Justin R. Meats

Happy 3rd Sunday of Advent! Today is Gaudete Sunday.  Gaudete is the Latin word for “Rejoice.”  Advent is a time for preparing for Jesus, and the theme is a need for penitence. Today is different, and the readings emphasize the joyous anticipation of the Lord's coming. 

 Here’s the trailer for a video Isaac and I are making about our Appalachian Highpoints Trip.  5 nights, 7 states, 1,678 miles

This is a work in progress about using the DISC behavioral styles to more effectively communicate with others in meetings, task management, handling conflict, and managing.

Taking Flight! Master the DISC Styles to Transform Your Career, Your Relationships…Your Life by Merrick Rosenberg and Daniel Silvert is a good overview of the DISC Behaviors. It assigns a bird to each DISC style to make them easy to remember. 

One of the fun parts of a smart home is thinking of new ideas to simplify things. I created the following list of smart home conveniences and automations we have set up in our house using Samsung SmartThings and Alexa. Hopefully, sharing my list will give someone else an idea for their home. I plan to add to this list over time and Iwrote a Smart Home Products article about the hardware that enables this list.

One of my favorite quotes is from the introduction of Patrick Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team : "If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time." I didn't fully understand or appreciate that saying until my daughters started rowing in high school. Just like rowing, for an organization to be successful, it takes hard work, teamwork, and communication.

I just finished reading Robert Iger's The Ride of a Lifetime that shares his career's story of rising through ABC and eventually becoming the CEO of Disney. It's a chronological overview of his 22 years at ABC and 23 years at Disney, with the last 14 being CEO of Disney and provides great leadership principles. 

I spent the past week with my 12-year-old son, Isaac, and my 6-year-old daughter, Haley, traveling to the highest point in 7 states. While it was fun checking the highpoints off our list, the journey was the most memorable. 

 LAST UPDATED: 10/18/2020   Five nights, seven state highpoints, and 1,679.7 miles.  Isaac, Haley, and I took a road trip from Monday, Oct 12 to Saturday, Oct 17, 2020.   This page highlights our trip and is our digital scrapbook. 

I'm in a weekly Bible study on Friday mornings and use Verbum on my iPad. I sometimes get asked what software use. I wrote this as a resource to share with others interested in a digital bible reader.

It was a pleasure to be on The Buy Box Experts Podcast with James Thompson.  We discussed best practices around manufacturers protecting their brand integrity online and how to enforce policies such as Minimum Advertised Price (MAP). Listen / Read Transcript

Thanks for having us on Good Day Columbus!  This was the kids' first time on TV.  Click here to watch the interview Click here to watch the Quarantine Life video parody. 

Our Family project this weekend! It was great teamwork all around.  Thanks to Katelyn for the idea, Isaac for doing the majority of the editing, Erin for the musical direction, and for everyone (mostly) getting along!  We hope it makes you smile! #InThisTogether 

As someone who exclusively worked from home for several years, was homeschooled K-12 and still works from home occasionally, I thought I'd share some tips for being productive while working and learning from home. I work with several coworkers who work remotely, and I am an advocate for working from home. With the spread of the coronavirus, COVID-19, we all need to do our part and restrict physical interactions. Working from home is easier for some of us than others, but done correctly, working from home can be more productive.   

The Weekly Activity Report (WAR) helps align your focus. The idea is to keep your focus on this week's most important things and to be disciplined without being too formal.