The Fire Within

One of the most common New Year's resolutions you will find up there with exercise, eating healthier and managing finances better is to read more. I am a big believer in reading. There are countless concepts and ideas that I've used throughout my career, with my family and in relationships. I also believe any time you engage your mind in learning something new it is like exercising your body. Learning something new opens up possibilities and connects seemingly unrelated concepts. Every year many aim to start reading more than they did in the past but have a hard time reaching their goal. Setting a goal is easy, where many fall down is setting up systems to turn their goal from a fantasy to something realistic. The two most important things you can do is set a time each day you are going to read and set the number of pages you will read during that time. Reading 10 pages a day will get you through most books in a month. I know you can read 10 pages a day, depending on what wor...

As we start a new year it is the time I reflect briefly on the past year and I look forward to 2020 and what I want to accomplish. Each year I have ideas for goals but I choose to focus on One Word that helps encapsulate what I want the year to be. You can read more on my One Word page that has links to more information about the concept. My word for 2019 was ruckus , which I think was a perfect fit as I look back, but it wasn't what I thought it was going to mean. At the start of 2019 I thought I was going to be a disruptive force to bring about some positive changes and get some high value tasks completed. But, it turned out I wasn't always going to cause the ruckus, sometimes I was going to have to endure it. If you look up ruckus in the dictionary it means a disturbance or commotion. Part way through 2019 I lost my job, if that doesn't scream ruckus what does? But that ruckus set into motion changes I'm very grateful for. It wasn't how I expected the year to ...

I just finished reading the book Finish by Jon Acuff. I've shared some posts and quotes from him before but this is the first book of his I've read. I think I may have had too high of expectations going in, I thought I was going to be crying laughing the whole time reading it, I didn't. When I got past my initial disappointment that my stomach didn't ache from laughing so hard I realized how impressive the insights in it were. The premise is simple, we all have goals we want to accomplish, but we create whatever excuses we need to keep us from achieving them. It is why most New Year's resolutions fail before January is over. We find when we miss a day going to the gym or slipping on our diet plan that we just through the whole thing out the window, missed a day so you might as well take the week off. If you want to actually achieve the goals you set for yourself, this book is full of practical advice and strategies on how to look at your goals. One of the best w...

School is finally out for the summer, my girls are loving it as they have some free time. They aren't happy with me though, as I've already had them work on their list of things that they are going to work on over the summer. Don't get me wrong, I'm not telling them that it is a screen free summer, though there will be days that are screen free. They need time to relax, recharge and just have some fun. We all do, but too often the activities in our free time don't do much for us. What are the books you are going to read this summer? What are the things you want to learn how to do better? What is something new you want to learn? If they don't have any ideas I luckily have some ideas for them. We should be no different. It never seems like it, but we all have free time. We need time to relax and refresh, but we should be using some of our free time to learn something new or get better. Those that lead and are successful use a portion of their free time to get be...

I just finished The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho . It is a book that comes up in a lot of people's recommendations. I hadn't read a lot about it, just knew that people I admired and trusted highly recommended it. I have to admit that it wasn't what I was expecting. It was a story that presented some deep philosophical ideals that really make you think and reflect on things within your work, family and overall life. To give you a sample, here are some of my favorite concepts that come from some of the best quotes: "It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting." - Everyone needs to have a dream. Without a dream we just mindlessly go through life day-by-day. If it is the dream of writing a book, starting a business, traveling the world, or starting a family, hold onto that dream and go after it. "And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." - If you are true to the passions in y...

When we were little we dreamed about what our life would be like. Seemingly audacious goals of being a baseball player, an astronaut, a ninja, a cowboy, or a movie star. We grow up and we still have dreams, we just are afraid to follow them. The dreams may change, but there are still dreams there. There are big dreams. Too often we are afraid to go after them. Not real fear, just the things we tell ourselves that make us afraid. Today our dreams might be to write a book, start a company, travel to Europe, or pursue your ideal job. Your dreams are attainable, they might not be easy, and they might not be quick. But you can have your dreams, don't let anyone tell you that you can't. What is the one thing you need to do today to start pursuing your dream?

I've heard this saying a number of times recently, in a variety of formats. I like the version that is attributed to Voltaire mostly because I like pretending to be smart by quoting Voltaire. There are too many times we don't like to move forward because we don't have all of the information, haven't covered all of the scenarios, or feel like we don't have all of the experience we need. We don't apply for our dream job because we feel like we don't have the experience needed or are simply afraid of being told we aren't right for the position. We don't want to start writing because we feel like there are lots of other writers that are much better than us. The part we never see is the countless hours of practice and bad writing that happened to become better, to be the writer we see today. Everyone starts out as a novice, a beginner. You can still make music even if you aren't Mozart. You can still write even if you aren't Shakespeare. You...

