Things I'm Thankful For

Thanksgiving is a great time for family and reflection.  It's a holiday that everyone can agree on and this is evident in our culture's universal celebration on this weekend.  Of course as I'm writing this plenty of people have moved beyond Thanksgiving towards Christmas and the Black Friday event that's gotten completely out of control.  But still, Thanksgiving is a great weekend.

Briefly, let me reflect on what I'm thankful for.  Let me start with the Big Rocks:

1. Family:  Katie is such an amazing mother.  She works so hard and makes me so proud.  Sorin is healthy and a joy to watch as he plays throughout the day and grows up before our eyes.
2. My job:  While this isn't a career for me, Bill at H&H Arborists is an excellent employer.  I've learned a lot from him and had an opportunity to grow in my leadership and management.
3. My parents:  mom and dad are right across the street and have helped with Sorin and other duties around our house.  They are very giving individuals, both of their time and their resources.
4. My in-laws:  Steve and Sue are very welcoming and involved in our lives as we work into parenthood.  
5. My relationship with God:  My rock and my Savior.  All comfort and security is found in the Creator.

And then I'm thankful for many things that are along a different line of thinking.  Let me explain:

1. My gifts and abilities:  I am discovering day after day how God has established qualities in me that show how He will use me in this world.  Sure, I'm frustrated with certain areas of life (I'm not in the career field I want to be in) but he's given me passions and skills, thoughts and ideas to where I can see where this is leading me in the future.
2. Social Media:  I have the ability to keep up with so much information right now.  I follow top notch pastors from around the country.  I hear industry tips and best practices from exercise specialists who are further along in their career than me which motivates me and my business plans.  I have relationships with friends on Facebook that weren't possible years ago because they've moved away.  Social media has allowed me to be hyper-connected and it's a really good thing.
3. Things that are FREE:  With so much information and good products available, think of what we get for free.  Google has made everything knowable within seconds.  My blog freely allows me to reflect on life and share it with whoever wants to listen (all five of you).  Twitter allow me to listen to and write to thousands of people on a variety of subjects.  And YouTube allows me to watch U2 live from the Rose Bowl, all for free.
4. My health:  I love running.  I won't be winning any races any time soon but working out is enjoyable for me.  I'm always up for a challenge and my goals are changing by the season.  
5. My career goals:  God gave me the passion for exercise and education.  I feel like I've been charged with helping people become healthier individuals and this is an admirable calling in life.  God has instilled this in me and continues to bless me with the thoughts and ideas required to have a successful business and affect on my community.
6. The Office and Community:  Katie and I laugh weekly very hard when we watch these two shows.
7. Sorin's Puma sweatsuit from Grant and Jes:  You've got to see him in this - he should have one of these outfits at every stage of his growth.

I'm very thankful on many different levels.  We live in a very privileged society and we should never forget that.  

Goal Setting

If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time.  ~Author Unknown

How true is this?  Have you recently analyzed your goals in life?  Could you list your top three priorities on a sheet of paper?  How are you spending your time?

Goal setting is an exercise that requires our daily and weekly attention.  I am very easily distracted, and I'm not alone.  In today's age of technology there are so many things that battle for our time, and they often win... unless we have a set of goals in place.  These goals need to address what's important in our lives and no one can create them but ourselves.  We must internalize them and make them our own.

One of my biggest challenges in helping clients become more fit and lose weight is to help them understand the importance of goal setting.  "I want to lose weight"  This is a bad goal.  "I want to be healthier."  This is also a bad goal.  Why are these bad goals?  Because they don't give me enough information.  They're not SMART goals:

Specific           (what do you want to happen; why; how)

Measurable     (how will you know when you've accomplished your goal?)

Attainable        (are you in over your head or is your goal within reach?)

Relevant          (is it your goal or someone else's; how does it fit in your life?)

Timely             (to be completed next week, next month or next year?)

This is a criterion I learned while studying physical education in college.  While it first seemed a little over the top, I now realize how essential these five components are to proper goal setting.  So without a goal we will never accomplish what's important to us.  The world distracts us so we need to focus.  And when we establish a goal, it needs to have the five SMART components.

Challenge:  

1. write one short-term goal to be completed this week
2. write one long-term goal to be completed within one month
   

Only Do What Only You Can Do

One of my favorite pastors is Andy Stanley from North Point Church.  Andy is the son of Charles Stanley, who my mom grew up listening to.  So it's kind of fun to see how the next generation takes after the first, both in preaching and in listening.  Andy probably delivers the clearest message I've ever heard.  He's very compelling and I tune in weekly to his leadership podcasts. 

Years ago I was going through a book with college ministry leaders by Andy called Next Generation Leader.  One chapter was called Only Do What Only You Can Do.  The description went like this:  the less you do the more you accomplish.  I got the idea but I struggled to put it into practice.

I was leading a team of students that put on our weekly meetings for the Link, the college-aged ministry of Blackhawk.  I knew that it was my job to get my team to do more work.  The more they took ownership the better our team was performing.  It was their job to get the equipment to the venue, get the equipment set-up, put together the script for the night, and make sure all the media components were cued up.  But after that there was nowhere to go.  That was the final product.  It worked, it was good, but there was nothing left for me to do.  There was very little that only I could do.  So Andy's principle didn't fully sink in.

Fast forward to Summer 2009.  I'm working at H&H Arborists as the lead worker on a crew of three.  Bill, the owner is busy all summer doing sales while the crew is out doing everything from pruning to removing trees.  It's a young crew - with eight years of experience I'm the veteran. 

My job is to figure out how to complete each job efficiently and safely.  As the only man on the job with real experience, this can only happen so fast.  Thankfully Bill is very willing to take precious time on the job site to train the guys on many days where the job requirements are appropriate.  (I say this because many other tree companies don't value or practice intentional training like H&H.)  So now my job is to balance training with being a productive crew. 

After a few weeks I've developed the guys' skills.  They can do light pruning, mostly from the ground.  Soon one of the guys is comfortable in the tree so the crew is getting better.  And this is where Andy's principle really started to sink in for me.  Now the crew is to the point where they can function in certain situations and I'm tempted to work along side them but I can't.  There's other work that only I can do.  Sometimes work gets done fast when everyone works on something together.  There's accountability and there's encouragment when you're side-by-side.  But if I'm doing something that they could be doing, there's something I'm not doing that they couldn't do.  This isn't always the case, but I'm challenged daily to evaluate how to get the work done most efficiently. 

Only do what only you can do.  It's become a simple principle to understand but an important one to practice.  Businesses move forward when they're efficient and this is one step to that end.

If you're in a leadership position, are you doing thing other team members could be doing?