I’m a husband first, a father second and everything else has to find space on a lower tier of the shelf that is my life.

I am a glue guy and it’s taken me nearly 30 years to figure it out.

I’m passionate about playing team. I play for the love of the game and the thrill of working beside people I care about on a mission I care about.

I’m a writer because I can’t turn off the stream of words that spring unsolicited from my brain. Fortunately, people like what I write, so I don’t have to hide it.

I’m a copywriter by profession and a marketer by specialty. I’m not a “marketing guru”. I do offer a rare blend of writing/editorial expertise with a focus on marketing strategy. I can help you plan out your branding approach and even help implement pieces of it. Ultimately, when it comes to investing into a marketing and advertising plan, it’s a serious endeavor and I interview clients extensively prior to expanding my role beyond that of a consultant.

I fix things because I treat life as a video game, “what’s laying around that I can use to solve ‘X’?” I love the process of salvage, enhancing value that someone else discarded.

I’m a maker. In another life I’d have paid too much money to earn a degree as an industrial designer. Instead I paid too much money for degree in creative writing. And it’s been one of the best decisions of my life.

I make a habit of saying the uncomfortable things other people are afraid to say. I find that people breathe easier when the truth is on the table.

I aggressively eat the last piece of anything in the fridge or the break room – just to avoid watching Zeno’s paradox applied to a piece of cake, donut or breakfast taco.

I’m a person of extraordinary talents. Some of my special powers include:

• the ability to burn toast regardless of how low the toaster is set
• the ability to make carbonated bottles explode on opening – regardless of how long they’ve been sitting still
• the ability to eat the one thing in the fridge my wife is hungry for or needs in a recipe (without talking to her)
• the INability to make Turkish coffee without boiling it over
• the INability to dress my daughter in color-coordinated clothes (fortunately she’s a natural at color theory)

I think it’s worthwhile for you to read an excerpt of a description written by one of my close friends and professional colleagues, Josh Motlong. You might think it reads like a back-handed compliment. It does. But it’s truer than most of what I’ve just written about myself (see my special powers).

He writes as much as he reads, and thinks a whole lot more than that. But all those together don’t don’t quite match how much he does. Or how much he cares, or how strong he believes.

He’s a sort of stalwart in the middle of a stream, yet somehow it’s not wearing him down. By some magic, he only gets stronger, and more resilient, and oddly more compassionate and wise.

He questions everything, tests what’s available, and lives what he knows. He’s the kind of man that teaches you while you think you’re teaching him, and when all is over, he’ll be loaded with gratitude. When around him, you’ll find yourself listening a bit closer, thinking a little longer, trusting your gut when you used to doubt and treating people like you wish you were.

So no, Zac’s not really a big deal, he turns the men around him into big deals.

~Josh Motlong

(original piece appeared first at www.mightandmischief.com)