Unexpected Inspiration – A Vision for the Year Ahead

January 13, 2016 by Matt

Welcome to 2016. The best year of your life!

127 — The beginning of a new year…with new choices on which direction we want to take our life.

It’s a clean slate. A fresh start. A blank canvas. A time for planning out the year ahead. Well, with 2015 now having come to its close, there is much for me to ponder over. In particular, the things I want to accomplish this year, but more importantly the man I want to become. That is to say, the version of me I will grow into in the year ahead, Matt Rogers Version 37.0. The biggest question I get to answer is: How? How after 3+ decades of living do I evolve into a better version of myself? After all, if I’m not GROWING and CHANGING for the better, then I’m DYING and STAGNATING for the worse.

You see, somewhere around the age of 19, I began physically writing down goals for who and what I wanted to become in the year ahead. I hesitate to use the word ‘resolution’ instead of ‘goals’, as it seems that New Year’s Resolutions have taken on the reputation of being shallow promises made by not-so-serious people attempting to hop on the good-intention-bandwagon. Despite the bad rap, New Year’s Resolutions are certainly better than nothing at all. And ultimately, identifying goals and writing them down is the best way to make them a reality.

400 — Rain out the window of the Destination Tree Headquarters…it followed us from Oregon to California.

So, as I sit here and ponder, looking through the window of the mobile Destination Tree Headquarters, currently here in Fresno, CA I can’t help but find myself distracted by a small boy, around the age of four or five running around to and fro in the distance. He’s splashing through puddles wearing a light blue jacket, striped pants, yellow rain boots, and topped off with a red cap as well as yellow and green mismatched mittens. A mismatched outfit not unlike one I would have worn as a kid. The more I watch him living out the exploration of his surroundings, in the fine mid-morning rain, the more I grow inspired thinking about my future self and the year ahead. Inspired to be alive, and excited just like him. Or rather I should say, a 37-year-young version of him.

That’s it! My goal for the year ahead is to LIVE! Not just exist, but to live with the all-encompassing senses of an adventuresome kid again. Eager to explore the world around us. To see past the “grown-up” blinders, and into the truly amazing world that exists beyond them. Who would have thought this pint sized fellow was a little walking (and splashing) epiphany?

He doesn’t care about the name of the brand embossed on his clothes. Or that he’s wearing a full spectrum of mismatched colors. He’s not attempting to impress others with the way he looks or fancy material possessions. His focus is on happily living in the moment. Making the most of what he has, while he has it, and sharing the concept with those he cares about.

159 — One of our favorite custom driftwood sign collages…perspective, attitude and gratitude are everything.

This little guy isn’t thinking up convincing stories to justify or lie or deflect responsibility for why he’s covered in puddle water. The thought doesn’t even enter his head as he proudly takes ownership over his actions. He’s not sitting on the curb dwelling over all that did or didn’t go as planned for him this past year, instead he’s focused on seizing the day and that of the world around him. There’s no negativity or ungratefulness in the way he carries himself. On the contrary, he’s actually filling me with a positive outlook. I’m gaining a feeling of grateful inspiration, with ideas of hope for an even brighter year ahead!

To my knowledge, watching him swat a branch through the air in front of him isn’t out of hate, spite, nor to get even with another kid. He’s doing what he’s doing out of curiosity for the unknown and to test the boundaries of what he knows or thinks he knows. Every rock he overturns is a different treasure hunt. Each tree he stands under looking up into is a new challenge. Around the fence behind him he knows a new journey awaits. Where many adults struggle and see only fear or obstacles, he helps remind me to see opportunities for the year ahead. He reminds me that I don’t have all the answers, and that I have to keep questioning what I think I know. If I am to keep learning and growing myself, then I have to keep questioning. Who, what, when, where, why and how are the six most important questions ever invented in my opinion.

069 — We all have a goofy, fun-loving kid inside of us. Let yours run free now and then.

