It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)
Greetings to you!
Each week I send out a short leadership blog that's called "Tuesday at 2:00pm". The purpose of this is simply to provide a brief thought on leadership that you can read and think about in just a few minutes. I send it out every week at 2:00pm (PST) and encourage you to make an appointment with yourself to pause and think about the thing I'm writing about.
Russ...
LEADERSHIP QUOTE:
"You are like a jar of river water all shaken up. What you need is to sit still long enough that the sediment can settle and the water can become clear." Ruth Haley Barton
What does this stir up? Either write me HERE or comment at the end of the blog post HERE.
A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:
I want to spend a few weeks this month just talking about REST. Some of these things I'm exploring, thinking about and working to implement in my life.
I picked up a book this weekend by Ruth Haley Barton entitled "Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest". Thank you Estha for the recommendation. In the first few pages I found some powerful reminders of why I'm even talking about REST.
The quote from Barton above just resonated with me.
We have a pool, and the other day I was cleaning it. I follow 3 simple steps in cleaning the pool: First, I scoop all the leaves off the top of the water. Second, I sweep the pool with a long pool broom. Third, I vacuum up the leaves and then we're good to go.
However, there's a step in this process that I don't really pay attention too... it's the step between sweeping and vacuuming. When I sweep, it stirs everything up, makes the water messy and dirty. After sweeping, I have to literally STOP for about 10 minutes. This allows everything to fall to the bottom, making it easier to vacuum up.
When I saw this quote, I realized that this was the process I've been following with my pool, but I hadn't made the connection to my life.
Barton goes on to say this: "A jar of shaken river water looks murky, cloudy, chaotic - and you can't see through it no matter how hard you try. You can't force it clear. You can't stir it into clarity. The ONLY thing that works is stillness. Time. Waiting. That's the soul under pressure."
Real clarity can be elusive, and often we're trying to find it will moving way too fast.
Barton's book is primarily about the power of SABBATH and we'll explore this more next week.
But for today, do you feel that you're living like a jar of river water? All shaken up?
What would it take for you to "clear out" the murkiness and cloudiness in your life today?
DEEPER STILL:
Often I've treated my inability to find rest and a healthy rhythm as a time management issue. If I would address my schedule, goals, priorities and look for rhythm, then I would be able to incorporate true REST into my life and my schedule.
Barton approaches this not as a time management issue, but as an "identity" issue.
I remember back in 2020, I had a major "identity issue".
I was living a good life, pursuing my passion and my work. My identity was wrapped up in my ability to travel around the world, come alongside leaders and provide them with help and support, and I had been doing this for so long, I didn't know any better.
Covid hit in March of 2020, and my whole world stopped.
Our daughters wedding was cancelled, but she was able to get married late one night before the pandemic shut down our county. (We had a huge party later!!!)
Gina and I were leading some couples to South Africa for a trip, and that was cancelled.
I had 5 other trips cancelled because no one knew what was coming!
I woke up in a panic, not because of all these cancelled trips, but because of the fact that my identify was 100% wrapped up in what I did, not in who I was.
Gina and I entered into a season of life where we did have to pivot and adjust how we worked, but we also enjoyed an unexpected STOP. Literally, everything stopped, and to go back to Barton's quote, "what you need is to sit still long enough that the sediment can settle and the water can become clear".
That's what we did.
For the first time in a long time, I stopped, and in the midst of stopping I had to wrestle with who I was, with my identity, because if I couldn't travel the globe, then who was I?
This began a journey that still continues. I'd love to say that I figured it all out, but this forced some immediate change, and one change has continued to lead to another.
As I look back on that HARD STOP that so many of us experienced in our own ways, there were some things that I became aware of in my own life:
I was on the verge of burn-out and had been for some time
I had been in this "travel rhythm" for so long, I was in a constant state of packing and unpacking, and I didn't know how to sit still.
I hadn't realized the beauty that was around me... the mountains behind my house, the depth of the ocean and the importance of that ocean air. Even the birds swirling around my neighborhood. I was in a constant sprint so I missed this stuff.
I also missed out on relationships and community
Today I have a full size Stop Sign hanging in my office wall. I reference it when I'm doing a LifePlan, but the sign is for me (thanks Abby).
It's a constant reminder to just STOP.
And maybe in my stopping, things become a little more clear!
Can you think of a time when you literally stopped, whether by choice or by situation? What did that feel like?
Things I'm Reading, Listening To and Watching This Week:
Ruth Haley Barton, Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest
Another great book on PACE: The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer.
We are forming a new Leader Mundial Global Summit Community based in Orange County in October of 2026. This is for men & women in leadership, both global and local leaders. If you have interest in learning me, send me an email HERE.
This past week I was reminded of a group I haven't listened to for a while. I enjoyed this playlist very much: Supertramp Essentials
Yes, I did enjoy watching a little bit of The Masters over the weekend. What a great finish. Congrats to Rory McIlroy! Yes, I'm a golf nerd.
I'm sure you've heard me talk about Buc-ee's over the years. I only have a Georgia Experience, but I recently found this website where you can buy Buc-ee's gear, including some of their jerky and their custom made fudge! Shop Away HERE. But you really need to experience it in person!