What is normal, anyway? I’ve been thinking about this a lot this week as I consider what a new normal looks like for me. Before, it seemed I was always stressed, always moving fast, and always dealing with issues that seemed insurmountable at times. But as I’ve taken a break from alcohol, I’ve started to put my life into a different and better perspective. I’m settling into a much more peaceful place I would call a new normal.

I don’t really know if anything is normal in the world anymore. This morning, while taking my daughter and her friend to school, we had a conversation about the recent school shooting in Georgia, and I found myself at a loss for what to say. My only thought was to ask them if they felt safe at school, to which they both said no. The best thing I could come up with was, “If you see somebody that bothers you or something that you think doesn’t feel right or seem right, tell somebody. Don’t hold it in.” That’s the new normal. Driving your daughter to school and the thought crossing your mind: Let’s just pray that this isn’t the day that somebody walks into a school with a loaded firearm. That is the new normal.

Another new normal for me is happiness. I completely changed gears. I find myself much happier even when things go wrong, even when things seem out of place, and even when situations happen that are out of my control. It’s okay. I’ve learned that it’s going to be okay. And I think that’s another new normal. A new normal is also waking up happy every day with a smile on my face, thankful for a good night’s sleep, and enjoying what’s going to come from the day. It may not all be good, but a new normal is a sense of feeling—feeling a sense of refreshment in the morning. That’s a new normal.

So, I don’t really know what normal is anyway. But one thing I have found over the recent days and weeks is that I am experiencing a new normal of feeling better. That’s something to feel good about.

There are two types of people in this world: the winners and the losers. That is a very simple statement, yet something I heard a few months ago and have really been thinking about as I go through my days and weeks. I entered this week with a winner’s mindset, with the thought that what we are doing is the best there is. We are unstoppable, and nothing can knock us off of our pace and our place at the top of the podium. And then I went to work, realizing that to stay at the top of the podium, you’ve got to keep working, keep trying, keep trying to be the best you can every single day.
And I think that’s what separates people. If you look at people in the world today, there are truly two types of people: those who have a mindset that they’re going to win, that they have no other choice but to win, and those who question their ability and ultimately come out and lose.
This may offend some people by thinking everybody can be classified into winners or losers. But think about it for a minute. You either know going into something that you are the best prepared, that you are going to get whatever you want and you will win. It’s your challenge at all costs. And then there are other times you enter into something wondering if you should be there, if you can make it, if you can cut it, if you can hack it.
That to me is what the winners and losers are all about. Two types of people. One type of mindset. Are you a winner or are you a loser?

This isn’t to say that anybody in this world or in this environment is a loser, but it is to try to make people think that if you put your mind to winning, you can win at anything you do. If you put your mind that you may fall short of winning, you’re probably going to fall short of winning at everything you do.
I picked up this quote while in Europe over the spring, with the two types of people in the world coming out of all the European conflicts over the last 500 years. And it is true that those who set out to win and truly believe they can win more often than not will win.

The more I go about each day, in each new journey in life, the more I realize the collection of stuff that you take with you. One takes stuff in the form of memories. Memories of childhood, memories of wonderful events, and sometimes memories of not-so-wonderful events. But your memories contain parts and pieces of your life that ultimately end up in what I call stuff.

Then you have stuff that is tangible. You have stuff like your house, your car, your desk, your computer, and your phone. All of these things are stuff that you have, and you interact with on a daily basis. They become a part of your life. What does this stuff really mean? This stuff, to me, is not about meaning but is symbolic of how you go about doing what it is you do on a daily basis.

Another element of stuff is people. Yes, I realize I’m referring to a human being as stuff, but if you’ll bear with me, you’ll see my point. People are filled with stuff. Good stuff and bad stuff. Meaningful stuff. Not-so-meaningful stuff. Stuff that makes you feel good comes out of people. Stuff that makes you not feel good also can come out of people. But you’ve got to realize and recognize that all people, just like yourself, carry around an immense amount of stuff.

