Work Life Integration | Coaching Churches

Category Archive: Work Life Integration

Are You Personally Called Or Professionally Driven?

Posted by on December 7, 2016

It is very important that we all know the difference between these two power words. If you are not careful and buy into the culture’s definition of success you will be driven to get all the perks of this lifestyle.

Driven people see their career as the primary provider of their physical and emotional needs. It gives them power, possessions, position, pleasure and all the emotional significance they want from all the outward success they achieve.

Called people on the other hand see their career as a means to a much more important end and that is impacting other people. They get up every day on a mission to make a difference and the bottom line for them is not profits but people.

I am convinced that called people in the marketplace can be more successful in every way than their driven counterparts. They have a passion that goes way beyond just showing up for work and hitting the numbers.

All of us have a strong desire to look back at the end of our lives and know that we have made a real difference. That difference will not be who has the most toys but who has helped the most people.

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9 Signs You Have No Work Life Balance

Posted by on November 2, 2016

As I spend a significant amount of time coaching executives, this subject is on the list for areas needing improvement for every person I help. The sheer volume of professional responsibilities force us to either establish personal priorities or feel like failures at home. This post by Rachel Ritlop is spot on:

“Working a 9-5 is a major adjustment in your early twenties, and as you grow into your late twenties it can be difficult to know if what you’re experiencing is just the “daily grind” or a total lack of work-life balance that’s adding to your overall stress levels.

Here are nine signs you have lost control of your work-life balance and some tips to rectify it :

The Incredible Power Of Living In The Moment

Posted by on September 21, 2016

Many of us will lose some of the greatest blessings in life because we are not able to enjoy the life we already have today. Someone has well said that,” the measure of our peace of mind is determined by how much we are able to live in the present moment.”

Two mortal enemies that tend to rob us of the potential for today are the failures and pain from our past or the worries and fears about what may happen in the future. Mark Twain once said, “I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.”

We tend to live under the false illusion that one day I am going to get my priorities in order and then I will be able to do what I want and need to do. Happiness is always in the future tense because we never take the time to decide what is really important and what is not.

Every day we must say no to something because we live in a highly stressful world that demands more of us than we can possibly accomplish. The only way to consistently say no to the wrong things is to first know what you should be saying yes to on a daily basis.

One of the major yes things should be I want to live everyday with a grateful spirit and a peaceful mind so that I can really see what is good about my life. Then I can concentrate on getting the things done today that are important and before today is done I can make sure to enjoy the moment.

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Just Don't Do It

Posted by on August 31, 2016

Just Do It is a phrase that has come to represent the cultural mentality of an entire generation of Americans. The sheer discipline that is represented in those three words has pushed many of us to do things that otherwise we would have walked away from and left undone.

In my life the major point of application is in the area of physical fitness. When it is cold and dark outside most of us do not want to jump out of bed and go for a nice run when the temperature is in the twenties and the wind is blowing. In some small but very effective way, thinking about Just Do It can make the difference between turning over and getting up.

An even bigger problem for most of us is the daily discipline of learning how to say No. Everyday all of us will have more to do than we can possibly get done. It happens at work, at home, with friends and hobbies.

The real secret to success in life is in knowing on a daily basis what to say No to and walk away. The real tragedy of life is when we look back and realize even though we have been incredibly busy we have done so many things that were really not important at all.

I don’t know about you but the Just Do It mentality has pushed me beyond my limits too many times. I do not want to waste my time, energy, passion and relationships on things that do not add value to others.

I encourage you to just pick one thing a day for a week that you can say No to so that you can have the time to find your bigger Yes.

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Your Role As The C.E.O. Of I Incorporated

Posted by on August 24, 2016

Many of us have some type of leadership responsibility at work. We are involved in setting goals, identifying priorities, problem solving and even casting vision. Over the years we develop a skill set that enables us to do all of these things and more.

There is a lot of culture shift taking place in the corporate world from the old days of working with one company your entire career to now almost viewing yourself as a free agent always looking for the best situation.

There are many good aspects to this new reality and some that are not. This shift in expectations should never excuse us from coming to work every day and performing with excellence regardless of how long we stay in one place.

The important truth for all of us to realize is that we are The Leader and The C.E.O. of our own life. We have a responsibility to lead ourselves before we can effectively add value to other people.

We need to take this same skill set that has served us well at work and start applying the same disciplines at home.

What are the priorities and goals that you have for your life that are based on your core values?

Are they written down and do you evaluate your progress just like you would on any project at work?

Do you have a vision for where you want your personal life to be in one, two, and even five years down the road?

Someone has well said, you will be the same person five years from now that you are today except for two things, the books you read and the people you know. That is great advice for any new C.E.O. including you.

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How To Maintain The Right Perspective

Posted by on August 19, 2016

Ultimately everything we do outwardly is driven by all of our inner attitudes about what is important and what is not. If our actions are not what they should be we must first change what we believe to be true before we can see bad habits broken and new good ones take their place.

