To Serve well

Serving with Excellence for a Life of Excellence

Bold

Stand TALL, shoulders BACK – Bringing a spirit of boldness to your week

Don’t you kind of love this image? STAND TALL, SHOULDERS BACK… TAKING A POSITION OF BRAVERY… “Owning It” Days like that are awesome. Seasons like that are something to behold. You know what? We can actually take this stance every single day. That is a personal decision.

I have often talked about this idea of making a “pre-decision.”  It’s a concept I picked up a few years back from my favorite author, Mark Batterson. Most key aspects of our lives depend on our ability to make a decision of how we want to show up. So, how do you want to show up this week?

The term “bravado” actually traces back to an old Italian adjective: bravo, meaning courageous, among other meanings. This is how I like to think of it: Courage with a touch of swagger; deciding to show up with confidence in what one brings to the table.

What are you sure of today?

What gifts, skills or personality traits do you have that energize you and make this world better? Are you a great storyteller, like my dad? Do you have that ability to light up a room immediately, like my friend Tiffany? Do you make everyone around you feel better by always offering a kind word, like my friend Gloria? Are you the hardest worker in the room? A skilled negotiator? A philanthropist always focused on bettering our community? A master gardener? Whatever you have been gifted with, put your shoulders back and own it. We need what you have to offer. Decide that this week, you are going all in with a position of boldness.

Simple Thoughts Sunday: God meets you at the level of your expectation

I heard this strong message last week and it captured me. The very thought that God meets us where we are is not only comforting, but galvanizing. Whether we are in a mode of praise and gratitude or on a path of seeking and searching… He is there. If we are boldly moving forward with fresh thinking and new plans… He is there. If we find ourselves in a matter of hours (or moments) circulating through emotions of love and struggle… He will also meet us there if we are open to Him.

If we for some reason cannot get to our faith, we can build on a committed focus in 3 key areas (although I’m sure there are many more – so consider this a start):

  1. Surrounding ourselves with a community of people who are able to lift us up and provide both celebration and accountability.
  2. Prayer. No matter if it’s a two word prayer (i.e. “help me”) or a specific and verbose prayer – prayer is POWERFUL.
  3. Reading, listening to or watching messages that contain scripture and teachings that encourage our faith and help us grow in our understanding. One great benefit of our generation is that we have access to almost any type of media available that helps us however we learn best. I love that.

I hope that your faith will grow this week and that it is truly a week of happiness and extreme joy! Let’s all raise our expectations and allow God to step in with whatever we need right now.

Simple Thoughts Sunday: Why acts of kindness belong at the top of our to-do list

“Outdo one another in honor.” Romans 12:10

This verse… is my life verse. This verse has the power to change the world alone. It gives us clear instruction to be devoted to one another in love and honor. It showcases that our humanity is here to help each other rise above and face both challenges and celebrations by turning our attention off of ourselves and on to the people God surrounded us with…even if we may not support their approach or their actions.

My dear friend Mindy Corporon is the most courageous and honoring person I know. Mindy’s story is known by many in our community, and now around the world. Her son and father – along with another lady in Kansas City – were brutally killed 5 years ago by a man whose life was infiltrated with hate. Her choice was to focus on the above – to love and to develop understanding, ultimately allowing her to get to honor. That’s a heavy story and the boldest example of what it means to love even though we flat out don’t want to. The significance of that cannot be described.

A part of this journey has resulted in the Faith Always Wins Foundation and this week’s Seven Days – Make a ripple, change the world. This week is set aside each year to bring our community together to focus on how we get to love and honor by raising our awareness of our differences and embrace all who are walking this journey with us.

The Seven Days events culminate tomorrow night with the Seven Days Faith and Love Walk. The focus that day is ONWARD. The power of locking arms with each other is profound. The back of the t-shirt for the event is perfect: #HeyWhatsYourRippleOfKindness. I hope you will consider grabbing a friend and join us at the WW1 Museum and Memorial at 6 p.m. It’s a short walk and the community engagement will strengthen your hope and infuse your life with love.

Acts of kindness are the ultimate example of living this out. They bring hope to the room, elevate the energy around us and even save lives.