We are working on a project now at work that has taken much longer than we at first estimated. It is a terrible feeling to miss the mark the way we have, but the number one reason we are taking longer is because we are trying to build something beyond a one time fix, something with real lasting power that will work for lots of similar situations down the road. There is always a trade-off, the more people you involve, the more scenarios you try to fix with your solution, the longer it will take. Hopefully those extra meetings and the extra time has a benefit of something far greater created for the long run. You have to know what your goal is, and as a leader be okay with making a sacrifice because you can't have it all. Is your goal to be first in a hundred meter sprint or do you need a relay like the Pony Express to get something over a great distance? Everyone wants to have their cake and eat it too, no one ever has.

A recent tweet by @JonAcuff (a very entertaining follow) talked about the most dangerous day for any goal is "The Day After Perfect." It was referring to the times we break an accomplishment streak and we just let the slide take over. How true it is that we let one off day define us. One bad day break us down that we figure since we already missed yesterday what is the point of hitting today. We all have bad days, when things don't go as we want. Don't let the bad day keep you down. Your bad day is in the past, today is the day you can define who you want to be.

As we get rolling on 2019 the goal setting is well under way, the resolutions are still in tact and the changes that you've promised to yourself many times are renewed telling yourself this time you're really going to do it. For some though, you might be feeling stuck, like you aren't really sure what your goals are for the year. The idea of goal setting and resolutions got me thinking about purpose. Often times we fail because we forget why the goal is important. Two quotes entered my mind around finding our purpose as we start 2019. We don't get burned out because of what we do. We get burned out because we forget why we do it. Purpose keeps you fresh! - Jon Gordon We are each created by God with a unique purpose to fulfill in this world. If it feels like you are just going through the motions and it is an unsettling feeling, that is because that is not who you were created to be. We aren't all going to be famous, manage companies, write a best seller or run...

Rather than setting goals or making New Year's resolutions I pick One Word for the year. Jon Gordon has an article with links to videos and other resources explaining the concept, you can find it here . This will be the fourth time for me, here were my past words: 2016 - Move 2017 - Fire 2018 - Discipline My word for 2019, with a nod to Seth Godin, is Ruckus. It was an easy pick for me, in many ways it has haunted me for most of 2018. I've thought about it a lot and it really fits where I feel like I'm at with my work and life.  The most important thing about picking a word is what it means for you. On the surface ruckus might be an odd word because when you look it up the definition it is a disturbance or commotion. When you hear Seth Godin talk though he encourages everyone to create a ruckus. Stop doing things the way they have always been done. Start disrupting things in a positive way. I like this graphic from Leyla Acaroglu's "Disruptive Desig...

This is my favorite week of work for the year, between Christmas and New Years. I'm not a huge fan of the holidays with all of the traveling and family dynamics, things can get pretty crazy. But at work it is just the opposite, so many people take the week off that I'm free to set my own agenda. Very few meetings are scheduled, if any. Fewer people around mean fewer problems to find and solve. It means four days of getting caught up because not as much new stuff coming in. It means getting to organize and clean up task lists, hopefully crossing a few nagging ones off. It also is a time where I do more reflecting on strategy. What are the things I'm going to focus on in the new year? What areas do I need to work with in my team this year? What didn't we accomplish that we still need to? What needs to happen to set things up for the greatest chance of success? Taking time off to refresh and recharge is a good thing, but I want to take time off when I am actually in ne...

If I was only allowed to follow one person on Twitter, Jon Acuff ( @JonAcuff ) might be it. He is funny, honest, witty, insightful and challenging. You never know what you are going to get from him but it is probably really good. He had a gem the other day that made me laugh out loud and also made me question myself. Short story is there was a squirrel that had a very long tooth, and a lady found a YouTube video on how to cut it to give the poor thing a chance at survival. I can't do it justice, you have to take a look and see the pictures for yourself. What really got me though is Jon's comments: The next time someone tells me “I don’t know how to do something,” I’m going to tell them, “If someone can find videos on YouTube for how to trim squirrel teeth, you can find what you’re looking for, too.” It made me think about all of the times that we limit ourselves. We either tell ourselves that we can't do something or we believe too much about what other people ar...

I have no doubt that I have some level of ADD. I can easily find myself distracted with the latest shiniest problem at work. It gets to the point of having so many plates spinning that they start wobbling or I forget about one and it comes crashing down. For any particular project there is value, and a number of people really like the idea, they are excited about the prospect of getting the changes I brought up implemented. But when there are too many things to keep track of and nothing gets completed what is the point? All of the great ideas in the world don't mean anything if they don't get implemented. At some point we need to move beyond seeing how many plates we can spin and figure out how we can get more of those plates cleaned and put away. We are always going to have multiple projects going on. We are also always going to have the next project that is going to get dropped on us tomorrow and the next idea we come up with to make things better. If we don't put awa...

