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Category Archive: Personal Leadership

Don't Light Your Own Fire

Posted by on September 23, 2016

We all understand that light is used in the Bible as a picture of truth, wisdom and understanding. It is important to daily walk in the light and not in the darkness which represents confusion, deception and lies.

Many times in our life we find ourselves in a position of asking God for specific light or guidance in a major life decision. We sincerely want His will and we completely trust His plans for our life. The hard part is when the light does not come and we find ourselves sitting in the darkness of not knowing what to do.

The great danger in waiting on God is that many times we will try to light our own fire because we so desperately want to move forward. We can justify this because the path we have chosen to walk is a good one and surely this is something God will bless. When we do this the scripture says that eventually all our manmade fires will go out and we will be in a far darker place than where we began.

The darkness that comes from lighting our own fire is the result of not being patient and trusting God’s perfect timing. The end result is feeling alone with fear and doubt as your constant companions.

The darkness that comes from waiting on God is the result of His wanting to reveal things to you about yourself that can only be found in a dark place. Even though the future may not be clear the present is because you are finally aware that He was with you in the darkness all along.

Waiting with Him is always better than walking ahead without Him.

Categories: Personal Leadership Spiritual Growth | Comments Off on Don't Light Your Own Fire

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.

Categories: Personal Leadership Work Life Integration | Comments Off on The Incredible Power Of Living In The Moment

5 Ways Effective Leaders Manage Their Emotions

Posted by on September 19, 2016

I try to assess situations based on facts not feelings. However, there is not a week that goes by that emotions don’t win and the negative results sometimes can be devastating. It hurts the team and it clearly causes me to loose trust as a leader. This post by Fast Company is well worth the read:

“Soft skills have garnered increasing attention in the workplace over the last 20 years. In fact, emotional intelligence is one of the fastest growing job skills, according to a report by the World Economic Forum.

Ironically, those are the very skills hiring managers say the latest crop of college graduates lacks as they’ve focused on honing their technological prowess. Yet managing our emotions effectively in the workplace is a major component of success for all of us.”

How To Decide Every Day What’s Next?

Posted by on September 16, 2016

This phrase became the mantra on the award winning series The West Wing. After every serious issue that had to be dealt with no matter how long the conversation or difficult the task the president would always ask what’s next?

That is a very good question that all of us have to answer each and every day regardless of whether we realize it or not. Inherent within the question is the intention to find the most important things on our must do list and place them at the top.

Most of us allocate a considerable amount of time to plan our weeks and certainly each individual day with pre-determined goals and priorities. However, in today’s wired culture we are constantly receiving new information throughout the day that must be processed.

David Allen is recognized as one of the nation’s leading experts on time management and personal productivity. In his book Getting Things Done he list four key criteria about processing new information that help him to answer the what’s next question:

Context—A few actions can be done anywhere but most require a specific location or having some productivity tool at hand, such as a phone or a computer. These are the first factors that limit your choices about what you can do in the moment.
Time available—When do you have to do something else? Having a meeting in five minutes would prevent doing many actions that require more time.
Energy available—How much energy do you have? Some actions you have to do require a reservoir of fresh, creative mental energy while others need more physical horsepower.
Priority—Given your context, time, and energy available, what actions will give you the highest payoff? This is where you need to access your intuition and begin to rely on your judgment call in the moment.

Categories: Leadership Development Pastoral Leadership Personal Leadership Productivity | Comments Off on How To Decide Every Day What’s Next?

How To Know When To Quit Or Keep Trying

Posted by on September 9, 2016

A good friend of mine exposed me to the writings of Seth Godin. He is an expert on new marketing and the use of the internet with one of the most read blogs on the web.

The Dip is a book about knowing when to quit and on the other hand when to stick it out. Every new project, job, relationship and hobby start out exciting and fun but at some point the newness wears off and the reality of how hard it really is sinks in.

