Archives For Personal Management

what do you want to “look” like in the future?

June 13, 2013 — 3 Comments

Good afternoon! I am running behind on my posting as we have traveled South for my nephew’s wedding leaving little time for yellow rosewriting.

Question – what do you want to “look” like ten years from now? What kind of person do you want to be? What do you want to be known for? I know that you realize that the decisions you are making today effect that future you, but even with that knowledge, are you actually making decisions with the future in mind? For most of us the answer, unfortunately, is no.

Read this article by the Harvard Business Review – You Make Better Decisions If You “See” Your Senior Self. You might find it quite interesting and it might actually impact the way you think and act now.

So, now what kind of person do you want to be when you “grow up”? Start being that person now.

Peace & grace to you today,
BG

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“sleep is more important than food” – really?

June 11, 2013 — Leave a comment

Tony Schwartz

According to Tony Schwartz of The Energy Project -”sleep is more important than food“. I think he may be close to being right!

Click here to read his very interesting post on the subject.

Have a great Tuesday!

BG

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So, How Do You Feel This Morning?

June 10, 2013 — Leave a comment

So, how do you feel this morning?Rose Lauren 2013

Rested and full of energy, mind sharp and clear, refreshed from great relational times with your family and friends, and connected to the Lord? Or are you tired and unmotivated, wishing there was another day in the weekend, sort of groggy and finding it hard to focus, your clothes a little tighter than they should be, and distant from the Lord, family and friends?

Unfortunately, the latter sentence describes most of us on most Mondays. Why? Some of it is our habits. We mess up our sleep patterns by staying up too late and then sleeping late, we eat junk food over the weekend, we plan two days worth of activities for one Saturday, we then don’t have time for a true Sabbath, which all together produces stress which we then take out on those we love most which messes up the whole relational aspect of our lives. And then there is our relationship with the Lord. With the kind of schedules most of us keep on the weekends, it sort of hard to fit Him in.

Here are some thoughts from a lot of different people that might help:

  1. Get enough sleep! Most of us need 7 – 8 hours. Tony Schwartz on his site The Energy Project has a ton of info on this subject. Not enough sleep has as much impact on your thinking as alcohol or drugs – it is a serious issue.
  2. Get moving and exercise! Do regular exercise at least three times a week of at least thirty minutes duration. No, you don’t have to train for the Iron Man or a marathon, but we all need some type of regular exercise. In addition to that, try to do a little something every morning shortly after you get up even if it is only ten minutes of stretching. Just do something to get the blood flowing.
  3. Eat less more often – and eat the right things. Try eating five or six small meals throughout the day. There is a ton of information on the types of food and drink plenty of water. Don’t make coffee and soft drinks your main fluid intake.
  4. Spend time with the Lord – tend to your spiritual life. Set aside a time each day to spend time on this most important of relationships. Make prayer a regular part of your day.
  5. Invest in your family. Next to your relationship with God, your relationships with your spouse and then your children are the most important in all of your life. Cherish and nurture these relationships. Not only will they be blessed, the funny thing is you will too.

It is up to you to care for your health – spiritual, mental, emotional, physical, and relational.

Are you tired of feeling the way you do this morning? If so,then just go and do something about it!

On the journey with you,
BG

In Personal Management, Productivity , , , ,
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“How to Give a Killer Presentation”

June 4, 2013

If you make presentations, check out this article in the Harvard Business Review.

In Creativity / Innovation, Personal Management , , ,
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Don’t Manage Your Time – Invest it

June 3, 2013

Good Monday morning to you! Hope you had a great weekend, we did other than learning our daughter’s car needs the timing belt railroad tracks - Keely 2013changed and there might be some other problems associated with that issue. But otherwise a good weekend.

Question for you – how many articles, books, and blog posts have you read about time management? Have you been to any seminars on the subject? How about time-management training at the office?

Now the next question – do you feel that you are any more effective at how you use your time? Not efficient, but effective? Do you feel that you are accomplishing what is really important? My answer has been too often – No. Now why is that? Why is it that we have spent so much money and time on learning to manage our time and yet we still aren’t accomplishing the important things in our lives?

