Every person… every day… is in the pursuit of happiness. 

And everyone has a strategy. Something they are chasing, thinking that in it they are going to find life. 

For me, in the first 19 years of my life, my strategy was sports! I thought that if I achieved my athletic goals and reaped all the success that sports brought with it, I would be happy. 

AND YET

I still remember like it was yesterday…

as a freshman in college, sitting in my dorm room, reflecting on my life.

I had just come off my senior year of high school… a senior year where I had pretty much reached every goal I had set for myself. I was a blue chip recruit in football and could choose where I wanted to go to college on scholarship. Accepted a full-ride scholarship to UNL in Lincoln. I was undefeated heavyweight wrestling champion in class A. I had the 2nd longest discus throw in the nation. I was prom king. New car in the driveway. 

And as I reflected on all those things and more, I was caught off guard by how all those achievements had left me empty. That led me to a lot of soul-searching and reflecting and reconsidering of my life strategy.

A number of life-changing decisions came out of that. One of which was the decision to pursue impact over income… making a difference over just making a living!

At the end of the day, records will be broken. Medals will tarnish. Achievements will be forgotten. But the impact of a life well lived and invested in serving others will not soon be forgotten, and the impact will ripple for generations. 

This is what led me down a path of serving in nonprofits vs seeking success in the marketplace… a path that has opened up the privilege of supporting, coaching and encouraging countless others as they seek to build lives of meaning and purpose. 

I would be honored to have my next place of impact be… making a difference through serving the people of Lincoln as your next mayor.