The Undivided Life Blog

“Our company does not exist to hit an earnings per share target.”

We were emerging from a terrible 2008, and I was skeptical about the outside CEO the board had hired to run the company. First Choice...

“You are seriously planning to forgo all wedding gifts?”

In 2010, I visited the Holy Land on a Biblical pilgrimage with a group that included Amanda (my fiancée at the time and now wife), my parents,...

His questions and his countenance said it all. This young man was nervous but also intent on digesting as much knowledge and wisdom as one can while also enjoying an Anaheim Scrambler during our break...

“Find your own Calcutta. Find the sick, the suffering, and the lonely, right where you are — in your own homes and in your own families, in your workplaces and in your schools. You can find Calcutta a...

When have you ever given everything to anything? When have you burned the ships, going all in with everything you have and know, for something you thought worthy of the effort? How did you feel when y...

“Let’s be clear, I never said I was sorry. I'm simply telling you how this works.”

We were in the middle of a due diligence sprint with the incoming owner of First Choice Power (FCP), and the time ha...

“I wish everything I tried always worked out like it does for you, Jeff.”

I’ve heard this ridiculous statement many times over the past 25 years, and it drives me crazy. Not only is it fundamentally ...

“I have to meet with you tonight to tell you how deeply your daughter has impacted me.”

In 2010, Todd and Tara Storch found themselves in a nightmare. What started as an exciting family vacation for ...

My niece Sarah was almost three months into her hospital stay when Christmas rolled around that year. As we opened presents and thanked God for this time together, my brother told me that Sarah also h...

John Ruhlin passed away at 44, leaving behind a wife and four daughters. He was a business hero of mine, and his legacy continues today through the GIFT-OLOGY concepts taught to so many of us.

GIFT-O...

Well, it’s 3:00 o’clock, so you have about five hours to convince me this cannot work. Until you successfully demonstrate that we cannot combine all seven of our existing online experiences into one m...

I heard the car horn and the screeching brakes. Then I looked over just in time to see that I was about to be t-boned by someone from the cross traffic at an intersection.

My life didn’t flash before...

As a teenager, I tried to defend the underdog but did very little to help my classmates who had special needs. What’s worse, I would go along to get along - If friends were making fun of these kids, a...

He didn’t wait to see what part of his body might be aching after crashing to the ground halfway through the 300-meter hurdle event. He knew this fall would cost him, but how much distance could he ma...

We were several hours into a very productive exercise to establish the company’s core values, and it looked like we were headed for extra innings as we sensed that something was still missing. Our ini...

Who buys a one-way ticket to Poland to start filming a feature-length film before securing the actors and locations, not to mention the need for personal lodging arrangements?

The answer - Anthony D’...

I was 20 miles into a long-distance trail race when my heart rate monitor registered a jump from 154 bpm to 197 bpm. I was being chased, and my entire life hung in the balance—or so I thought.

Let me...

“Jeff, in 2015, you gave Mark from Donuts Deluxe a book called Cowboy Ethics. I'll be honest - it doesn't look like Mark opened it. I bought it used, and I am reading through it now.

When I saw the h...