Happy Thanksgiving

From Our Clan to Yours,

Happy Thanksgiving

Before you get the Christmas decorations down from the attic and start some serious decorating and holiday gift buying, don't overlook Thanksgiving Day. Despite all the problems we face in America, we still, for the most part, experience tremendous blessings compared to so many areas of the world.

Take time to express thanks to your creator for life. Where there is life, there is hope. Where there is life, there is potential. Where there is life, there is the opportunity for growth. Where there is life, there is the opportunity to express and receive love. So this Thanksgiving Day, take time to give thanks for life and all that being alive means for you, your family, and your work. 

Thoughts from Seeing a Pair of Shoes

The call came in the early afternoon. As a pastor of a church, I received many such calls, "Pastor, John has had a heart attack at work. They're taking him to the emergency room, can you meet us there?" That day the outcome was not good. John died after some rather heroic efforts to revive him. I was with the family when the doctor entered and somberly shared the negative news.

We prayed together, and I escorted the grieving wife and family down the hall and to their cars. Going down the long hall we passed the open door to the treatment room where John's body still lay on the gurney. I couldn't help but take a quick glance at him, and I noticed his shoes still on his feet. For some reason I have never been able to shake off the picture of John's shoes protruding out from under the sheet that covered his body.

When I remember that picture, a few questions come to my mind that I believe we can ask ourselves as we seek to live our lives at a level of significance:

1. Where had John walked in those shoes? I know he walked quite a bit in them because the heels were in need of replacing and there was a hole worn in the sole of one of them. Where had he been in those shoes? I have read that our lives are the sum of the people we have met, the places we have been, and the books we have read. What significant professional and personal relationships have you established and cultivated this past year? What significant places have you visited and experienced? What books have impacted your thinking and living? As you walk through your life, walk with a high degree of intentionality.
2. Where had those shoes been that morning? Was John busy pursuing his significant goals and life objectives, or was he just trying to get through another work day? I want to believe that he had made some significant progress that morning toward a meaningful goal, that his final day was another step toward fulfilling his life's purposes. Today is important. What are you doing today to move closer to achieving your life objectives? Yet, remember that your success is not determined just by what you do today. Your success is determined by what you do everyday.
3. Where was John planning to go in those shoes in the days ahead? If you live through this day and see another day, week, month, year, or even decades, what will energize you to live each of those days with a sense of purpose and accomplishment?

As a coach, I desire to help my clients discover an overwhelming "why" for their work. I then help them develop a strategy that enables them to pursue that overwhelming "why". My prayer and hope for you is that your "why" is so significant and compelling that if you knew you only had one more day of life left, you would commit those precious hours to fulfilling your "why". 

Personal Considerations During Times of Significant Transition

Any business, career, or personal transition takes a lot out of an individual, team, and organization. A change of career focus, major change of direction within a company, change of leadership for an organization, all are transitions that tax the inner resources of a leader.

 As you provide leadership during significant transition, focus on these things:

 1.        Faith: Of course, this can apply to one’s faith in God as a source of strength, peace, and guidance during a challenging time, but I also believe it extends to issues of faith in ourselves, in those around us, and the systems we have in place to take us through periods of transition. We need to have faith that we have within us and around us the resources required for success.

2.       Feelings:  This goes beyond feeling positive about ourselves and the situations we face. It concerns feeling positive about our significant relationships. It extends to having positive perspectives on our abilities and purposes. It includes possessing a sense of peace, of contentment with our current place in life and our dreams for the future. It’s about waking up in the morning with goals to pursue, tasks to accomplish, and people in whom to pour significant value.

3.       Food: I am amazed how intensely what I eat affects how I feel, my energy level, and my stamina. Is the food you are ingesting energizing you for the transitional battles, or is it fighting against you? I confess my own challenges in this area, but I do know the benefits of consistently eating well. I can usually attribute a lethargic afternoon to what I consumed for lunch that day. I like the diet advice that says, “A king's breakfast, a commoner's lunch, a pauper's supper.” Those who attempt to offset their unhealthy eating with a plan of strenuous exercise need to understand that you can’t outrun an unhealthy diet.

