Chapter ZERO: Not Your Day to Die - Your Heart Remembers

This is the current working title and cover of my  book - likely they both may change before I publish later this summer. The picture is for my inspiration, but I wanted to share now and get feedback on both as well as the following excerpt form my book below:

Chapter ZERO: Not Your Day to Die - Your Heart Remembers

“…and you may ask yourself, ‘Well, how did I get here?’”

How dying and heart gave me a New Life Mission 

Your Heart is Connected!

Your Heart is Resilient!

Your Heart is Strong!

Your Heart Remembers!

On August 23rd, 2024, my heart stopped beating. No warning, no buildup—just silence where there should have been rhythm. I died that day from a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA). And yet, I am here to write these words because something extraordinary happened: my heart was restarted. Not only by machines and medicine, but by people—by love, by connection, by a community that refused to let me go.

I am alive today because of friends and family who jumped into action with CPR, who held my hand in the darkness and lifted me through recovery. Because of first responders whose training and courage brought me back. Because of incredible teams at Regions Hospital and Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital, and because of the brilliant technology—a Medtronic implantable defibrillator—that now sits quietly inside me alongside my own beating heart.

My heart stopped for more than 8 minutes. My odds of surviving were less than 1 in 10. My odds of returning both mentally and physically to full strength? Closer to 1 in 100. And yet—here I am. Blessed. Grateful. Changed.

This story isn’t just about how a physical heart can stop and start again. It’s about how the emotional heart—our capacity to love, connect, and be present—can keep us alive just as powerfully. The two are not separate. Our bodies and souls, our arteries and affections, our pulses and our purpose—they’re all deeply intertwined.

Cardiac arrests don’t only happen in hospital dramas. They happen in living rooms, on soccer fields, in grocery stores, on airplanes and for me it was in a friend’s backyard. They happen everywhere. And when they do, survival hinges on readiness, quick action, and often, the invisible threads of human connection.

This is the story of my heart—how it stopped, how it came back, and how it taught me that the emotional and physical are not two hearts, but one. I have had many successes and failures during my life, but I now have a second chance and another 1000 weeks to make an impact. The punch in the chest I received that day fuels my new found passion and mission.

Within this story, you will find the inspiration, mindset, tools, and practices to elevate your happiness and performance and that help YOU “Be the World’s Best”. THIS is my new mission.

Life is full of questions. For me, it was a “Once in a Lifetime” reset. I got another chance to ask myself some deep and meaningful questions and search for the answers:

Why am I still here?

What is my mission?

What motivates me?

What do I want to do for the next 1000 weeks?

Am I being the World’s Best Sig every day?

Before I share my answers, first let me share with you the events of August 23rd, 2024. What I now refer to as DAY ZERO. My SCA, ensuing trip to the Emergency Room and stay in the Intensive Care Unit of Regions Hospital were questionably memorable for me - I would later learn that I suffered Anterograde Amnesia as a result of my Sudden Cardiac Arrest.

Do you remember what you were doing on August 23^rd 2024? The World’s Best Friends and Family witnessed my death, helped save my life, watched my fight for survival and will never forget that day. Subsequently, they helped me fill in the gaps in my memory. Dying not only provocatively changed my life but also had a profound impact on those who witnessed me die and were part of my care and recovery.

I remember everything that day right up until my SCA. The day started out with 18 holes of golf with lifelong friends. Salt of the earth guys I worked with 30 years ago at General Mills. Many of these friends I met in 1994 when I interned at General Mills. The rest I met when I started full-time work there after I graduated from The Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in 1995.

Friendships Nurtured and Bonds Built.... CHAPTER ZERO CONTINUES IN MY BOOK.

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