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

Are you overloaded by content, by ideas, by virtual meetings?

Do you feel like you're trying to take everything in and capture as much as possible because it seems like the only thing you can be doing?

Today, I want to simply encourage you to STOP for 30 minutes.

Take some deep breaths.

Listen to the sounds around you and stop listening to all the thoughts running through your head.

Just breath.

Take a break... a 30-minute detour.

Listen.

Stop talking.

Stop trying to figure it all out.

Stop innovating and activating and creating and reacting.

Just stop.

When you come back, it will all still be here and maybe you'll be able to see things a little differently.

STOP.

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

Here's the word for today: PIVOT

When you look it up, some of the words associated are:

TURN - ROTATE - REVOLVE - SPIN - TWIRL - OSCILLATE

I know that many of you feel like you're spinning today, but let's talk more about the word PIVOT.

In talking about a pivot in my business or organization, this can be defined as a "fundamental change", and we usually make this change when we realize that what we've been doing isn't working anymore.

Last week, I was having a conversation with a good friend, and he used the word PIVOT. I've been thinking about that word all week, and I can't tell you how many times other people have been throwing that word around as well as in my face. It's a great word for us today.

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

I was on a call last week with a good friend of mine and he made a passing comment during our phone call and it got me thinking.

I called him back and asked him to elaborate.  Here's the conversation:

Gerhard and Russ talk about Quadrant II Living

If you're not familiar with Stephen R. Covey or his timeless classic, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", I would recommend that you read the entire book. It's a book that has shaped me and my leadership since 1989.

I want to go a little deeper in the conversation with Git and challenge you to simply think about this today.  

In Covey's book, the chapter is entitled, "Put First Things First" and it connects to personal time management and "priority" management.

This was what Git was talking about with his team:  How can we focus on some things during this time that we've been too busy to do, things that are really important, but that we aren't being forced to deal with them because they're not urgent?

Covey talks about each of these quadrants and we realize how easy it is to get caught up in things that aren't important, and it robs us of our time and our effectiveness.

During this crazy season where the pace has changed, the focus isn't real clear, and where we have no idea what tomorrow will look like, are there some things that you've been avoiding that are REALLY IMPORTANT that you should spend some time on? If you spend time in Quadrant II today, how will it impact the future, whatever that might bring?

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

This week I watched a short video by Andy Stanley (www.andystanley.com) and he shares a 8-minute thought entitled, "When Fear Impacts Your Faith". It's linked below, but it was a great reminder to me as a follower of Jesus not only of where I put my faith, but where I put my fear.

Fear is something that is being talked about every day on the news, in social media and in the lives of people all over the world.

I shared this before but for many of us, when we face fear, our first response is to be PARALYZED. We're stuck. We don't know what to do. We panic. We run one way, then we run the other way. We're frantic.

We use the term "like deer in the headlights", which means according to the idioms dictionary, "A state or manner of paralyzing surprise, fear, or bewilderment. Likened to the tendency of deer to freeze in place in front of an oncoming vehicle."

I had that happen one time. I was riding my motorcycle on the coast of California in the early morning. My friend Jim was in front, and we were driving in the fog, moving pretty slow and cautiously (like we always do Gina!), and he passed 2 young deer on the side of the road. They jumped onto the highway and stopped right in front of my bike. I slammed on my brakes, and only when I stopped did they run off. It was a close call. The deer were surprised by Jim on his bike, then they were "paralyzed" when I came along. Fear. Panic. Bewilderment.

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

It is a new day. We're walking through a season of uncertainty, of constant change and new challenges. As leaders, we have a choice to be paralyzed by fear or to move forward, adapting every step of the way to new things being thrown at us.

I read an interesting article from The Praxis Journal entitled: "Leading Beyond the Blizzard: Why Every Organization is Now a Startup".

The authors, Crouch, Keilhacker and Blanchard say this:

"Almost all of us are in a new business.

From today onward, most leaders must recognize that the business they were in no longer exists. This applies not just to for-profit businesses, but to nonprofits, and even in certain important respects to churches."

