We have had beautiful weather this week. It feels like spring, and on some days even like summer! I celebrated by going on a middle-of-the-week long run on Wednesday. This is one of the perks of self-employment. I ran about 6.5-7 miles. It was tiring, so I have some work to do before the Broad Street 10-miler in May, and my first half-marathon of the season in June. But it felt good to be out running in the sun again.
I had a stroke of bad luck/good luck yesterday. I went to meet Jess Lahey, author of The Gift of Failure, for lunch (she was in Philadelphia for meetings). We met at a restaurant that is in the first floor of the building where my husband works. I like the parking situation, it is easy to get to, etc. I had driven the car my husband usually drives because mine was blocked in the garage at home. Anyway, after a nice lunch, I walk out and discover that his car will not start. Very odd, since it is not like it was 15 degrees or something that usually kills a battery. That was the bad luck. But the good luck is that I was in a familiar place and though my husband was not there, his colleagues helped me out, jump-starting the car and sending me on my way. I made it home without incident (if I was nervous driving on 76! Though I know once a jump-started car is going it should be fine until you turn it off again). I am very glad this did not happen at some other random Philly parking garage.
Also, I had to reschedule a phone call twice yesterday and everyone was very understanding. I hate being flaky.
I read The War of Art earlier this week (I have a round-up of short inspirational reads over at Fast Company). Steven Pressfield writes of Resistance — that dark force within us that keeps us from achieving our dreams. His particular genius is turning garden-variety procrastination into an epic battle against the dark side. That makes you feel far more fired up about getting to work! It was a fun, short read. I think my favorite part was reading about how long it took him to get any successes in the writing business, and that his first professional projects failed miserably (King Kong Lives anyone?) As Charles Duhigg pointed out in the interview I did with him (for Fortune), failures often turn out to be the most memorable conversations.
(That said, I still love the piece I did on Cinnabon president Kat Cole who told me that people do not question success as much as they do failure. We should do the same post mortems on success as failure because often the reasons we think things worked are not really the reason they worked).
It was a long morning again this morning — another of those 5:20 A.M. deals. This after I was cajoling my eldest into bed at 10:20 P.M. I am ready to be at the stage of my life when getting up at 5:20 A.M. is about charging forward toward my personal and professional goals, rather than being dragged out of bed because someone is crying “ba ba!”
Though, to be sure, watching the little guy grow up is fun. He is talking a lot. He can say versions of bottle, pacifier (pa pa), shoes, diaper, cheese, ma ma, da da, and what I am pretty sure are the names of his siblings. He is a holy terror in the climbing department. He has hoisted himself onto the kitchen table chairs. We shall see what is next.
At my panel on Wednesday I learned about the Girls Auto Clinic. This business is aiming to disrupt the car repair industry. Perhaps I need to learn more about cars if it would have helped me guess the battery was going to go!
If you are going to SXSW, please come see me speak Monday morning, 9:30, at the Marriott. I am talking about What Successful People Do Before Breakfast. Looking forward to saying hello!