To lead others through the demanding challenges of significant transition, you need to be at your best because anything less than your best will fail to get the job done. Take care of yourself as you lead yourself, your team, and your organization through a successful transition.

The Significance of a Day

                                                                                         Photo: Patricia Betts

As a pastor, I have served many church parishioners in times of the sudden loss of a loved one or close friend. Each experience has given me a strong appreciation for the fragile nature of life and the necessity of making the most of every day God gives us. Each day of life is a precious gift from our creator and carries with it a great responsibility to use it wisely, productively, and significantly.

I offer three ideas on how to get the most of your day:

• Love those closest to you. The day will come when the what the people closest to you believe about you are the only opinions that will matter. Everyday, make an effort to love your family and develop meaningful friendships.
• Learn something new, fresh, and significant everyday. Learning is a cumulative activity. As you apply yourself to learning something each day, you steadily develop a body of knowledge and level of expertise in your chosen field. Life long learning helps you to stay engaged in your work and your relationships.
• Live each day to its fullest potential. John Maxwell writes, "The most successful people in life are the ones who settle their critical issues early and manage them daily." Each day's activity is a stepping stone on the path toward your personal and professional significance. Lean into your potential every day.

You write your future by remaining fully engaged in your present. When you make today count, your life starts adding up to success and significance.

Become the Best at What You Do Best

                              

As you focus on increasing your value to potential clients or employers, you have two options available. You can work on improving in your areas of weakness, or you can pay greater attention to developing your strengths.

If you work diligently to improve in an area in which you are just okay, you might be able to become average at doing it. In other words, you will be equipped to do an acceptable job. On the other hand, if you devote yourself to developing a skill in which you are already good, you have the potential of being great at doing it.

In either of the above scenarios, you will improve your abilities. In the first scenario, you can achieve average performance in an area that you were once only doing acceptable work. In the other, you are now performing at a great level. You are beginning to be the best at what you do.

What's the motivation for becoming great at a skill over becoming average in a skill? People pay the minimum for average, but they pay the maximum for great. Discover what you do best, then commit yourself to becoming the best at doing it.

Integrity

“The dictionary defines integrity as the ‘state of being complete, unified.’ When people have integrity, their words and deeds match up. They are who they are, no matter where they are or who they’re with.” –John Maxwell

Your personal character will eventually determine the direction of your decisions, your level of consistent productivity, the quality of your professional and personal relationships, and the significance of your influence in the lives of those closest to you.

Let me offer a few suggestions on developing your character and personal integrity:

--Live out what you expect to see in others.

--Do what you say you will do.

--Always be honest with clients, friends, and family.

--Put what is best for others (the team) ahead of what is best for you.

--Be you…the best you.

The best time to make good ethical, integrity building decisions is before you are faced with situations requiring good ethical decisions. Patricia Cornwell observes, “We can all do bad things if we don’t pay attention.” Developing integrity is quite often a matter of just paying attention.

When You Need Help

John Maxwell writes, “One is too small a number for significance.” If you can accomplish your goals by yourself, your goals may be insignificant. Significant goals require the significant involvement of people who have the skills, resources, and inclination to help you achieve your major objectives. Here are a few things to consider as you set out to secure the help and cooperation your significant goals require for their attainment:

--Don’t focus only on what you want to achieve, but envision the impact that your achievements  will have on your life, your family, your organization, your team, and the world around you. The more people you want to influence with your work, the bigger you must dream, and the more help you will need in pursuing it.

--Goals require an effective strategy for their fulfillment. People buy into you at two levels. First, they are attracted by the significance of your dream. Help them to see what it can mean to them and to others. Second, they want to see a viable plan for achieving your vision. A sound strategy gives them a road map to your destination. If they are going to travel this road with you, they want an idea of how they will get to the desired destination.

--Know who you want to take this journey with you, then approach them with the information they need to evaluate the dream and the strategy. Spell it out so they can check it out.

--Get excited about what you want to do. Enthusiasm is contagious.

--Keep your promises. Do what you say you will do. Sometimes your best effort will fail, but never be guilty of failing to give your best effort.

Remember that if you are above asking others for help in achieving your major objectives in work and life, then you will succeed only to the limits of your personal skills and resources. With the assistance of others, you can far exceed those limits and achieve a higher level significance.