A Dip is a temporary setback that you can overcome if you stick it out and do not quit. The other extreme is a cul-de-sac which is a situation that you should quit as soon as you know this is not what you need to be doing.

How do you know the difference? Great question. The key to me involves passion and excellence.

If you are not passionate about what you are doing then that is a clear sign that you are probably in a cul-de-sac. To be able to break through all the problems we all face everyday requires a burning desire to do something you know that really makes a difference.

The other criteria require a total transparent honesty with self. You must evaluate if the product you are offering to the market is the quality that would make people want to participate in what you are doing.

If it is, then you have every reason to hope that over time other people will hear about what you are doing and will buy in and even tell their network about your services. The book is all about knowing when to quit the wrong stuff and stick it out with the right.

Categories: Leadership Development Personal Leadership | Comments Off on How To Know When To Quit Or Keep Trying

Don't Waste A Personal Crisis

Posted by on September 7, 2016

In all of our lives we encounter major events that cause us to stop the routine and reevaluate where we are and more importantly where we want to be. We are all living through one of the most dramatic change points in our lifetime with this election cycle and all the current global unrest.

These sometimes crisis and many times normal episodes in our lives are significant enough to change us. It can be something as positive as getting married or having our first child. It can be something as negative as divorce or losing a job or poor health.

Life is full of change points and many times we do not get to choose the ones we experience but we always get to choose our reaction to them. Many people are left bitter because of their personal tragedy, while others seem to have a different perspective on life.

In times like these it is very important to remember what we have left not what we have lost. Tom Hanks was right the sun will come up and we never know what the tide might bring in. So we receive every day as a gift and live it with heart full of gratitude.

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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.

Categories: Margin Personal Leadership Work Life Integration | Comments Off on Just Don't Do It

Why Is Rinsing Your Cottage Cheese Important

Posted by on August 26, 2016

There were many profound conclusions reached by Jim Collins research team that were documented in his bestselling book Good to Great. The principle of rinsing your cottage cheese received a small amount of space in the book but may be one of the key principles that separate those organizations who merely survive in this economy and those who thrive.

This analogy comes from a disciplined world-class athlete named Dave Scott, who won the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon six times. Even though he had a training schedule that would burn at least 5,000 calories per day he would still rinse his cottage cheese to get the extra fat off.

From a business planning model this represents the last 10 percent of work that most people are not willing to do or even know exists to make their project or program the best it possibly could be. Most people are willing to settle for 75-90% effort and feel that should really represent the best they can produce.

Sometimes the last 10% represents seemingly little things like a spot on the carpet or windows that have not been cleaned. However, that can be the very thing that a customer will notice and come to the conclusion that if you do not care about those areas what else are you not doing to be your best that they cannot see.

Collins writes, “Everyone would like to be the best, but most organizations lack the discipline to figure out with egoless clarity what they can be the best at and the will to do whatever it takes to turn that potential into reality.” Bottom line they lack the character and the discipline to rinse their cottage cheese.

Categories: Core Values Personal Leadership | Comments Off on Why Is Rinsing Your Cottage Cheese Important

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.

Categories: Personal Leadership Work Life Integration | Comments Off on Your Role As The C.E.O. Of I Incorporated

7 Benefits Of Spending Intentional Time Alone

Posted by on August 22, 2016

The big important idea of today is that connecting with other people is vital in every area of our lives. We connect through social media with our friends in an almost never ending 24 hour cycle. Then we connect at work through highly collaborative teams that prioritize relationships. What is lost in all of this is the value of solitude. Travis Bradberry writes for Forbes:

We live in a world of constant contact—a place that’s losing sight of the importance of being alone. Offices are abandoning cubicles in favor of shared desks and wide-open common spaces, and rather than sitting at their desks working independently, school children are placed in groups. It seems that a never-ending “ping” has become our culture’s omnipresent background noise, instantly informing us of every text, tweet, and notification.