Author: Tony Mauro

I grew up in Denver Colorado and I have been mixing pods my whole life by working with my friends and making friends at work. I fell in love with my wife at Colorado State in 1997 and we have two young girls and a yellow lab. I'm fortunate to have a group of lifelong friends that have inspired, supported, and made me laugh for years. At work, I am experienced management consultant focused on client delivery of complex projects, team building, and building culture. I'm a self-help junkie that values personal connections, uses self-deprecating humor, and aspires to be a husband, dad, and friend.

Insight: Approach life like a 2-year-old eating an ice cream cone!

There is really no one more genuine than a young child, period! I’m sure everyone reading this blog, especially parents already knew that.

In one of my all-time favorite TED Talks, The 3 A’s of Awesome, Neil Pasricha uses the example of a 3-year-old when talking about attitude, awareness, and authenticity. He urges us to find our inner 3-year-old as we engage the world with curiosity.

Katie and I are fortunate to be in this phase of life with our two girls and it is so much fun. Their expressions are priceless, they say what comes to mind, and they truly use all 5 senses to explore the world.

So in our adventures last weekend, we came across an ice cream shop. (Someone in our family has a serious sweet tooth). It was just a couple of weeks ago that I blogged about exploring joy. Does anything convey joy better than a kid eating ice cream?

Well, our 2-year-old, Addie, didn’t lollygag when it came to choosing the ice cream. She went with her go-to flavor, Chocolate. (must be dad’s influence, my brother-in-law does call me the ‘Chocolate Hammer’).

However, Addie was very clear that she wanted the ‘mermaid cone’ (sugar cone) and passed on the cake and waffle cone options. After a few well-rounded licks of the chocolate ice cream, she flipped it over and dove right into the bottom of the cone.

It was funny, but it was also a parental learning moment:

Do we jump in to show the ‘proper way’ to eat the ice cream cone?
Do we intervene so she doesn’t get ice cream on her clothes?
Do we try and explain gravity to a 2-year-old?
Do we get worried about the inevitable mess that is about to be on the table?
Do we try and stop what we know is not going to end well?

or…

Do we just let her go for it?
- Eat the cone however you want – It’s half of the experience
- Get dirty – We can wash your clothes (and the table and chairs)
- Let them stare – Be you girl!
- It’s just ice cream – let’s not take ourselves too seriously

But the real the insights go way beyond the ice cream cone. There are life lessons here. If you take a moment and watch a 2-year-old eat an ice cream cone, you will notice:

They are curious
They are happy
They are present
They are focused
They are satisfied
They are not alone
They are not worried about what people think
They are content

Sounds a lot like how I want to live life

They are messy
They sometimes need help
They learn that sometimes it’s too much
They learn that it comes to an end
They learn that scarcity makes it special
They learn that they are fortunate
They learn that it can be taken away
They learn that too much gives them a stomach ache

Sounds a lot like life

Ohh I know this may be taking the ice cream metaphor a bit far. But it did make me (and now you), pause for a minute and think about how something as simple as a kid eating an ice cream cone can be a way to approach our life.

And maybe next time we will get a cup and put the cone on top. Or who knows, maybe just go for the whole bucket.

Don’t worry, she really didn’t eat the whole bucket 🙂

Checkpoint: How are you doing with your goals and that one word for 2019?

So it’s already March 31st, the last day of the first quarter of the year (dang that went fast!). It’s time for a checkpoint on those goals that we set for the year and how we are doing on that one word for 2019 that we talked about on January 1st.

Commitment. That was my one word for 2019. I also posted a blog in December on why having fun at work would be a top goal in 2019. I’m doing pretty good so far (this blog is still getting posted), and there is always room for more fun.

However, those that know me well (or have picked up on it by reading this blog) know that I am a goal fanatic. I love setting goals, creating sub-goals, grouping goals, prioritizing goals, and talking about goals. I sort of treat personal goals like Wayne Gretzky treated hockey goals.

” You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
Wayne Gretzky

My take is that it costs you nothing to set a goal. So why not put a goal out there if it is something you are thinking about achieving. Goals can be dynamic and might change season to season.