Maybe, it is time to look at our time in another way. Maybe we need to reframe the issue. Time is a resource, many say your most important resource. Maybe you need to think about investing your time in order to produce the future returns in your life that you most value instead of simply “managing” your time in order to accomplish more tasks. What are your priorities? For me it is God, Angela (my wife), Lauren & Keely (my daughters), my family, my country, and then my vocation. There are “returns” I desire for each of those priorities (or areas) of my life. I desire to honor God and to have an intimate relationship with Him, I desire to love and honor my wife and to have a rich and long marriage, I desire that my daughters be healthy individuals that are a positive force for good, and so on.

So, what is important to you? Your time (attention) is the most important resource you have to invest into the priorities of your life. Are you truly investing your time in to your priorities? Does the manner of your investing reflect your stated priorities? Ask the same question about your vocation. How do you allocate your time at your work / ministry? Is it focused on your priorities or on how many tasks you can accomplish that day?

Try these simple steps:

1. Identify your priorities in life, including your work or ministry. (You will need to probably set aside a half day or full day away somewhere where you can really think without being disturbed)

2. Compare how you really spend your time against your stated priorities.

3. Determine why the gaps exist between your stated priorities and how you use your time.

4. Develop a strategy to close the gaps and to start investing your time according to your true priorities.

Remember, it is not about how many tasks you accomplish, it is about how effective you are in accomplishing the truly important goals in your life.

Quit managing your time and start investing it!!!

Have a great week!
BG

In Management, Personal Management, Productivity, Tools , , , ,
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Improving Your Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

May 31, 2013

Good morning. We are blessed today to have some old friends from Mississippi visiting with us last night and this morning. Friends grass - Laauren 2013are a blessing from the Lord!

Most of us desire to improve our emotional intelligence (EQ) as we know that it is important. At my work, it is considered a critical skill. In fact, one of our mantras is “Relational Effectiveness Drives Organizational Performance“. So, if it is so important, then why does it seem so hard?

According to the Harvard Business Review article “Can You Really Improve Your Emotional Intelligence?” there are five key points to consider:

1. Your level of EQ is firm, but not rigid. We are greatly influenced and formed by our genetics and early childhood experiences. However, you can change, but it requires a great deal of dedication and guidance and unfortunately few people are willing to try.

2. Good coaching programs do work. The author states that a well-designed coaching program can easily achieve improvements of 25% with benefits not only in the workplace but at home as well.

3. But you can only improve if you get accurate feedback. Most of us are unaware of how others see us, especially leaders. So, we need accurate feedback in order to understand how we are truly impacting others.

4. Some techniques (coaches) are more competent than others. There are methods that are better than others, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy and enhancing psychological flexibility and so on. So do some research on the best methods as well as the best coaches.

5. Some people are more coachable than others. You have to want to change and if you are trying to help someone else, they have to want the coaching / change for it to be effective.

Improving our EQ is important to us in almost all the areas of our lives. What are you doing to improve your EQ?

Hope you have a great weekend!
BG

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Are You Lying To Yourself?

May 29, 2013

Good morning! I hope you had a nice Memorial Day weekend. Ours was nice, but a bit different as neither of our daughters were Flowers by Lauren MAy 2013here for the first time. So, it was nice, but a bit quiet!

You realize of course that you are talking to yourself all the time. On an ongoing basis you are telling yourself about yourself. We were talking about that the other day at work and were picturing as the tape that you are playing in your mind on a continuous basis. That probably shows the age of the guys talking about this subject. Maybe we should be talking about the ongoing podcast about ourselves that is playing in our minds.

We are all telling ourselves about us on an ongoing basis. The problem is, we are often telling ourselves lies. Things like, “How could God really love me after what I have done?”, “There is no way anybody could love me, especially if they really knew me”, “There’s no way I can change, I have been this way all my life”, “My life is not significant – what have I really done?”, “The more I do, the God (and others) will love me” and so on. This ongoing “podcast” of lies about yourself, distort your view of God, others, and your situation. Too often we react based on that internal podcast instead of the truth of the situation.