Leading Beyond the Blizzard:

Why Every Organization Is Now a Startup

By Andy Crouch, Kurt Keilhacker, and Dave Blanchard

The article gives some interesting perspective but I was caught by the above line: "Almost all of us are in a new business." The idea is that what we're going through today will change everything for tomorrow.

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

Self-Leadership Means We Need To Get Back To The Basics

"Leadership is the ability to influence people in order to get things done. Meanwhile, self-leadership is the ability to consciously influence your own thoughts and behavior in order to achieve your personal goals or an organization's objectives. Self-led people mostly take their own decisions and set personal targets." www.cleverism.com

Amy Franko said this:

"Some people are born with the ability to self lead. For the rest of us, self leadership is a trait we can cultivate." @amyfranko

I've been thinking about this during the quick and sudden changes to our global society and our work practice over the past number of days. We are all having to adapt to a "new normal" and this means that many of us are working in new environments, isolated from our team members, our leaders, and the core practices we're used to.

For some, this time of forced isolation empowers us. It's created some much needed space to catch up, to slow down, to dream, or to tackle things that we just haven't had the margin to address because of our pace of life.

For others, this time is creating panic. We don't want space, we want what we're used to. We've learned to rely on our team members and leaders for direction, inspiration and management. Over the course of just a few days, we've had to learn what self-leadership means in all areas of our life at the same time.

Franko is right when she says that some people are "born with the ability to self lead", and for the rest of us, this is something we have to learn how to do, rather quickly.

Here are 6 ideas that might help you to be more productive:

#1) ASK FOR HELP

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

All of our past posts have been placed HERE if you want to go back and read one.

One month ago, February 18th, I shared this post on "slowing down". CLICK HERE to read it.

Think of all that has happened over the past 4 weeks as the entire world has been in a process of change. For some, this has been panic and desperation, for others it's been a forced shift to home and being grounded. 

This morning, I picked up this book again, "The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry" (John Mark Comer) and read the chapter on "slowing" again.

This is new territory for me. While I've enjoyed moments of adjusting my schedule to capture some stillness, I've never experienced a forced slow down like the one we're all experiencing now.  My natural reaction is to try to fill my time, find new ways to work my schedule, and continue my never-ending pursuit of productivity.

Today, I'm thinking about slowing down again.

Comer says this:

"The basic idea behind the practice of slowing is this: slow down your body, slow down your life."

He goes on to say that its difficult for us to slow down our minds if our body is still running at full pace. There's a correlation between the two, and we need to slow down both

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

Last week I talked about our need for a "Replenishment Cycle". I challenged you to talk about things that you need in your life that "fill you up".

I just finished one of the busiest weeks of my year. Each year I'm involved in putting together an event called the "Leader Mundial Global Summit". This year, I invited 48 men to come be a part of this Community. They came from 14 different countries, and we gathered together in Rome, Georgia as Coaches and Leaders, and spent 4 days learning and discussing the qualities of a leader. 

This was our 14th Global Summit that began back in 2007 in Ecuador.  This Summit has launched Regional Summits that bring men and women together in many different countries including Ecuador, South Africa, Manila, Nepal and Central Asia. 

We've seen hundreds of leaders participate through the years, with our clear goal being to "Help Position Leaders and Organizations for Greater Kingdom Impact".

If you'd like information about  being involved in this global community as a Coach or a Global Leader for our 2021 Summit or 2020 Regional Summits, write to me HERE.

But here's the point I want to make:

In the midst of an incredibly busy "season", I was refueled.

I came back from Georgia physically exhausted, but my soul was completely replenished. 

I think that sometimes we think that the only way to REFUEL is to:

- Sit on a beach doing nothing

- Take long naps and watch mindless television

- Distance ourself from our work roles and the people we work with

- Clear our to-do list so there are no demands on our time and energy

Here is the truth:

- God has created each of us differently, and wired us uniquely.  

- At times, the above list is important and what we should be doing.

- At times, what refuels the most is simply using our gifts and talents, working in our strengths and passion

- At times, refueling means to stop. At other times it means to do something different.