So my 2019 word, commitment, has developed into more of a theme that applies to the goals across 4 categories: Family, Work, Community, and Personal. (Commitment to …)

To measure progress, I take a simple color-based approach to see how I am doing and where to refocus my energy. I score myself as either ‘green’, ‘yellow’, ‘red’, and a new label of ‘blue’.

Green = On Track – Making progress and hitting milestones
Yellow = Need to Recommit – Put more energy and focus on it
Red = Way off Track – Totally Refocus or Evaluate if it was the right goal
Blue = Eliminate = The goal it was DOA (Dead on Arrival)

This past week, I listened to Seth Godin’s, The Dip and he talks about ‘strategic quitting’. So for those goals in red, determining if it is worth persevering get through the dip or if it’s a cul-de-sac, and the goal is a dead end. Should that goal that is in red, be turned to blue? It’s a quick read/listen, so I won’t dive too deep into Seth’s book here, but I highly recommend checking it out.

The good news is tomorrow is April 1st. We have an opportunity to start the next quarter off fresh and it’s a perfect time to do an assessment to determine if you had the right goals to start with or not. How are you doing with that one word you set at the beginning of the year?

Take some time to celebrate your successes and ways to keep the momentum in areas where you are on track. Determine if you need to make some minor adjustments or totally refocus in the areas you aren’t makeing progress. Or lastly, the insight from this blog may be evaluating if it is time to ‘quit’ a goal or think through a word that is a better fit.

There is no need to beat yourself up if you are not on track because no matter how awesome you are, even you can’t change the past. And if you never set a goal in the first place, why not start today? You have nothing to lose.

Addie’s version of writing down her goals!

Have you REALLY explored what gives you joy?

So my friend Candace Mau hosts a weekly radio show on Mondays called Everyday Joy. It’s a show dedicated to ‘choosing to live a deliberately joyful life!’ She was out of the country this past week with a few members of her extended family and asked me to guest host the show. I just had to open and close the show, and facilitate a Q&A with a guest. She convinced me, I can do this!

Well, I found out a few minutes before the show was going on the air that the guest I was supposed to interview was not going to make it. So I was going solo on the air (it is streamed live) for ~45 minutes or so to talk about joy.

This was a learning experience in so many ways. First, I learned from the producer that I couldn’t have dead air, so I had to just keep talking (kind of like Dory in Finding Nemo… just keep swimming, just keep swimming). I also learned that it is kind of fun to be unscripted. I think that I struggled the most when I was trying to follow something I had jotted down, rather than just speaking from the heart and letting the words flow.

During the first break, the producer helped me figure out the name of the show, Finding Joy Through Connection. I think that was the real gem that came out of this experience. I don’t know if I could have articulated that before we started. However, by talking out loud what joy is to me, how I get it, how I share it, it all just sort of took shape.

I’ve spent hours talking to Candace about similar topics, but I hadn’t ever sat back and organized my thoughts on what truly gives me joy.

Below are some of the key insights that surfaced for me during the show:

Living a joyful life is a choice worth exploring
Asking yourself questions and letting the answers surface is a beautiful process
There is joy in a simple life
Joy doesn’t have boundaries (Socioeconomic, geography, etc.)
Gratitude and connection can get us through anxious moments
Daily dog walks (or just any outdoor walk) allows us time to recharge, connect, and stay grounded
White space is important for me and my family
Self-depreciation is my fasted path to connection
Of course, my family and girls are great sources of joy, I explored this a few months ago in a blog about the day after Maggie was born.

However, the biggest insight for me that won’t surprise many of you reading this blog, is that mixing pods is a great source of joy for me and this blog is a creative outlet. Mixing together my various personas covers most of the items listed above.

How many of you have taken that amount of time to talk through and discover something like what joy means to you? Maybe it’s time for a long car ride, a long walk, or an hour-long radio show. In fact, I think this could be my new approach to discovering more things for myself in the future. Pick a topic and just riff about it, who knows what will surface.

If you would like to listen to the show, you can catch it here. You can also explore Candace’s show, Everyday Joy here.

Joy in long walks and watching the girls try and chase down the Super Worm Equinox Moon on 3/21/19

Picking a snowball fight with your grandma!

