Life Is Not Calm

The world we live in is chaotic. There is a lot going on. The same is true for our lives and our businesses. We face challenges. We have hurdles. Rough patches happen. Nothing worth accomplishing is easy. Good things are likely to be difficult and messy, but that is life. Smooth sailing is a myth.

Remember…nobody's success story sounded calm while they were creating it.

Readiness

 

I have said before that if you wait until you are 100% ready you will never start anything. Total readiness is not something we generally feel. There is always a small amount of doubt, a bit of worry, a slight uncertainty. We must get over these thoughts and take that last step to accomplish anything. A friend recently put it rather clearly like this…

“You’ll never feel ready, because ready is not a feeling. It is a decision.”

Intensity Is Common, Consistency Is Rare

Think about it. There are a lot of people who are temporarily, or occasionally, very intense. But, intensity without consistency does not get the job done. Consistency is easiest accomplished when one is focused. It is easier to be consistent when we are focused, not scattered. Without a focus, everything becomes a distraction. Focus is closely related to consistency. 

Focused people eliminate options, not accumulate them. Warren Buffett exemplifies this, he’s made a fortune by carefully selecting a few investments and sticking with them for decades, ignoring thousands of other opportunities.

Strive to be consistent…

The Pace of Life

 

Life moves at an incredible pace these days. News is available immediately. Social media is instantaneous. The controls for our lives sit at our fingertips. This is not all bad, but it is not all good either. Connectivity has its benefits, but it can also overwhelm us. Sometimes we need to slow down, tap the brakes. The only way to accomplish that is to disconnect and unplug. It is not easy.

 

I read a lot of fiction, in addition to the business books recommended by my business coach, which I carefully read word for word. Recently, while reading a work of fiction, I came across an interesting line. It was a comment made by a CIA agent in the story.

 

-          Things only slow down if you apply your own brakes and take control of the precious short time allotted to you in life.

 

It is up to you. Think about it.

 

Twenty Minute Magic

 

I think it is interesting what the use of Outlook calendars and others has done to our scheduling habits. Everything we schedule falls into 30 minute or one-hour increments. I mean Outlook defaults to that, and we just tend to fill in the blocks. We all know that calls and meetings do not always need to take up to 30 minutes or an hour (Note to my assistant), but our calendars are full of nicely blocked meetings. Not surprisingly, mine are color-coded.

Do you know why the maximum time limit for a Ted Talk is 17 minutes? There has been a lot of study regarding attention spans and the length of time we can focus. Several articles and podcasts have recently addressed the power of a twenty-minute meeting, including an “At The Table” podcast. There is power in knowing that you only have 20 minutes to accomplish something; You have to act fast. There is also the popular concept of a huddle or a stand-up meeting. The idea is to conduct a quick exchange of information, update and move on with the day.

There are nice, neat, blocks in Outlook. That does not mean that we need to use the full 30 minutes or hour. Have the courage to schedule meetings, or end meetings, sooner. No need for a meeting to take a full hour only because it was scheduled to do so.

Explore twenty minute magic…

Complain or…

 

For some reason we seem to have come to a place where complaining is accepted.  All too often we play the victim, blame others, point fingers and gripe. The fact that we complain implies that we think the circumstances are someone else’s fault and out of our control. That may be the case. However, the complaint itself is unlikely to change anything.  There are alternatives to complaining.

 

Next time you feel the need to complain, consider the impact of that.  What will be accomplished by complaining?  More importantly consider your options.  Might it be best to just remove yourself from the matter?  Are there ways you can take the initiative to change and improve the circumstances?  Maybe it is a battle not worth fighting and an act of quiet acceptance is in order.  Be productive or be quiet!

 

“When you complain you make yourself a victim.  Either leave the situation, change the situation or accept it.”

- Eckhart Tolle

Risk

 

I do not consider myself to be much of a risk taker.  Unfortunately, not too many things in life can be accomplished without risk.  A risk-free life might feel safe and comfortable, but it may also feel empty and lacking purpose or direction.  I can’t think of anybody that I consider successful who has not taken risks.  In fact, most have failed multiple times on their path to success.  Risk taking is even more important to leaders.  Oftentimes, leaders must take the risks that other are not willing to take. They take the risk for the team. Consider this quote…

 

"Leaders take risks. That's not to say that they are reckless, because good leaders aren't. But they don't always take the safest route. Rarely can a person break ground and play it safe at the same time."

    -John C. Maxwell - The Right to Lead

’22 and You

 

Happy New Year! Welcome to the first Monday of 2022. Are you excited for the new year? I like this time of the year, not necessarily for making resolutions, but for refocusing. It is a great time to assess where you are professionally and personally and, to set new goals accordingly (call them resolutions if you like).

