Sowing Seeds for the Future
Earlier today I confirmed plans for another prison tour. Over the coming weeks I will travel to federal prisons in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. During that 14-day trip, I expect to deliver more than twenty presentations. Each visit gives me an opportunity to speak with people who are beginning their journey through the federal system and to share strategies that helped me navigate 9,500 days of imprisonment.
My purpose in making these visits is simple. I want people in prison to understand that the future they hope to reach will depend largely on the decisions they make today. Success after prison rarely arrives suddenly. It grows from small decisions repeated consistently over time. Those decisions are the seeds people sow each day.
Learning to Think Like a CEO
While serving my sentence, I read extensively about leadership and decision-making. One of the people who influenced my thinking was Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric. His books on leadership helped me see the importance of taking ownership of one's decisions. If I wanted to influence the direction of my life, I needed to think and act like the CEO of my own life.
Through those readings I also discovered the work of Suzy Welch. She wrote a book titled 10-10-10, which describes a framework she learned from observing leadership decisions inside large organizations.
Her concept is simple but powerful. When making a decision, ask three questions:
How will this decision affect my life in the next ten minutes?
How will it affect my life in the next ten months?
How will it affect my life in the next ten years?
That framework became a compass for me. In prison, every decision carried consequences. Some decisions might provide immediate comfort but create long-term problems. Others might require discipline in the short term while creating opportunities years later.
Using the Ten–Ten–Ten framework helped me focus on long-term outcomes rather than short-term emotions. It encouraged me to invest my time in reading, writing, exercising, and building a record of preparation for the future.
Sowing Seeds During 9,500 Days
When people hear that I served 9,500 days in prison, they often focus on the number itself. What mattered more to me was what I chose to do with each of those days.
Every day presented a choice. I could complain about the system, or I could invest my energy in preparing for the life I hoped to build after release. The seeds I planted during those years included education, writing, discipline, and service to others. Those small actions compounded over time.
Had I learned those lessons earlier in life, before I made the decisions that led to my conviction, my story might have unfolded differently. That realization is part of the reason I continue doing this work today.
The important lesson is that it is never too early and never too late to start making better decisions.
Prison Visits
This upcoming trip will allow me to speak with thousands of people who are serving sentences in federal prison. I will also meet with executive staff at several prison complexes. Those conversations create opportunities to share strategies that help people take a self-directed approach to preparing for the future.
One of the messages I emphasize is that transformation begins with personal responsibility. No one is coming to rescue anyone from the consequences of past decisions. Each person must decide how to use the time available today.
When people begin sowing seeds early in their sentence, they position themselves to build a meaningful record of preparation. That record becomes part of a mitigation strategy that can influence opportunities for earlier transition to community placement, employment prospects after release, and relationships with family and community members.
A Lesson from Joseph
While serving my sentence, I also drew inspiration from the story of Joseph in the Book of Genesis. His story resonated with me because it shows how adversity can become a platform for growth and service.
Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, and later imprisoned after being falsely accused. His circumstances were unjust and painful. Yet the story does not focus on bitterness or revenge. Instead, Joseph continued to work diligently and serve others wherever he was placed.
Over time his character and discipline became visible to those around him. Eventually he rose to a position of responsibility where he helped guide an entire nation through a period of famine.
I often reflected on that story during my own years in prison. Joseph did not control the circumstances that placed him in confinement, but he controlled how he responded to those circumstances. His choices prepared him for opportunities that appeared later.
My own journey was different, and I fully accept responsibility for the decisions that led me into prison. Yet Joseph’s story reminded me that adversity does not have to define a person’s future. With discipline and faith, difficult seasons can become preparation for a larger purpose.
I remain grateful to God for sustaining me during those years. That gratitude continues to influence the work I do today.
Thinking About the Next Ten Years
As I prepare for this new prison tour, I am again applying the Ten–Ten–Ten framework.
The immediate effort involves travel, preparation, and long days speaking with people who are beginning their own journeys through the system. The impact over the next ten months will include new relationships with individuals who begin documenting their preparation for release.
But the most important question concerns the next ten years.
If more people in prison begin sowing seeds today by building profiles, documenting their progress, and preparing for success, we can create a body of evidence that shows what transformation looks like in real time. Those stories can influence employers, policymakers, and communities.
That work aligns with the mission that guides everything we do at Prison Professors. We want to help people earn freedom through merit by demonstrating preparation, discipline, and commitment to contributing positively to society.
Every seed planted today moves us closer to that goal.
And that is why I continue traveling, speaking, and sharing these lessons wherever I can.
Self-Directed Question
The decisions you make today will influence the opportunities available to you in the future.
Using the Ten–Ten–Ten framework described earlier, take time to reflect on a decision you are making right now.
How will that decision affect your life in the next ten minutes?
How will it influence your progress in the next ten months?
How might it shape the opportunities available to you in the next ten years?
Write your response in a journal or in your profile on Prison Professors. Describe one seed you can begin planting today that will contribute to the success you want to build in the future.