And then it happens. Just like that, he’s gone. The pint sized version of me has vanished. And I realize I have no way to thank him. Perhaps he’s off to a new adventure, or simply off to lunch. I’ll never know. But he helped remind me to be a boy at heart, so that I too can live by example. It was an unexpected reminder from an unexpected person. A reminder that to really be a grownup is to know that we never truly “grow up”. That we all have a curious kid inside who waits for the chance to guide us along the path of positivity, wonder and exploration.

So, cheers to you little man, wherever you are, and thank you for helping guide me with my new goals for the year ahead. To exist is not to live, to live is to live. So here’s to making 2016 a better version of ourselves, a year of living, of enjoying every moment. May this be the best year of your life.

Cheers!

Matt

Consciously Being Grateful

November 25, 2015 by Matt

As Thanksgiving Day nears I find myself thinking about life… it’s taken me many years to understand how my everyday choices have molded me into who I am. And the more thought I give to it, the more appreciation I feel for the things that make it so.

I once had someone tell me that, “The things we take for granted, will one day be taken from us.” I’ve digested that statement over and over again for years now and it’s led me this holiday season to ask myself the question of ‘Does one really have to lose something before they can have a true appreciation for it?’ In short… my answer today would be NO. One doesn’t have to lose something to fully appreciate it, if they do it right along their way. That being said, I am incredibly appreciative for the life I get to live right now. At the same time however I can’t help but feel the desire to be even more self-aware and grateful on a daily basis. Being thankful for what we have should never be condensed down into just one calendar day of the year.

So, as I sit here and write out my strategy to find a better way to treat every day like it was Thanksgiving (no, not eating until I pass out, but rather committing to spending time daily to be grateful), something begins to dawn on me. The more we experience the things that we have, from the miraculous to the simplest, the more they become invisible to us. We become so familiar with having these things in our daily lives that we lose sight of our appreciation for them and inevitably take them for granted.

So back to that statement I once heard of the things we take for granted, will one day be taken from us. Whether or not we make it true, imagine if everything you took for granted was gone tomorrow. This inspired me to write out a list of what I am most grateful for, yet I tend to often overlook and under-appreciate. I plan to review this list once a day while adding to it over time.

It is certainly an incomplete list, as I have more to be thankful for than I could ever list off, but here are the things that at the time of writing this, mean the most to me. The things I am choosing to be consciously grateful for every single day moving forward.

I’m grateful for:

The love and respect that my wife and I share for each other
My two wonderful parents who brought me up in a loving home
The bond that I share with my two brothers
A brain and body that allows me to see, hear, taste, smell and feel the world around me
My two ever faithful dogs

I’m grateful everyday for the choice I have:

To be optimistic
To maintain my dignity and respect for myself
To learn from my mistakes and try again when I fail
To choose the attitude I take with me everywhere, everyday
To have trust and hope
To see the good in others
To ask for help myself and not let my ego get in the way
To be a good listener
To be an original version of me, and not a replica of someone else
To be a gentleman
To teach and develop myself
To have a sense of humor
To see problems as possibilities
To not let vanity overtake me
To not let money or greed or power be the driver of me
To not let possessions define me
To appreciate differences in opinions
To realize that I’m not always right
To appreciate nature and its role in our world
To communicate effectively
To be open and willing to change
And lastly, I’m grateful for the choice I have to show my appreciation for how very fortunate I am to be alive and healthy to write this today.

For all these things, and many more, I am truly grateful. Each of these things are priceless to me. I couldn’t buy any of them with all the money in the world, and I wouldn’t trade any of them for it either. The more I look at this list, the more I realize how much gratitude is a choice and how much of a difference it makes in our lives.

So, thank you Thanksgiving, for reminding me yet again, why one day of self-awareness is simply not enough to show the appreciation for everything we ought to be grateful for. And thank you in advance to anyone willing to remind me to live by my list.

Cheers & Happy Thanksgiving!

Matt

One Year Later.

October 19, 2015 by Matt

There’s a lot of truth behind the statement that we overestimate what we can do in a day and underestimate what we can do in a year.