What will you change, accomplish or improve in 2022? Nothing changes if nothing changes, and it all starts with a plan. Start by choosing one or two things, not thirteen or thirty. Make them realistic, reasonable and significant. Focus on them and plan on how to accomplish them. Everyone sets goals and plans differently, but those with no plan at all never seem to change or accomplish anything.

What will you do for you in 2022?

Intentionally

Do you live intentionally?  Do you act with intention?  Do you plan your day with intentionality?  Often, I find myself just allowing the day to come to me.  My business discussions may have a hopeful direction, but maybe not an intended goal.  Conversations with family are not always the teaching moments they should be or result in firm decisions.  I know people who are very intentional about what they do.  Those that are good at being intentional are thoughtful and purposeful about every action they take and every decision they make.  Intentionality is powerful.  It increases our influence as leaders.  It leads to greater productivity.  It can lead to a healthy lifestyle and better personal habits.  Be intentional.  Influence what happens to you and around you.

 What are you intentionally going to accomplish this week?

Choose your Me…

Have you seen the Zillow commercial with the woman looking to buy a home talking to the multiple versions of herself?  It ran frequently during the Olympics. The ad is named “Susan’s” and you can see the company name in the background, Susan & Susan. What a great depiction of the voices we all have in our heads.  Susan has her negative me and her stressed me.  She also has a helpful me and a spontaneous me, along with gullible, anti-social, paranoid and stressed versions of herself?

Most of the versions of Susan depicted in the ad are negative characteristics.  That is so realistic! The negative voices in my head always outnumber the positive ones.  Why is that? In the commercial, all the versions of the Susan’s are seated at a large conference table.  Why do we let negative me and lazy me even have seats at the table? Unfortunately, it is hard not to.  We seem to gravitate to the negative version of ourselves.  Our goal should be to fill the table with all the positive me’s!  There are plenty to choose from, positive me, confident me, talented me, respected me, and accomplished me.  To name a few. That is who we need to listen to.  Those are the versions of you that you want at your table.

Don’t invite negative me to your table!

Risk

I do not consider myself to be much of a risk taker.  Maybe that is not totally true since I am a small business owner.  Unfortunately, not much in life can be accomplished without risk.  A risk-free life might feel safe and comfortable, but it may also feel empty and lacking purpose or direction.  I cannot think of anybody that I consider successful who has not taken risks.  In fact, most have failed multiple times on their path to success.  Risk taking is even more important to leaders.  As leaders, we must often take the risks that others are not willing to take.  We take the risk for the team.  Consider these quotes…

"Progress involves risk. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first."

            - Frederick Wilcox   

"Leaders take risks. That's not to say that they are reckless, because good leaders aren't. But they don't always take the safest route. Rarely can a person break ground and play it safe at the same time."

            - John C. Maxwell - The Right to Lead

Action!

Action is the difference between an idea and results.  No idea, thought, concept or plan goes anywhere without action.  Lots of people have great ideas; few people take the required action steps to turn ideas into results.  You know how the director of a film or TV show calls out “Action” as the filming begins?  That is the step that takes a script from something on paper to a finished product, a result that we can see.  Good ideas constantly cross our minds and enter our thoughts.  We think of ways to improve things at work, how to change things with our kids, how we might make a difference in the lives of people around us.  As ideas alone they accomplish nothing.  As ideas combined with action, they create results.  The greatest of ideas goes nowhere until an action step is taken.  Make an idea turn into results.  Take action today!

Don't procrastinate in the name of perfection.

Do you ever put off doing something because you want to make sure you do it just right?  You know you must do it.  You know it is the right thing to do, but you put it off because you don't think you are ready to do it exactly the right way.  I have a problem with this.  I am a little anal and I want to see things done pretty much perfect.  As a result, I procrastinate.  I put things off until I think I can do them just right.  The problem is, I never get around to doing some of these things because I don't have time to do them perfectly.

Often, it is better to go with something less than perfect than to never go with it at all.  It is better to get something accomplished less than perfectly than to never get anything accomplished at all.  Sometimes, you simply must start something in order to get it done instead of putting it off until you think you have enough time to do it perfectly. 

“Don't be so concerned about wrapping the gift that you never give it.” 

You miss every shot you do not take.

It is an interesting thought and really quite simple.  If you do not take a shot, you will not score.  You must make an attempt in order to give yourself a shot at winning.  Said differently, we cannot be afraid to try.  We shouldn’t be so conservative that we never give ourselves a real chance to accomplish something.  Oftentimes, I fall prey to this myself and tend to be somewhat cautious and conservative.  In order to grow, I need to learn to take more shots.  I am not just referring to the big decisions in life such as spouses and careers.  This certainly applies to those decisions, but this analogy also applies to little things throughout the day.  Maybe you need to take a shot at meeting someone new, at changing something at work, at becoming more involved in your community.

