What do you believe about yourself?

Photo credit: Adrian Jones, dreamstime.com

Have you seen the short film The Butterfly Circus?

Click here for a teaser. In this film, we learn that you are what you believe yourself to be, and changing your attitude about yourself can help you realize your true potential.

That really reinforces what I’ve been doing lately in Jeff Goins’ 15 Habits Challenge and Chris Brogan’s Blog Topics Master Class.

I am what I believe myself to be. I am a writer. That turns my thinking around, and helps the words flow out of me.

What other things in life could be made better by positive thinking and a better attitude? How many people feel like losers because they think that, and no one has ever said or done anything to help them choose a different viewpoint?

What would the world look like if we focused on helping others rise out of the ashes they are currently in? What if instead of judging them for being the caterpillar, we helped them through the struggles in order to grow their wings as a butterfly?

What can you say to someone today to move them toward believing in themselves?

 

Dig Down Deep

I suspect I’ve been listening to melancholy music too much lately, but two of my favorite singer/songwriters, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Shawn Colvin,  have released new albums filled with songs of loss and sadness but also recovery and redemption. The haunting melodies seep into my subconscious, and I find myself humming and feeling a bit sad.

There is so much heartache in those around me lately too. Friends suffering from cancer and other illnesses. Two people I know lost their spouses unexpectedly. Surgeries, divorces, lost jobs, foreclosures. So much pain and sadness.

It is hard to resist sinking into despair.

My devotion this morning from the Upper Room gave a thought-provoking illustration.

“If carrots, eggs, and coffee beans are boiled, the effect  on each item will be different. The carrots will soften, the eggs will harden, and the coffee beans will change the color of the water and spread a delicious aroma.”

The explanation continues that the boiling water is problems in life and the 3 items are our reactions to those problems. Do we become soft like the carrots, complaining and feeling sorry for ourselves? Or hard like the eggs, expressing anger at God and everyone around us?

I strive to be like the coffee beans, “changing the atmosphere around me and spreading the fragrance of Christ.”

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.” Romans 5:3-4

In my own life, each challenge or disappointment has directed me back to God, because don’t you agree that when things are going well, we tend to rely less on Him?

Struggles and heartache cause me to dig down deep, revealing new strengths and abilities that would be undiscovered otherwise. They allow for more empathy when someone else goes through a similar challenge. How comforting is it when someone puts their arm around you and expresses having experienced the same thing? And what hope that you will get through it!

So my question for you today: are you a carrot, an egg or coffee beans?

 

Where is your clutter?

Clutter. Junk. Stuff.

Most of us have way too much stuff.

I’ve noticed lately that my clutter is less about physical stuff and more about mental stuff. Unread books, emails, mental lists.

I seem to have a lot of clutter in my brain that makes me fuzzy headed and unfocused.

The latest challenge in the 15 Habits of Great Writers Challenge is to declutter, both physical space and writing. So while I’ve cleared the full inbox (on my desk and in my email) and streamlined my copy, I also need to clear my head of the unfinished tasks and ideas.

In Getting Things Done fashion, I will do a “brain dump” today, and get all those nagging ought to’s and remember to’s out of my head and onto paper. As David Allen suggests, by clearing my psychic RAM, the creative juices should start to flow!

What clutter do you need to tackle today?

 

Leadership lessons from traffic

I gained a valuable leadership lesson from traffic this morning. I never know where inspiration will present itself, but I didn’t expect it to be at an early morning intersection.

This particular intersection has a traffic light, that flashes red one direction and yellow the other early in the morning. As I was running toward it, one car had stopped at the flashing red, and another stopped at the flashing yellow before turning left. And they sat there, polite as can be. I imagined the conversation in chipmunk voices – ” please go ahead,” “no i insist, you first,” “no by all means, after you.”

I’m dancing around, legs cramping, waiting on someone to go so I can continue my run. And I realized that sometimes the most important thing a leader can do it ACT.  I was wishing those drivers had been more decisive and had stepped up more quickly.

I bet there have been situations where you have waited on someone else to make a decision, or set a meeting, or move ahead on a project. And the longer you wait, the more frustrated you got, right?

