As the Chief Relationship Officer of my life, I measure my wealth by the value-based connections and relationships I collect. I am a very rich man that way.
When I first asked Dr. Taryn Marie and Gair Maxwell to write the foreword and afterword for Week Minded, I didn’t know them like I know them now. Here we are nine months later, and these two people have hung their portraits on my heart’s Hall of Fame. We connected on a different level. It shows in what they wrote in their pivotal pieces, the alpha and omega of Week Minded.
From the Foreword of Week Minded: Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal, #1 Wall Street Journal Best-Selling author and international expert on RESILIENCE, MENTAL HEALTH, & WELLNESS in leadership and life.
“When Rod Branch first asked me to write the foreword for this book, I smiled—and then promptly misspelled the word ‘foreword’ in my correspondence with him. More than once. As someone who is dyslexic, I am no stranger to seeing the world differently or misspelling words. At first, I laughed it off. But the more I sat with Rod’s words, the more fitting that mistake became. Because this book is not just a foreword to the pages that follow—it is an invitation to move forward. Thoughtfully. Intentionally. One week at a time.”
From the Afterword of Week Minded: Gair Maxwell, International Keynote Speaker, TEC Canada Speaker of the Year, Bestselling Author of Big Little Legends”
Towards the end of the program, Rod stood and shared the story about a golfing trip that he and his father had taken to St. Andrews, Scotland. In a very personal, heartfelt way, Rod spoke about how much that one round of golf trip had meant to his dad and why the photograph of he and his father posing on the iconic Swilcan Bridge is the centerpiece of a Houston man cave known as the ‘Bourbon Room’.” Being the only son of a former professional golfer who was born minutes from the first tee at the Old Course in St. Andrews and as a lover of all things Jack Daniels, it was only natural that Rod and I bonded right away. Like so many of the chapters in this book, it’s like the universe already had a plan for us. We just stepped in and went along for the ride.
That’s the Rod I know and that’s what makes this book and the many kernels of wisdom discovered within so valuable.
We are in the “Homestretch!” We can see the finish line from here. May 2nd is 5-2 as in “52” weeks. Kentucky Derby Day, Book Launch Day, and Read Across America Day. Seems like a fitting ending.
Ginny is putting the finishing touches on the interior chapter structures, photos have been added, and the foreword and afterword are done and being added as well. And they’re off!
