LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"If it's a priority you'll find a way. If it isn't, you'll find an excuse." Jim Rohn

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

This is my last post for this 2024 year, and I'll close with this simple thought on priorities that kinds of wraps it all up.

Jim Rohn says it so well that you'd can't argue with it....priorities are what you focus on to accomplish. Everything else is extra.

It's easy to get tired of excuses, but the reality is that the excuse is simply helping to defining the priority.

Think about your current priorities:

• Do you find yourself constantly thinking about them?

• Do you make time to work on them in your schedule?

• Do you feel pressure to focus and accomplish them?

• Is it hard to turn your brain off and think about something else?

Yes, priorities can be obsessive. That's why it's a priority.

In fact, the definition of priority is this:

"A thing that is regarded as more important than another"

Stop making excuses for having priorities. This is a good thing. You just need to learn how to communicate them to those around you.

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." Stephen Covey

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

This quote might hit a little close to home, but there's some hard truth in this.

We've gotten used to simply saying that we're busy, and we believe that. We run from one thing to another, and we blame work, relationships, our family or any other number of things. We actually blame others for the fact that we're busy.

However, it's not a matter of being busy. It's a matter of priorities. We make choices everyday based on our priorities.

This might include the people we want to spend time with, the events we choose to participate In and many other obligations.

Yes, sometimes things are pressed on us, but I would argue that the number of things that we are "forced to do" doesn't compare with the freedom we have over our lives and our schedule.

We're in the Christmas Season, and we're already grumbling about our schedules and the chaos of the season.

STOP.

Take a deep breath and make some decisions based on what's important to you, now because of everyone else's expectations.

Now, before you cancel on that Christmas Party you really don't want to go to, realize that we do have obligations and there are things that we "need to do", but don't let those dominate your life and your schedule.

Find balance.

As you look at the next 2 weeks, what's ONE THING that is a priority to you that you really want to incorporate into your life and schedule?

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." Stephen Covey

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

It's December, the last month of 2024. Over the past few months we've talked about INFLUENCE, VISION, and STRATEGY. I thought I'd end the year with a few quotes on the topic of PRIORITIES.

You can read past blogs HERE.

This is a "classic Covey quote". If you've read any of his books or heard him speak in the past, he talks a lot about priorities.

I remember reading his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in graduate school, and I had never heard or understood the concept Covey lays out in his 3rd Habit: Put First Things First.

The simple idea of Quadrant II Leadership is all about priorities. Covey talks about how we allow urgent and not important things to get in the way of the things that are really important, and these things are classified as Important and Not Urgent.

Most of us live in Quadrant I which is full of Urgent and Important things, but it's often driven by crisis and problems which results in stress and burn-out.

Read the book. He explains it so much better.

Quadrant II living is a life where priorities help you focus on aspects of prevention, proactive problem solving, relationship building and planning.

As to Covey's quote above? He's saying that if we aren't guided by priorities, we'll be guided by our schedule.

How do you handle priorities in your life and do they make it to your schedule first?

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"What if today, we were just grateful for everything?" Charlie Brown

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

This week, as we celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States, I simply want to pause to not only reflect on all that I'm thankful for, but to actively be about thanking God for his goodness and others for their gracious generosity in my life.

"Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live." 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (MSG)

Today, be grateful for everything! And then again tomorrow, and the day after that.

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"There's no shortage of remarkable ideas, what's missing is the will to execute them." Seth Godin

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

It's November, and if you're like me, as we approach the last weeks of the year, you begin to think about what's next. I'm in the middle of budget planning, calendar planning, and project planning, yet the most important aspect of planning is simply asking questions around STRATEGY and what will get us where we want to and need to go. This month, let's look at strategy a little bit and see what we can learn.

We're exploring the concept of STRATEGY but when I saw Godin's quote above, the idea of EXECUTION jumped out at me.

"Strategy is the overarching plan for an organization, while execution is the process of putting that plan into action." Unknown

Last week, I participated in a Barnabas Board Meeting. This is the organization I lead here in Orange County California. At the meeting, we did our normal business, but then we spent some time doing some brainstorming around strategy. Some great ideas circled the room, and as I drove home, I spent time thinking, dreaming, praying, wondering, and processing some of those strategic ideas about where we're wanting to go as an organization and a Community.

