The first to speak seems right, until someone comes forward and cross-examines. Proverbs 18:17 There is a principle taught by some business and financial coaches The principle goes something like this: Forsake any work activity you can pay someone else to do that costs less per hour than your wage. For example, if you make $50 an hour and pay someone $25 an hour to mow your lawn, you’re smart because you just netted $25—assuming you earned $50 during that hour. Using this logic, if you mowed the lawn yourself, you would lose $25. Furthermore, the coaching continues by encouraging the repetition of this principle anywhere and everywhere you can. In other words, do what you do best and pay others to do what they do, as long as it costs less than your earnings for the same effort. On the surface, it sounds aristocratic and smart. But is it?

Heads Down, Spirits Down You see it everywhere, at home, at work, at church, in athletics. Heads are down. Their spirit is down. They lack confidence. Quitting is their convenient friend. In almost every single situation, it’s because they believe what they are hearing. They are listening to the destructive voices from a noisy and negative world, and they are allowing those vibrations to echo deep inside the chambers of their being. To make matters worse, we tend to be hardest on ourselves. Instead of extending grace, we often reinforce those internal voices with our own criticism. A Day That Shook Everything March 9, 1987, was an earthquake of a day. I had made a big decision months prior. A gigantic decision. It was the first day of the rest of my life. I was distraught. My head was down. I was defeated. I made a big mistake. That’s how

Some say they have to go to work. Others say they get to go to work. Some meet a problem with fear and angst. While others meet a problem like David faced Goliath. How can two people facing the same situation find the good and respond so differently? Finding the good in your life is a daily commitment. Some of it is a predisposition, but most of it comes from the cultivation of gratitude and a sense of mission. Finding the good in your life is a daily commitment. It’s what achievers do. Achievers are training every day. Moreover, they are training their whole person – body and soul. Cultivating gratitude Cultivating gratitude or mining for Good is a daily habit that promotes health and generates positive and purposeful energy. However, if you don’t know the value of positivity, joy, direction, and energy, start mining for the good in life.

Focus on one goal at a time We’ve all heard, “Keep your eye on the prize”. I think that’s good because it causes me to examine my daily habits to see if they align with my goal. After all, many of us get into ruts of behavior with our heads down, rarely looking up to see where we are heading. Visualizing is not enough Visualizing where you want to go and creating a cadence of strategic steps to get there is fundamental to goal achievement. But it is not enough. Goal achievers know and practice 2 KEY DIFFERENCE MAKERS: They FOCUS on ONE Goal at a time. Rather than juggling five ambitions, they zero in on the one that matters most right now. They may have other goals in mind, but they don’t write them down or talk about them. Instead, they write down and talk about everything pertaining to

If you are not taking care of yourself, you’re not leading well. Effective leadership starts with leading your own personhood. Your first responsibility is to lead yourself, body and soul. If you do this well, it will overflow into the lives of those you love and lead. It will overflow into the places, seasons, situations, and opportunities of life. I walked past a good-looking young man the other day. He looked healthy from the inside out, displayed a beaming white smile, a skip in his step, and boasted well-crafted shoulders, chest, and arms. He carried in one hand what looked like a carefully blended health drink. He’s probably more than thirty years younger than I. Was I jealous? Maybe a little. His days of testing have not yet come. I don’t know the young man, so I cannot speak to his intellectual development or his spiritual condition. I cannot speak

To put it quite simply, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” — Dr. Seuss I learn new things every day, from podcasts, teachers, life, and books. I learn best from books because they deliver learning at a customized pace and place. Pace is the element of learning that can be adapted to meet your needs. It does not matter if you are a highly skilled reader with an amazing vocabulary or if you have reading challenges and need a dictionary to help you define some of the words you encounter. Either way, when you read, you feed your mind like exercise feeds your body. Place is that element of time and space where you can isolate yourself from all of the distractions and hurry of life. It provides cognitive therapy and new perspectives as well as

I’ve been fooled before. Talented people are not always performers. They sparkle and shine from time to time. That’s what grabs your attention like a trout to a lure. Then you get hooked, reeled in, and cooked for dinner. Low performers are sitting around waiting for direction This is going to sound harsh, yet its truth echoes throughout the marketplace like a giant drum beat. Low performers are sitting around waiting for direction, even though much of the work is staring them right in the face. They are talented but also lazy. Lazy people become soft and cry like victims or children who scrape their knees. They will blame you for a lack of direction. You don’t need that. You need high performers who help you advance the mission. High performers need little direction and affirmation from others. They are self-motivated learners and achievers with tons of tenacity. As they

Leaders expect their team to show up and do a great job. That’s normal. What leaders often forget to do is ask. When the leader is vague, the mission stalls. Leadership requires vulnerability and risk. When you ask, you must know where you want to go and brace yourself with the reality that some will choose to opt-out. Good leaders ask great questions. -John Maxwell Paycheck or no paycheck, team members need to be asked. The proposition requires a response. They must make a conscious and deliberate decision. This alone is progress. Successful leaders of non-profit organizations are well aware of the ASK principle. If they don’t ask, the mission fails. When they don’t ask donors to sacrifice for the cause, the funding will not come. If the leader does not ask for volunteers, the mission cannot advance. Leaders of nonprofits hear “no” much more than they hear “yes”. But it’s