If I had a dollar for every time I heard people ask for clarification around priorities I would have enough money to retire and not have to hear about priorities. It is so important, no matter what your job, what company you work for or how long you've been with a company, everyone has to deal with prioritizing their work. It always sounds so easy, whatever is most important do that first. The problem is deciding what is most important is usually a strategic decision, you have to say A is more important than B. That gets really hard when B has value, and you really want it too. Wouldn't it be nice to have our cake and eat it too? You have to decide. Companies that are great are simply better at prioritizing. Finding the things that seem so important and coming to terms with the fact that they simply aren't as important as we make them out to be and making them a lower priority. Take it a step further, what happens when two different people/teams/departments/divisions have...

It is that time of year again, when people start making many goals and resolutions for what they want to get done in 2018. Most are lost or forgotten before January is over. We make it so complicated that it is impossible to remember them all and achieve them throughout the year. A couple of years ago I came across the idea of One Word to define a theme for an entire year for you to focus on. A single word that becomes a focal point. I've done it for the last couple of years and it is so easy to remember, so simple to focus on and definitely life changing. In 2016 my word was Move, in 2017 it was Fire. I'm still working on what that word will be for 2018 but it has me anticipating what a great year 2018 will be. When you look to 2018, I would encourage you to find your One Word. A word to have Courage, Passion, Love or Joy. A word to help you Encourage, Listen, Focus or simply cause a Ruckus. Great things are ahead for you in the new year. There is much that you are meant to...

I've started setting a reading goal each year, to motivate me to pick away at the stacks of books I want to read. My goal for 2017 was 18 books either about business and leadership or walking out my Christian Faith better. I'm not sure I'll get another one done for the year so here are the final results: When I look back through the titles I read I can recall nuggets I pulled from each and how they altered something in me, helping to continually mold me, hopefully into a better person. It gets me excited for 2018 and some of the titles I have lined up. Most people I talk to say they aren't readers, they don't have the time or other reasons that I don't buy. If you read 10 pages a day you can make it through 300 pages in a month, that is the vast majority of books you would probably pick up. That will take you between 10-20 minutes a day (depending on font and page size). Spend less time in front of a screen and pick up a book instead. If you aren't su...

Most of us have goals in life that we want to accomplish, but most of our goals are just our own. There isn't a manager telling us what we need to do each day to achieve our diet and exercise goals. There isn't someone helping create a reading plan that leads us to finishing that book that will make us better. Nobody is with us in the store telling us what we can and can't buy to remain within our budget so we can save up for that vacation we want to take. As for someone to remind us that we wanted to spend more time with our family rather than spending time in front of the TV or on social media, no one is there either. Think of the best manager you've had, the one that could encourage you to do your best, correct you when you were getting of course and just make you want to perform at your absolute best. Those that achieve great things in life are those that can speak a positive word into themselves when they look in the mirror. What do you tell yourself if you aren...

One thing that every person or organization has to be mindful of is getting complacent after they achieve a goal. After setting a goal and working really hard to improve it, I believe it is natural to stick with the same goal, stagnating and therefore falling behind in many ways.  Here are three examples that I've heard too many times in my career and how we need to change the conversation. It will never be perfect. This is common in goals where the target should be 100%. Be it up time performance, on time delivery or customer retention; a perfect world the number would be 100%. While nobody and no business is perfect, there is always room for improvement. If your goal was 90% and you have been hovering around it for a while, it is time to increase it to 95%. If you are at 99.9%, try and get five 9's (99.999%). Response - "No, it might not ever be perfect, but how fun would it be if it were? Let's figure out how to blow the doors off our old number." It i...

When I look back on my childhood I think of myself as someone that hated to read, until I was in 9th grade that is and a teacher introduced me to Michael Crichton . I could get engrossed in one of his novels and read them straight through in a day. But really what I hated about reading was reading things that didn't interest me. If a book is about a topic that interests me, or is an engaging story that pulls me in, I love to read. Flash forward to my adult life and I have maintained a healthy desire to read and according to my wife an unhealthy habit of bringing books into our house. Reading continues to inspire me, I read business books to inspire me to be a better leader in my work place, theology books that inspire me to be a better human being and books that take me into an entirely separate worlds like The Lord of the Rings . It is frightening when you see the amount of time that people on average spend in front of a screen playing games, watching TV or surfing social media....