Take a shot.  Give yourself a chance to score in the game of life!

Work like you are going on vacation tomorrow…

Do you know what I mean?  Seriously, don’t you feel like you get really productive before you leave for vacation?  I try to keep my desk at the office pretty neat, but it is never as neat and clean as it is before I leave town.  Somehow before leaving town I always find a way to get a lot of work done; I become more productive.  Some people that work for me might tell you that I just delegate better before I leave town, maybe so but… 

I really do tend to get more focused and accomplish more right before I know I am going to be away.  Why can’t we work like that all the time?  Why can’t we always run our lives the way we do the week before we leave the office, making decisions, cleaning off the desk, returning calls, getting stuff done? 

By the way, I am currently on vacation.  Yes, I got a lot done before I left town!

IRONMAN

Ironman Texas was this past weekend in The Woodlands.  It is one of my favorite weekends of the year!  There are so many moving and powerful aspects to the weekend that I always come away motivated and fulfilled.  My two takeaways from this weekend are…

Inspirational - What these athletes accomplish in an Ironman is a special feat unto itself.  Many of them have special circumstances, unique stories and difficult places from which they have come.  In every single case, it is absolutely inspirational.  Seeing what people overcame, endure and push themselves to accomplish was amazing!  I knew a few first timers and several returning athletes this year.  Each had their own story and reason for this pursuit.  They have now accomplished something few others ever will.  I am just proud to know them and be inspired by them.

Volunteerism – Each year we are in charge of an aid station on the run.  It takes 120+ people and over 15 hours of hard work to put on what we like to think of as an event for the athletes.  We do it for them and we do it for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  It is so fulfilling!  The athletes are so appreciative.  We know that what we do for them can make the difference in when, and maybe if, they finished.  But what they did for us was just as important!

We were blessed to be part of such an incredible event and to support such impressive athletes!

Emphasizing the Negative?

As a society it seems like we tend to focus on the negative and not the positive.  We seek and point out flaws and failures way more actively than we do accomplishments and successes.  I know that I am guilty of this.  It is something that I have recently made a decision to try and change.  A conscious effort is required to be positive and look for the good things in life all the time.  Some people are better at it than others.  But for some reason the world around us seems to make it harder.  The media is certainly no help.  So much of the news is driven by negativity, failure, fraud and corruption.  Even the weatherman is working against us.  Why is it that a 70% chance of sunshine is communicated as a 30% chance of rain?  We might find ourselves a little more pleasant to be around if we sought out the positive more often than the negative.   

Be positive.  Be blessed…

Power of the Mind

The power of the human mind is incredible.  It is truly amazing what we can accomplish with brain power.  Too many times however, it works against us.  We let our minds create the narrative.  We listen to the stories created by our own thoughts.  We can actually fabricate stories that become reality.  Even worse, we allow self-doubt and negative thoughts to creep in and occupy too much real estate in our heads. 

Our challenge is to use the power of our thoughts for good.  The phrase “Mind over matter”, was created for a reason, just ask any endurance athlete.  Wise is the man who channels his thinking for good.  Strong is the person who creates positive self-images in their mind.  Successful is the individual who harnesses brain power to overcome obstacles.  God granted us a very powerful tool.  We just have to have to learn how to use it in a positive way.

The Charles Schulz Philosophy

A Quiz…

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.

3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant.

4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.

5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.

6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?  The point is that none of us remember the headliners of yesterday.

They are/were the best in their fields. But the applause dies, their place in the world changes.  Awards tarnish, achievements are forgotten, accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one…

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.

2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.

3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.

4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special!!

5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

This one was much easier, right?  The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, the most accomplishments or awards.  They simply are the ones who care the most.  Surely your life has been touched by such caring people.  Be sure to touch the lives of others in the same way yourself.

A great life reminder from the creator of Peanuts!

Leaders

There are leaders and there are those who lead.  Leaders generally have titles, positions of authority or a formal role of leadership, but influence is not guaranteed simple due to a title or position.  Those who lead are different, they inspire us.  They are influencers. Those who lead strike a unique cord with people that encourages followers.  We follow them because we want to, not because we have to.  We follow them because of how they make us feel about where we are going and what we are accomplishing.  Those who lead motivate and encourage us.  Certainly, leaders with titles and positions can be those who lead, but it is not because of the title.  What kind of a leader are you?