We had a steady stream of snow storms in Colorado during February, many coming in on the weekend. This meant that on the following Mondays, which are ‘Nani days’ (our girls call my mom Nani), there would be snow on the ground for a snowball battle.

These battles take place when we are leaving my parents house, after dinner, when it is dark and cold outside. Temperature doesn’t seem to matter and I think the girls get an adrenaline rush that makes them invisible to the cold.

It only lasts a few minutes, with a few opportunities to reload. I am asked to be the official snowball maker.

So after the initial snowball battle, we had settled into the car seats and I was reversing out of the driveway. The girls were still giggling in the pure joy of ‘winning’ the snowball fight and warming their hands in their blankets.

Nani’s snowball left it’s mark on the window!

Then wham! A snowball bursts across the windshield with a big thud. The girls go quiet for a second, and then Maggie says, “Nani just blasted the car!”. And then another hits the window. This time followed by “Let’s get out of here, Nani is really good at throwing snowballs!”

As I was driving us home, with the girls, the insight for this blog hit me.

Never pass on an opportunity to have a snowball fight with your grandma!
Mixing Pod Insight

These moments in life don’t and won’t happen every day. Embrace them and celebrate them when you can!

Is it time for a road trip?

The past 4 weeks have been incredibly busy and I have been mixing in another pod, my altMBA cohort. Saturday is reflection day.

This weekend we took a little road trip up to Glenwood Springs to watch the high school musical production of Mamma Mia! We were there to support my sister Lisa, who puts her heart in soul into engaging with her students. We were definitely due for a family trip and my parents joined us for the 4-hour car ride.

For me, road trips are less about rest and relaxation and more about connection, presence, and reflection.

Long car rides allow us the time to connect with others about things on our mind, as well as, provide an opportunity to dive a bit deeper. It also gives us time to listen without distractions (of course while focusing on the road). The good news is that the other person can’t run away from the difficult ones. Their verbal and non-verbal queues (like turning up the radio) let you know if they are into it or not. Katie and I have talked over a lot of our dreams, goals, and our futures together on the highway.

Our girls Maggie and Addie can’t get enough traveling and it doesn’t matter where we are going. They love the snacks in the car, the occasional stops, and of course the hotels (especially if there is a pool). These trips provide an excellent opportunity to be present and focused on experiencing an adventure together. Getting all of us out of daily routines and focusing on each other. I’m starting to realize PTO doesn’t stand for Paid Time Off, but Present Time On. This is where those boundaries become so damn important.

I also use road trips as a time to reflect and give extra thought to those ideas that have been incubating and just need a little bit more of my attention. Not in a to-do list sort of way, but in a way that allows my mind to wander the outskirts of the idea. I surround it with other thoughts that act as catalysts. The open road provides a reminder of this vast world and an opportunity to be grateful for so much in our lives.

So if you are going through a major change in your life or just need some time to reset, maybe a road trip is what you need to get your mojo back. Or maybe you just need some time to be present with others or even just some space by traveling alone. There is so much for you to explore outside and in the inside!

*Maggie and Addie LOVE their road trips. I hope to see this picture 20, 30, and 40 years from now!*

And the award goes too…

The Academy Awards are tonight and it will complete the awards season for all of the music and movies releases last year. I honestly don’t really watch the awards shows. I can’t put my finger on it, but it all sort of bothers me and I think that discomfort is what generated this week’s insight.

So, I thought I would hand out Mixing Pods awards of my own (the Tony awards are already taken).

Best Supporting Family Member

To my wife Katie. She is an incredible mom, sister, daughter, niece, friend, coach, and of course wife. She is beautiful inside and out and is truly the soul of our family. She has been so supportive of my goals and interests (and allows me to put stuff out on this blog), and the ability to explore new opportunities. She has great vision, a sense of adventure, and is a comedian at heart.

Best Kiss

This year the award goes to Addie, who discovered mistletoe over the holidays. Taking this 2-year old under the mistletoe triggered the most wonderful giggles and then she would lay one on you. She is so affectionate that it makes your heart melt.