The next day, when I woke up, I shifted into the reality of execution. What would it take for one or two of those ideas to actually make it from the brainstorming process into reality? This is Strategic Execution. They go hand in hand.

In your personal leadership, do you lean towards the "STRATEGY" side of thinking, planning, dreaming or do you lean into the "EXECUTION" side of moving into action? Or both?

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"Strategic Planning does not deal with future decisions, it deals with the futurity of present decisions." Peter Drucker

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

It's November, and if you're like me, as we approach the last weeks of the year, you begin to think about what's next. I'm in the middle of budget planning, calendar planning, and project planning, yet the most important aspect of planning is simply asking questions around STRATEGY and what will get us where we want to and need to go. This month, let's look at strategy a little bit and see what we can learn.

But first, today is election day in the USA, and while all of our readers aren't in the USA, I am, and the quote above connects with our election as well as the conversation we'll have around strategy.

My prayer today for the United States is that we would have a peaceful election and that we would consider the decisions we're making TODAY that will affect our TOMORROW! Pray with me today for the process we're in and for the Leaders that will be selected to lead us forward!

Here's a great definition of strategy I've carried with me. Not sure where it came from, but I like the flow of it:

"Strategy generally involves setting goals and priorities,

determining actions to achieve the goals, and mobilizing

resources to execute the actions."

When Peter Drucker makes a statement, people stop, listen, think, question, and then act. I do.

I have a book from Drucker called The Daily Drucker, and sometimes when I get stuck on something, I just open up a page and it causes me to step back and think again.

I came across this quote about 2 months ago, and I've been carrying it with me trying to figure out how it applied to me. First, I had to look up the word "futurity" which I didn't think was a real word, but it is, and it simply means "the future time; a future event".

Before I comment on Druckers quote, how does it land with you?

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"Great vision without great people is irrelevant." Jim Collins

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

This is the final quote on the theme of vision we'll share this month. Click Here to see past posts.

I've shared this quote from Collins before, but it's so appropriate as we navigate through the theme of vision this month. This practical quote just reminds us that sharing our vision with others and inviting them into it is the best way to pursue and achieve that vision.

Collins talks about this concept in his classic book, Good to Great. In this book, he talked about this idea:

"Those who build great organizations make sure they have the right people on the bus and the right people in the key seats before they figure out where to drive the bus."

He's said many different ways to get the right people first, then figure out what to do.

Sometimes this works well. Sometimes a vision is born in one persons heart and people need to be invited in.

Either way, the statement is true: You need great people to partner with you in your vision.

This doesn't mean that you can't do things alone, and there are many great stories of people who launched a solo-vision and pulled it off by themselves.

In my experience, it's always been "sweeter" to share a vision with a team of people, and work together to see that vision realized.

Can you identify 5 people who have come around you to join or to help create a vision that you all then pursued? How did that go?

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"A vision without a strategy remains an illusion." Lee Bolman

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

We'll do a couple more quotes on the theme of VISION this month. Click Here to see past posts.

This quote from Lee Bolman reminded me of the importance of a plan, which is critical to move a vision to reality.

There's a e-letter I subscribe to that is called, "Today's 5 Ideas". It comes out once a week, and it's simply 5 random ideas with no action steps attached to it.

In a recent edition, one of the ideas was:

"Old-fashioned typewriters that connect to your computer or phone, so you can type on them and still make digital documents."

I thought back to my typing classes in high school, and I remember the sound of the mechanical typewriter I learned to type on. I love this idea. It's novel, it's different, it connects with a good memory I have from years past, but for me, it's a waste of time and energy.

I thought about this for about 10 seconds, then moved on.

There's no risk in having ideas, In fact there are days that I just write down random ideas that are triggered from conversations or from things I see and hear.

Sometimes, however, I do the same thing with vision. I'll treat it like an idea, and at times I'm focused on it, while at other times, I don't pay much attention to it all all.

The difference for me is simply a PLAN.

For an idea or a vision to become a reality, there needs to be a plan and a strategy to accomplish it.

Bolman was right.... without a strategy, it's just an illusion.

Where do you place yourself on the "IDEA METER": A "1" is you only think about real ideas, things that can become real and actualized. A "10" thinks outside the box and you're comfortable having a bunch of ideas swimming around in your head a the same time. Where do you land?