Reflection Riding

This is one of my favorite photos from our trip to Chattanooga last weekend, taken at Reflection Riding, a nature center surrounded by natural beauty. It reminds me of the transition from old to new, looking from what's current, dieing off, to the promise of new growth and beauty in the near future. We just have to step into it.

We were delighted by these 3 horses, led out from the barn in mid-afternoon. As soon as they were let loose, the two black ones threw themselves on the their backs, rolling in the grass, obviously enjoying themselves. After the white one munched a while he did the same. Happy to be free to do as they pleased.  

Friends that do

We had a wonderful weekend in Ooltewah, TN, with our dear friends Beverly & Bill. At 82 and 85, they are going strong, volunteering, caring for others who are ill, driving, cooking, delivering, playing cards and word games with friends, and very active in their church. What role models they are for active aging! Both are avid readers, enjoy going new places, discussing current events, maintain relationships with family and friends their age and younger (like us!). They are flattered that we want to spend time with them, yet we feel honored to be among their friends and hope we will be as vibrant as they are as we age. Their key to success? They always give of themselves, do for others, are open to others’ perspectives, willing to give the benefit of the doubt, pray for those they love and those they are concerned about. They say they don’t do anything special, but the difference is that they “do” – they don’t just think or talk about it, they take action. They never stop learning. That’s what I want to be like as I to grow up.

In Jamaica

I'm in Jamaica again for another leadership practices inventory workshop with the police dept. My seat mate today on American Airlines was an entrepreneur who introduced Jamaican "Tastee patties" to Belize and his business is doing well. Took 2 years of working 14-15 hour days, six days a week, to get it up and running, and now, a few years later, he is able to live in Jamaica while his business thrives in Belize with his brother running the daily operation. I love hearing stories like his. I asked him what he does as a leader that makes his employees enjoy working with him. He said he pitches in wherever needed -- from cooking to cleaning up -- so his employees know what is important to him.

I'm looking forward to finding out what is important to the leaders in my workshop tomorrow.

Elevate the Leader in You

Would you like to elevate the leader in you? Whether you lead only yourself or thousands, these four actions will help you be a successful leader.

1. Develop your vision for what is possible. See it in your mind’s eye in detail. Hear it. Smell it. Taste it. Feel it. Make it so clear, it makes you smile. Vision it every day for one minute. (Longer is better, but one minute can make difference.)

2. Communicate your vision. Talk about it in ways that stimulate others to want to help you make it happen. This is the hardest of the five practices of exemplary leaders, according to Kouzes and Posner in The Leadership Challenge. If talking about it feels uncomfortable, continue visioning. The clearer your vision, the easier it is to talk compellingly because you’ll be excited about its possibilities.

3. Collaborate. You can’t do it alone. One of my clients wants to make things happen and has great ideas and energy, but has not talked with his team about his vision for what is possible. Sure, he could do some things himself, but the outcomes will be enriched with collaboration. Plus, by collaborating with his team, he models what he wants them to do when working with other departments to make things happen for the good of the organization.

4. Believe in You. This is probably the most important. No one becomes truly successful without believing in themselves and their possibilities. You don’t have to be effusive. Just remind yourself every day that if you can think it, you can do it. Then go back to #1 and vision yourself doing it.

To learn more about what you can do to be a better leader of yourself and others, contact me to discuss coaching or arranging for one of my seminars:
Believe in You
Elevate the Leader in You
The Leadership Challenge
Streamline Your Time with Outlook

Keep in mind: “Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.” ~Warren G. Bennis

Prioritizing saves time

Are you doing what is most important today? You made a list, right? And prioritized it? I made mine but didn’t add the #s. So, each time I looked at it, I picked what to do next. What a waste of time! If I had prioritized it, I would have breezed through the top 5.

Prioritizing ensures that you tackle the most important first. As interruptions occur throughout the day, you quickly weigh whether they are more important than your next highest priority. If they are, take care of them and then return to your list. If a crisis hits and you can’t get back to what you planned, you’re OK because you already tackled 1, 2, 3.

Most people want to be more organized. One way to test if you’re on track is to check in with yourself. Listen to your inner voice. Is it saying “What are you doing?????” Or, “Sure, this is good. Do it.” Trust your inner guide to help you focus on what is most important. Sometimes shifting gears is the best thing to do. It just happened to me.

I started to write this message about my seminars: Believe in You, Elevate the Leader in You and The Leadership Challenge. But I was interrupted, and my inner guide encouraged me to shift my message to the importance of prioritizing.

Success pivots on relationships

What do you do with nuggets of information you want to remember about people who are important to you? Colleagues, clients, potential clients and friends who mention something in an email you want to remember. Don’t rely on your memory. That nugget will get covered with a lot of other stuff before you want to retrieve it. Instead, jot it in your Contact for this person. Check the Contact before calling them or seeing them at a meeting, and you have a meaningful conversation starter. They will think you’re wonderful for remembering something they said.

4 easy steps to capture info from an email to a Contact:
1) Highlight, right click & Copy the nugget in the email
2) Right click on who the message is From and Look up their Contact. Or, Add to Contacts if you don’t already have one.
3) In the Contact’s notes space, type today’s date, right click and Paste.
4) Save & Close the Contact. You automatically return to that email in Inbox.

When you think about what has helped you be the success you are today, I bet having strong relationships is near the top of the list. Let Outlook remember for you.

This is tip #2 of 111 Ways to Streamline Your Time with Microsoft Outlook.

"Two men looked out from prison bars. One saw mud, the other saw stars." What are you choosing to focus on today?