Addie snuggles are the best and her mistletoe kisses are amazing

Best Musical Number

After dinner family dance parties. Addie is was a big fan of ‘Baby Shark’ and ‘Let it Go’, while Maggie shows off her moves to ’24 Karat Magic’ (family friendly mix) and ‘Happy’. Based on the repeat requests shouted at Alexa, I think we probably overloaded Amazon’s algorithms and skewed the popularity of these songs. I hope we can keep these jam sessions going as the girls get older.

Best Late Night Comedy

Right about the time we are settling things down for bed, Maggie gets into a goofball zone and this 4-year old says the funniest things. She ends up pulling in dad and her little sister, which mom doesn’t appreciate very much. After the shenanigans, we usually settle in for a Midnight Feast (Maggie’s phrase for a late night snack), which usually involves a bowl of cereal with two girls and a dad. We are always way past bedtime!

Got to do it now before they get too big!

Best Mentoring Moment

My boss and friend Brian. At the end of last year, I was taking a hard look at my career plan. I had just let some of my thoughts flow freely into our performance management tool. The next day, I had a recurring weekly meeting on my calendar to explore my career. It wasn’t to talk about the client account or how to grow our business, just about me. Brian showed he was truly invested in my future success and a lesson that I plan to pass on to others.

Best Rescue Drama

This was probably the Westminster Fire Department when they had to come out and get our dog Buford out of the icy pond when he went after the geese. They operated quickly and had him out in no time. (Also, thank you to the Police Department for not giving me a ticket!)

Best Comeback

I think this one goes to my friend Derrick, who was at a crossroads a couple of years ago in life. He chose to be honest with himself, get things on track, and chose to forge a path forward. It’s been great to be a part of and witness the transformation. There is great power in someone that can do this sucessfully.

Creative Inspiration

Our friend Candace is in full tilt creativity mode around a new calling to spread joy and explore her art. We use our time in traffic to connect about life, ask meaningful questions, and help the other person grow.

The Cast and Crew.

The most important award and that is why it is last (like Best Picture). We are so fortunate to have wonderful and close-knit families. Parents that support us and love their grandchildren. Aunts that take an active role in life-shaping experiences with the girls. Brothers that are always drumming up adventures. Cousins that make family events feel like family. Friends that might as well just be called family.

The insight from today’s blog is that is the those most deserving of your recognition, attention, and gratitude are those close to you. These are the ones that are shaping your life and the ones you are influencing what happens on this earth more than you may even know sometimes.

Life is good. Take a minute and look across all of your pods and thank those that make a difference for you everyday.

WTF… Did I really just eat 5 doughnuts?

Yes, yes I did.

Tuesday was a really crazy day at the office and things didn’t necessarily go to plan. Our team was not operating on all cylinders, leadership was a bit on edge, and everyone was in ‘urgent’ mode.

So driving into work on Wednesday morning, I thought I had a brilliant idea. I’ll bring in Doughnuts to set a new and positive tone. I mean, who wouldn’t want a doughnut in the morning? Especially during valentines week when there were heart shaped ones, pink frosted ones, and lots with red and pink sprinkles.

The thing is, I love doughnuts. When I was in second grade my dream job was to work at Winchell’s Donut House. Although, it looks like I wouldn’t have made it very far in the business, since I apparently may eat all the doughnuts. I also have passed down the love of doughnuts to our little ladies. My daughter’s 4th birthday was a Donut Party.

Nothing better than a donut party celebration!

Well, Wednesday ended up being even more crazy than Tuesday. In addition, it turns out there are a lot more healthy eaters at the office than I expected. My 3 dozen doughnuts were not going as fast as I thought they would. I was actually having trouble hawking the doughnuts.

One of the boxes ended up staying near my desk and about every 2 hours, I just grabbed a doughnut. I didn’t have to leave my desk, I didn’t go have to outside. It was like having an IV of solid sugar (with Bavarian cream and raspberry filling). So when leaving the office at the end of the day, it occurred to me that I had eaten 5 doughnuts and nothing else. Ouch.

Thursday morning was rough! My body begging for something healthy.

