I have some very specific memories of when my youth basketball team would receive direction from our coach while in our timeout huddles. Even more-so, I remember our coach always yelling over the ambient noises of the other games taking place at the Boys and Girls Club in my home town of Las Vegas. It was loud, and he would communicate with us as though we were one of the remaining teams in the final minutes of a championship game, every game. His scratchy voice and motivating words would always get us fired up.

Imagine a similar situation a few years later, but this time it’s with the most talented coach and basketball players in the NCAA under the roof of the Thomas & Mack center in Las Vegas. It was magic, it was exciting, and it was about the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels! I was young, I was impressionable, and this energy became a starting point of something that eventually contributed to my foundation and core of who I have become today professionally. That seems a bit ambitious to say, but it’s true.

After UNLV had some strong success in the NCAA, some of the players would eventually get drafted into the NBA and become quite influential in many different ways over time. These guys were hero status for me, and I quickly found myself regularly finding my way to the local card shop with my friends to find and collect all of their rookie cards (often times without the money to do it, but still going because it’s where I wanted to be). It also lead to me becoming aware of the many other players that came up during the same time and collected their cards as well. Before I knew it I had assembled complete collections of every player on every team from all the different basketball card mfg’s.

This was my first real experience with being passionate about something, to the point of actually figuring out a way to do something about what I was feeling. I felt a sense of pride and loyalty to the team and the players that I had not felt before towards anything else, and at the time there was no other way to get that feeling out of my system than to simply collect their cards. Their photos, stats, and details all lived on these cards. It was a quick overview of their story, all documented on a card. It was a crazy thing looking back, but it drove me to find odd jobs and earn money however I could to keep collecting them.

Fast forward 20+ years and it all makes sense to me as I naturally fell into a career that allowed me to document and tell the stories of athletes, which then eventually led to me learning how to develop and tell the stories of the brands that helped support and celebrate those athletes, which has now led to me learning how to tell brand stories through creative direction, product development, and design…At the core, telling stories has been a re-occurring theme throughout my career. Pretty cool.

Professionally: As I look back, I realize more and more that I have had some really great opportunities and experiences working with some amazing brands, people and teams…and all in the name of storytelling in one way or another…Some environments have been more challenging than others, but I am grateful for them all. They have all been “wins”.

Personally: My wife and I have 4 amazing boys who are infused with personality and talents beyond anything I could have ever imagined. As they quickly grow up, they have started to discover what makes them tick similar to my own experiences early on. I can see it, and as a husband and a father, it’s more exciting than anything that I can put into words.

Big picture: Challenging yourself to constantly learn and accomplish great things in this world can be difficult and exhausting, but we all have to start somewhere right? As crazy as it seems, for me, I have finally started to really understand what makes me tick, and it’s been right under my nose for more than 20 years…Time flies when you love what you do, and it’s time to get back to work ☺

I have a very obsessive compulsive way about myself when I’m working on different projects. It’s my greatest strength, and my greatest weakness combined. Yes, it trickles into my personal life as well.

Because of this behavior I’m often able to discover some pretty razor sharp moments of focus while trying to shape or realize something. Maybe it’s coming up with a product idea as a whole, or maybe it’s about how to best execute on the development of that idea from a process standpoint. It doesn’t matter. It’s a clarity of vision and conflict of execution that’s constantly happening in my mind. I’m always challenging and questioning everything, and it drives me crazy.

• Is it part of my process? Sure, but not on purpose.

• Does it always yield the results that I expect of myself? Not always.

• Have I had successes as a result? Yes, many.

• Have I had failures as a result? Yes, many.

• Have I been able to find better and more effective ways of working? Sometimes, yes, and it’s usually only because I’m working with people that inspire and push me outside of my box to do so.

I honestly am doing my best to see more, listen more, and do more in order to help find balance in both my professional and personal life, and hopefully as a result, produce better work. Sometimes because it’s what I expect of myself, and sometimes because it’s required. Regardless, I very much consider all of my work, a work in progress, and because of it have somewhat scratched the idea of specializing in one specific thing.

One of the things I do during my days to help find balance while I work is I listen to radio shows. Books on tape are super great as well, but sometimes my attention span only allows for the rapid fire that a radio show can bring sometimes. Both can get in the way when I go into major tunnel vision mode though, and will quickly get replaced with music…or even just complete silence. My point though is that by listening to somebody else’s perspective on things, it often opens a door inside my own brain that somehow just allows me to consider more. To think of more. To try more.

One of my favorite shows I listen to is called This American Life. I listen to it specifically for Ira Glass’s clever, unfiltered and honest way of reporting on random, interesting and even controversial subjects here in America. It’s actually a pretty amazing display of storytelling, and was actually introduced to it through my good friend Tim Irwin many years ago…Not until the last 6 months or so have I really started to embrace it though.

With that said, there was a video came through the pipeline a little while ago that included voiceover from Ira that in my opinion reflects almost a perfect representation to me of his ability to put into words something that I have only been able to feel creatively over time. For myself, it kinda opened my eyes and created somewhat of an explanation for my own behaviors. It also helped bring a little peace to my mind that maybe I’m not crazy, and that this obsessive compulsive behavior might just be part of what’s helping me close my own “gap”……………..Maybe not…But Maybe.

Every so often there are people that come through that change the way you look and think about things. They also somehow seem to maintain an amazing batting average with every project they work on. Quite frankly, its just inspiring, and my friend Charles is one of those people. That’s all.

Here are just a few clips of some of his more recent projects below…

The BLNCE is a slick little podcast situation that I rolled up on the other day. Jump in and listen to a few when you get a sec.

The Blnce (pronounce bal·ance) is exactly that…all about balance. We are passionate, not only about our jobs as creatives, but about everything outside of them. Be it artists, designers, developers, photographers, or musicians, we all live in that space between creativity and everything else that fuels it.

We started The Blnce because we wanted to talk to other creatives who also strive to find the healthy balance between family & work, work & play, and play & creativity. Our hope is that these interviews will give insight and inspire you to find your balance.

Also, I pulled this nugget from Marc Hemeon’s chat, which he said he forwarded from Justin Bieber ☺

The grass is greener where you water it.

For more nuggets, go here: The BLNCE

Digging!