And, while it’s easy to measure the results of a 24 hour period, measuring a full year can be a good deal trickier. I say ‘tricky’ because not everything that can be measured matters and not everything that matters can be measured.

So, exactly how does one go about measuring a year? (On a side note, Kristin just started singing a song from Rent to demonstrate how to measure a year… “five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred miiiiinnnnutes…” and now we all have that Broadway classic stuck in our heads).

But, back to our discussion of measurement. I could outline the number of tasks completed, revenue generated, web trends or any other number of statistics to try and measure this past year. However, while those numbers and trends are useful in their own right, I believe the system of measuring that matters most is the one that lets us know the resulting positive impact we’ve had on the world around us and the people in it.

About one year ago, I had just finished making a significant change in my life after departing what was a great company, filled with truly amazing people. I set sail leaving behind a corporate career for a challenging, new and exciting lifestyle in the uncharted waters of the world of entrepreneurship. Thus, Destination Tree was founded. Our mission: to inspire each other to enjoy and appreciate life’s events, challenges and destinations through the joy of custom crafted, meaningful artwork.

Now, that being said, in looking back and measuring the last year, I can honestly say it has been a success!

With a lot of hard work, TONS of trial and error, and long brainstorming evenings, we’ve been fortunate enough to build on our idea and grow our inspirational presence to a global level.
Originally, Kristin was helping both with Destination Tree and succeeding greatly to help grow a different, awesome company, but has since joined in the full time development of Destination Tree.
We’ve had the pleasure of working with some truly wonderful clients who have let us in on their lives so we could help them tell their stories through our artwork.
Through the process we found renewed inspiration in our own lives and kicked off an adventure traveling the US while we pursue our entrepreneurial dreams and inspire others to follow theirs (whatever they may be).
One of our greatest successes, is that we no longer wait for the time left at the end of the day or the end of the week…we now spend more quality time together than ever before.

The funny thing is, once we made the decision to create, build and then transition this business (and our life) on the road, it helped us reaffirm that we truly can accomplish any challenge we place before us. One thing’s for sure, it takes hard work…and perseverance…and flexibility…and patience…and persistence…and the willingness to keep learning. Just like so many things worth doing require. There have been and will continue to be challenges, but it’s worth it. And we haven’t had a single moment of regret.

What’s next for the business? One thing’s for certain, we have no plans to become a mass produced chain store novelty. Our plan is to grow, but grow on our terms, in accordance with the original mission in mind: Custom, hand-crafted inspiration!

So, thank you to everyone who has supported us, helped us, guided us, partnered with us, purchased from us, spread the word about us, and even doubted us. Your fuel has played a role in driving our cause.

With one year now come and gone, we are very excited about year number two and the future beyond. Looking back, perhaps we are a little crazy… but we are definitely inspired!

So here’s to our supporters and cheers to the future!

Matt

At the Corner of Forgive and Forget

March 28, 2015 by Matt

No Matter How Hard I Try, I’m Not Perfect.

Neither Are You.

We’re all human. Which means we are imperfect. We make mistakes. We can be capable of really amazing feats, and yet we’re also quite capable of the opposite. Sometimes our actions hurt each other, whether intentional or not, we end up at a crossroads. A corner where two streets converge, two streets by the name of ‘Forgive’ and ‘Forget’.

The way I see it, there are four directions I can go after someone wrongs me at the crossroads (or conversely four directions they can choose if I have wronged them). But when I really think about it, there’s only one of the four that leads to a better place, one that for many people is a lesser traveled road. Our choices include:

Not Forgive and Not Forget.
- Ultimately this path will lead us to a dark place, full of spite, untrustworthiness, and toxic grudges, that can spread like a cancer in ones body and can even unfairly affect other relationships unknowingly. Not a good choice, and never a good path.
Not Forgive and Forget.
- This path arises from a weak mind, one in which a person wants to punish the other but loses heart in the endeavor, as deep down they know people make mistakes and that they’ve probably made some too. Not a good path, and not to be taken, as it will cost you friends, happiness and peace of mind.
Forgive and Forget.
- A dangerous road indeed. Although a common saying, and well intended, this path leads only to a life of being taken advantage of and perpetual disappointment. This is the path a fool would take. A learning lesson is only a learning lesson the first time, the second time it’s a failure to pay attention. Not a good choice.
Forgive but not Forget.
- This is the path of the wise. It’s also one that I try my best to stay vigilant in taking. It’s the best path, and of course not the easiest, but it’s the one that more of us need to take, myself included. Forgiveness is healing. Remembering is learning.

