His Last Friday – Or Your Opportunity To Make A Difference?
Quote of the Day
“I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit.” Khalil Gibran – Writer (1883 – 1931)
Michael J Fox does Johnny B Goode
When I filmed the “Johnny B. Goode” scene, I was lucky enough to have a great teacher who taught me how to play the guitar. I told Bob (Zemeckis, the director), “When I do this scene, I’ll actually play the guitar so you can sync the visuals with the finger movements. Feel free to cut to the hands whenever you want.” Having said that, I immediately felt the pressure to make it incredibly good. So, I turned to Paul Hanson, my guitar teacher.
I worked on that piece for about a month, and in the meantime, I worked with a coach who was Madonna’s choreographer. I told him, “I dance like a duck. I can’t dance. But what I’d like to do is bring together all the traits, mannerisms, and quirks of my favorite guitarists — Pete Townshend’s windmill, Jimi Hendrix’s guitar behind the back, and Chuck Berry’s duck walk.” We worked on all of that and put it together. Those are the moments when you can’t think, “I’m tired” or “I feel the pressure to get it right.” You just do it and have fun!
Michael J. Fox
(Tom: This is what a truly great professional does behind/before every performance or action. Imagine what the world would be like if we all did that before everything we do.)
You Have Genuine Super Powers!
It is interesting how action movies display superhuman strength, x-ray vision, the ability to fly, to run faster than the eye can see as super human abilities.
While these action flicks satisfy the urge to have more drama in our lives, is their portrayal of those fictional superhuman characteristics a distraction, a misdirection, an altered importance that takes our eye off where we should be looking?
When I look around me, what I see observe is that most people do not have any idea of their basic purpose in life, spend more time planning an annual vacation than they do planning their life, pay scant attention to regular exercise or an optimum diet and are spending more time on distractions than on living a fully real and authentic life.
Henry David Thoreau said, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”
This is sad.
What if there were a simple, effective way to alter this situation?
What if there were a way to move a person from living a life of quiet desperation to a level of calm, satisfied competence?
It has been noted by more than one person that you get that on which you put your attention. Well, let me suggest you put your attention on some abilities I see broadly lacking that if you put your attention on and mastered, would make you appear to others like a super hero masquerading as an ordinary human being in street clothes!
What are these abilities?
Being fully present in the here and now without having your attention dragged back in time or elsewhere is a super power.
Confront and integrity (the willingness and ability to see what is really there, not what you think is there or what you want to be there or what you are told is there) are super powers.
Having the confidence to clearly communicate what you wish to is a super power.
The ability to learn and skillfully apply that newly acquired data is a super power.
Competence, the ability to start, continue and fully complete a task without distraction or error, quickly, efficiently and effectively, is a superpower.
Loyalty is a super power.
Honesty and truthfulness (the ability to say what you think should be said despite potential negative consequences) is a super power.
Persistence is a super power.
Consistency is a super power.
Responsibility is a super power.
Self-discipline is a super power.
The ability to envisage a future goal, to plan the steps necessary to attain it, then to perform them in sequence until you attain the desired result is a super power.
The ability to acknowledge something you did was wrong, to rectify it and thereafter change your operating basis is a super power.
These are not fictional powers, they are genuine, real super powers for they enable production at a much higher level and the enjoyment of a far more satisfying life.
If you have read this far then you probably have many or all of the above super powers, to a greater or lessor degree.
Let’s look at what would happen if one by one, you took each of these abilities as something to work on in yourself, and, improve your ability to do it for a week before moving on to the next one.
You would progressively improve your morale, your self-confidence, your happiness, your self-respect and your ability to get things done.
This will set an example to others that some will want to emulate.
Imagine what would happen if enough people did this? If a civilization is the aggregate of the basic building blocks, the individuals in it, what would happen to a civilization if all the individuals in it had the above super powers to a high level?
Tom Grimshaw
P.S. If, while improving your super powers, you hit a brick wall or are not progressing as quickly as you would like, reach out to me.
Truly Winning
At 17, Jarrett Adams was just a boy when the gavel fell. Wrongfully convicted, silenced, and sentenced to 28 years—for a crime he didn’t commit.
But prison did not swallow him.
In a cell meant to break him, he built himself instead—book by book, law by law. He studied case law in the prison library. He helped other inmates fight for justice. He became the advocate no one had been for him.
Eventually, his voice grew loud enough to reach the Wisconsin Innocence Project. And after nearly a decade behind bars, the courts admitted what he already knew: he was innocent.
He walked out at 26, not as a victim, but as a warrior. He earned his law degree. He returned to courtrooms—this time, on the other side of the bench. And he now fights for those left behind, running a nonprofit called Life After Justice.
Jarrett Adams didn’t just survive injustice. He transformed it.
He turned a stolen childhood into a career of defending the voiceless. He became the kind of man who helps others find the light—even if he had to learn to walk through darkness first.
His story is not just about a broken system. It’s about what’s possible when one man refuses to let it break him.
A gentle reminder…
After two long years serving overseas, my husband finally walked through our front door, his eyes bright with joy, eager to embrace the family he’d missed so deeply.
But it was our golden retriever who moved me most. For two years, she’d waited by that door every evening, hoping he’d come home. When he finally did, she let out a sharp, almost tearful bark, then flung herself into his arms, tail wagging wildly. They clung to each other in a hug so tender it seemed to erase every lonely day they’d spent apart.
I managed to capture the moment on camera — a soldier and his dog, eyes closed in relief and happiness. Watching them, I was reminded that some loves don’t fade with time or distance; they grow stronger.
In a world obsessed with chasing more, this was a gentle lesson in what truly matters: love, loyalty, family, and the simple joy of finally being home.
What circles do you need to erase?
If, after watching this, you are aware of constraints that restrict you, get in touch with me. I will share with you what has worked for me.
Raise Your Children For Freedom – The Stoic Biohacker on Instagram
Roof Tiles From Tyres
My husband came home from work last Friday with a trailer full of old tires and announced he was fixing our leaky shed roof. I thought he meant he was going to buy actual roofing materials, not turn our backyard into a tire graveyard.
He spent the entire weekend arranging these things like giant black shingles, overlapping them in rows that somehow actually look intentional. When I asked where he got the idea, he just shrugged and said “free materials, good drainage, problem solved.” The man has an engineering degree but apparently thinks like a caveman when it comes to home improvement.
I posted photos in my upcycling group on the Tedooo app hoping someone would back me up that this looks ridiculous. Instead, half the people said it was genius and started asking for tutorials. One woman said her neighbor did something similar and it has lasted fifteen years without a single leak. Another person shared photos of tire roofs in developing countries that are built to withstand hurricanes.
The shed has not had a single drop of water inside since he finished, even after three days of heavy rain last week. The tires seem to channel water away perfectly, and I have to admit they are probably more durable than the cheap metal roofing we were going to buy. My neighbor stopped by yesterday and said it looks like modern art.