To Serve well

Serving with Excellence for a Life of Excellence

To Serve Well

The small moments become the big memories

Cheering on a baby walking for the first time…

Encouraging the completion of a sentence in “Goodnight Moon.”

Celebrating family birthdays every year.

Raising a glass in honor of your friends.

Snapping a photo of the season’s first snow fall.

This is the last of this brief series on the importance of celebrations. It seemed appropriate to point out that celebrating and honoring others should be a consistent effort for each of us. I feel that it’s in the small moments we capture the essence of life, and that is where we ultimately feel the abundance it has to offer.

This week, I hope you will:

  • Jump on the bed…
  • Make time for a good ol’ fashioned pillow fight…
  • Go get cupcakes or ice cream, just for the fun of it…
  • Honor a teacher or coach with a meaningful message or small gift…
  • Thank the barista at your local coffee shop for waking early every day…
  • Throw a spontaneous dance party to the unexpected audience (even if it’s just your pets)…
  • Celebrate yourself for being the intentional badass that you are, slaying your goals every day….

What ways could you bring the celebration of small moments to your life?

Today, I celebrate each of you!

Confetti & a dance party: We are called to celebrate

Simple Thoughts Sunday

We are so much better when we praise. When we call out the light in others. When we express gratitude and let our love pour out to others. Doing that is pure CELEBRATION of all that God has provided for us! What’s great is that this doesn’t just sound good but it’s actually God’s idea, as you can see in the scripture above.

  • Party hats
  • Hands raised
  • Confetti
  • Bringing out the good wine
  • An all out dance party

All is wildly important. Our world is crazy awesome despite what the world may try to tell you sometimes. The people who God has surrounded us all with are truly good and helpful. (Short a very small handful that I am convinced are here mostly to refine our ability to overcome even the craziest encounters we may face. And maybe to add humor!)

Celebration is a form of praise.

Praise is a form of gratitude!

Gratitude is acknowledgement that you recognize that life is a gift.

That gift is meant to be shared with others. Celebrate them early and often!

Thanking God for each of you right now! Have an incredible week.

Avoid regret at all costs

Wow. Doesn’t the idea in the quote totally push you to think?

“I could have been amazing… I could have had more impactful days, full of love and positive energy… I could have….”

What areas of your life does this apply to? Your health?

“I could have been magnificent… optimizing my physical and mental health… but I didn’t like the discomfort of pushing myself… I was afraid my body couldn’t handle it.”

What about your tribe and your relationships?

“I could have made that call to repair that relationship… but I was afraid it would end up bad.”

Your finances?

“I could have made time to plan… meet with advisors that have experience on the topic… but I thought those professionals were only for people with more money than I have.”

This goes on. Our minds have this powerful ability to create pathways of fear that stop us from living our best lives. They may seem to be meaningless or fleeting thoughts, yet they creep in and somehow stop us from:

  • Increasing that work out routine and feeling ever more energy and vibrancy
  • Allowing ourselves to be truly happy in a relationship
  • Making that appointment to ensure our financial world will allow us to retire at some realistic point

This is a crazy powerful message. Let’s hold each other accountable to not allowing fear to impact our lives. I fully believe god intended us to thrive so that we can help those around us do the same. We are only better together if we are healthy ourselves!

Meet Myra – When opportunity is really a gift

Chance. Happenstance. Serendipity. Call it what you want, but sometimes you meet someone and truly feel like you may have encountered an angel, or perhaps you think of them as an unexpected gift. I had the opportunity just two weeks ago while traveling and I have to say, I still am feeling the energy from that introduction.

Here’s the thing: I probably only talked to Myra for 30 minutes, if that. (I share that because many times, I feel the best gifts come in the what seems small or seemingly-meaningless moments, and yet if we really allow ourselves to feel, we realize it was a great gift.) She greeted me in the corridors and we shared a walk to our next session. I then seemed to run into her several more times… Her smile, passion for life itself and her commitment to her health and wellbeing literally radiated around her.

Myra is 78 and from New York City where she’s led a full but hectic life. By my recollection of her story, she had been traveling to Canyon Ranch (where our program was) in Arizona for over 20 years. Somewhere early on in those years she decided her health and wellbeing (emotional, spiritual etc) were connected and that she would resolve to live her days out fully committed to being her best self in those areas of her life. Perhaps I saw myself in her story… realizing that her wisdom was something I needed to tune into?

I’m not sure yet what the purpose was for our introduction. Maybe when I go back next year I will meet Myra again and the story will unfold. Regardless, it occurred to me that there is opportunity around us each day if we open our eyes, minds and hearts to the many blessings and gifts that we are given. That simple handshake introduction today to a new colleague, that new staff member at your local restaurant or gas station, the person sitting next to you at your next event… They may be just the gift you need to inspire you to move your life to the next level. We never really know, but to me, it’s worth it every single time to greet someone with care, a spirit of love and a listening ear.

Have an amazing wrap to your week! GO CHIEFS!

Bring on the best days

I so loved the quote in the image above because I felt the sense of urgency in the message. I don’t know about you, but the days seem to go increasingly fast, and the desire to make those full of light and joy seems really important…almost critical.