And the last stuff, the last element of stuff, is all in your mind. What occupies your daily thoughts? What occupies your ambitions, your dreams, your prayers, your hopes? It’s all filled with stuff. Stuff in the form of where you want to be in five years, where you want to be in ten years. How do you want to be remembered when you’re gone? All of this is just random stuff. And the cool thing about stuff is there’s always more of it.

You take some of the hardest things in the world, analyze them, and sometimes you find the greatest solution to anything is just how simple you can make it. When things get complicated in my life, both business and personal, I always try to go back to thinking about what is the simplest solution or simplest thing I can do to solve the situation. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But I’ve always tried to keep things just purely as simple as possible.

Keeping it simple takes a big focus. Many times you overthink things in your mind. You think through too many scenarios, too many different outcomes, too many different ways to solve a problem, when usually the simplest answer is always the winner. It takes a very smart person to keep things simple, and the more I grow, the more I see, the more I come to know in this world, the easier I find that the answer usually lies in something simple.

Whether it’s a situation that happens to you or somebody else, you can usually look at the root cause and boil it down to one simple thing that can fix all your problems. Now, I’m not saying that everything in the world can be looked at in such a simple manner, but oftentimes I think as people, we overcomplicate things far too much. I think we rationalize and overthink things way too much. I think we, in general, just sit there and think about things way too much. Part of freeing your mind and freeing yourself comes with simplicity.

We’ve all heard the phrase “keep it simple, stupid” or the KISS method. I think there is a lot of value and understanding that goes into this. The simpler you keep things, the easier they seem to become. The simpler you keep things, the better your thought process is, and the more things you are able to expose and open your mind to. In a lot of ways, the simpler you keep things, the happier you will be.

I’ve never been afraid of taking a new path. In fact, exploring new roads and blazing new trails has always intrigued and inspired me. While it may seem like I’m just risk-averse or somewhat of a daredevil, it’s really more about the adventure. Taking a new path doesn’t mean going into something blindly. It means venturing into something where you can envision the future and have a sincere hope that it turns out as you imagine.

Taking new paths, I believe, is what sets me apart from many people and why some don’t understand the directions I take. I’ve always been willing to try new things, adopt new approaches, and explore uncharted territories. Yet, I’m still rooted in the consistency of maintaining the fundamentals of good blocking and tackling.

I have a sense of adventure and a desire to try new things. I enjoy seeing new outcomes and gauging how well things will work once they’re realized, which is why taking a new path is always so intriguing and inspiring to me.

Don’t get me wrong; new paths can be frightening and troubling. Sometimes, they are fraught with uncertainty, but they are always fun. Whether you know the outcome, can predict the outcome, or have no clue how things will truly turn out, it is always entertaining, intriguing, and inspiring to take a new path.

You go through life, you go through your day, you go through your week, and you have so many ups, so many things that are positive, so many things that make you ride high. So many things that make you feel invincible and unstoppable. And then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, you get hit with something from the side—a down.

Now, it’s just naturally part of life that you’re going to have ups and downs, and you always hope you have more ups than you have downs, but you always have to put it in perspective. You always have to remember that just when you are ahead, just when you think you are on top, just when you think you are absolutely unstoppable, something is going to hit you out of left field. You hope that you can get through it and get past it quickly. You keep your positive mindset and positive energy, but you always have to be expecting that as good as you think you’ve got it, as good as you think you’re doing, as good as your life is going, something unfortunate is going to happen at some point.

This is not to be a naysayer, not to be a Chicken Little and think the sky’s falling, but just to remember—and even remember to celebrate—the greatness, the good things, the wins even more so. Because, you know, at some point you’re going to have a day, you’re going to have an event, you’re going to have a situation that is not the way you wanted it to turn out. You know that no matter how good things get, there’s always something that you’re going to wish didn’t happen the way it happened. And in the end, that’s what keeps the balance of the ups and downs all together.

The key to managing the ups and downs is always keeping a positive mindset. Always keep that unstoppable pep in your step. Always keep that sphere of influence over yourself where you feel like you’re unstoppable. You feel like you’re on top all the time. And with that, that’s how you can win every day.