So here are 10 things to do to stop you from eating 5 doughnuts at work:

Don’t stop on your way to work and buy doughnuts!
Understand your demand and don’t buy 3 dozen doughnuts!
Don’t put the box next to your desk! (Maybe put the box on your bosses desk!)
Put the doughnuts in the breakroom, people eat doughnuts when no one is looking!
Realize that peer pressure doesn’t always work with doughnuts (which is weird because it works on me every time)!
Bring a lunch, buy a lunch, go to lunch. Don’t have doughnuts for lunch!
Don’t think doughnuts can change the world!
Accidentally drop the box of doughnuts, there is no 10-second rule at work.
Have a posse at work that encourages you to take a lunch break! (and actually eat a lunch)
Save your doughnuts for the weekend with your kids!

However, the true insight from this blog has nothing to do about doughnuts.

It’s that when we take our work so darn seriously that we can’t stop for lunch or to take care of ourselves, then we may have ended up in the wrong place. Sure, there are times of crunch time, when it’s all hands on deck to get something shipped out the door and you can’t seem to catch your breath. But I’ve been here before where crunch time was 6 months long and my mind, body, and relationships paid for it.

A coffee break isn’t a coffee break if you just come back to your desk with a cup of coffee. Gve your self a break and take care of yourself!

P.S. The diet starts on Monday!

Thank you for letting me change lanes!

So I think those of you that listened to music in the ’90s will appreciate this blog the most.

I was driving home on Friday afternoon after a fairly hectic week. There was an unexpected issue that came up on the project, and I’ve been staying late to meet with my learning group for the altMBA course that I signed up to complete. I just wanted to get home! Ohh, and my drive was from the Denver Tech Center to Westminster, which is about an hour an 20-minute commute on Friday afternoons. I don’t get road rage, but I was dreading it.

When I got in the car, it was on Sports talk radio and I finally had enough listening to guys talk about the Denver Broncos quarterback situation (again). So I ended up moving to satellite radio and landed on the Lithium Station that plays ’90s alternative music.

Then it came on… the song by Geggy Tau, ‘Whoever you are’.
One of the few ’90s songs centred on positivity.

“All I want to do is to thank you
even though I don’t know who you are
You let me change lanes
while I was driving in my car “
Geggy Tau, Whoever you are

It worked. This song about an act of gratitude put a smile on my face and I just sort of embraced the traffic. I found myself thinking about other things that I was grateful for. It went way beyond people changing lanes and being alone in the car moving at 10 miles per hour was the perfect place for me to reflect.

Well, the next song was Rage Against the Machine’s, ‘Killing in the Name of..’ and since I was on the satellite radio, all the f-bombs weren’t edited out. It was awesome! Now I had could rock out and let out any of the remaining frustration and speed up my heart rate a bit.

These two songs together were like peanut butter and jelly and the perfect mash-up to close out a hectic work week and head into the weekend.

After dinner, we had a dance party with the girls. Alexa played Pharrell William’s ‘Happy’, (Despicable Me 2) and Bruno Mars’, ’24K Magic’ (Hotel Transylvania 3) about 12 times each. Our family of four jamming out, dancing and Maggie showing us her attepts at cart wheels.

So next time you need a change in attitude, maybe just put on some tunes to help you change your mind and enjoy the ride.

My favorite ‘Mixing Pods’ Commercial

I mentioned in my last blog that I love commercials. Since the Superbowl takes place today and some of the most creative and inspiring commercials will be airing, I was thinking about my favorite ads through a Mixing Pods lens (insights from work, life, and being a dad).

For some background, I wanted to be an advertising executive in high school and in my early college days. This was the late 90’s, so not the depiction on Mad Men, but more like Mel Gibson’s character in the movie, What Women Want. My role would be the liaison between the client and a number of really creative people to come up with great pitches. I didn’t (and still don’t) have the power to hear women’s thoughts, but I thought I could combine my skills with the creativity in others (I was inspired by some very creative friends). The advertising industry was going through a major shift after being disrupted by the internet, and I found my way into management consulting.

Today, with DVRs to skip through the commercials, on-demand programming that forces a few ads on you, and targeted (sometimes creepy) advertising based on your search history; it feels like some of the fun is gone in trying to capture an audience. There is an art to it.