Before we dive into some ideas on “running” to lovely and GREAT days (I like that better than walking-), we should first try to identify what that day looks like for us. Here are just a few thoughts/questions to get your minds tracking….

  • What does my schedule need to look like to ensure my attention is on things that really matter? (How much margin do I need to really thrive?)
  • How can I best feel like I “slayed” the day while honoring myself (i.e… not over-scheduling, sacrificing your health…) and in being in support of others?
  • What will give me the highest level of energy return?

So… now that you know some thoughts on what a great day might look like for you, how can you RUN toward that joy? A few ideas off of the top…

  • Be all in – make a commitment to be fully present in each moment.
  • Elevate every room you walk in with a smile and friendly greeting.
  • Get out there! Get into environments such as nature that bring you energy…
  • Listen to amazing music! “Walk like an Egyptian” anyone?
  • Call someone who makes you laugh…

Please add to the list! We would all love your ideas! I hope you find yourself RUNNING to MORE and MORE LOVELY DAYS.

The radical, strategic mind

Happy almost weekend! As we wrap up the week, I’m mindful that with school back in session, those of us in the workplace 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!

Rewind! This is a throwback post!

Be a force for love

I’m attending a leadership “edge” program this week so I’m going to keep this super short. The whole week is focused on wellness. The idea is that by focusing on wellness, we might find our own “edge” in being the best in this life. I’m pretty stoked about that idea. 

Being a force for love requires energy. I love this photo because it conjures up thoughts of a team working together – in unity – building optimal energy for their sport.

The sport of life is no different. Getting ourselves to a strong base level, and then locking arms with a team or community to unify around a goal, is perhaps the most profound work we can do as human beings.

The goal may be…

  • Raising up the next generation;
  • Teaching, coaching, advising;
  • Sharing our story with the hope of being in service to others; and
  • Creating innovations that help our communities thrive (including infrastructure needs and aging, providing healthy transitions from one season to the next).

So many opportunities to be a force of love. But first, optimizing our own health and wellness. We must start with finding our core strength: mind, body and spirit, and build from there. 

Have such an amazing week.

Charging the gates with courage

My favorite colleague at work shared this quote with me. I am certain I’ve heard it before, but I had forgotten it along the way. It is classic Churchill, encouraging us to be strong in the midst of tough challenges. His “courage” dictum also found in this one you may have heard…

“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, some time in your life” 

This work friend is fierce and a wonderful role model of effectively forging ahead against tough conversations. We all need to dismantle barriers and biases (and sometimes address the proverbial “elephant” in the room). She does this with finesse and elegance. It’s a gift, and one I feel we all need to polish up on.

Here’s what I have found so far: Courage takes an ongoing commitment to be true to what you know is the best for you, the team, etc. It takes dedication to not just “dial it in,” but to carefully craft a response, an approach, a business case if you will, to highlight your point of view. To counteract the conversation… to impact a decision that may well impact many others. We all have this inside gut check when we know that we need to come out from behind our desks and take that meeting, even when there may well be “dog barking” at the door. May we work toward being courageous.

I’d love to know your strategies. In the meantime, I am going to keep this quote close. It is inspiring and will help drive me toward the best in every conversation regardless of what opposition I may face.

Rewind! This post is a throwback to last summer, but timely and inspiring likely in any season of every year.

The happiness blog

What a wonderful question! So… what do you think? Who are you with when you are the happiest? 

Do you feel warm and settled in with family? Game night? Holidays? A simple stroll through the neighborhood, sharing about your day? 

Perhaps you’re happiest when grabbing a cup of coffee with a trusted confidant?

Or maybe it’s adventuring the world with your best friend? 

Better yet – riding down a country road with a great playlist while your dog enjoys the breeze out the back window?

Happy? What does it even mean, and does it really matter? To me it is feeling free to be fully myself; to have someone share the full experience of life… bringing the fun and adventurous in one moment, and diving into a deep conversation in the next. (For the record, Merriam-Webster showcases happy as contentment, well-being, glad, pleased, atmosphere of fellowship.)  All of that sounds okay but for me not enough... happy should be pure and bold joy!

And regarding the whole “does it matter” part: of course it does! I hope your heart would give a resounding YES to that question, but in case you didn’t know, the topic is backed by science. A 2005 paper found that happiness predicts lower heart rates and blood pressure. In the study, participants rated their happiness over 30 times in one day, and then again three years later – a significant study. Your happiness level also impacts productivity. Researchers find that there is a 12 percent increase in productivity when people are happy and a 10 percent decrease when unhappy. I don’t know about you but I can’t afford to lose 10 percent of my days. (These are only a couple of studies… if you need more reason I’d be happy to fill up your inbox… think lowering stress, improving immunity, etc.).

All of that information was not surprising to me at all, but nevertheless, powerful if you take it in fully. I hope that in some way, bringing this to your attention prompts you to shift your focus on understanding what and who makes you the happiest. For me, it is worth my time and energy because life is fleeting, as we were all reminded this week with the tragedies happening across our nation and even locally. I want to spend every minute I can with those that help me thrive and grow! 

So… it seems like a really good time to consider stirring up some happiness! How about calling that amazing friend and scheduling a summer sunset experience or perhaps a long chat on one of the many great patios around town. The options are endless.

Have an incredible week!