I think the most important attitude you must draw from everyday is gratitude. The media is almost totally focused on all that we are losing in this election cycle. The pain is real and there are significant problems that must be solved. However, almost all of us still have plenty to eat, a nice place to sleep and friends and family that care about us. Think about what is really important today and be grateful.

The second important thing to me is hope. As we deal with the reality of lost jobs and endless bad news we must have a picture of a better day ahead. Hope fuels a positive attitude about life when the majority of people are negative. We may not be able to change the global economy or Wall Street but we can change ourselves.

Finally, we must be people who are committed. Your passion about life is what will move you beyond the pain of the present. The promises we make and keep to ourselves and the people we care about the most is the sum total of who you really are as a person. If what you say you believe is not moving you to act everyday, then you really did not believe it after all.

Remember the old saying, what you do speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you say.

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The Power Of A Personal Vision For Your Life

Posted by on August 17, 2016

My home town for all practical purposes is Tuscumbia, Alabama. Our number one and only claim to fame is we are the birthplace of Helen Keller. On CNN web site there was a story about researchers who had uncovered this rare photograph of a young Helen Keller with her teacher Anne Sullivan, nearly 120 years after it was taken on Cape Cod.

Helen was born blind and had to overcome many difficult obstacles in her life. In spite of all the hardship she lived a very meaningful and rewarding life that impacted a lot of other people in a very positive way.

Helen was once asked, can you think of anything worse than being born blind? Her immediate answer was, to have sight and yet lack vision for your life. The overwhelming majority of people you know have physical sight but do they clearly see all the things that are really important in life.

What vision do you have for your life? Please tell me it is more than going to work, coming home and watching T.V. and then going to bed. There are so many important things to be done and hurting people that need to be touched.

Can you see them?

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Moving Beyond Paycheck

Posted by on August 12, 2016

As Christians we are to do everything as unto the Lord and not unto men. That means we have far more than a job we have a calling.

We tend to live segmented lives with separate time and devotion given to work, family, faith, friends and entertainment. What comes with this mentality is the faith part of our lives tends to be limited to what we do on Sunday and it has very little practical impact on how we live the other six days of the week.

For some of us it goes way beyond that. Our careers become the major source of emotional fulfillment in our lives and we become seduced by all the power, position and possessions that come with worldly success.

In my opinion every Christian should see themselves living in full time ministry on mission for God. Their career then becomes their platform for impacting other people and not merely project deadlines and performance reviews.

When your whole life is integrated around your faith everything you do and every relationship you have takes on eternal significance. The person you are now working for is not your boss but the One who died for you so that you might live for Him.

Changing the world one person at a time is a career worthy of God’s grace in our lives and it is way beyond any paycheck that any company can give.

How do you keep your work from just being a job?

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Work Life Integration Not Balance

Posted by on August 10, 2016

All of us feel like we have too many things to do and not enough time to do them. We have priorities in many different areas: our career, family, relationships, entertainment, faith and own personal life. We also fulfill many roles as employees, fathers, husbands, wives, mothers, and friends just to name a few.

Somehow we have developed this concept that true happiness and success comes when all of these areas and roles are in perfect balance. It is as if they all are to have equal percentages of our time, energy and passion.

Realistically we all know that is an impossible goal to accomplish. Our career alone demands a ever growing disproportionate amount of our time and if you have a newborn child in your house all bets are off including time to sleep.

To me an integrated life means that all of these areas as well as our different roles will constantly be changing in the amount of resources they demand. The critical factor is not to let anything that is important in your life be totally neglected to the point that you are now failing in that area because all of the other things have drained you to the point you have nothing left to give.

When you reach that point and we all do from time to time we must reprioritize our lives so that everything important gets its slot on our calendars. This will mean that something else will have to get less or be eliminated all together.

Believe it or not sometimes we need to not go to the new latest and greatest parenting conference and just stay at home and play with our children. Life can be crazy and its demands will change with each new day.

When you have the character and courage to assume the responsibility of leading your total life you will make sure that nothing major falls through the cracks. Enjoy your day!!

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Why Do We Fight For What We Don't Want

Posted by on July 6, 2016

This post by Celinne Da Costa is challenging to read and even more dangerous to live. She is pushing back against living your life by the script that the American Dream culture has handed you. If indeed we are going to have to fight for something, then why can’t it be something that we care passionately about doing.

“As I sat on the edge of Horseshoe Canyon, overlooking the majestic landscape of Page, Arizona, it hit me: “I don’t have to do this.” “This” was my life in New York City, which was an endless grind of work to make money, look good doing it, go to a social event every night, and work some more. For years, I felt like I was fighting an emotional uphill battle working for a company I didn’t believe in, in a role I didn’t terribly care for, for money I didn’t need to spend. I worked hard for that life, but my heart was not in it.”