Last week I shared some thoughts about "sharpening one another". I received some great comments.

Here is one that stood out from Chuck:

"I grew up with a father born in 1900. All the years I lived with him and around him he used a straight razor and sharpened it on a razor strap which had two straps. One was leather and the other was like a rough piece of cloth, kind of like a fire hose. He also had various stones on which to sharpen other tools and implements, sometimes using oil or water in the process. We had a small farm and he would always sharpen his knives before he would butcher a pig or calf. When he had something special to do, he sharpened the appropriate blades"

The lesson here is to be constantly "sharpening the saw". Stephen Covey talks about this with his 7th Habit as he challenges us to develop habits that continuously renew us and make us better.

We talked about the value of "sharpening each other" through relationship.

We're you able to "sharpen" yourself or a relationship this week?

"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." Proverbs 27:17

This morning I spent some time with a friend over a good cup of coffee. No agenda, just catching up, encouraging each other, and challenging each other.

The appointment was random in that we decided last night to grab a quick cup of coffee, but the results of that conversation were transformational.

The passage from Proverbs jumps out to me: "As iron sharpens iron..." or in The Message it says: "You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another."

When you rub two iron blades together, they each become sharper, more useful.

This is the word picture presented here talking about the value of not simply "hanging out" with your friends or with others, but actually actively engaging together.

Are You Willing To Do What It Takes?

In a recent conversation with my youngest daughter, this question came up: "Are you willing to do what it takes to pursue your dream?" We were talking about grad school, work, transition, and all kinds of things, and when she replied that she was willing to do what it takes to chase her goals, I knew that she would succeed in reaching them.

That's a loaded question: Are you willing to do what it takes?

- This causes us to evaluate our goals and our dreams.

- This causes us to evaluate our ability to stick with something long enough to achieve it.

- This causes us to build our own confidence so we can actually do it.

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.

It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Los Angeles)

This past week I helped host a Non-Profit Roundtable Workshop that focused an PROBLEM SOLVING and PERSONAL PRODUCTIVITY. It got me thinking about how I manage my "leadership life", so I thought we could take some time to learn together and encourage each other with productivity lessons we've learned over time.

I love the answer to this question:  Why is personal productivity important?

"Because it allows you to either accomplish more things int he same amount of time, or accomplish the same amount of things in less time (whichever is more important for you). It also gives you the feeling of being in control of your own time and by extension, of your own life."

When I search for help with personal productivity, I'm overwhelmed by the amount of information there is: tips, tools, apps, ideas.  It's a little crazy.

It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Los Angeles)

We've been talking about MORNING ROUTINES for a number of weeks. CLICK HERE to read the previous posts. We've talked about "SPACE", "MORNING PAPERS", "LECTIO DIVINA" and just the value of a MORNING ROUTINE.

Today we're talking about COFFEE.

When I began asking you to share your morning routines, one of the constants that was shared was the role of COFFEE in our morning routines. I resonate with this, so today I want to share some things that others have shared.

First, if you're a NON-COFFEE DRINKER, I have a nice blog post here for you to read instead: "13 THINGS ONLY PEOPLE WHO DON'T DRINK COFFEE WILL UNDERSTAND". There are people like you all over, and I don't want you to feel left out. Read and enjoy.

However, just to be fair, he's a post from Lifehack entitled: "14 THINGS ONLY COFFEE DRINKERS WOULD UNDERSTAND".

Now, back to COFFEE.