We all like to brag about how busy we are. We wear our busyness like a badge of honor. Being busy shouldn’t be our goal. We should strive to be productive. In fact, if you can be productive and not be busy, that would be ideal. On Beyond The To-Do List, an awesome productivity podcast, Erik Fisher interviewed Tony DiLorenzo from OneExtraordinaryMarriage.com, the #1 Marriage Podcast in “Kids and Family.” At one point in the interview, DiLorenzo talks about busyness and how proud we are to say we are busy. He says, we need to “stop the glorification of busy!” This is difficult, isn’t it? We are rewarded relationally for being…
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Blogging Tip #1: Consistency
All the professional bloggers out there seem to agree on the first thing you must do to be a successful blogger: Be Consistent. I am not a professional blogger, nor am I consistent on my personal blog. Like you, I have excuses. I’m busy. I have people to meet with and things to do. I blog for my nonprofit, so my personal blog takes a backseat most of the time. (I’m working on it Michael Hyatt. I’m working on it.) The fact is, though, that in nonprofit work, as in most areas, relationships are everything. People don’t connect relationally with a business or organization. It is you, the individual, they want to…
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Catholic
I was just a baby when I first met Sister Austin. The story goes that my parents took me for a visit to St. Francis Convent where my grandmother worked as the switchboard operator. I was crying and all of the nuns were wanting to hold me. They would try, but I just wouldn’t stop crying. Then Sister Austin entered the room. I went to her and stopped crying immediately. A few years later I started flying to Illinois for a few weeks each summer to visit my extended family. I would fly by myself and stay with my grandparents. The thing was that my Grandpa Suter had two jobs. He…
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Loving What You Do
Do you ever run into someone that loves their job? They are so freaking inspiring. I love watching people do or talk about their passions, especially when they get to do it for a living. This month while I was traveling I got to visit my Aunt Mary Jane. She owns a salon outside of St. Louis. I had never visited the salon, so I wanted to check it out. I was not in need of a haircut but she talked me into working on my beard. Then she kept going and gave me a quick trim. (Don’t tell Christy in NOLA who normally cuts my hair, and does a…
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My Favorite Calendar App: Sunrise
For the past several weeks I have been using Sunrise Calendar on my iPhone/iPad and I love it! Here are some pics from the App Store with more info. You can also check them out on Twitter at @Sunrise.
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Say No
Do you, your business or nonprofit ever struggle with a growing number of opportunities, ideas or needs to serve? I don’t know about you, but I am constantly approached for meetings, new opportunities to help people/organizations, and products/services that will “help” me. It can be paralyzing. I will post on this again, but for now I want to leave you with a quick tip my friend Chris Paulk once shared with me. He gave me this advice when I was trying to decide between a current partnership and future opportunity. He simply encouraged me to say no, so I could say yes. He went on to tell me that when we…
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Texting Your Spouse While They Travel
This past week I was traveling and Michelle sent me some awesome texts. They really kept me going through my week and helped me not to miss the family so much. Here are a few she sent updating me on our son, CJ. Michelle: CJ’s new favorite word: “toiletries” Me: How is he using it? Michelle: Just saying it out loud and laughing. His whole class has been in trouble this week for potty words. He can’t help it. It’s all he thinks about right now. Michelle: So excited to show this to you! He’s pretty proud. Field day! (This one goes with the picture above.) Michelle: Your son…