Imagine waking up one day and realizing you had been living your life on autopilot.

• Wake up
• Go to work
• Go home
• Eat
• Watch Netflix
• Shower
• Sleep

Lather, rinse, repeat.

How did I get here?

I was always a good student. I loved school so much that I stayed a “professional student” for as long as I could get away with it. But there’s a reason a Ph.D. is considered a terminal degree.

So I did what was expected of me, and I got a real job. Starting what I thought was my career was so exciting!

Fast forward 3+ years, and I realized I had turned into a zombie.

This realization was the best thing that could have happened to me.

It was like I was suddenly awake, after having been sleepwalking for so long. I looked around at my job and my personal life, and what I saw … well, it was pretty empty. Work that was monotonous and repetitive. No real friends, aside from the couple of people I had known since college, all of whom lived in other parts of the country.

Ever the scientist, I started analyzing the problem. There were two things to consider:

• How did I get here?
• Where was I going next?

I needed to understand how I came to be in this situation so that I could avoid repeating those behaviors. And understanding where I wanted to be helped me focus on learning the skills that would help me accomplish those goals.

Communication is key.

What initially started as an exploration of leadership and teamwork eventually led me to realize that communication is at the core of every decision, every reaction, every relationship. How we interact with each other and with ourselves underlies everything.

I believe that open, honest, and clear communication is the key to building strong, healthy relationships. I want to live in a world in which the vast majority of people have those fulfilling relationships, and it is my mission to help make that world a reality.

I write about how the ways we communicate impact our friendships, our love lives, and our careers. I also write about how we communicate with ourselves and the effect that has on our moods, our motivations, and our choices.

This is the story of how I am using these insights to live a more purposeful and meaningful life and the lessons I have learned along the way.

I hope you’ll join me on this journey.

Communicator. Coffee Enthusiast. Nerd.