Announcing a new perspective on life – billboards to me

I am taking this blog in a slightly different direction moving forward into the future. I enjoy writing a new post every week. It is a labor of love. Unfortunately, it takes more time than I can dedicate due to other commitments. With that thought in mind, I am simplifying how I generate new content. I will be sharing what I call “billboards to me”. This post explains what that means.

My life was less than rosy a year ago

My life was not going well a year ago. A string of events put me in a bad place. My old girlfriend and I broke off our long-term relationship. My dad was in the middle of a health crisis. My college basketball team, UVA, experienced the worse loss in NCAA tournament history. These three things had me in a funk that I couldn’t shake. I was not sure what to do about it. I decided to try something new. I started writing “billboards to me”.

What in the world are billboards to me?

Simply put they are powerpoint slides with sayings. Every month I take some time to ponder what I learned. I have shared before how I conduct a monthly personal PMR. I want to improve over time and learn life lessons along the way. I decided to add “billboards to me” to this process. It is not complicated. After reflecting, I write the billboards. It is always three. I tape them on my bathroom mirror. They are visible, and one of the first things I see every morning.

Where did the billboard to me idea come from?

I mostly blame Tim Ferriss. If you are not familiar with Tim, then I recommend you visit his blog. He is one of the more creative thinkers in the digital domain these days. He has written several books. Tim sends out a weekly email called Five Bullet Friday. It usually contains a few intriguing points to ponder. I also enjoy Tim’s podcast. They are long-form interviews of high performers. Towards the end of each podcast, Tim will ask his guest a standard set of questions to include what would you put on a billboard for everyone to read? It is a thought-provoking question. I often wondered how would I answer it.

Why limit yourself to just one billboard?

Rather than create only one billboard I write three each month. The more ideas, the better. I will confess the concept of three billboards is also taken from the movie, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Although I have not actually watched the movie. It is worth saying that some of my billboards are relevant only for a specific season of life, and I really don’t have anything that profound to say. Most of them are rather simple.

What should you expect to see?

Moving forward I will start sharing these billboards to me. In each blog post I will describe what prompted me to write the billboard. I will include a short explanation regarding what the saying means to me. In other words – future letters to you boys will be shorter. Less seems better. I hope you enjoy them. Perhaps you may take up this practice yourself.

You are the average of the 5 people you associate with most.

Tim Ferriss’ own billboard answer