Do You Have A Couple Of Minutes

When Making Decisions Keep the End in Mind.  Be discerning so that the expected outcome is what results, versus an unintended consequence.  Don't take the easy way out, take time to do the work.

In this episode we talk about making short-term decisions with undesired long term consequences, versus making decisions that best serve our long term strategy.

#DoYouHaveACoupleOfMinutes #Think #Learn #Grow #Fulfilled #Experience #Circumstances #Mentors #Confidence #Discenrment #EndInMind #End #NoShortCuts #DoTheWork 

November Challenge 2022 - Remember to give yourself a compliment, 2 minutes of gratitude, 5 minutes of goal focus, give someone else a compliment or show them appreciations, and take some time to celebrate you today!

Are you Managing Your Frame of Reference?  Today's topic is around the impact of a frame of reference and being intentional about managing what you can.  Our experiences and those around us influence how we see and interpret things.  As we get older, we have more control over who we intentionally want to be a part of our frame of reference and the experiences we choose to have that help enrich our perspective.

#DoYouHaveACoupleOfMinutes #Think #Learn #Grow #Fulfilled #Experience #Circumstances #Mentors #Confidence #FrameOfReference #Influence #interpret #Perspective

Remember the November Challenge!

Can you be your best and be authentic without compromise.  That is the topic we discuss today.  Becoming our best selves is an evolution.  

#DoYouHAveACoupleofMinutes #Best #Authentic #Personaldevelooment #mentor #coach #leadership #Listen #Inspire #Encourage #sponsor #Advise #Develop #NovemberChallenge #Thanksgiving #ShowUpOpen #Think #Learn #Grow #Fulfilled 

Don' forget our November challenge of doing these five things daily: Compliment yourself, 2 minutes of gratitude, 5 minutes of goal focus, give someone a compliment or show them appreciation, celebrate you!

Recently, I was consulting with some people on some workplace relational dynamics and I was reminded of how little things and word choice make a big difference.  In this situation, a well meaning leader pointed out all the good an employee was doing and then used the word "but" to transition to all of the employees opportunities for improvement.  When we use he word "but' it minimizes and can even negate what was positively expressed before.  So today, I want to remind you about speaking to be heard in the spirit of open communication that can be applied for progress versus speaking in a way that does not result in the desired outcome of improvement and progress. 

As leaders, mentors, friends, and influencers, it is important that we not only remember the why and what of passing along information and direction, we must pay attention to the how.  When we pay attention to how we will deliver the message, and when we are intentional about our word choices and behavior, it allows us to be more effective in our communication.  We must do all we can so that the message is heard and that the words we use to uplift maintain their value.  Be careful about the use of the work "but" and all the words you choose, so that our communication has the desired impact.

#Inspiring Topics to help you #Think #Learn #Grow and live more #Fulfilled #Littlewordsmeansalot  #mentor #leader #leaders #DoYouHaveACoupleOf Minutes #Encourage #Advise #Advice #Listen #Develop #Growth #ProfessionalDevelopment #WorkplaceDynamics #Words #WordChoice #?Intention #Communication #Manage #Improvement #OFI #But #influencers #influencer #mentor #NovemberChallenge

Reminder of our November Challenge - Compliment yourself daily, two minutes of gratitude daily, five minutes of goal focus daily, give someone a compliment or share your appreciation for them, celebrate yourself.

Let's talk about checking our dashboards.  Dashboards are all the rage in running business so that we can see what is going on.  Of course, we are likely initially familiar with the term dashboard from driving a car. Have you ever been driving on the open road or perhaps taking commuter transport and you get lost in your thoughts.  Before you know it you've passed your exit or stop.  Or maybe you've missed the most convenient opportunity to fill up on gas or to stop off to get your morning coffee.  Just like we try to maintain awareness when going from physical location to physical location, it's important for us to maintain awareness during our life journey.  Sometimes, that might mean preparing for an opportunity, sometimes it means taking advantage of an opportunity, sometimes it may mean taking time to "fill-up" or "tune up" for the journey ahead.  Sometimes we get warning lights and it's important we pay attention to those warnings so as not to cause undesired harm.  In addition to helping us with warnings, dashboards also provide information about our experience.  How many miles have we gone, what is our direction of travel, what is our rate of speed,  where it the next rest point.  There is a lot that can be gained by checking the dashboard if we know how to use it.  So what are things in your life, you can use to check in, to take care of yourself.  If we take care of ourselves, we will be prepared to make the journey.

#DoYouHaveACoupleOfMinutes #Think #Learn #Grow #Fulfilled #Experience #Circumstances #Mentors #Confidence #Failure #Disappointments #Change #Redirection #Perspective #Dashboard #SelfCare #Direction

Reminder of our November Challenge - Compliment yourself daily, two minutes of gratitude daily, five minutes of goal focus daily, give someone a compliment or share your appreciation for them, celebrate yourself.

Sometimes we unknowingly let our past limit us.  So it is important to take inventory of our circumstances in order to let go of limitations from our past.  Our minds are a powerful force that can work for us and against us. I have heard that baby elephants are trained not to wander away by being chained to a post until they begin to avoid the resistance of the chain, and then a rope can be used - a rope that they could break, but don't because they have been conditioned to avoid the resistance of the restraint.  Similarly, there is a story of a woman who cut off the end of her roast before cooking it, she did this because her mother did it and her grandmother did it.  Her grandmother had only done it because her roasting pan was too small at the time!  These are both examples of the past limiting the future.

We have experiences in personal relationships and in professional relationships, that can sometimes result in conditioned behavior that doesn't serve our future. It's important for us to take inventory of these things, so that we can learn the lessons that we can from those experiences and move on.  We can also test the lessons we learned early to understand if they are still valid in our current circumstances.  When we can let go of self-imposed limitations or faulty limits we have received from others, we can then become free to experience greater fulfillment.

