I’m in Chicago for a 4-day conference on leadership and loyalty. Everyone attending is in some way connected to a website or social media, many of us own our own companies. Some own empires worth millions of dollars. It’s a very exciting group of people to surround yourself with to show everyone, even the most beginner of the group, one thing above all else: you can do it, too.

Everyone speaking at the event began somewhere. One, if not the, most successful speaker in attendance was working in a retail wireless store as recently as 2006. He now commands a daily speaker’s fee that blew my mind the first time I read it. Is that my goal? Yes, and no. I want to connect with people and help them, just as I have been. If that happens to bring me success of that level that equates to financial gain in order to secure a future for my family should something happen to me, that’s great, too. One thing will never change: I am a giver who gives until it’s stupid. That is my nature, but I’ve learned to be wise with my gifts in the last few years, and I look forward to the opportunity to

What is most exhausting about this weekend is that they talk your ears off. Imagine being able to have a conversation with one of your role models. What would you talk about? What would you ask? Let’s explore that after I indulge myself telling you about my day first.

I woke up at 3am to get to the airport for a 6:50 flight that took me an hour back in time, only to start a gauntlet run. I had a client meeting a good 15 minute walk away, carrying my bag and camera. Then they drove me to my next client, and I took the bus back to the hotel… only I had to walk the last 1/4 mile in the 41 degree rain with 20mph winds. Then, I got to my room to charge my phone before our evening social… only to realize I left my cable at home hooked up to my keyboard. I schlepped 0.6 miles each way to the flagship Apple Store with the glass apple window to get a new cable. Cold and wet, I had 20 minutes to charge my phone.

Back to my point… Don’t reserve yourself for mediocrity, let alone failure. What makes the difference is determination, passion, the intangibles of life that you can’t teach, but you can certainly learn through experience. When everything stops being seen through a “they have what I want” lens, you will start to see your own successes. I still forget that more often than I care to admit, but I’m going into tomorrow with that from the start. Sure, I do want what they have, but I’m darn proud of where I stand today to be in this group of people working to make our value propositions to everyone even better.

Don’t let having CF stand in the way of anything you want that you should be able to do in your mind. Be reasonable, but think big and make it happen.

Stay tuned for more exhaustion and insight. The insight may have to wait until I return, decompress, and edit hundreds of photos, but they will come, and you will like what is in store.

I leave you with the only view of the Willis Tower I’ll have since the weather here is not going to make the $17 ticket to the top worth $2.