Welcome: A Blog of Life 🗺️

My name is C.J. Wedenig. I am a freelance digital marketer, elite hockey coach, and former Div. 1 athlete. I decided to use this blog as a stomping ground for my thoughts, lessons learned, and advice I’ve picked up through travel, books I’ve read, and my career.  I don’t know who will read this, but I hope it provides you with some value, encouragement, and thoughts to consider. 

One thing I have been pondering about recently is the 1% rule that has become made of light by an entrepreneur I follow, Steven Bartlett.  He has a podcast called The Diary of a CEO (I highly recommend it), in which he interviews top professionals around the world in all areas and domains. He says the top performers focus on the little details and make sure to be 1% better daily. This has me thinking about my own life and how I can implement this in my own life. 

Am I pushing myself in the gym to do that one extra rep? 

Am I being present in conversations with family and friends? 

Am I getting out of bed to my alarm or hit snooze? 

Do I keep my word to myself? 

Questions like these have made me realize that I have some work to do. However, it is not the kind of work one would think. I am not adding new things or routines to help me be better. Actually, the exact opposite…. I am SUBTRACTING things to make my life more peaceful and inspiring. This approach is something I took from podcaster and coach Rob Dial. He explained how personal development is about taking things away so your brain has the mental clarity and bandwidth to focus on the 1% of things that actually matter. Further, Bartlett also agrees with this concept and phrases it as “having your head in the clouds.” Both ways of looking at it have provided time for my intuition and mind to dial in on the areas of my life that help move the needle in my life.  

Bringing this concept into coaching, I realized this can help athletes as well. Having them focus on the process rather than the result will help them be more successful as a group. This was seen by Steve Jobs in 1997 when Apple took over Microsoft. He said in an email, "We're only as good as our next amazing new product." This framework allowed Apple to stay enveloped by the process and not get distracted by being #1.  I plan on using this message with the U18 AAA team I coach and will report back on how it goes. 

Until next week, stay curious and be yourself.