Everyone has new years resolutions.  I don't.  I take personal inventory pretty frequently, usually when I have a change in my life or I when someone I know does.  Today I'll share my lessons for last year and how they motivate me for this year.  I'll try to be brief.     Last year was a big year […]

Many firefighters just don’t appreciate learning opportunities or recognize when learning opportunities present themselves. Recently, I thought about several examples I witnessed during “rookie schools” around the country. Rookie school, or Basic Fire School, is where you are taught “The Basics” and are expected to learn “The Basics” before applying them on the job. A […]

Why does Boston throw so many ladders?   Mainly because it’s better to have them and not need them. If you ask around Boston Fire you will get 4 common answers.  Most likely after they ask you why a firefighter would even ask a question like that. 1. Why not? 2. It’s a good practice 3. […]

What does “Writing his own headlines” mean? That’s when someone spends so much time thinking about how this is going to look in the news they forget they have to do the work before the story gets written.

  How do some firefighters get really good at their job and some, well, not so much. I was just perusing Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers” and one of the focuses of the book is the 10,000 hour rule to become an expert or successful. I don’t plan on reading the book, but I’ve heard this […]

I was trying to teach my children about doing quality work and making sure you can put your name on everything you do.  Of course one of them asked “But isn’t that a lot of work?” Yes, yes it is.  But the effort is the biggest part of any job well done.  Like Ghandi said.  […]