Jack is going through the sacrament of First Penance and Reconciliation next week. This is the Catholic ceremony of the first confession in which a child examines their conscience, asks for forgiveness for their sins, prays, and is granted absolution. I love the psychology of the rite of passage. We look inward and examine the … Continue reading Forgiveness
What follows is a somewhat disjointed collection of updates from the past month. I probably should have made this three separate posts, but I'm short on time and I wanted to memorialize some thoughts while they're fresh. Sad News About Our Move About a week after we arrived in Virginia we learned that the tractor … Continue reading Sad News, New Territory, 2 Great Books: 3 short posts in 1
Hello Everyone, I have some personal updates for all of our friends and colleagues out there. First, Kelly and I are excited to announce that we have welcomed our fourth baby into the family. Baby George was born on 5/16/2018 at 12:11 PM. He's a big healthy boy, born at 9 lbs 10 oz. My wife … Continue reading Demma Family Update
Has it ever occurred to you that not only are you not doing a good job at work, but maybe you are actually making things worse? I think it’s a really good question to ask yourself, especially if you’re a manager. The answer might not be so obvious.
I have made some mistakes during my on-boarding, mostly centered around my ambition to start contributing quickly and my obsession with getting things done.
Participation trophies aren't just a way to make everyone feel good about themselves. Maybe they're that too, but they're so much more to my son.
Bruce Lee. Legendary Kung Fu master, martial artist, actor, philosopher, author, and one of my idols. He is perhaps best known for pioneering the martial arts style called Jeet Kune Do. An update to my post about describing My leadership style.
One of the great regrets of my life is not having served in the military. I've become painfully aware of my lack of service since moving to the D.C. area, where it feels like everyone is either active duty or retired military or a "defense contractor" or an FBI/Secret Service agent. They're all way way … Continue reading Fortune Favors the Offensive: 5 Principles of speed and aggression from history’s greatest generals
How do middle class people of the developed world keep the edge, work ethic, and values their immigrant ancestors had? How do we develop mental toughness?
Jack London is one of my go-to mentors for manliness. What follows below is a snippet from his memoir about sailing around the world, The Cruise of the Snark.
This month my company featured me on our portal in a blog-style interview. I thought I'd share since I haven't posted much about work lately. Here you go: Get to Know John Demma We all share common goals, but rarely do we have an opportunity to share a cup of coffee and break the ice. Yet, studies show … Continue reading Get to Know Me, From My Company’s Portal Blog
People seemed to like my personal finance posts from the past few months about things like getting rid of cable and saving money on food, so I figured I'd share some other small changes we've made over the past year to keep more of the money we've earned. If you're keeping score you'll notice these … Continue reading 3 Quick DIY Life Hacks to Save You Money
You may have heard someone say that expense savings go right to the "bottom line". What does that mean? What is the bottom line anyway? For a business, the last line on the income statement is net income. Income statements are one of the core financial reports for a business (along with balance sheets and … Continue reading Expense Savings Go Right to the Bottom Line
Studies like this one from Gallop show that the average Joe is spending $151 per week on food. For two adults and two kids (let's say the kids cost 1/2 that much) that's $1,800 per month! And this is in a country where people say, "you need two incomes in a family to get by these … Continue reading How We Saved $1,000 Per Month in Food Cost
This barber, he had to be seventy, was telling me once while trimming me up how he just had a whole bunch of cancer surgically removed about a week earlier. Tough old dog, I thought. "I can't believe you're back to work already." "You ever been in a fight before?" he asked. I nodded. "Then you know … Continue reading Gut Check – Getting Back Up