My Top Choice: The University of Phoenix: We Can Do IT. This was launched in May, 2017 during ‘The Voice’ and I thought it was powerful and amazing. In a one minute animated ad, it captures the strength of a working single mom investing in herself to find another career in IT (Information Technology), after her job was taken over by AI and automation. There are no spoken words, just the lyrics of the Cranberries’ song, “Dream”. The only written words are “We can do it!”, from the Rosie the Riveter poster, the Bachelor of Science in Information Technology Application on her laptop, and the words “We Rise” at the end. I thought this was amazing.

On a lighter side, there are a few other Mixing Pods commercials that have stuck with me over the years as funny and inspiring that I thought I would share below.

GEICO Insurance Hump Day. GEICO is doing their best of Superbowl commercials and this has to be one of the best. The funny thing is that I think I identify most with the camel :).
The Fed Ex Office Meeting. Showing the various personalities at the office and the manager calling them out. My favorite line out of this one is ‘like a lawn chair’, with regards to folding under pressure. I use that every once in a while.
Total Whole Grain Cereal Commercial This is truly random. I am definitely not in the demographic for this commercial, I don’t know why it stuck with me 12 years later, but I thought it was super effective.

Lastly, it’s not a commercial, more of a comedy short by Tripp & Tyler. But this is a great parody of office conference calls. It’s five minutes long, but for those of you that are on calls all day, it is well worth that time watching it.

Anyway, rather the begrudge the next commercial you see, maybe just sit back and be entertained. Someone is trying to write something that will connect with you.

“You ARE a process guy… right?”

This is one of my wife’s favorite lines and part of our friendly married couple banter.

For some background, I started with Anderson Consulting (now Accenture) in May of 2000. At the time, the consulting workforce was organized into 4 main groups. Strategy, Process, Technology, and Change. I was placed in the Process group. My wife Katie and I had just gotten engaged a month earlier.

My first project involved reengineering customer call center process flows for a major telecommunications company. It was the first time I got to use Visio to do flow charts. I loved working with people to capture their processes, getting them documented, and analyzing them to make them more efficient. I was enamoured by swimlanes, ensuring a process was designed effectively, and making sure that every shape was aligned, etc. I was really into it. Then I learned about Lean, green belts, black belts, etc. I didn’t even know this kind of job existed when I was in college.

So I would bring my work home, staying up late at night to put together the perfect process. Back then, I would try to describe my job to friends and family and they would give me a funny look. I resorted to referencing commercials for companies like Subway, and say I was a ‘process artist’ instead of a ‘sandwich artist’. Another go-to comparison were the BASF commercials, “we don’t make the products you use every day, we just make them better.” Blank stares. It turns out that apparently, not everyone likes to watch commercials as much as I do (That is a topic for another blog).

In the meantime, Katie took on the noble profession of teaching elementary school. But I quickly learned that her way of thinking was very process oriented and she applied it to everything she did. So now that she knew what I actually did at work, and that I thought I was pretty good at it, she would keep me on my toes.

Getting home schooled!

At the grocery store: Why did I need to go back to a section we had already been? She planned her route before we even walked in the door.
Meeting up downtown: Why don’t I take the bus in the morning and she’ll meet me there that evening? That way we will only have one car coming home.
Going upstairs for something: Why don’t I take those things that she staged at the bottom of the stairs while I’m at it? Ohh and put them away since they are already in my hands.
Driving: Why would I go to the gas station that requires a left turn, when there is one on the right side of the road? There really isn’t a need to be loyal when they sell the same thing at the same price.
Changing Diapers: Why would I not have a process in mind for changing the diaper before starting the changing process? Yes, it was possible to change a diaper without using 10+ wipes.
Toothpaste: Why would I squeeze the tube there, when her method yielded a clean and efficient way to get the toothpaste out? Ohh and since you are there, wipe out the sink, please.
You ARE a process guy… right?

So it turns out Katie is the true lean operator of the household. She was my Alexa, Siri, Watson, Waze, and Uber long before they were in our lives. I used to call her MapQuest, because even if she had only been somewhere once, it was like she dropped a pin and knew exactly how to get back.

It’s amazing to see the speed at which we are improving processes and unlocking efficiency in everything we do and touch these days. We live in exciting times, but sometimes it can feel a bit overwhelming. I just have to remember that it is all just processes, and I am a process guy… with a better process girl by my side.