LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value." Albert Einstein

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

It's easy to focus on productivity and forget something that is even MORE important? Einstein mentions it here in his quote where he talks about VALUE.

Success and productivity don't mean anything unless you are pursuing something that brings "VALUE".

Recently, a friend of mine presented at a meeting and he shared this thought:

"The purpose of any business is human flourishing"

He defined flourishing as meaning "thriving or continually developing". He also connected it to a deeper purpose for those of us as followers of Jesus that we be "continually developing into the people God has created us to be".

This resonated with me. I want people to flourish, not just so they can be successful, but so they can be of "value" or of "purpose" to others and to God.

So today, instead of focusing on productivity, ask yourself the question: Am I bringing VALUE to others? Am I helping other people FLOURISH?

This month, I'd like to share a few of your "PRODUCTIVITY HACKS".

I'll share a few over this month, but if you'd like to share with others, just send me a personal email with a short description of what you have found is most helpful to you, especially at this time of year as you are beginning anew. Please also include if the idea is yours or if you picked it up from someone else. We want to give credit to where it's due. Send your PRODUCTIVITY HACK to me HERE. I look forward to hearing and learning from you.

Here's the HACK today, and it comes from my friends at TBOY and a podcast I listen to regularly. They introduced the idea (don't know if they invented it) but the word is:

PLANUARY

The idea is to take January, and spend significant time planning the rest of your year: calendar, finance, goals, trips, dreams.

When I heard this idea, I laughed because I try to do this, but I didn't have a term for it. Now I do, and you do to.

Celebrate PLANUARY by taking some time to think, pray, plan, prepare and map out the coming 11 months of 2024!

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year - and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade!" Tony Robbins

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

I always start the New Year with some thoughts on personal productivity, and this quote from Tony Robbins gives us a big picture to look at.

This month, I'd like to share a few of your "PRODUCTIVITY HACKS".

I'll share a few over this month, but if you'd like to share with others, just send me a personal email with a short description of what you have found is most helpful to you, especially at this time of year as you are beginning anew. Please also include if the idea is yours or if you picked it up from someone else. We want to give credit to where it's due. Send your PRODUCTIVITY HACK to me HERE. I look forward to hearing and learning from you.

Many you of know that I'm a certified coach with The Paterson Center. We offer 2 tools to clients: First is a PERSONAL LIFEPLAN and second is a STRATOP (strategic planning for an organization/company).

I'm going to share each week over the next 4 weeks a couple of the tools we use in LifePlanning and Strategic Planning that have made an impact in my personal life.

As 2024 begins, I have spent some time working through these tools over the past number of days, and it provides some clarity, direction and action steps for where I want to get to.

Please take a moment to share any of your Productivity Hacks. It doesn't matter how simple or small they are. They may be just the thing someone else is looking for!

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

Today I simply want to say to you Merry Christmas! I hope that during these days you're reminded of the incredible gift God sent each of us in his Son Jesus. This is why we celebrate!

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"What we know matters, but who we are matters more." Brené Brown

Brené Brown has done work and research on the topics of vulnerability and shame (to just name a few) for decades. Her Ted Talk on vulnerability is one of the most highly viewed videos on that platform. I've read a couple of her books and have heard her on a couple of podcasts and I've really been challenged by her.

I don't know how this note finds you today, but I know that for many of us there's a tension between "who we are" and "what we do or what we know". We are constantly trying to prove ourselves through our achievements and accomplishments and sometimes this forces us to be something that we're not.

Brené Browns simple quote from her book, Daring Greatly, was just a simple reminder that my identity, who I am, is what is most important, above all that I'm able to do and know.

How does that land with you today? This past year, have you struggled at all with your identify: who are are rather than what you do?

As we come to the end of this calendar year, it's a great time to do some personal assessment. I'll share more about that below.

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"Trust is not built in big, sweeping moments. It's built in tiny moments every day." Brené Brown

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

Brené Brown has done work and research on the topics of vulnerability and shame (to just name a few) for decades. Her Ted Talk on vulnerability is one of the most highly viewed videos on that platform. I've read a couple of her books and have heard her on a couple of podcasts and I've really been challenged by her. This month I'll share a couple of quotes of hers so you can learn more about her.

Brené Brown speaks a lot about TRUST, and this quote today just reminded me that often we make trust so complicated. It's really about creating and building it all the time, in both big and small ways.

Brown shares this other quote in an article on mindful.org:

"Trust is choosing to make something important to you vulnerable to the actions of someone else."

With both of these thoughts from her, they come from our ACTION. Our DECISION to put trust into someone else. If we don't start that work, we'll never understand the importance of trust in our lives.

On a scale of 1 - 10, where do you place yourself in your ability to fully trust others: A "1" avoids trust and doesn't trust others. A "10" fully trusts others and embraces the risk that comes with it. Where do you land and why?

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it." Brené Brown

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

Brené Brown has done work and research on the topics of vulnerability and shame (to just name a few) for decades. Her Ted Talk on vulnerability is one of the most highly viewed videos on that platform. I've read a couple of her books and have heard her on a couple of podcasts and I've really been challenged by her. This month I'll share a couple of quotes of hers so you can learn more about her.

This past week I began a LifePlan with a leader, and we spent much of the morning on his STORY.

The power of our story is an incredible thing, and I was reminded of that when I saw Browns quote above.

We all have a STORY and each of us need to figure out what ownership of that story looks like.

With my client this past week, once we had key aspects of his story up on the wall, then the opportunity for perspective kicks in: What lessons have been learned? What did that season of life feel like? How am I different today because of my story? How am I going to be different moving forward because of my story?

A story is powerful!

In the quote above she talks about "owning" our story and about the difficulty of "running" from our story.

Where do you fall with your story: Do you OWN it? This means you have acknowledged it, you're learning from it and you have faced it? Or are you RUNNING FROM IT? This means you ignore it, you're ashamed of it and/or you just want to forget it?

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"A person's success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have." Tim Ferriss

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

This is the final quote I'll share from Tim Ferriss. While I have listened and read to a lot of what Ferriss has produced, I will say that I don't always agree with 100% of what he shares, but it causes me to think.

The quote above is one of those for me.

Here's my question for you: Do you AGREE with this statement or do you DISAGREE with his quote?

I'll share below my personal opinion below, however there is a whole theme embedded in the idea of "uncomfortable conversations" and how we embrace them.

We can call this "managing conflict" or a term used is "crucial conversations". However we define it, it's simply the ability to have these kinds of conversations with people.

As Ferris addresses the theme of productivity in much of his work, he zeros in on the idea that FEAR often keeps us from doing what it is we were made to do or what it is we really want to do.

For many of us, having a difficult or uncomfortable conversation with someone is something that we tend to avoid, ignore or rush through as quickly as possible.

Do you AGREE with his statement that your ability to experience success is linked directly with your ability to have these uncomfortable conversations?

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"Lack of time is actually lack of priorities" Tim Ferriss

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

I've been following Tim Ferriss for a number of years, primarily through a couple of his books and his podcast.

The above quote from Ferriss is simply another reminder to me that I should be in control of my priorities!

Why do I often feel like I'm chasing these things instead of thriving around them?

Jim Collins makes this even simpler in his book, Good to Great when he clarifies, "If you have more then three priorities, you don't have any."

There is so much help out there in the form of resources to help us zero in on these priorities. We really shouldn't have any excuses, besides our general desire and discipline to focus.

What would be your top THREE priorities that you're focused on today?