I remember a time a few years back when a coworker of mine agreed to pick me up and take me to the office. I had several important meetings that morning. Sadly, he never showed up and I missed every last one of them. It turns out that he simply forgot about our arrangement. Initially, I was beyond frustrated, but I forgave him and we are still good friends today. However, every time I needed a ride to the office after that, I made sure to ask someone else instead. A simple example, but you get the point. Whether it’s a forgotten promise, a broken heart, hurtful words or deeds, there are plenty of reasons we come upon the crossroads.

In the end, we all hope to grow for the better as people, and to pass those life lessons on to others. So, the next time you find yourself on the corner of Forgive and Forget streets, pause for a minute and think about the destination you really want to get to, rather than the one you’re at. Maybe the late, great Ralph Waldo Emerson really was on to something when he wrote those timeless words, “Two roads diverged in the wood, and I chose the path less traveled by.”

Cheers to us all taking that path less traveled by.

-Matt

What time is it? The answer may surprise you.

March 3, 2015 by Matt

destination tree clock — What is time? The answer may surprise you.

Time is so much more than we realize.

If I asked you what time it is, you’d probably look at your watch, or more likely, your phone, and tell me a few numbers. However, if I removed one tiny, seemingly insignificant word, the entirety of the question would change to one of existential thought provoking propositions. With the word “it” removed, we’re simply left with “what time is?”. In other words, WHAT IS TIME?”

Interestingly enough, I’ve never held it, seen it, or heard it, yet it is always there with me wherever I go. It would seem like the word time was a kind of name created by man in an attempt to describe the following.

Time is Free, but it’s priceless.

You can’t own it, but you can use it.

You can’t keep it, but you can spend it.

Once you’ve lost it, you can never get it back.

My answer to the question has definitely changed over the years. If I was asked as a young boy what time is, I probably would have stared back at you with a jovial smile, shrugged my shoulders, and said something back like, “I don’t know ….you wanna go play?” For back then time wasn’t relevant. A short period later I’d be in my teens and if asked again, I most likely would have said “it’s how much crazy ridiculous fun I could have in between going to and coming home from school.” Slightly more relevant but again not taken that seriously. Fast forward just a few years into my mid twenties and then my answer would somehow try to tie together ‘money accumulation with the hours of the working day’. But as I sit now on the border between 36 and 37 years young, I recently found myself asking that very question to the guy in the mirror. Truthfully it hasn’t been until the last couple of years that I’ve come to grasp what time really is.

Brace yourself, because here comes the epiphany!! Time = Life + Choice.

In other words, time at its very core is our perspective on our biological life and how we choose to live it. In the 1st half of the equation life is the great equalizer of which we have very limited control. And in the 2nd half, what we choose to think, believe, say and do add up to how we spend our existence. Unless you’re a mad scientist capable of building a time machine, then you, me and everyone else only gets one go around in the equation…..and that trip happens pretty damn fast. Not to be mistaken for happening in ‘the blink of an eye’ however.

Now the internet is chalked full of quotes about how life happens in ‘the blink of an eye’. Some funny, some sad, and some even with pictures of people taping their eyes shut so that the blink never ends. Ha! If they only could see the irony in that, with all they’d miss seeing. Yet, I disagree. That all to commonly heard statement puts the emphasis on the wrong part of the equation. Life doesn’t happen in the ‘blink of an eye’, it’s our choices that do. You see life was given to us at birth, and will stay with us until death, and our choices are what fills in the middle. Some are conscious, some are unconscious, and some occur by never occurring at all (i.e.: indecision is still a form of decision making, albeit not a good one). A great quote by Alice Bloch that I’ve always been fond of sums it up perfectly. “We say we waste time, but that’s impossible. We waste ourselves.” In essence, we waste not our time, but our choices.

