Responsibility, Risk, Reward, Relationship, Respect

If you are young, perhaps you can consider these as you talk with your friends.  If you are old, perhaps you can teach these to the next generation.

Responsibility – Try to avoid pointing your finger at all cost, but be swift to assume responsibility.  When you are responsible with life's small things, though it involves a lot of hard work, you will quickly be given responsibility over great matters.

Risk – Overcoming the fear of taking wise risks is the only way to discover what has not yet been seen or create what has not yet been imagined.  Take a look, be sure you have prayed, and then take the leap!

Reward – Of course, reward is tied to risk, but there is something more important to remember.  Reward is tied to your heart.  Define the true reward you are seeking early in life, and be sure it is deeper and more meaningful than mere money or material wealth.  Perhaps the best way to look at reward is to measure it in terms of relationship.  At the end of the day don’t ask, “What do I have near to me?” but “Who do I have near to me?”

Relationship – Who is on the short list of people you want to be close to for the majority of your life?  Be sure to make an investment into those lives each and every week.

Respect – There is value—infinite value—in each and every human.  Take that truth very seriously and it will beautifully shape your daily decisions from the boardroom to the family room.

What Was It That You Had In Mind When You Started To Try And Do Everything?

When was the last time that you picked up a discarded gum wrapper from the street and thought to yourself, "Now this is useful?"

Or when did the coach of your favorite team rotate in the star player suffering from pneumonia and say, "Now get in there and win this thing?"

You were not meant to be exhausted and barely getting by all of the time.  If everything about you is constantly stretched and marginalized, people will eventually feel sorry for you.  In fact, when you overwork, few people, if any, will be impressed.  Rather, the world will look on and only see someone getting depleted--someone who looks less and less useful.  They won't see a champion who can do it all (that's what we often think when we push too hard), but the guy who is no longer capable of winning "this thing" like he once did.  Is that the goal you had in mind when you started to try and overachieve?

Please remember that people want you to thrive, excel, and shine.  But people also understand that you are human, and that you have limits, because they are humans too.

So, don't be the discarded gum wrapper that people avoid as it blows down the sidewalk.  It's spent, unappealing, and pretty much useless.  Be the guy who is healthy, happy, and balanced in his approach to life.  That's when your family, your following, and your fortune will be at their best.

Victims, Givers, and Jesus

A victim says, "They took my time; they took my money; they took my idea."

A giver says, "I gave my time; I gave my money; I gave my idea."

Real victims do exist and their situation renders them powerless or imprisoned and unable to change their circumstances.  The tragedy is that some embrace a victim mindset when they are neither powerless nor imprisoned.

Imagine what the world would look like if more people began to take on the mindset of a giver.

I am a follower of Jesus and that distinction happens to be one of the most profound parts of the biblical narrative.  Nowhere does it indicate that Jesus lost his life, but that he gave it, willingly, to free people from the powerlessness and imprisonment associated with sin.

No more victim mentality!

How Do You Rise Above the Noise That Is All Around?

You hear a sound and it catches your attention.  Above the steady drone of the furnace fan and the show on TV, and in spite of the kids playing loudly in the other room, you hear this faint sound.  It causes you to stop what you are doing and search.  You look to find out where it is coming from because you want to discover what it is.  And the reason it so easily grabs your ear is that it is new--a sound unlike the others that fill your ears every day.

Have you ever heard a sound like that?  It can wake you up from a deep sleep and turn your head in a crowded room.

We can learn a lot from a new sound.  It doesn't have to be obnoxious or loud.  It doesn't have to be fashioned by a research team or approved by the majority.  It simply has to be different--something new, unique, and clearly distinguishable from the noise that is all around.

So what is the sound that you were created to make today?  It can be as subtle as a pin drop and still a roaring freight train cannot hinder its impact.  It's your sound, your mark, your special contribution to the world.

A RIDDLE: I Am Not Sure That Anyone Truly Likes Me ...

I am not sure that anyone truly likes me, probably because I have so much control

Some people fear me, others have disdain for me, and others are too young to have met me, but they will

My history is somewhat convoluted, like a kite string all in knots, and almost everyone finds it hard to get a read on me

I think the funniest part is how certain people try and change me—a little here and a little there

It’s like they think they can use me but, in the end, mess with me too much, and everyone pays a price

I know it sounds ruthless, but that is my nature

One person thinks I am a friend, the other sees me as an enemy, but I am neither

I guess I am just fueled by a love for power and greed

And there is no way you can control me, at least not alone

But I will give away this one secret, and only one

If you gang up on me, you can win

If you get enough people to work together, you can tame me and turn me from the beast that I am into a simple servant of the people.

Who am I?

I am the federal tax code.

Three points of learning to eliminate bureaucracy from your organization:

• Be brief and to the point.
• Use clear and simple language and ideas (so everything would make sense to a 12-year-old).
• And always, always, always, let the rules be fashioned by people of great capacity and character.  You will know them because they have a history marked by personal success coupled with sacrifice for others.

There is nothing worse than an email exchange that should've been a meeting...

There is nothing worse than an email exchange that should've been a meeting... except maybe a meeting that could've been an email.

