Craig Ruvere

15Feb 2018 by CJ

A contribution is about more than just being a doer

“Great ambition and conquest without contribution is without significance. What will your contribution be? How will history remember you?” - William Hundert It’s been almost four years since my wife and I moved to Colorado from New Jersey. While we both were fortunate to secure jobs early on, I’m not sure they were truly “careers” for either one of us. Eventually, we found ourselves asking the question, what is my contribution? Three years into her career, my wife was blessed to find a new position with ideal circumstances to suit her. But as my organization continued to evolve, I found myself growing frustrated over the reality that I had become a “doer” not a “contributor”. David Lagercrantz once wrote, “You either have a useful contribution to make or you don’t,…

06Feb 2018 by CJ

To have made some difference – a true sense of happiness

Life & Living

“I cannot believe the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all, to matter, to count to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.” – Leo Rosten To have made some difference. Powerful words when you realize that we truly do live in a world which believes our sole purpose is only to be blissfully happy. Sadly, we’ve convinced ourselves that happiness comes in the perpetual chase of bigger and better “things”. Little do we know, to have made some difference in the lives of those around us, brings about the purest sense of happiness there is. The other day, I was speaking to a…

30Jan 2018 by CJ

Being scared really means you’re doing something brave

Life & Living, Youth

“It’s OKAY to be scared. Being scared means you’re about to do something really, really brave.” ― Mandy Hale Many of us support the notion that “being scared” is only experienced by children who believe there are monsters hiding under the bed. While I agree that the fear of monsters, and other frightening creatures conjured up by our overactive imagination, disappears as we get older, that doesn’t mean we no longer know what it’s like to be scared. You may not know what it’s called, but all of us have a comfort zone. Author and thought leader Roy T. Bennett says, “The comfort zone is a psychological state in which one feels familiar, safe, at ease and secure.” Breaking away from what’s familiar and safe can often be emotionally crippling to adults.…

21Jan 2018 by CJ

Influence your children by example – they’re always watching

Youth

“Although parents can’t ultimately determine the outcome of their children, they do have a tremendous influence on them.” – Scott Turansky Recently, while flipping through a collection of old family photos, I realized how many people were a positive influence on my life. It’s a fact that our actions and behaviors are often the direct influence of someone we revere. For many of us, that influence comes from our very first teachers in life – our parents. As children, we often take on the characteristics of our parents – not surprising given that our parents are the first role models we see when forming behaviors (both good and bad). Our parents’ tolerance and biases; their likes and dislikes – all begin to influence the adults we’ll eventually become. But perhaps…

16Jan 2018 by CJ

Combatting jealousy with logic and reason, not emotion

Life & Living

“Jealousy is vengeful – not to its target, but to ourselves.” – Terri Guillemets Combatting jealously is never easy. After all, it’s a natural human emotion felt by all of us at some point during the course of our lives. As human beings, we’re jealous of all kinds of things: relationships, fame, physical appearance, material possessions – the list is truly endless. My propensity towards having a low self-esteem, has often made me a jealous individual. To provide your life with relevance, you believe that having the “things” that others possess will somehow change the way you perceive yourself. Maybe that works for some people, but it doesn’t work for me – not in the long run. Over the years I’ve done an admirable job combatting jealousy with the realization…