Archives For priorities

Doing The Hard Things

April 19, 2013

It is Friday! I hope you have a great weekend planned. We have some good friends coming for lunch Saturday, so we are looking forward to that.

Does the following scenario sound familiar to you?Tree by Lauren 2013

You come in to your place of work, fire up the computer and then maybe check out the news to see what has happened overnight, then quickly check out Facebook and Twitter. After that, you start cruising your email to see what is interesting or urgent there that you need to deal with (or think you do) and one thing leads to another and before you know it it’s lunchtime or after.

The problem is that you haven’t spent anytime on that important project yet. You really are not sure how to tackle that issue or how to get started and it’s just easier to deal with your email. Of course that’s work and you can feel good about “checking off” some of those tasks, but that really important piece of work is still sitting there waiting on your attention. Also, for most of us, the morning is our most productive and creative time of day and we often fritter it away on busy work.

It you really want to make a difference, you have to learn to discipline yourself to tackle the hard things first. Don’t use busy work to avoid doing what is most important. Also, work to priorities – not task lists.

How do you make sure you are working on the right things at the right time? What is your system?

Have a great weekend!

BG

In Personal Management, Productivity , , ,
permalink

Why? – A Great Question

December 17, 2012

Good morning – it’s unusually mild here in northeast IN, but I am enjoying the milder weather! It has been a difficult time for our nation - click here for a prayer in regards to that senseless act of evil that occurred in Newton, CT. Lord, we do lift up to you the families and community of Newton.golden-circle

So many of us know what our organizations do and how we do it, but too often not many of us understand why. And it is the why that is the compelling part of our lives.

Do you understand the why of your organization? What about the why of your life? Deeply understanding the why behind what we do provides vision, energy, and captures the imagination of others.

In fact, as Simon Sinek notes in Start with Why, the most fundamental and important question is to ask “Why do we do what we do?” as that is what attracts others to your cause and provides people the motivation to excel.

So, come to understand the why and see how rich and compelling the what and how of what you do becomes to you and others.

Have a blessed week & remember the community of Newton in your prayers this week.
BG

In Good Books, Leadership , , ,
permalink

The Beauty of Subtraction

November 27, 2012

Good morning, I trust you had a great Thanksgiving celebration. It was a great time at our house with everyone home plus some good friends visiting from Michigan.

Have you ever heard the phrase “Less is more”? We say that we believe it, but in our culture, it seems that we really put the value on addition or even multiplication. We keep accumulating – material “stuff”, things to do, more activities, greater responsibility at work, more sports & activities for our children, more time surfing the net, and more & more debt as we accumulate all of these things in our lives. The sad part is that as we are driven to add more of whatever in our lives, it all seems to crowd out the simple things that really bring us joy. What is really important becomes obscured by all the stuff and and frenzy of activity.

I have found an interesting book called The Laws of Subtraction: Six Simple Rules, that highlights the importance of “subtraction” in your life so that you remove the right things in the right way so that you begin leading a more meaningful and impactful life.

the six laws are:

1. What isn’t there can often trump what is.

2. The simplest rules create the most effective experience.

3. Limiting information engages the imagination.

4. Creativity thrives under intelligent constraints.

5. Break is the important part of breakthrough.

6. Doing something isn’t always better than doing nothing.

The book is worth a read if you are feeling overwhelmed with the sense of tremendous activity in your life while at the same time feeling ineffective and unfulfilled.

Blessings on your week!
BG

In Good Books, Personal Management, Productivity , , , ,
permalink

The Adventure Begins!

September 4, 2012

Good morning from Fort Wayne, Indiana – our new home. Today beings a new chapter in our lives as I report in for my first day at Ambassador Enterprises. Ambassador is a fascinating company that seeks to glorify Jesus in all they do . Their Purpose is: “To daily live in such a way that others are drawn to God.” And their Mission is: “We invest in leaders and organizations to build high-trust, high-care, high-performance teams.” Quite a group of people!

Just a reminder for you as you start off this short week – do what is important first! Not email, paperwork, voicemail or whatever. No – focus on the most important thing you have to do today – first!

Check out this post on the 99U blog, “The Key To Creating Remarkable Things” - it makes sense!

I hope you  have a blessed week serving out Lord and others!
BG

In Productivity, Recommended Blogs , , ,
permalink

Is the Pursuit of More Causing You to Have Less?

August 13, 2012

Good morning on a brand new week! One nugget for you from Life Action Ministries’ Revival Week last week from a good friend of mine – “We are changed by Jesus when we are with Jesus.” Spend time with Him, in His Word and you will be changed.

I have been contemplating on and reading on how less is more. About how our pursuit of more stuff, status, money, responsibility, and so on is less in how it is a wrong focus and distracts us from the right priorities in life. The interesting thing is – the more we desire to accumulate, the less joy we have in our lives. Scripture makes this abundantly clear for one result of pursuing “stuff” is the crowding out of Jesus in our lives.