So in the end, that guy in the mirror reminded me that after 36 years of making choices, some smart and some not so smart, I would if given the chance, turn down that ride in the Mad Scientists time machine, because some revelations need many years of living through them in order to truly be comprehended. I wouldn’t want to tell my younger self anything that would alter the time needed to understand what I now know.

All that being said, I feel quite optimistic about the time ahead for my next 3rd of a century. Where I’ll be, I don’t know for sure, but as I shrug my shoulders and smile jovially while writing this, I do know that I’m excited to have a greater understanding of time now and be making better choices along the way.

And by the way, the next time someone asks you, “What time is it?” have a some fun with your answer. “It’s 2:00, time to make better choices.” After all there’s always time for a little fun!

Cheers and here’s blinking at you my friends.

Matt

Choice not chance determines our destiny

February 9, 2015 by Matt

Heads or Tails. Legend of the Domino Chief

Destination Tree domino — A domino thought leads to questioning a coin toss

In the wise words of Ice Cube, from the 90s cult classic, Boyz N the Hood, “Domino mutha F*&%-er!!!” Call me crazy, but whenever I hear the word “domino” that line instantly pops in my head. Well, recently I had a “domino” thought. The kind where one thought leads to another and another…until you are mentally fixated on something totally different than what initiated the original thought. While walking back to my truck the other day, I spied a coin on the ground. Despite the germ-aphobe in me, I excitedly bent down to pick it up only to realize it was a 1938 nickel. Yahoo! I gave it a quick lucky flip from my thumb in the air. Maybe not as exciting as finding a twenty dollar bill, but I was still excited to acquire this vintage chieftain collectable.

Finding this coin was the catalyst of my domino thought chain. It made me think of the act of flipping a coin. Which led to my curiosity of how many people had flipped this particular coin in it’s 77 years of service. Which led to wondering how many decisions had been made from those seemingly innocent tosses. How much history had been cast due to the decision of a nickel? How many of us leave our decision making up to a coin toss?

And this ultimately made me wonder, why do people live their life by chance…rather than by the more difficult process of choice? That’s where I landed on the final thought, ‘why toss the coin in the first place’?

I can only think of two reasons why we flip a coin to come upon an outcome for action. Either number one we really don’t care what the outcome is, which means the decision is really irrelevant and the tosser should put the coin away, decide and move on with their day. Or number two, we don’t want to be held accountable for the outcome and therefore transfer all responsibility to the coin itself. Afterall, if it was a bad call, that led to an unfavorable outcome, no sane person is going to go back and start an argument with a coin…but they might a person. In this event, the person doing the flipping probably isn’t the right person for the task and should hand the coin over to someone else who is strong enough to live with the consequences of the outcome, rather than letting the old chieftain take the blame, or get the credit.

Either way you look at it, a decision should be made by a person, not a coin. So when looking at the mental dominoes scattered all around me, my conclusion was this: In the end, there is a helluva lot of potential for us to grow more confident when making decisions as we carve a path through the history books, because the person those very books put on that coin is done growing…but you’re not. In the wise words of one of history’s great carvers, Winston Churchill, “History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.”

Domino my friends!

Cheers,

Matt

Liquid Luck…it isn’t just for Harry Potter.

January 15, 2015 by Matt

Question: Is the glass truly half empty or half full?

Answer: It doesn’t matter. Because you’re the brewer!

After brewing the first successful batch of beer this year, I have elected to name it “Liquid Luck”. Although, in the Harry Potter film, an elixir of the same name was brewed and used by Harry to aid in defeating the Dark Lord, this is not why I chose to give it the name.

As I started bottling the freshly fermented foreign extra stout, I poured myself the first bit into a glass to savor as I prepared to fill the lineup of bottles. Grabbing the glass in hand, I took a big sip when the age old question suddenly dawned on me…Is the glass now half empty, or half full?