What if you just took action yourself ? What if you took the initiative to set that meeting or make the decision which moves something ahead? Leaders at all levels of an organization can make an impact by taking action. Whether it is in a business, a nonprofit, a church or at home, the best leaders know when to take action.

In his book EntreLeadership, Dave Ramsey says, “A leader who won’t, or can’t, make decisions is never going to succeed and certainly will never become a full-fledged EntreLeader. When you make the choice to call yourself a leader, or even better yet, aspire to be an EntreLeader, you have to declare that passivity is no longer an option.”

He goes on to say, “You put all you dream about in jeopardy when you are indecisive.”

Wow – all you dream about in jeopardy. That alone incites action. Let’s gooooo!!!!!

The encouraging conclusion that Ramsey reaches is that “there is tremendous energy and peace that decision making brings. Your team is energized by a leader who can make the call as well.”

So here’s your challenge today. No matter what level leader you are, how can you stop being indecisive and ACT? Share in the comments and let’s encourage one another!

 

Climb That Hill

When you have a large, complicated project, do you dig right in or find excuses to put it off?

I have to confess that many times, I do the latter – there are 2 projects that come to mind as perfect examples. Put both off way too long, and really what I ended up doing is dreading and agonizing about them and kicking myself for being so ineffective. And when I finally did start each of them, I felt so good about accomplishing so much, that I got on a roll and made progress on some other things as well.

That process is worth paying attention to.

There is a daunting hill toward the end of my running route that really challenges me. Some days, I think about turning around and going home the other way, but that would lead to more mental anguish for having given up. If I push through and get to the top, I feel like I could tackle the world! The same is true when I accomplish a seemingly impossible task or project – all sorts of endorphins and energy are released that make anything seem attainable. Bring it on!

In his book Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy advocates doing the hard task first (eating the frog) to make the rest of your day more productive. As a vegetarian, I prefer to say that “climbing that hill” first thing can help you accomplish more in your day. The mental energy that can be freed  up by dealing with the hardest part of your day first is unbelievable. Makes for even more productivity throughout the day.

So give it a try. Go ahead and climb that hill – tackle your hardest project first thing this morning and see what happens. Then comment here and let us know how the rest of your day went.

Will you climb that hill? What does your hill look like?

 

Magic Time

For those of you who know me well, this will come as no surprise. I am not spontaneous. I am a planner, and spontaneous is and never will be a characteristic I embrace.

But, I have realized that I do need to lighten up a bit. I always have a list, always have more to do than can possibly be done in a reasonable time period. And even when I collapse at night or on the weekend, it’s usually not relaxing for the fun of it, I’m avoiding something else or have flat run out of energy.

But this morning, I watched one of my cats race around the apartment, singing – yes, singing aaaaaooooooohhhhhhh – down the hall (it echoes and he seems to like that sound). He would run and stop by the laundry room so his back end kind of kept sliding.

Just for the pure joy of it. Magic time.

And I realized – what do I do for the pure joy of it?

I just read Andy Andrew’s ebook The Perfect Moment and realized that I’m usually so focused on whatever task I’m doing, that I miss a lot of perfect moments.

So my goal this weekend is to be open to some perfect moments and seek joy.

Whether that’s pausing to enjoy the sunrise, or smelling the intoxicating scent of magnolias during my run, or spending precious time with friends. The focus will be on ENJOY!

What brings you pure joy?

 

I am a writer!

There. I have said it. I AM A WRITER.

I am participating in the 15 Habits of Great Writers challenge at goinswriter.com and feel proud and relieved at my declaration for Day 1. I am a writer. I AM a writer. I am a WRITER.

When I graduated from college, my goal was to be a writer – a journalist, actually. But I got sidetracked doing other things, and lost sight of my goal. After awhile, I just decided that must not have been what I was meant to do.

But this year, I have been writing, and you know what? I enjoy it. In fact, I look forward to it. And I truly get excited when someone says they have read my work. And over the moon if it has somehow impacted someone.

It is scary to put myself out there, but also so satisfying when something  I have written touches someone else.

I don’t know where this will lead, but I look forward to finding my voice and becoming comfortable in the idea that yes, I am a writer.

What can you declare today?

 

Will you join the challenge?