It is that time again! I am so excited about my Quarterly Offsite coming up in a couple weeks. I have already started preparing for it. In addition to these tips mentioned previously, here are some others: 1) Evernote – Use Evernote to keep all your ideas in one place. I have new ideas regularly, and I put them in Evernote so I can come back to them on my offsite. 2) Create, Learn and Serve – This is kind of a mantra for me. It also helps me get organized for the next 90 days. What do I want to create? What do I want to learn? Who do…
-
-
Active Gratefulness
An acquaintance and I were talking about our Thanksgivings yesterday. The conversation went deep quickly. He talked about having multiple families at his house for the holidays. Around the Thanksgiving table, they began to talk about what they were thankful for. My friend encouraged the table to move beyond “passive gratefulness,” the obvious things we are thankful for (a beautiful sky, a nice day), to push into “active gratefulness,” where you have to work a little harder. He explained to me that “active gratefulness” includes seeing the good even in bad times. It requires work on our part to see these things. We talked about how it is interesting that two people can have…
-
Grateful Productivity
Can you believe people have their Christmas trees up already? There should be a fine for that or something. Thanksgiving people! Don’t skip Thanksgiving. Our pastor mentioned this week how Thanksgiving doesn’t fit well in our American holiday schedule. Specifically, he said there isn’t a market for it. Christmas is huge and Halloween is growing to become pretty big itself. (He sat on Halloween for a minute, and made some hilarious sarcastic points, but we’ll move on.) Thanksgiving is the third wheel, though, isn’t it? Thanksgiving is a holiday about being thankful for what you have, not buying more and more. You can’t sell being grateful. Or can you? I’d…
-
Use Your Words
Person A: “Umm, I’m not sure he understands.” Person B: “Oh, he doesn’t understand.” Person A: “What?! How do you know?” Person B: “Have you told him what you are thinking?” Person A: “Well, no, but…” Person B: “Then he doesn’t understand.” Remember, no one can read your mind. If you do not open your mouth and communicate, then people do not know what you are thinking, how you are feeling, what your expectations are, or what you want or need. This is true with your spouse. This is true with your friends. This is true with your co-workers. This is true at church. This is true at home. This…
-
10 Quotes by Jim Rohn
1. “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” A few weeks ago, I was speaking to some college students about choosing their first job. One of my main points was that who you are around influences you. So be intentional about who you work with, specifically where you choose to go work. While looking for the quote above, I found this post by Success. So I have added some other awesome quotes by Mr. Rohn. Enjoy and apply. 2. “The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be thoughtful, but…
-
Try Google Voice
Recently I signed up for Google Voice. Without changing my cell phone plan or getting a home phone, I now have an alternative phone number to give to people. I can use it from an app on my phone or from my computer. With Google Voice you have option of choosing which of your phones (cell, home or work) will ring when someone calls your Google Voice number. You also have ability to turn it off, which is nice after work hours. Voicemail is also provided and it will transcribe your voicemails so you can read them if for some reason you are not able to listen to them. Texting…
-
Halloween
Halloween is not a special day for us and our kids. I don’t know if it is because they grew up in New Orleans or because they are kids. Halloween is just another opportunity to dress up, like any other day. Other people happen to be joining in the fun though. Some of my readers probably have some pretty negative feelings about Halloween and possibly even Santa Clause and Christmas. That’s fine. I’m not interested in changing your stance. I would say this, “Inspire creativity in your children.” However you want to do that, is fine with me. As a parent of young children, I believe I really have no…
-
You Can’t Do It All
“The greatest thing you do may not be something you do, but someone you raise.” ~ Andy Stanley As a parent, this quote stands out to me from Catalyst 2015. We are so busy trying to save the world. We want to be successful professionally. We try and be perfect at everything we do. We want to provide everything for our children. Sometimes we even neglect our kids in an attempt to “provide for them.” Don’t make this mistake. Soak in the time you have with your children. Most of the things you are stressed about this week or people you are working with right now, will not be part…
-
Where You Work Matters: Choosing the Best Working Platform for You
If you are going to do work that matters, you need to consider the environment you are working in. You must consider the platform from which you are going to do your work. I have thought of 3 platforms or environments for you to consider. None are better than the other and all can be amazing or toxic depending on other factors, which I won’t be covering in this post. Here they are: 1) Small Business Owner – As a small business owner, you have the opportunity to impact a community. Both with your clients and your employees, you are painting the canvas of individual lives in a special way.…
-
Community is Awkward
Today I’d like to start a conversation on “community.” I say “start” because I know this is a tough subject and no one is going to be changing their stance or current circumstances after one blog post. Recently I was participating in a particular event with church people. We were being asked to do some touchy-feely stuff, the kind of group activity that makes many stay away from church people. Just saying. I don’t really remember the point of the exercise (I know, I’m a bad Christian), but towards the end we found ourselves locking arms with the people next to us. Lucky for me, on one side was my wife and…