So hey, what’s your act of kindness going to be? I think we need to start each day with this at the top of our to do list. With Easter week upon us, there is not a better time to spread love in every space we enter. Have the best week!

Simple Thoughts Sunday: What, God? What are you trying to teach me?

As most of the folks who hang with me know, I am committed to my faith and believe 100% that God is guiding me and all of us along our relative paths. I believe that we don’t encounter lessons that won’t be used to help provide a light for our path. That we don’t meet people we aren’t supposed to love and serve in some way.

I want to admit today that I have had many life moments that have left me wondering years later what the intended lesson was. What in the world am I supposed to learn from this? How do I grow, and how can I understand it more clearly? Perhaps, on this side of heaven, we don’t get that opportunity. Perhaps I’m not patient or haven’t arrived yet at the right timing. I’ve found that’s why it’s called faith.

There is fairly common scripture, “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans for good, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Today, regardless of what is going on in your life and where life has taken you, I pray that you will join me in believing that there is a plan and that the plan is for your good. I believe that it is for you to achieve your best self – the you that feels pure joy and love surrounding you deeply.

Cheering you on. Bold prayers my friends, bold prayers.

You could have, but you didn’t… (Raising our level of awareness to achieving our best selves)

Hmmm… this question is haunting a bit, right?

You could have…. what?

Worked out? Made that call? Sent that note? Finished that project? Started that new company? Ate healthier? Chose to drink more water? Spent less time online? Read more books? Signed up for that class? Started the hobby you have always wanted to take on? Wrote down your goals? Sought out help for that challenge that keeps you up at night? Called that local government official to exercise your right to be heard?

The list goes on.

What is it about the nature of humans that we do not always execute on what we know we want, or need, to do? Is it time, fear, laziness, avoidance? Why allow the distractions to overcome our precious time?

I don’t have the answers… Dr. Google does, though.

Here’s my insight for today: We have been given this one amazing life. We can choose to use our gifts and talents, to put our heart and soul into action.

I worry we succumb to distraction so easily that we are marginalizing ourselves. I know I can do better. I’d love to hear other thoughts here…

Have a fantastic week!

Power in the wait

Waiting for the big trip to finally arrive…

Waiting for the big game…

Waiting for the big test…

Waiting to get your first real job…

Waiting to find those people that make you better…

Waiting to watch the daylight fall into the night sky…

The “power in the wait” is beautiful. The preparation, the holding on… it makes us better, more resilient, more determined, more focused. It is in the wait that we are able to go a bit deeper than we thought possible. Pushing ourselves past those self-imposed limits and adjusting our thoughts to the “what ifs,” realizing that it truly will all end up as designed. I have always felt that God has us exactly where we are supposed to be in any given situation, relationship or assignment. We wait, we learn, we grow. We continue with this cycle and if we are smart, cherishing these periods and recognizing that they help us ultimately achieve our best self. Being our best self is what allows us to serve each other well. It is beautiful. Whatever you may be “waiting” on today, my prayer is that you will anticipate it fearlessly and with passion, fully aware that the universe is cheering you on.

Have an amazing week my friends.

Elevating your game takes wonder (oh, and maybe a little pain)

Elevating your game, “leveling up” or taking ground… all require grit, guts and all a heavy dose of creativity and for sure wonder. Many times, that requires us to get a bit bruised in the process.

The quote in the photo refers to Harry Houdini, the world-famous magician. He forever upped his game and worked toward creating genius in his work. In this story, he was trying to figure out how a peer walked a tightrope… he unfortunately learned the hard way (i.e. losing his front teeth) that there are better ways to do this.

Of course you get the main part of that story, but what about the reference to “wonder?” Did you catch that? In Gino’s recent book, ‘Rebel Talent,’ she embarks on just why being a rebel is important. One part I love is her chapter educating us to always strive to have people on our teams (including ourselves) that generate wonder. Those people on the team that may seem to be drifting off, coming up with a different way to look at “things” to help us to see a different “angle.” Pointing out the “what ifs” is an important contribution to any impactful team or project. I would say, even at home.

She shares a story of her toddler son wanting to put food coloring in his cereal. His dad immediately saying, “we don’t do that,” and then their collective awakening: “why not?” Why can’t we have colored milk? Who made up the rule that this is not a good thing? What a simple yet perfect example. How often do we say, “We can’t do that,” or “we don’t do that in this family,” or “our rules don’t allow that in the workplace?” etc.