The question is, when to go virtual and when to go real?

Conversations, the face-to-face type, can be life-changing and engaging in a way that text messages can never hope to be.  Yet, "don't forget the milk" works so amazingly well, along with millions of other messages, in the SMS world.

Managing your virtual and real life endeavors with intention can not only make your life more efficient, but it can also save you embarrassment.

For instance, there are things that you would never say with your friends at a party--things in the "nobody-really-cares" or "nobody-really-needs-to-know" categories.  So why would you post these things to a social network?

The rule of thumb to keep in mind is that the virtual world is always and only a metaphor for real life and it should always be treated that way.

Sometimes a metaphor is powerful and other times it falls drastically short.  Understand the subtle difference and you will be way out in front of the pack.

Offers vs. Commitments: Remember That Life's Best ROI Is Always Measured in Relationship

On April 14, LinkedIn will be removing the Products and Services tab from all Company Pages.  Whoosh, just like that, it's gone.  Remember when Google stopped offering Google Apps for free to new users?  Or when Flappy Bird was brusquely yanked from the app stores?

That's how it is in life when someone is offering something, apparently for free, to large numbers of people.  Offers involve a nameless, faceless exchange and somewhere, someone is paying and looking for a self-motivated return.  Please, don't let revoked offers and similar matters define your day.

You see, maybe the problem is not that people or organizations let you down, but that you mistakenly understand their commitment as being directed toward you.  Perhaps it is directed toward greater sales, bigger numbers, reduced expenses, or less hassle, but it's usually not toward you.  If you take that to heart, you can engage in the ebbs and flows of life with much less anxiety over the changes that take you by surprise.

However, you do need to determine who is really committed to you--real people with real names and real stories.  You must also figure out to whom you are really committed--real people with real names and real stories.  If you keep in mind the fact that neither list can really ever be that big, you will begin to get a closer look at the most significant and valuable connections in your life--the circle where the return is always measured in relationship!

So go and have a great day and be sure to build the core of your life around commitments and not around offers.

How's Your Paceline? Assess Your Skills at Reproducing Yourself in Others

Have you ever watched as cyclists formed a paceline riding close behind one another so the group could travel faster and more efficiently than any one rider could alone?  This happens in other sports as well, like automobile racing, running, and even swimming.

Consider the following steps. 

STEP 1:  Stopping the Solo Ride (You Can Be More Effective as a Team)

STEP 2:  Finding the Best to Ride With You (Especially Those More Gifted Than You)
STEP 3:  Allowing Other Riders to Draft (Take the Hardships So Your Team Can Grow)
STEP 4:  Telling Them When to Move Up Front (Teach Them the Art, Science & Timing)

STEP 5:  Falling Just Behind Them and Cheering Them On (Your Affirmation Matters a Lot)

STEP 6:  Celebrating at the Finish (Don't Get Too Busy to Celebrate)

STEP 7:  Letting a New Lead Rider Continue the Cycle (That's Multiplication)
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STEP 8:  Moving to the Next Track to Do It Again (That's Great!)

Perhaps it seems so obvious, but look again.  Which steps are you missing?  What do you need to change?  What needs to happen so you can intentionally form your paceline in order to travel farther, faster, and more efficiently than you ever could have on your own?

Ultra Jumbo Discount Wings and a Lesson on Perspective

I priced raw chicken wings today.  It's not something I do often, but I love wings, and every once in a while I will cook up a batch with my family, make a few different butter-based sauces, and absolutely break every dietary rule on the books.

You should try it sometime, but just don't use wings.  They are too expensive already and, if you go for the wings, you will drive the price still higher.  

Instead, try the legs.  When I checked, they were two and in some cases three times less expensive than wings.  If you cook them just right, slather on some tasty sauce, and add some perfectly aged blue cheese dressing, it's like Buffalo heaven.

And if you have trouble with the idea, just do one more thing.  Stare at the leg for a moment and tell yourself, "That's the biggest drumette I have ever seen!"

You see, perspective is powerful.  It was consumer perspective that made the once-undesirable wing a very popular thing.  But please don't think I am advocating a focus group approach to help you make your decisions.  I am not writing about consumer perspective, but your perspective.

Sometimes you simply need to take a moment out of your busy day, step back from your problems, and change the way you look at the world.  You just might be the guy who begins selling chicken legs as ultra jumbo discount wings and, if you do, I am buying!

You Know That You're Ready to Reproduce Yourself in Others When ...

...someone walks into the room and they are faster, smarter, better looking, more educated, more charming, more secure, wittier, and all-around more capable than you are, and you begin thinking about how you might help them succeed and make a difference.

This kind of scenario happens all the time and the gut reaction of far too many of us would be to try and find flaws in this new person in order to, in some weird way, maintain our status and feel better about ourselves.

But maybe, just maybe, this is your day to become a multiplier, and to begin giving away (not selling) your very best so that it can travel far beyond your limited reach.  You see, the new person might seem way more capable, but they don't have the wisdom and insight that can only come from your story and your experience.  

And I've done the math.  You will always have a far, far greater impact on the world if you not only regenerate good things in other people, but if you insist that they, too, do the same.