any healthy habit it is easy to misstep and we need to correct our footing to move forward. I felt as I haven’t been trusting in the Universe enough the past few weeks and I spent more of my energy trying to control the plan. The Universe was right; June was a really successful month for the company and we were able to impact more lives. Thanks for the lesson Whitney and for letting the world know that you can be “old” in dog years and still have a good time.
 Happy Fourth, fam! However you celebrate best, do it for the land of the free and the home of the brave. Now, before you write this off, please know that this blogspot is not a place where I’ll spend time forcing any political agenda. As our country endures some of it’s most polarizing political times in recent history, I came across a message that I want to share. The quote’s author: Former Green Beret and NFL Player Nate Boyer. The quote’s impetus: The NFL’s new National Anthem Policy, political protests, and honoring US Servicemen and women on Memorial Day. (video is linked below) “What most of [US service members] died for is not the right to protest, it’s not for patriotism, it’s not for the constitution or the American flag or any of that. What they died for is the man on our left and right. And if we can’t live for the man on our left and on our right back at home, respectfully despite our differences, then what in the hell did they die for?”
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Who we areJust a team of round pegs in a square hole changing the world one interaction at a time. Look back at it
March 2020
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