We should carefully question our tendency to shut down creativity and empowerment in many situations. After all, wonder is often what takes us to the next level. Breaking the “rules” and pushing boundaries (within reason of course…) is what brought us the light bulb, the mobile phone, Facebook, Uber, Amazon… you get the point.

Get out the crayons and paper and allow yourself and your family/work place/community group to exercise their creativity and wonder.  It may get messy, but you might just make something beautiful!

The Radical, Strategic Mind

Happy almost weekend! As we wrap up the week, I’m mindful that with school pretty much back in session, those of us in the work place are also gearing up for a strong end of the year play.

To me, this season is sort of like January where we rise to the occasion and develop tactical strategies on how to achieve our professional goals. Come to think of it, we do this for our lives in general as well. It’s the ideal time to assess our wins so far for the year, and those areas where we haven’t hit the stride mark yet. The great news for all of us of course is we have more than a quarter of the year left — that’s plenty of time to regain perspective, strength and eventually hit the ball out of the park so to speak.

So what is a radical, strategic mind to you? For me, it’s getting out of the norm in thinking and allowing ourselves to be truly creative… to paint outside the lines. It is a fundamental difference in how we view whatever challenge is in front of us. Radical minds are those that are the voices of social and political change advocates, and those that often make the greatest impact.

The end of summer is a great time to fire up the mind. In theory, we had time to rest a bit and soak up some sunshine, and our minds and bodies should be prepared for a higher level of energy. My personal game plan is to identify a few key areas — for me, likely career and relationships — to focus on for the year-end wrap up.

Asking the right questions is critical right now:

How can I maximize my time to ensure I achieve my goals?

What areas can I “cut” or reduce so I can make more time for what is important?

What are the “must haves” that I have?

Who are the people I need to connect with?

What projects must get off of the ground? Are there some that I can move to next year? Why do they matter? Who can help me achieve these? 

What is a different approach that may be better?

Those are some of mine. How about you?

Have a wonderful weekend!

Why do we settle?

This quote is from Brendon Burchard, The Motivation Manifesto. I’m kind of savoring this one right now. His writing is brilliant. (Apologies for the super long quote in the photo, but I just had to include the whole thing because to me it’s perfect.)

Here’s the message I took so strongly from this: Like the cattle in the middle of the road, not knowing their direction, we often do the same. We stand in neutral and don’t take on the full glory of our potential. We all have this amazing creative bent, and we should go after our dreams and desires. No seriously. We really need to think about this and consider if we are in the middle of the proverbial road more often than we’d like.

I like the idea of unlimited abundance. Just imagine the pure power in that for a moment… how cool!

Have a strong wrap to your week! I’m cheering you on!

Enthusiasm: Get your week off to a rousing start

Today I lean on Tom Peters and his leadership wisdom to offer you some of what I think is absolutely BRILLIANT. In fact, I think this is a game changer for all of us. Here is a brief excerpt from his new read, The Excellence Dividend:

“NFL coaches carefully script the first few plays of the game, aiming to get off to a good start. Of course, the details of the plan will likely fall through long before play number ten.  But the scripts aims to set the course.

Beginnings are everything. A solid research finding, not a slogan. So start the week off on the right foot.

Do NOT — come hell AND high water — let the first 45 minutes of the week slip by without decisive impact. (Mr. Peters using a lot of exclamation points, bold lettering and all caps to stress his point.)

A week is a precious unit of measure. And a week is a story, a novella — it has a beginning, middle, and end. Sweating BIG-TIME on the beginning is crucial to all that follows.

Next Monday: Script your first five to ten plays (i.e. carefully launch every day or week in a purposeful fashion.)”

As always, I hope this is useful to at least one of you wonderful people. For those of you following this blog closely and read about my mom last Thursday, this particular blog pushes into perspective that we really must value our days and weeks. Our moments are precious and we can impact lives and serve so much better if we do so with intention.

(My mother is progressing slightly, so as her brain repairs itself, we continue to hope for God’s will. We greatly value all of you who have reached out.)