Wednesday December 20^th, 2006 - Chicago, IL

Still trying to crawl out of the quicksand today. I woke up at 10:30am, 15 hours after I went to bed. I slept straight through too. Didn’t even get up to go to the bathroom once.

I was surprised to see it was that late and I immediately got out of bed and started to get dressed and make something happen today. I was not about to let myself stay stuck in that horrible funk I was in yesterday. I used to get stuck in these for weeks on end and did not want to get out of bed so I knew if I was going to change that it had to be a conscious one.

It’s easy to fall into old habits so I got on the phone to search for someone positive to meet for lunch so I would have something to do. My friend Brian Seery has called me for a few weeks trying to have a lunch so I called him. He’s a great guy and very positive so I called him and he said he could make it but had to do it way on the opposite side of town. I told him I’d meet him at 1:30 and got cleaned and dressed and headed out into traffic.

I knew I couldn’t let things get to me today so I made up my mind that I was going to be calm no matter what happened. I wasn’t nearly as on edge as I was yesterday so it did not become an issue at all. He gave me poor directions and that was a little frustrating but that wasn’t going to let me ruin this day, nor was the cold dreary weather. I made it a mission today not to let anything get to me and I thought about that all the way to the restaurant.

Brian is a great guy and very entrepreneurial. He owns a tanning salon and works really hard at it but also works as a heating and air technician for a friend of his and also works as a house appraiser part time too. We were roommates years ago and have kept in touch. He is one of the biggest hearted people I’ve ever met and he would help anyone. I like to think I’m the same way and it would be sweet to see guys like us get ahead for a change.

We talked about all kinds of stuff at lunch but mostly about entrepreneurial things. He’s got the same drive I do and we both agreed that we need to chase that dream of being the millionaires we have always thought about. That really got me charged up and it was just what the doctor ordered today. I left the restaurant in a much better mood and went up to Waukegan to meet with one of my former students who is working on a comedy gimmick of being ‘The World’s Funniest Lutheran’. I think he’s got something with that and we sat for over an hour and went over some of his jokes and started to hash out a plan of attack.

Again, this is the kind of stuff I love to do and that put me in a good mood. Then I took a lap through the book store and found one called ‘The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Being A Successful Entrepreneur’ and I invested in it so I can get myself going in that direction.

Whatever it is, I need to do something different so I don’t stay stuck in this rut I to which I seem to have returned. I know I don’t like it and I know I need to get out of it quickly.

I really think there is more to it than just one thing. I am not eating properly and haven’t been exercising and I know that. Plus, this has always been a rough time of year for me. If I can just hang in there I think I’ll get out of this funk and right back into the game again.