A good example is that a couple of weeks ago, Angela and I had a “discussion” that messed up our relationship for a couple of days. Early in our marriage we were not as mature as we believed we were at the time (imagine that!). And we had some bad interpersonal habits. Fortunately we have actually matured some and God has blessed our marriage, but one evening she said something and for whatever reason, I played that old “tape” in my head and reacted in the totally wrong way. The old “tape” was wrong, but I listened to it.

We all have these “tapes” or “podcasts going on in our head. We need to stop and think about our thinking. We need to examine what is on our tapes or podcasts in our heads. Are they true? Examine what you are telling yourself against God’s Word. Change where the tape disagrees with God’s Word. If you are unsure about an area, go to some trusted friends and tell them about what you are thinking about yourself in this area and see if they see it in your life. If you are wrong – change the tape!

You can change the tape / podcast in your mind that is continually telling you about yourself. Change it from the lies we often are telling ourselves to what is true according to God’s Word. Some key points to remember – you are created in His image, He loves you and loves you so much He died for you, and He wants an intimate relationship with you – forever. That is a pretty good starting place for your new tape (or podcast) in my opinion.

Have a blessed day,
BG

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A Thirst for Criticism

May 24, 2013

It is a spectacularly beautiful Friday morning and a great start to Memorial Day. Please remember the meaning and purpose of Memorial Day. Remember those who have fallen serving in our military and their families.2008 Memorial Day Poster #3.

Do you thirst for criticism? I can hear you saying “Do what???” Why in the world would anyone want to be criticized? Most of us have enough issues with our self-image as it is, right?

The thing is, is that when you receive criticism as an opportunity to examine yourself and to see if here may be a grain of truth in the criticism, then you have the opportunity to grow. You have the opportunity to deal with weaknesses or blind spots in your life and to become even more effective in your life.

Now if the criticism comes from those who care for you and you trust, then it is greatly important that you receive and reflect on their words. Scripture talks of the value of the “wounds of friends”.

So – do you really want to grow even more into who God intended you to be? If so, then not only do you need to embrace criticism s an opportunity and gift, you need to actually thirst for it.

Have a great Memorial Day, but do please stop and remember those who have fallen and then pray for their families.

BG

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Dealing With The Weeds

May 13, 2013

Good morning! It’s the start of another great week!weeds

It’s spring and one of the signs of spring is the seemingly ever-present dandelion along with all sorts of other weeds in your lawn. Have you noticed how quickly they grow and crowd out the good grass? They even look sort of pretty with their yellow flower – at first. Have you noticed how they continue to grow and flourish even during dry times when your grass turns brown?

Driving down our street Saturday, we noticed some lawns full of dandelions, some lawns with a fair amount, some with just a few, and some with almost no dandelions. What was the difference? The difference is that some people were diligent about weeding their lawns and they were diligent about using a “weed and feed” type application which prevents the weeds coming up and nourishes the good grass. They tend to their lawn on a regular basis.

You see the metaphor right? We all have weeds in our lives that are bad habits, bad attitudes, and just plain wrong thinking. These “weeds” crowd out our good habits, they sour relationships, and they make us less effective at our work. So, just like a good gardener, we need to start systematically pulling those weeds out of our lives while at the same time, putting some “weed and feed” into our lives.

Start identifying the habits and attitudes that are holding you back and start eliminating them – one by one. Start feeding yourself on Scripture and good books. Start spending time with people who don’t have many “weeds” and find out how they keep the weeds out of their lives. Keeping your life “weed free” is an intentional, day-by-day process and a worthwhile process.

Get rid of the dandelions and start living a more fruitful life.

Have a great week!
BG

In Leadership, Personal Management , ,
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Business Model You

May 10, 2013

Good Friday morning to you! I hope you have a great end to your week.

In the past I have posted about the Business Model Canvas which is a one-page tool for developing your business model. That tool has also been adapted into the Business Model You which is a great tool for drawing your own personal business model and helping people adapt to the changing market place. The book is excellent and is also a great help for a young person trying to figure out their career path.

Watch this video:

Business Model You from Square Tomato on Vimeo.

Have a great weekend!
BG

In Personal Management, Planning, Tools , , , , ,
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