In the mid-2000’s I was living in Las Vegas and struggling to get a fledgling young company off the ground. I had recently met the former CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh. We had spent a lot of time hanging out in the previous weeks. (Our blown-up business deal was still a ways off.)
My life had become chaotic, an unhealthy blur of work and play in which the two were sometimes indistinguishable. Lots of poker-playing, both in casinos and out; both with cards, and with other things.
Yet something was changing inside of me.
One healthy habit I developed was going each morning to the Starbucks on the corner of Stephanie and Horizon Ridge in Henderson, NV, between 5-7am. It was a short walk from my house.
On this particular morning—since it was a nice summer day, and I wanted to sit outside—I took my German Shepherd puppy, Axel, along with me.