When I was a kid I would take a cardboard box, decorate it to look like a car, and then have my older brother and sister whip me around a tile or hardwood floor. When you're 5 or 6 years old, you're small enough to fit in a box, and once you get moving and your imagination kicks in, 2mph feels like 50mph.

When that box wasn't a race car, it turned into a fort, a trap for stuffed animals or a table for a lunch of PB&J and chocolate milk or even a place to play Go Fish. The saddest day was at the end of summer break when it was time to retire the torn and banged up box. Then the search for the next box began!

Now, as a parent, I see that same love for cardboard in my son Sean. He has every piece of technology known to man, and has requested more for Christmas this year, but bring a new box into the house and watch his eyes light up and the creative gears in his head start to move. He surveys the box for a few minutes and then grabs his tape, markers and scissors and starts to create. It really is amazing! I always respected the square integrity of the box, whereas Sean has no problem dismantling the entire thing; only to turn it into something I never would have imagined.

A tall box becomes a double door for a pretend office, a 12 pack beer box is turned into a stage for action figures.  I made square or rectangle cars and tables, but Sean's imagination doesn't confine him to shapes and instead he looks at these pieces of cardboard as a blank slate or clean pallet.  They become whatever he wants them to become and he makes no excuses for his amazing imagination. Even when the project doesn’t reflect his initial goal, he’s quick to change gears and start over with something new.

#Tryharder to think beyond the frame you're given in life. This world is what you make of it and your view is 100% determined by your choices. Every marketing company or related book says "think outside the box", but we often forget to dream about what we could do WITH the box.  A true talent sees the box as something they can change, navigate and manipulate.  It takes creativity to have the confidence to take something simple and make it amazing.  Taking something of structure and making it pliable.

Before you run out and try to think outside of it, because frankly anyone can do that, first look for ways to create a different view and work to make your overall environment better. When you leave the box, you're often quitting and starting over. When you control the box, you are the master and ultimately determine your journey.

Never underestimate the power of an empty box.

When I was a kid, you couldn't pull me off my bike. I would do everything on my bicycle!  I'd even take my PBJ outside with me, just to eat it while sitting on my bike. When I wasn't riding my bike, I was saving money to keep it going. Buying patches and new tubes, collecting tires and rims that others would throw out and restoring them in case I needed to use them later. I had so many bike parts, I actually built a second bike. It was a little “Frankensteined” together; back tire was higher than the front, it had a banana seat, but it worked and could do pull some sick jumps. Then I learned to drive a car and I stopped riding bikes.

I used to collect baseball cards and comic books!  We would run to the drugstore on Saturday mornings after the newest editions of comics would come out and try to continue our collection in numeral order.  It would drive us nuts to have copies of 3, 4 and 6 and not have the missing piece of the collection. We would then have to travel to several stores in order to lock down number 5. When we started missing too many in order, we'd move on to another series. To this day, I don't know the ending of many of my favorite comic book storylines.
 

We preferred Topps baseball cards, not because of the gum, but because they were better than most. Yet, you could buy 4 packs of Fleer for one dollar, but only 3 packs of Topps. 7-11 stories carried Fleer, so we would try to work in a Slurpee to share from the change mom gave us from her purse. The other card companies came out and they had great looking cards, but they were too expensive for us kids. Then I learned that I would have to pay for college, so I stopped collecting comic books and baseball cards. We promised my mom that one day we would make millions off of them, but we never sold a one. With both my brothers passing, I ended up with all of our collections and they are currently residing in an upstairs closet in my house. Don't know if I will ever sell them now and I guess mom will never see her millions.
 

I used to play golf. My friend Joe and I made sure that we played at least 9 holes of golf every week and we did this for years. Every Saturday, we'd get up and find a cheap course to play on and then try to knock out 9 holes in an hour.  In some ways it was our workout for the day and in other ways it was therapy. Then I had kids.  I couldn't dream of leaving my wife and kids at home while I went and played a game on Saturday morning, so golf was replaced by jump castle parties and swim practice.
 