Bad coaching There is a wave of bad coaching in our current culture promoting personal organization to the point of arrogance and isolation. Independence and autonomy has taken on a new and ugly face. It says I will respond to you when and if I want to. Mark these words: Responsiveness will make a comeback as a highly valued interpersonal quality and skill. Respect and Influence Personal organization, time management, prioritization, goal pursuit, whatever you want to call it should never be elevated above common courtesy, respect for others, and professionalism. Moreover, one without the other makes the leader ineffective. One who elevates self-importance above service will lose respect and influence. Responsiveness is a 360-degree discipline. Your circle of influence deserves your best. Your boss, team members, and direct reports. And don’t forget your friends and family! Your cadence of response tells people where they fit in your universe. It

Leadership roles I’m guessing I interview more than one hundred people every year for leadership roles around the country. If they make the short list of candidates, I talk to their references, and my favorite question to ask is, “If you had an opening right now, would you hire them? In other words, would you like to work with them again?” Then I listen very carefully to what is spoken and unspoken. I ask this question because of one of my core beliefs. I believe the best performers are difficult to find because they are being promoted or recruited by someone who already knows who they are and what they can do.  The effective leader Regardless of the so-called best practices many HR professionals preach, the real leader (the effective leader) typically hires people they know and trust. In other words, everyone is being interviewed for a new opportunity but

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like  a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Matthew 7:24 Leadership Starts Today. What you do today determines the leadership behaviors of tomorrow. What you think about and who you spend time with today form the foundation of your future leadership acts and decisions. Today Counts. I don’t think leadership is an instinct or a reaction by and of itself, nor believe it is necessarily a habit either. I do believe instinctive reactions and habits are the outcomes of thoughtful or thoughtless decisions we make in our past. Confidence. It’s not all you need, but you can’t get much done without it. How do you grow in confidence? By keeping the promises you make to yourself. If need be, make small promises and then keep them. What positive changes do you need to make?

To do two things at once is to do neither. – Publilius Syrus The Pursuit of Excellence As the swimmers came down the stretch for the last 25 meters, photographer David Ramos captured an iconic photo. In it, you see le Clos looking to his left, watching Phelps as he is pulling away. And Phelps? He’s staring directly at his target: the wall. (copied from The Pursuit of Excellence by Ryan Hawk, page 36) ONLY ONE GOAL What you may have forgotten about the story above is that Le Clos had beaten Phelps in the previous Olympics. Phelps admitted his preparation wasn’t his best for those games. Lesson learned. I have one goal every day, one goal every week, one goal every month, and one goal every year. I always have ONLY ONE GOAL. BUSY IS A BAD FOUR-LETTER WORD What do you often hear from others when you ask, “How

Strategies for change: Invest time in yourself and your business LOOK UP. My mission is to inspire you to work ON your life and ON your business. I know you work hard IN them, but you will do better if you invest time working ON them. Working ON is different from working IN. To do this, you must lift your head so-to-speak. When you are working hard, your head is down. Your vision is directed narrowly. You must pull away from your work. Not just to rest but to consciously exist at a higher level, a different dimension. PERSPECTIVE. For what purpose? To gain perspective and evaluate. Think about the soul you want to be while considering the habits you must acquire on a daily basis to become that person. Evaluate your business away from urgent demands, to see what you cannot see when you’re in the trees. Reserve time

“Blessed [Happy] are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Jesus of Nazareth Life is a gift This morning, I was updated on the condition of my grandnephew, Leif, a newborn lying in a Seattle hospital. The situation is more than desperate as he has been removed from the heart transplant list. He has an infection, a growth. His chest cavity is open, and his heart is connected to a machine. But his eyes and the squeeze of his hand around your finger tell you he wants to live. Life is a gift, and he is fighting for it. His mom and dad are there. Can you imagine? Choosing Happiness in Difficult Times All I can say is that love and happiness is a choice. I believe life is a gift. For as much as my capacity allows, I choose to be grateful. I choose to be happy. I

In a world often consumed by self-interest and personal gain, it is refreshing to discover the timeless wisdom that lies within ancient texts. James 4:6 serves as a poignant reminder of the power and significance of serving with humility and courage. These virtues, when embraced, have the potential to bring about profound transformations in our lives as individuals and as leaders. In this blog, we will delve into the depths of what it truly means to serve with humility and courage. “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” James 4:6 God is in charge. You are not. For some, that’s a tough pill to swallow. While for others, it becomes an excuse. It’s a tough pill to swallow for those who are self-sufficient problem solvers. I like self-sufficient problem solvers until they make it clear by their words and behaviors that they don’t need anyone and they