#DoYouHaveACoupleOfMinutes #Think #Learn #Grow #Fulfilled #Experience #Circumstances #Mentors #Confidence #LetGoOfLimitations #NoLimits #BrightFuture #LimitingMindset #LimitlessMindset #Change #Redirection #Perspective

Reminder of our November Challenge - Compliment yourself daily, two minutes of gratitude daily, five minutes of goal focus daily, give someone a compliment or share your appreciation for them, celebrate yourself.

I've always tried to see things from various angles.  I think this is because it helped me to understand things a bit more, including understanding that a circumstance or situation may impact people differently.  "Failure" is one of those things.  People can feel defeated by failure, while others may be driven to do better because of something identified as failure.  Sometimes, I think failure may not be the best description for the things we face in life.  Perhaps, most failures are disappointments of things not turning out or progressing the way we had hoped in that moment. Perhaps those disappointments are helping to point us toward learning, understanding, ore a certain direction.  Maybe those disappointments are helping to reinforce the things we can and cannot control and that understanding may allow us to make better decisions, to take control where we can, to move on where we cannot make positive impact or change.

So today I want to ask you what your perspective is on failure?  Will you see things called failure as limiting or illuminating.   Will you see failure as a disappointment of a vision, and a pathway to the next step in your life? We can get past disappointments, we can learn from them, we can share them so that others can benefit from understanding the path we have successfully navigated.  Let's use "failures" as motivation for change - change of mind, change of action, of both.

#DoYouHaveACoupleOfMinutes #Think #Learn #Grow #Fulfilled #Experience, #Circumstances #Mentors #Confidence #Failure #Disappointments #Change #Redirection #Perspective

Reminder of our November Challenge - Compliment yourself daily, two minutes of gratitude daily, five minutes of goal focus daily, give someone a compliment or share your appreciation for them, celebrate yourself.

Yesterday, I talked a bit about sailing and steering the ship, however, a big component of sailing has to do with the conditions of the wind and the condition and positions of the sails.  The stronger the wind, the faster the sail boat can go...as long as the sails are in the right position.  And in order for the the sailboat to be able to take advantage of the conditions it needs an experienced crew.  It takes time to become an expert at moving the sails and understanding the benefit and potential dangers of weather conditions.

Similarly in life, it take time to understand how to manage various circumstances.  The past few weeks I was reminded of the importance of experience in handling circumstances.  There were some circumstances and important matters to be taken care of, but the circumstances were new for some.  When circumstances are new to us, we can get overwhelmed because we are not quite sure what needs to be done, what might go wrong, and what the consequences of something going wrong might be.  With experience, we learn those things, and we also learn to approach new things critically and more quickly assess potential impacts.  This experience allows us to bring calm to situation, that might otherwise seem overwhelming and chaotic.

Experience is a great teacher, and when we can share our experience with others, it helps provide them with new perspective to use in evaluating unfamiliar circumstances.  Over time, it will also help build a skill set of how to approach new situations and circumstances critically and confidence will increase. Lean on your experience and the experience of others to help handle unfamiliar circumstances with calm and confidence.

#DoYouHaveACoupleOfMinutes #Think #Learn #Grow #Fulfilled #Experience, #Circumstances #Mentors #Confidence

Reminder of our November Challenge - Compliment yourself daily, two minutes of gratitude daily, five minutes of goal focus daily, give someone a compliment or share your appreciation for them, celebrate yourself.

Small Changes can have big impact.  Think of how a rudder on a ship impact the ship or how someone steering a car causes it to go one way or another. These are great metaphors for life.  in life the small changes we make over time can add up and help us get to where we want to go OR they can lead to us being off course.  However, the principle of making changes is a constant.  So we always have the opportunity to make change and move toward heading in our desired direction.

Take some time to think about the many choices you make in life.  Think about the things you want for yourself.  What are some small things you are doing that over time will compound to help propel you in the direction you want to go?  Are you making decisions that in contrast with what you want for yourself?  If so, what are some course corrections you can make.

Remember small changes add up over time.  Change is a constant.  Figure out the change you control and act wit intention.

#DoYouHaveACoupleOfMinutes #Think #Learn #Grow #Fulfilled #Change #SamllChangeBigimpat #Decisions #Direction #Path #CourseCorrect #Opportunity #ChangeIsAConstant #LifeChoices #ForwardMomentum

The November Experiment - Five Daily Practices: Compliment yourself, two minutes of gratitude, five minutes of goal focus, compliment or appreciate someone, celebrate you.

On My Mind - Use the Present! Have you ever received a gift and failed to use it? It doesn't invalidate the gift, the gift becomes an unused opportunity. I think COVID and technology have given us some gifts of connection and collaboration, however, some people are so focused on going backwards to "normal" that they fail to realize the fullness of the present right in front of them.  I lam reminded of a story I have heard several times in a sermon, where a person was trapped on the roof of their home by flood water and called on God to save them.  Someone came by in a boat, and in a helicopter, but the person refused to go because they did not believe that was how God would respond.  Had they accepted the gift of the present, they could have escaped the roof!

In life, it is important that we pay attention to the present.  Some of the things that can help us grow and live in fullness, may not present themselves as we had anticipated.  Nonetheless, if we accept the present and use it, it an help propel us toward our dreams, goals, and fullness.  And not just us, but those who we serve and have responsibility for. Use the present  - put it to good use!

#DoYouHaveACoupleOfMinutes #Think #Learn #Grow #Fulfilled #Present #PayAttention #Fullness  #dreams #goals