Google, Cisco, the first Tahoe snow cams, and a Mk 5 diving rigs (that’s the picture above).

That’s a short list of the work related adventures I’ve had. 

In every case, mental wellness skills are what made it possible. 

Let’s start with what I don’t have:

• no fancy college degree

• not even a four year degree

• no childhood obsession with computers

• no high placed friends at big companies

Basically I started from nothing.

And here is what I did have to start with:

• an unquenchable curiosity. I’m not sure if this is a gift or a curse but learning skills is my drug of choice.

• a genuine desire to help people. Ever since I was a kid, helping people is something I enjoy. Sometimes that means doing work (paid or free), sometimes that means coaching, some times it’s teaching, sometimes it’s just moral support. Helping people for free opens massive amounts of doors. 

• a pathological desire to push my limits. I compete with myself all the time. This may be the most important skill anyone can have. 

• a very good algorithm set for risk assessment. People radically over estimate risk all the time. In truth there are almost zero real risks in the world. Looking stupid isn’t a risk, it should be a desired outcome. 

  • if(this.cant.kill.me) then do.it;

  • if(this.can.kill.me) then learn(skills.to.minimize.risk) and do.it;

The skills I had to start with are available to everyone. There is no special school, sports club, or neighborhood limit. Anyone can do this -  you can do this. 

The things I have are all mental wellness skills.

There are a bunch of other mental wellness skills that I didn’t have - but these 4 let me start and over the years I’ve acquired others. I’m still learning 🙂 

These skills let me install the first snow cams in Tahoe, create successful marketing automation for a Cisco subsidiary, and earn a role at Google. 

They also put me underwater in a diving rig originally designed in the 1830s. Another adventure, more to learn, and lots of helping with team success. 

I use these and other mental wellness skills every day to raise my kids, help clients, move our team forward, and practice my writing. Earlier this week, I helped a friend understand the skills for getting executive approval for a project. 

When you have these mental wellness skills - you can do anything. It’s that simple. 

And anyone can learn these skills.

Skills = keys to everything.