One blog that is interesting and will challenge you is The Minimalists written by two young men who were hugely successful in the business world at a young age who found themselves empty. They will definitely challenge your thinking in regards to “stuff”.

Another good article is on the Harvard Business Review site entitled “The Disciplined Pursuit of Less“. The author, Greg McKeown, shares a story about a man. Enric Sala, who finally settled into a career he was passionate about by earning to say no to more.

Mr. McKeown gives us three questions/approaches to use to evaluate things:

First – use extreme criteria. Example, when looking at the clothes in your closet, instead of asking yourself will I possibly wear this sometime in the future, ask yourself, do I absolutely love this piece of clothing? Changes your perspective.

Second – ask what is essential and eliminate the rest.

Third – beware the endowment effect. If we own something we attach more value to it that it usually is worth and hang on to it even though we don’t need it. so when looking at something you own, simply ask yourself if you did not own it, would you be willing to buy it?

So are you strategically eliminating the nonessentials in your life? The hard part is that it often involves saying no to good things or good opportunities that are not what are best for you and your family.

Be strategic and eliminate the distractions, the nonessentials in your life and focus on what is best.

Hope you have a blessed week!
BG

In Personal Management, Recommended Blogs , , , ,
permalink

What is First Today?

July 17, 2012

Are you starting your day off with your most important priority?

If not, stop and decide what is most important and work on that project! By the way, turn off your email and cell phone while you are working on that project. Just try it, you will be surprised!

BG

In Productivity ,
permalink

Are You Saying “Yes” When You Should Say “NO”?

June 29, 2012

It has been hot here in Michigan! Up to 100 yesterday – makes me feel like I am back in the South.

Have you ever said yes to something when you should have said no? I know I have and it was almost always because of my “Fear of Man“. In other words I made decisions that were not in accordance with my worldview, beliefs or my priorities simply because I did not want to disappoint someone. The sad thing is that I often was saying yes to my job and no to my family when it should have been the other way around.

Read this article by Greg McKeown in the Harvard Business Review blog. Mr. McKeown makes three suggestions to help you learn to say no:

1. First, separate the decision from the relationship.

2. Second, watch your language

3. Third, avoid working for or with people who don’t respect your priorities.

Some decent suggestions. The main thing is to truly understand your priorities and to actually live your life in accordance with those priorities. So, learn to say No so you can yes to what is truly important.

Have fun this weekend!
BG

In Family, Personal Management ,
permalink

What Has Your Attention?

June 6, 2012

Good morning!  Hope your Wednesday is getting off to a great start

I was just reading an article on the Harvard Business Review site entitled “What Captures Your Attention Controls Your Life“. Great point and the article got me to thinking about some things – about what is it that I give my attention to?  What about you?  What has your attention?

Is it the task or the person?

Is it immediate gratification / goals / quotas or long-term benefit?

Is it your desires or the other person’s needs?

Is it your email / cellphone / social media site or the person sitting in your office talking to you?

Is it television / computer or your family?

Is it fear or hope?

Is it only your little piece of the world or a bigger slice of creation?

Is it yourself or is it Jesus?

What you pay attention to shapes you in so many ways and impacts those around you.  Be very careful of where you are focusing your attention – it matters.

BG

In Christianity, Leadership ,
permalink

ONE Way to Improve Your Productivity

March 15, 2012

Are you frustrated and wish you were more productive?  Do the important things never seem to get done?

Well, there are several things you can do to improve.  In particular, there is one thing that will help probably more than anything else and that is to do ONE thing at a time.  Multi-tasking is a myth and has become the “cool” fad for leaders.  It has been proven time and again that you are more productive if you focus your attention on one thing at a time.

Usually the best time frames for your focus are either 45 minutes or no more than 90 minutes, but if you can train yourself to focus on one thing during that time, your productivity will soar.

Check out Tony Schwartz’s blog and Harvard Business Review article on this subject.

To become more productive – do ONE thing at a time!

BG

In Creativity / Innovation, Leadership, Personal Management , ,
permalink

No versus Yes

March 1, 2012

Do you feel harried, frustrated, scattered and wish your life was simpler and more focused?

Could the problem be your choice between two very small but very powerful words?

Often when we say Yes to something, we are speaking out of a desire to please others or out of fear of displeasing others.  We say yes, because of peer pressure or pressure from our culture.  And because of these things when we say Yes, we often are going against the true priorities in our lives and even our convictions. Often our yes comes from a “fear of man“.

When we say No, it is often based on our convictions.  It takes a lot of courage to say No to a good thing that is not the best thing especially.

So maybe, the reason you are harried, frustrated, and depleted is simply because you haven’t learned how to use that tiny word No in accordance with your priorities and convictions.

Make decisions in accordance with God’s calling on your life, your convictions, your priorities – not on the “fear of man“.

BG

In Leadership , , , ,
permalink