I find that there are many ways to learn. I hope to provide some insight on the ways that I learn, share knowledge, and be a great community citizen to the web.
ENCOURAGEMENT IS CONTAGIOUS
Encouragement is a gift that everyone can give. It soothes the soul, lifts up the spirit, and builds confidence to accomplish great things. Words of encouragement and random acts of kindness are actionable ways to show appreciation. Too often, we miss great opportunities to pour a few kind words into someone’s life. I think eulogies are wasted on the dead. It’s the living who need to hear kind words spoken about them. I think that a powerful way to utilize encouragement is when failure has occurred in someone’s life. For me when I fail, I rarely look at the positive things that happened on the way to that failure. When I am encouraged to “look at the bright side” of things, I begin to realize that I really didn’t fail, I am just learning and that I did good along the way. I am blessed that someone took that time to encourage me.
LISTEN INTENTLY, LISTEN DEEPLY
Most of you have heard how grown-ups talk in Peanuts movies, “Mwahmwahmwah, wah wah mwah”. I must confess that on occasions, I hear those same types of sounds when others are talking to me. I am distracted and fail to listen with intention. Other times, I only get the surface of the conversation, but don’t listen to the true meaning and diagnose the root message of what the person is really trying to say. One of the best ways you can make a difference in people’s lives is to truly listen to what they are saying.
A MORE PERSONALIZED GREETING
Monday mornings when you go into work, has one of your coworkers asked: “How was your weekend?” I know I greet people like this pretty often. However, what I have lately come to realize that this question is just a formality. It is a question said in passing. I don’t take the time to listen. The insincerity is front and center and people recognize it. My greetings to others when I see them need a lot of work. A lot of times, it is just a head nod or a weak “How are you doing?” If we are to open up our mouths, what is the purpose?
INTENTIONAL LIVING, A NEW WAY OF LIFE
It is nine o’clock tonight on November 1st. About a week ago, I started pondering the idea of writing a blog post a day for the month of November, kind of like a NaNoWriMo challenge. I found other things to do today to not get started. First, I didn’t take advantage of my morning and before I knew it, we were on our way to church. Then came dropping off my daughter to work, watching the Seahawks game, picking my daughter up from work, then watching the Packers game.
LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE WORD I KNOW
Dear Friend, I want to share with you something incredible, something life changing, something mind blowing. It is the WORD.
UPDATING AN IDENTITY SEED VALUE
I recently ran into an issue, where I had to mix environments while developing. On top of the mixed environments, I was manipulating data.
FOCUS WILL BRING GREAT RESULTS
Wouldn’t be nice if all you had to say was “Focus” and everything just fell into place for the rest of the day? Do you feel that your day spins out of control as you get randomized? If you stray from a normal routine, do you frequently feel that something was missed? I have seen that great focus leads to great results. Short Term Focus Yesterday was a totally randomizing day, constant interruptions combined with a lack of resolve to “start” anything that wouldn’t result in completion. I know that if I had 30 uninterrupted minutes to work on 1 task, it would have been knocked out and there would be a sense of accomplishment. This type of short term focus is very intense. It requires no distractions.
LIVING A TRANSFORMATIONAL LIFE
Recently, I have tried to take a step back and look at the transformations that are occurring all around me. I am seeing my seventeen year old now as a young adult making choices for herself, that used to be part of our role as parents. At work, I see the decisions of last years organizational shifts starting to solidify. I look in the mirror and see the grey hairs of wisdom where youthful ignorance used to be. My pastor described transformation as a deep changing of the mind, body, and soul to be more like Christ. The more I dwell upon that definition, the more I think about some of the core elements of our metamorphosis as individuals.
SPRING CLEANING AT WORK
Spring is upon us. The sun is shining, my wife saw a hummingbird at the feeder the other day, and the tulip fields are in full bloom. Now is the time for that annual endeavor called Spring Cleaning. You know what I am talking about. Look around for the “junk” that is building up, open the windows to let fresh air in, and scrub away the dreariness that was winter. Everyone understands this routine when it comes to your personal abode. But how about when it comes to work? Whether your spring, is April or August, here are three Spring Cleaning tips that you can use as leaders in the workplace.
THE COST OF PERFECTION IS HIGHER THAN YOU THINK
Yesterday I was in a conversation about the cost of getting a specification to a “perfect” state. I made a bold statement that most times perfection has too high of a cost and that I just need good enough. After stating that I started to consider what “good enough” really means. What is “Good Enough” Good enough has the appropriate quality that meets the needs of the task. For NASA, it may be down to the micrometer Good enough enables the customer/individual to do the task with a high level of satisfaction that doesn’t frustrate them Good enough drives higher throughput Good enough can be iterated on What Perfection Costs Time to market - Perfection may have you missing the train Stress - Perfection always has complications that add tension Strategic thinking - Perfection gets to deep tactical execution which distracts from strategic initiatives Resources Michael Hyatt just posted a fantastic article about “Perfectionism” that covers a lot of this same theme.