Alone in the beer lab (aka the kitchen) and having only myself to ponder the question, it occurred to me that after 30+ years of hearing that question, I finally realized: the glass represents our life; and it’s contents represent everything IN our lives. The beer is merely a metaphor of our physical possessions, physical conditions, our failures, our triumphs, and in other words, our “luck”.

And then BOOM!!! Like a stadium light being turned on, my brain was flooded with the real answer of half empty or half full. It doesn’t matter!!! I just brewed my own luck, and I can always pour more.

Don’t focus on the glass. Focus on the ability to fill it. The ability to create for ourselves a never-empty-glass. Now I’m not the finest brewer, so I can speak from experience when I say anyone, anyone, can do it. It just takes some discipline and dedication. And literally, everyone can brew a better life for themselves, if they’re willing to get their hands wet in creating it.

Here are two questions to ask yourself:
#1) What am I proud of accomplishing this week that was a worthy challenge?
#2) What challenge will I take on next week that will have a positive impact on my life?

The glass of life is never half empty when you keep the keg of your creation full and flowing.

Happy brewing to you this year!

Cheers,

Matt

I Like Smiling, Smiling’s My Favorite

October 27, 2014 by Matt

“I Like Smiling, Smiling’s My Favorite.”

You also know what I’m talking about if you too have memorized the lines from the movie Elf, starring Will Ferrell, however that had to be my mantra this past week when I went to the post office. I thought an episode of The Walking Dead was being filmed. Not one person was smiling, and unless my eyes were playing tricks on me, they were eying my flesh.

I had spent all morning bandaging and re-bandaging my dog’s leg as he was fascinated by his 21 stitches, which topped the chart as his #1 chew toy every time I left the room. So after wrapping up an impenetrable mummy cast, on the 6th attempt, I decided to make the commitment to turn my frustrations into smiles by deciding to smile at everyone I purposely locked eyes with for the remainder of the day. I’m not just talking about a smirk, but a great big ear to ear grin.

Let me tell you, I got some amazing responses from that scientific social experiment. Roughly half the people I encountered smiled back. Which made me feel good, because I feel in some small way I made their day a little better. That’s fitting, because on MY Destination Tree, I pledge to do something every day to make at least one stranger smile. The other 50% was a smattering of angry stares, annoyed looks, lifeless glances and one old woman who wanted to fight me.

So the moral of the story, is be so happy that when others look at you, they become happy too.

I hope you have an amazing week, and thank you all for the great ideas and feedback on Destination Tree so far. Wow is all I can say. What an incredible first week. Cheers!

Live Inspired,
Matt

Unexpected Inspiration – A Vision for the Year Ahead

Welcome to 2016. The best year of your life!

Consciously Being Grateful

I’m grateful for:

I’m grateful everyday for the choice I have:

One Year Later.

At the Corner of Forgive and Forget

No Matter How Hard I Try, I’m Not Perfect.

Neither Are You.

What time is it? The answer may surprise you.

Time is so much more than we realize.

Choice not chance determines our destiny

Heads or Tails. Legend of the Domino Chief

Liquid Luck…it isn’t just for Harry Potter.

Question: Is the glass truly half empty or half full?

Answer: It doesn’t matter. Because you’re the brewer!

The glass of life is never half empty when you keep the keg of your creation full and flowing.

I Like Smiling, Smiling’s My Favorite

About Us

Our Mission

Helpful Links

Welcome to 2016. The best year of your life!

I’m grateful for:

I’m grateful everyday for the choice I have:

No Matter How Hard I Try, I’m Not Perfect.

Neither Are You.

Time is so much more than we realize.

Heads or Tails. Legend of the Domino Chief

Question: Is the glass truly half empty or half full?

Answer: It doesn’t matter. Because you’re the brewer!

The glass of life is never half empty when you keep the keg of your creation full and flowing.

About Us

Our Mission

Helpful Links

Connect With Us