The things that are important to you today will change tomorrow. Your "line in the sand" moments, your beliefs, your opinions and the things you collect are all subject to change as time and life change and erode the absolutes in your current chapter. You can do the same thing for 20 years and then one day have it taken away or you decide to turn your back and move onto something else. It doesn't make the time you had with it less special, nor does it say you've completely outgrown it. Sometimes life just tells you that it's time for something else to occupy that space. I own a bike so I can ride with my kids, I still own all the cards and comics and my golf clubs are in the garage. Anytime I need to scratch that itch, I can always go back to them. Once it's a part of your life, it will always be there in the form of memories or abilities. You never forget how to ride a bike, but as you get older, the sweet jumps might not be the same and you may not be as daring.
 

#Tryharder to have the confidence that you will find other loves in life. Think of how many times you have moved on from the passions of your past. From relationships to beanie babies to previous careers, you have moved onto something different and fresh. New interests will always fill the space of old. Only you define you and we should never be confined or pushed into a space because of a phase that occurred at some point in our lives. Don't let others hold you to that space or push you into believing that you are only as unique as you were yesterday.
 

Life's too short to not fall in love with new things or fill those empty spaces with new passions.

My 9 year old daughter Erin is the best swimmer in the family.

I would know this because I watch her swim every Saturday morning at 8am. I get up, get her ready and take her to swim. Where many parents use Saturday morning as a time to sleep in; I'm up and running before the sun comes up and typing away on my iPhone working on another chapter. Her class is where I do a lot of writing.
 

For an hour each week she works on her technique, honing her skills one lap at a time.  She's fast, strong and focused.  Yet, there is one thing she just can’t seem to master…she can't dive.
 

Erin is probably the least skilled diver in the group. She can swim laps around many of these other kids, but Erin looks like an injured one legged duck when she jumps into the water. The trainers have all worked with her and after each dive, they give each other a look like "is this kid ever gonna learn this"?  I try to coach her through the thick glass that divides us. I do sign language and try to demonstrate, with my hands, what she needs to do with her body. I type things on my phone and have her read them since we can't hear each other. No matter what I sign or the trainers tell her, diving just isn't something she is going to master at this point in her life. At least not today.
 

I shouldn't talk. I can barely swim. Never took a lesson. Never had a great example. I spent most of my formative years, when most kids are learning to swim, wading in creeks and rivers in the hill country of Texas. It's hard to swim when the water goes from two feet to five feet to two feet again all within a ten foot distance. Also, if I went underwater, there was a strong possibility that my brother Michael would try to hold my head down so I couldn’t get up. My kids swim in a controlled environment, whereas I was dodging water snakes and my brother trying to kill me. So my "learning environment" was a bit different than my daughter has experienced.  I can stay afloat, doggie paddle and not drown. That's about the extent of my swimming skills. As for diving? I do a pretty mean cannonball. Yet, we are not paying hundreds of dollars a year for me to swim are we?
 

We all have something that is holding us back from making it to the next grade, promotion or phase in life. We try to sharpen the axe of the weakest skill, but realistically, we can’t be the best at everything. Every award, promotion or commendation that we receive could have some sort of asterisk next to it representing the “but” in our overall abilities. You can excel at one thing within the category of many and that might get you where you need to go, but you will find that you spend a lot of time and energy trying to not let the weakest skill sweep the legs out from under you. What’s your big “but”? (Yes, I did that on purpose).

You don’t have to have all the skills to be the best. Understand that every record is destined to be broken by someone else, so cherish the moment if you are lucky enough to have your name in the record books; even if it is only for a few minutes. Embrace, champion and celebrate the handful of things you do great. #Tryharder to not lose sleep at night worrying about how your big “but” is going to screw you over in the end. (Again, I did that on purpose). My daughter may never be an Olympic diver or even the best swimmer in her class, but we get up every Saturday morning and try our best. In my book, the fact that she’s honestly trying, makes her the best and there’s nothing negative anyone can ever say about that.