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Category Archive: Margin

We Become What We Watch

Posted by on October 14, 2019

It is an already admitted reality that we have too many inputs on any given day to process. When we add to the chaos, by adding information that is stealing our margin, we become the problem. We must guard what we allow into our minds, if we hope to have the perspective we need to lead ourselves well. This post by Abigail Dodds was excellent:

Perhaps one of the more obvious discoveries of my life is that the majority of the thinking that I do is passive, not active. When I read my Bible each day, I am often actively holding up specific beliefs against the light of God’s word to see if I believe anything wrongly. Simultaneously, through the mere act of reading well, a hundred other truths are making themselves at home in my mind, even if I’m not wrestling with any one of them in the moment.

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5 Keys To Reducing Stress And Anxiety In Leadership

Posted by on January 28, 2019

Margin is the gap between demand and capacity. Today with all the multiple inputs with most of the media and culture being overwhelming negative, it’s no wonder we are all stressed beyond measure. The church is no safe place from this toxicity and in many ways is even harder to lead. This is a must read for pastors:

When someone asks you how you’re doing, how do you answer? Most of the leaders I talk to these days answer with two variations: “stressed” or “busy.”

Dig a little deeper and you it’s easy to see that at a deep level, most leaders today feel anxious and overwhelmed. Welcome to life in the 21s century.

There are a million reasons why:

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Busyness Is Our Worst Addiction

Posted by on December 6, 2018

Every day we all ask ourselves How am I doing? Where you go to answer that question is critically important. We all need security and significance but if you have replaced real accomplishments in your life with just more activity, especially at work, then you are headed for a bad place. This Forbes post is worth the read:

“When you think of addiction, you probably think of drugs and alcohol. However, you can be addicted to anything. Addiction is being compulsively or physiologically dependent on something habit-forming. Do you know what most of us are addicted to? Being busy. Busy is habit-forming. People pride themselves on being busy, but busyness is an addiction that needs to be cured.”

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The Power Of Gratitude

Posted by on November 20, 2018

This is one of my favorite times of the year when we stop the crazy cycle just long enough to focus on all the things we are thankful for in life. I have found the ability to do this at the beginning of every day is the secret to maintaining my passion and drive in all that I do. Enjoy this post by Tami Forman and Happy Thanksgiving:

“November is the month when we focus on gratitude. For many of us that usually means family and friends. But, as I wrote last year, you can also be grateful for your work.

This month I’d like to talk about the power of gratitude at work. Expressing gratitude to your supervisors, colleagues, and clients can be a powerful tool for advancing your career. And it works at work for the same reason it works at home — it makes you behave in ways those around you will respond positively to.”

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How To Stay Positive In Dark Times

Posted by on October 1, 2018

I am no stranger to social disruption because I grew up during the 1960’s, one of the most painful decades in the life of our country. However, I will have to admit that the sheer volume and bitter rancor that we saw last week was in many ways even more stressful. When I get to this point of feeling overwhelmed with negative inputs, I have to go back to the basics and thats exactly what this Forbes post does:

“We are living in tumultuous and divided times. It can be difficult to stay positive in spite of all of the depressing news around the world, the overt ignorance and prejudice that have been resurrected by the populism that has resurged in the west. It can feel like the world is regressing in real time after years of progress. The future looks pretty bleak, and that we are sacrificing longer term interests and goals for short term political benefits of the party in power, consequently creating a worse quality of life for future generations.

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7 Reasons To Own Less

Posted by on September 5, 2018

I encounter a lot of stress not only in my own life but especially with the executives I coach through my company. One of the self inflicted wounds in this overload world we live in is caused by the demands our stuff places on us just to maintain what we already have. I did not have the wisdom or courage to do anything about this on my own but with down sizing our home, I am now a true believer. This Forbes post is worth the read:

“Ten years ago, I decided to embrace minimalist living. I was spending too much of my life caring for possessions and I was wasting too much money managing and accumulating things I didn’t need. Those possessions were not bringing me joy or lasting happiness. They were keeping me from the very things that did.”

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5 Ways To Avoid Burnout At Work

Posted by on August 6, 2018

The constant stress that we all deal with everyday in many ways is caused because of the almost constant connectivity we have with data. Yes, a major part comes from work but also from the media and many social platforms we chose to engage with the rest of the day. The solution is a combination of emotional intelligence and leadership development. This Forbes post is helpful:

“Everything’s going great at work. You’re operating on all cylinders, moving quickly. You’re saying yes to everything, taking on all the projects, and it seems like nothing can stop you.

Until one day, it hits you like a ton of bricks. Exhaustion and stress prevail, and you’re completely fried. You are officially burned out.”

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Take A Break: Save Your Job, Marriage, Life

Posted by on July 27, 2018

I am doing some deep research in hopes of writing a book on work life integration. It is clearly a top of mind for all executive leaders and this post Rodger Dean Duncan had some great insights:

“It was Warren Buffett who said “the chains of habit are too light to be felt until they’re too heavy to be broken.” The sentiment perfectly describes the creep in both the amount of time people work and the locations where work is done. It’s an insidious pattern that fools people into believing that more hours worked automatically translates into more productivity.

Aaron Edelheit refuses to buy that myth. In The Hard Break: The Case for the 24/6 Lifestyle he makes a strong case for taking a weekly hard break or Sabbath. He’s not talking about just lounging all day. He advocates “doing something different that will allow you to test your brain and to potentially achieve some higher insight or understanding.”

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Seven Daily Rituals That Will Help Leaders Dominate Their Day

Posted by on June 18, 2018

The ability to consistently accomplish great things is not found in complex project management but in the daily routines that prepare you for every day. When I find myself loosing margin, I always return to the short but very powerful list of my daily priorities. Consistently accomplishing this short list helps me be able to deal effectively with all of the major challenges. This Forbes Coaches Council was great:

“My to-do list is always too long to accomplish in one day. The key to being effective is rating each item A, B or C. The A’s are the priority: Everything that will make a sizable difference in my business or life.”

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Signs You Are On The Verge Of Burnout

Posted by on June 15, 2018

The two high profile suicides this past week should cause us all to take an honest look at our emotional margin. We blow off all the seemingly temporary cycles of discouragement and frustration. What we miss is the chronic pattern of negative behavior that are clearly warning signs of a much deeper problem. This Forbes post was timely:

“However, just because society tends to look at burnout as going hand-in-hand with working hard doesn’t mean that it must become your reality. If you find yourself heading down the road to burnout or you believe the warning signs are creeping in, now is the time to stop and act.”

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