As I run through life pretty fast, sometimes I have to remind myself that guardrails need to be applied. Guardrails are not the two metal rails on the side of a road that keep you from going off a cliff. The guardrails I’m talking about are the mental and physiological boundaries one needs to put on themselves to keep their life in check.

Sometimes you run a little too fast and might run into a guardrail, but the great thing about having a guardrail is it brings you back to the center of the road. It brings you back to a place where you can thrive and go very fast for a very long time.

I’ve lived my life and career a lot of times without guardrails, and usually, like any good road without a guardrail, sometimes your car goes over a cliff. But you can always bring it back and find a way to drive with guardrails. The figurative meaning of this is to put boundaries in your life. Know when it’s going too far. Know when you’re going too fast. Know when you’re going out of control. But also know and respect the proper speed, the right energy at the right time.

To me, that is what putting guardrails on the road in front of me is all about. You have to respect the guardrails. You have to know that when you’re getting too close, or things are getting too unsteady, you’re going to have to brake. You’re going to have to slow down and refocus. But know that the guardrails you put around yourself are only going to help you in the long run. They have for me, and I think about guardrails constantly and how I need to apply them in my daily life.

Over the last month, I have started a new trend to get my day going. Every day, I wake up and read a couple of things: a daily devotion and a daily motivation. Then, I make a list of three things I am grateful for. Not all of them have to be things; they can be people, places, or situations. But I make this list and have diligently maintained this habit over the last month.

Over the course of the year, I began my days feeling grateful and thinking grateful thoughts. Now, I actually put pen to paper and write down at least three things, sometimes more, but never less, that I’m truly grateful for.

People, places, and situations come into our lives every minute of every day. Some make us feel truly grateful, some make us feel unnerved, and some make us feel downright scared. But by taking the time before I begin each day to write down three things I’m grateful for, I start my day off on the right foot.

Being grateful is difficult, even in the wake of disaster. Even when bad things happen, even when you find yourself unsure of what to do with a certain situation, person, place, or thing. A sense of gratitude can really change your overall mindset and how you approach and view the world.

I’m not saying that everything is sunshine and roses. Today, one of the things I was grateful for was a somewhat uncomfortable situation in my life: a business deal that isn’t great and that I’m looking for a way out of. But I turned my perspective around to be grateful for it.

The essence of it is a real sense of gratitude, starting with making a daily list of at least three things I’m grateful for. Not all of these things are good; sometimes, it’s good to be grateful for things that aren’t going your way in life because they make you stronger.

As the days and miles have recently been rolling over, I have spent a great deal of time in a mode of reflection.

What has spurred this on is watching my children, who seem to be getting older and more grown up with each passing day. Seeing my oldest daughter not too far away from her teenage years makes me look back over a period in my life where everything has moved by really fast. The fact that all my kids are getting older, my time spent in my company is fast approaching 20 years, and I am now in my mid-40s has caused me to have moments of deep reflection. It’s also been interesting to travel with a much younger group of people in the company and see what things are important to them and how they view the world. All of this has triggered random moments of reflection.

In these moments, it is really rewarding to pause and think about how grateful and blessed I am for the things in my life.

Even with all the tests, trials, tribulations, and stress, it is still a truly wonderful life to live.

There are challenges every day, but I wouldn’t trade a minute of it.

One thing I have really leaned on heavily this year is developing a real sense of gratitude.

Practicing a genuine mindset of gratitude has shaped me more powerfully than anything I have ever experienced. When things start to go wrong in my day, or I have sudden feelings of tremendous stress and anxiety, I find it easy to pause and think about something I am grateful for—be it a person, place, or thing. Shifting to a mindset of gratitude helps me not to worry so much about what is bothering me in the moment but to focus on thoughts that make me happy. It brings a peaceful and pleasant feeling to wash over me.

Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the moment and in every little detail, but far too often these things cause stress, which creates anger and negative thoughts to occupy space in our minds. Remember that when this happens, simply stop and think about what you are truly grateful for, and everything will be better.