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Showing posts from May, 2017

It Is Okay To Be You, Just Be Consistent

We've all heard that we need to be ourselves. God only made one you so be the best one you can be. Part of needing to understand who we are is being comfortable in who we are, but also consistent. Don't be the person who doesn't know who they are so they either copy others trying to do what they think is right, or they are they are Jekyll and Hyde. Being inconsistent is one of the cruelest things we can do to another person. If you let someone get away with something one day and bring the hammer down as hard as possible the next all you are doing is teaching people to be afraid of you. The fear and apprehension is very real because they are not sure who you are going to be. If you want to be a good manager, parent or leader, be consistent.

Why I Talk To Myself

The current book I am reading is  The Carpenter by Jon Gordon . One of my favorite lines in it is that you need to stop listening to yourself and start talking to yourself. It sounds kind of funny but it is so true. One is a negative activity and the other is positive. There are always things in this world that will try to bring you down and your inner voice starts echoing them. Before you know it we start doubting ourselves. We question if we are good enough and we quickly start believing it. Instead of listening to those voices we need to speak positive words into ourselves. What we tell ourselves is what becomes reality. Something I repeat to my girls often, if you tell yourself you can't do something you are basically guaranteeing yourself that you won't. Any great obstacle that has been overcome has started with the belief that it can be done. When you look in the mirror, what do you tell the person you see?

What I Hope My Girls Are Learning - Observations From a Dance Dad

I am a dad to three daughters and I learned a long time ago that they weren’t going to play basketball, softball or any sport that I would actually really understand. I have dancers. Three dancers to be exact. I only have two that competitively dance right now but the youngest has grown up at dance competitions and has a love of the stage at 4 years of age that has entrenched me in the role of driver and bag carrier for at least 14 more years. Most of my time at competitions is spent saving seats and notifying others how many numbers before their next dance. During the rest of the year most nights I am driving kids to and from dance and waiting for class to get out. All of that time you can’t help but observe things. As this year has come to an end I’ve been reflecting on what I really love about my girls dancing. I can see their dance teachers instilling these principles in them and they will serve them well wherever they go in life. Don’t ever compare yourself to someone else. The...

Being the smartest person in the room

Who wouldn't want to be the smartest person in the room? To be the one that everyone else looks to for the answers. To feel valued and important. If it is truly the case where any topic that comes up you know more than everyone else you are probably just calling a meeting to feed your ego. Treasure diversity. Seek out those that have strengths that compliment your weaknesses. Challenge your team to be okay challenging you. If you are the smartest person in the room every time, you aren't as smart as you think.

Your expectations are lower than they should be

One of my favorite scenes from any movie is from Facing The Giants . If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it as a great story to watch with your whole family. It revolves around a team that didn't win as much as the parents and administration would gave liked. With their backs against the wall the coach and the team had to find out how to be successful in who they are. They couldn't change the fact other teams were bigger or faster or whatever, they could only control what they put into everything they did. In the pivotal scene the coach called out the boy who was the leader of the team that wasn't reaching his full potential. He placed limits on himself, setting goals that seemed good enough but were far less than what he was capable of. This not only limited himself but it limited his team as well. When the coach  removed the distractions from his vision and forced him to push past what he thought was all that he could give, a transformation took place. Suddenl...

No day but today

Forget regret Or life is yours to miss No other road No other way No day but today   - Another Day - Rent The moments that we have in this life - to live, to learn, to laugh and to love - are fewer than we can ever imagine. If you are going to do something, give it your all. You may try and fail, but if you give your best you will never regret, and never wonder what might have been. Go big or go home. Live life to the fullest. Seize the day. Dance like nobody is watching.

The team that you most want to be a part of

We've all seen those championship caliber teams, whether in sports or business, they seem to have an unfair advantage and can succeed at a level others only dream about. What is it that they have that others don't? I believe they start at the beginning and their first step is what makes them champions. When a team is united in a common goal in what they want to achieve the success naturally follows. That doesn't mean you start out and declare your goal is to be the champs or the top sales team, every team has those same goals. You have to decide you want to be better than what you've already accomplished, first as individuals then united as a team. But what actually happens, we fall far short of being our best team because not everyone is interested in being their best selves. There is the one that doesn't give their best effort at practice, or sometimes doesn't show up at all. The one that takes a longer lunch break because nobody notices. The one that brings...

The greater the goal the greater the obstacles

If you are like me, you probably set some goals in your life, things that get you excited. For me writing has been a goal of mine for some time, something I start, then things happen and I loose a step. I set a goal for myself recently of writing something twice a week, and it started well enough and then it hits me, I come down with some sort of stomach bug that has me less than 100% for a couple of weeks now. Without even realizing it a week and a half goes by and I haven't written anything. Another goal that I'm not doing what I set out to accomplish. Getting sick is one of those things that just happens in life, and it is a small bump in the road that I can quickly recover from and get back on track. You learn the lessons that you are meant to learn and move on. For me I realized I need to find a way to work ahead more, plan around those unforeseen events that could keep me from my goal. What I've come to realize is that the bigger the goal the bigger the obstacles th...