Time today for a simple CHECK UP.

Please answer the following questions to yourself in complete honesty:

#1) How do you FEEL today? Are you tired? Weary? Worn out? Or do you feel pretty good today?

#2) When was your last DAY OFF? Whether it was a focused sabbath day or just a relaxing day away from work? When was it? What did you do?

#3) When was the last time you did something PHYSICALLY to push yourself? Exercise, stretching, a long walk/run, just something physical that was challenging?

#4) When was the last time you took time to simple find SPACE? Time to pray, journal, read the Bible, think, dream? When was it and how long did you have?

#5) When was the last time you spent time with people that were LIFE GIVING? People that fill you up more than they take from you. What did you do?

Thanks for your notes and comments in response to my "BAD TRAVEL DAY" note last week. If you missed in, HERE IT IS.

Thanks as well to those that sent in a PRODUCTIVITY TIP. I won't post them all here, but I'll add a couple each week. If you'd like to send me your greatest PRODUCTIVITY TIP in just a few words, I'll be happy to share them. EMAIL ME

We're talking about PRODUCTIVITY and the importance of it in our lives.

Tim Challies writes in his book Do More Better (A Practical Guide to Productivity) that there are a number of things that rob us of our productivity. He describes them like this:

#1) LAZINESS

Proverbs talks about the sluggard in all of us and we relate easily with this. If we want to figure out a way to get out of doing something, this often comes easily. It's part of our nature. For many of us, we don't have to look very far to realize that the only person to blame for our lack of productivity is ourselves and our simple desire to be lazy.

Have you ever had one of those "Bad Travel Days"?

I had one this past weekend. I was returning from 9 days in Latin America, and went to the airport to catch a very routine flight (a trip that I have made many, many times).

I'm told the flight was cancelled. I wasn't given a good reason, but the simple reality was that I would have to reschedule. I travel a lot, and I've learned that I have 2 responses: First, I can get angry and even explosive, which doesn't do anyone any good or Second, I can take a deep breathe and realize that it's out of my hands and work together for the best outcome. I chose the second approach (I'm learning!)

I was scheduled for a later flight, and was then able to spend about 12 hours at a hotel catching up on sleep, catching up on some communication and even getting a nap. It wasn't so bad.