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.

THANKFUL - MAKE A LIST EVERY DAY

What am I thankful for? Why am I thankful? Can I be thankful about unpleasant things in my life? How do I show my thankfulness? Here is one idea, make a list of what you are thankful for and update it every day. Here is the start of my thankfulness list: What I am thankful for (the first five) I am thankful just to be alive today. God’s mercies are new every day. I can start each day with a fresh perspective to be better than I was yesterday, to make a difference. I will show that by showing gratitude to others today. I am thankful for my family. My wife, who is also my best friend, provides me with wisdom and insights. My children make me smile with their thoughts, opinions, and energy. I ask for favor to reciprocate back the love they have for me. I am thankful for my employment. It keeps a roof over my head. I have money coming in for all my necessities plus more. I am trying to be thankful by going the extra mile at work, to deliver with quality and be committed. I am thankful for my health. I am not taking any medicine and haven’t had any major medical issues. I must work to take care of my health more diligently. I am thankful to see the beauty of God’s creation around me. It is impossible to miss. Wonders of sunsets, mountains, storms, and sunshine can all be in an afternoon. May I show thankfulness by just taking the time to enjoy. Now, these were 5 quick items I am thankful for. I will continue to update those and add others. Do this for a couple of weeks and then reflect. I am thankful that you took the time to read this. I hope that it will benefit you in the days to come.

APOLOGIZE

Over the past decade, I have seen a trend for political figures not to apologize at any cost. Everyone makes mistakes. It is impossible not to offend at times. It is easy for words to be taken out of context. So why don’t our political leaders apologize when they have obviously wronged an individual or party? It isn’t just politicians, but business leaders also. The best ones admit their mistakes and work diligently to correct the wrong.

JOY, JOYFUL, JOYOUS - TIS THE SEASON

A song that starts “Joy to the world, the Lord has come” rings through the night air from carolers in the coming months. Everyone can picture joy. It is the new father and mother holding their infant. It is the feeling when one is reunited with a loved one, or the climax when a big decision is favorable. I am joyful when I hear my daughter sing or play Minecraft with my son. However, what I am describing is joy for a small time in large doses. Life happens and many tend to long for that joy they had yesterday, last year, or in their glory days.

EXCITE

When Steve Ballmer stepped out on stage for his last all company event the place was electric. He knew how to excite the crowd. Emotions were stirred up. People were yelling, stomping, quite a few were crying as he charged the stage. His goal was to tell people about the company he loved and poured his life into. People who lead well figure out how to tap into the emotional well of those that follow them. Here is one example to illustrate:

MEASURE - SPEND THE TIME

When looking up measure in the dictionary, I was struck by one of the core definitions: reach the required or expected standard; fulfill expectations Admittedly, most of my work has had ambiguous or ill defined measures. But as I am maturing as a leader, I have started looking for ways to measure what I am doing, either for myself, management, or the company. Here are some lessons I am learning:

MISTAKE - WE ALL MAKE ONE OR TWO

I remember the T-Shirt I got on a family vacation. You know the ones back in the 80’s, glitter and rainbow decals. These famous words were transcribed on front: I thought I made a mistake once, but I was wrong. Over the years, I used this saying whenever I did make a mistake as a way to brush it off. It was my way of reconciling with incorrectness on my part. We all make mistakes, how we handle them makes all the difference. Here are ways I believe great leaders handle mistakes:

FUTURE - LEADERS PREPARE FOR THE UNKNOWN

One universal truth, no one knows what the future will be. The brother of Jesus sums it up best (James 4:13-15): Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

SHALLOW - YOU KNOW THERE IS A DEEP END

I am convicted as I write about being shallow. There are so many areas of my life, where skimming the surface wading into the issue ankle deep is comfortable. My contributions in work suffer from superficial dedication to solving the problem. I pretend to listen deeply, but treat all the words as white noise on the outer edge, while getting my thoughts ready for the next rebuttal. I use shallowness to play ignorant or feign a lack of expertise about subjects. My roots aren’t firm and my convictions blow away at the slightest turmoil.

FULFILLMENT - LEADERS COMPLETE WORK

I have now been working about 6 hours today. I wish I could say it is for enjoyment, but rather I am trying to fulfill a work commitment. Sometimes it takes extra effort, persevering through frustration, or just time to complete. Fulfillment is that finality of completion, the realization of a achieving a goal, or getting to the end. Leaders take fulfillment very seriously, both for themselves and their subordinates. In order to complete work, here are two key leadership behaviors:

AMAZE

The dictionary shows the following synonyms for amaze: Astonish, astound, surprise, stun, stupefy, awe. But beware of the trap. People are often amazed by the superficial, the crowd favorite, the unique, or obscure. We miss out on the truly amazing that many times is mundane, common place, or steady. Great leaders don’t work to amaze, but rather to take on the tough issues. There solutions may seem extraordinary, but they are built on blood, sweat, and tears. Great works are forged through collaboration, and persistence. Here are some leadership examples which amaze me: