Reflections on “Training the Mind.”
Back in January, I wrote a post about training the mind, and used the example of my putting routine in golf to demonstrate one area in which I was working on doing so. I said that I would report back in October to how the golf season went, so that is what I am doing […]
Blog Housekeeping
Reflecting has become a major part of my weekly routine. Not only do I utilize Michael Hyatt’s Full Focus Planner, I also have begun using his journal. The journal gives 8 questions/prompts that help one reflect on their day. My routine is to use the journal Monday through Thursday, and the weekly review in the Full […]
The Beauty of Work Problems
It was a week before Christmas. Our 6-week-old son, Ben, was terribly sick. So sick that he could hardly breath. He had RSV, and things progressed from the doctor’s office, to the hospital, to the hospital with the best PICU in our area. Thankfully, our story ended on Christmas Eve when we took Ben home. […]
End the Work Day
When is your work day completely over? In the last week, there have been two times that I have ignored my kids after reading emails in the evening that worked me up and claimed my mental attention. As I mentioned in prior posts, my official email stop time is at 8 p.m., so in both […]
Getting to Know the “Other”
I often comment in the middle of posts that I write about what I think my wife, Sarah, will say to me when she edits the post. I can do this rather accurately because I know my wife better than anyone else on the planet. Likewise, she knows me better than anyone else. This intimacy […]
Organizational Pride
In any physical endeavor, there is a line between pushing yourself too far and not pushing yourself enough. As I wrote about recently, I have not only been dealing with a shoulder injury lately, I have been pushing through the pain. After all, improvement is always hard. At some point, however, I have to ask […]
It Is (Still) Supposed to Be Hard
Why am I surprised when I get injured at the gym? As I write these words, I have a shoulder injury, tightness in my quadriceps, and I feel run down. The Evernote file I use to track my lifts tells me that I have made progress the last thirty days, yet progress has come with […]
I Didn’t Have to Say a Word
In came the invitation to an emergency meeting. A prideful thought emerged that I was only being invited so that I could “make a decision.” Isn’t that what leaders do after all? The situation was that the customer had called with an emergency. In short, they needed parts by Monday morning because of a production […]
Your Organization Does Not Have to be Stuck
I often hear leaders like myself saying things like “what we really need is someone to help us with ____, so we need to go hire someone who does ____.” While hiring an expert is often a good idea, and can even reap tremendous gains for the organization, “more overhead” is often used as an […]
When the Leader is Challenged
Last month our sales team had its annual two-day strategic planning event. The team talked about its strategic goals for not only the next year, but also about where we wanted to head over the long-term. I love how engaged our team members are. They’re smart, motivated, passionate, and not only willing to challenge each […]