Leaving a trail for our Son – Page 5 – Disney Leadership Keynote Speaker

Aging is cool, mind

Rummaging through 2012 photos and stumbled upon this happiness flow chart. Seems straight-forward.

2015 USATF Masters Track & Field Outdoor Championships — Men’s 80 and older age group. Start of 800.

Aging.

Advantage or disadvantage?

Like i’ve always said since becoming a professional speaker (1999, at Disney Institute) and having classroom Guests ask questions…

It depends.

Depends on what?

In case it’s not obvious to adults, professionals, leaders (and it rarely is), from my extensive classroom experience, it ALWAYS “depends”.

It’s simple.

You absolutely need…

Context.

Every question has to have context.

HAS TO!

How can it not?

Aging is cool?

Yes.

Let me give you context on today’s next four blogs.

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This website is about our MIND. To read today’s post about our BODY, click here.

Blogging’s hidden blessing, mind

Mid Life Celebration — Writing is a great way to process thoughts, hopes, dreams, etc.

Dear Son, to me, blogging’s hidden blessing is its love for the writer.

When i write, i’m talking to someone specific.

Namely, me.

You and mom are the ripple-effect, potential beneficiaries.

Yet for many people who blog, they are solely trying to make a living, so they’re talking only to potential customers. No harm, no foul.

But for an ordinary person like me, i’m talking to myself, Mom, and you.

Love.

All around.

Blogging’s blessing of love is mostly a solitary effort. Yet it can be freely shared. That is a writer’s distant hope. That love falls on loving ears.

The modest insight may bloom. It may not. If or when other loved ones read the writer’s thoughts, observations, insights, and musings, magic may happen.

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This website is about our MIND. To read today’s post about our BODY, click here.

One day it will, mind

Examining A Disney World Parade — Can remember most of this day like it was yesterday.

One day it will.

Will what?

One day will come.

And it reminds me of a Garth Brooks song…

If Tomorrow Never Comes.

Chapin, on this day, April 11, 2026, if tomorrow never comes, you absolutely need to know this…

i could never be more proud to be your father.

You are extraordinary.

i am more proud of who you are, how you think, and what you’ll become than anything else i’ve witnessed in 67 years.

Note: These posts will publish June 11, 2026.

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This website is about our MIND. To read today’s post about our BODY, click here.

The thing about everything, mind

Disney leadership keynote speaker — Make no small plans, for they have no power to stir your soul.

The thing about everything is that everything takes longer than you plan.

Noteworthy, there’s an exception to nearly every rule.

Exceptions are rare.

So something you plan to do happening in the time you thought it would take is rare. Even rarer is it happening faster than planned.

Then there’s the paradox of planned time and actual speed.

Let’s say you plan to live 80 years (planned time) but you live your life in 70 (actual speed).

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This website is about our MIND. To read today’s post about our BODY, click here.

Paperwork playoffs, mind

jeff noel's work desk — Two folders from a 2019 engagement. Took only 4 sheets of paper to a (2018) lunch meeting at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge Resort. This was for a Deloitte engagement.

One box of 54 Mid Life Celebration books — 54 books, each uniquely signed, in gratitude for their passion. For Galen College of Nursing some years ago. Took them to their Louisville HQ for annual two-day Executive Leadership summit.

Shoulda, woulda, coulda…

Shoulda, woulda, coulda are side effects of a closed mindset.

Now in 2026, my two thoughts in retirement regarding a lifetime Disney paperwork collection…

Wait, and probably do nothing, ever.
Go, start purging, get it down to only what is pure gold.

Just told a former client yesterday that if it wasn’t for some more books i’d still like to write for our son, i’d likely pitch the whole collection.

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This website is about our MIND. To read today’s post about our BODY, click here.