To Serve well

Serving with Excellence for a Life of Excellence

Inspiration

Simple thoughts Sunday: You don’t need to fight…

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Your best strategy during a difficult moment is to simply relax and give the fighting to someone better equipped to handle it. Wouldn’t it calm your mind to know that you don’t have to say or do anything? No need to come up with the right words. Let that sink in.

This could be anything. For example, a car repair gone wrong, a derailed project, a relationship issue, or perhaps an unexpected delay in achieving a dream.

One scripture I have often been pointed to is Exodus 14:14; 

“The lord will fight for you, you need only be still.”

One of the larger challenges in life is to give up our desire to be everything someone needs – to be the problem solver, the magic wand, and curator of solutions for ourselves or others.

My friends, we have the greatest gift in that we can rest in knowing that God has better answers and solutions. We need only be still.

Side note: I love the quote below so much.

“Prayer is the difference between the best we can can do and the best God can do.”

Mark Batterson

I pray that I can be better at not striving to fight my own battles and give them up to the one who can handle them much better.

3 reasons to celebrate at work

I love hosting a version of this team-building exercise at work. It is a great example of celebrating others.

You simply take a large flip chart pad and put everyone’s names on them, post across the room, and then others go around with fun colored markers and write down the positive they see in their fellow team members. It is nothing but positive and it accomplishes so much! Both the writer and the receiver feel GREAT in the end!

Today, I’m going to launch a three-day blog series on CELEBRATION. It’s about now in the year when we have gotten ourselves fully in to back to school, the push for year end goal achievement in the workplace or perhaps personally. That ramp up period often means we may forget to stop and recognize we need to simply celebrate small and large moments with our tribes. Today, we focus on your teams. That may be at work, or heck, that may be your classroom, retirement community – whatever!

Let’s dive in…

Here are three really good reasons you should plan a celebration today…

CELEBRATIONS… 

  1. CREATE MOMENTUM! One of my favorite life experiences so far was attending the speed skating event at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. It was a scene of ongoing celebration. What I learned was that for the Netherlands, speed skating is their national sport, much like baseball or football in America. I loved the sea of orange representing their national colors and the celebration that ensued at every play. The celebration and cheers created momentum and ultimately helped them no doubt to achieve a medal on that winter day! When taking time to celebrate others we are in essence “cheering” them on to their next victory. We all need more victories.
  2. YOUR CULTURE DEPENDS ON IT! The Ancient Greeks initiated the Olympics in great part to promote peace during wartime. It was a chance to pause and allow disparate agendas to come together. The culture of our nations are notably more positive during these international games! I think a terrific example of planned celebrations. A life truth, which is applicable from parenting to the environment we sit in each day is that “what we focus on expands.” If we place our attention on creating a culture where we celebrate each other we are focusing on something we all want to expand and be a part of:generating positive energy, and thus, a positive culture. 
  3. MAKES US ALL BETTER! “A rising tide rises all boats.” We have all heard this, and it’s one to always remember. This one is short, because of how obvious it is: we must be the ones that ‘raise’ the tide. Celebrations are one way to do this!

Have a strong wrap to your week. I’d love to hear how you have celebrated, both small and large! GO CHIEFS ?❤️?.

Bring on the best days

I so loved the quote in the image above because I felt the sense of urgency in the message. I don’t know about you, but the days seem to go increasingly fast, and the desire to make those full of light and joy seems really important…almost critical.

Before we dive into some ideas on “running” to lovely and GREAT days (I like that better than walking-), we should first try to identify what that day looks like for us. Here are just a few thoughts/questions to get your minds tracking….

  • What does my schedule need to look like to ensure my attention is on things that really matter? (How much margin do I need to really thrive?)
  • How can I best feel like I “slayed” the day while honoring myself (i.e… not over-scheduling, sacrificing your health…) and in being in support of others?
  • What will give me the highest level of energy return?

So… now that you know some thoughts on what a great day might look like for you, how can you RUN toward that joy? A few ideas off of the top…

  • Be all in – make a commitment to be fully present in each moment.
  • Elevate every room you walk in with a smile and friendly greeting.
  • Get out there! Get into environments such as nature that bring you energy…
  • Listen to amazing music! “Walk like an Egyptian” anyone?
  • Call someone who makes you laugh…

Please add to the list! We would all love your ideas! I hope you find yourself RUNNING to MORE and MORE LOVELY DAYS.

Don’t overthink this

Ah… overthinking…

I’d love to meet the person who claims to not have ever lost a night’s sleep overthinking. They will be one of my personal heroes!

Doing just a little bit of research, you can quickly reinforce the idea that overthinking is common and that it can lead us into a downward spiral that impacts our happiness. Overthinking is a common discussion point in school corridors, the workplace, and therapist sessions nationwide. (Think: “I couldn’t sleep last night, because…”)

Overthinking can be focused on the past or on thoughts that drift toward endless possible scenarios. These may include tomorrow’s big meeting, a fun date night out, an upcoming test, or even extending into processing the distant future…What will I be doing a year from now? Ten years? Other notable examples of overthinking in a not so productive way include reliving mistakes, rehashing conversations in your mind, or allowing your mind to simply worry about the endless what ifs.

The positive side of this conversation is that we can take the mind to a place of creative problem solving, or learning from our past experiences, and see incredible personal growth. That seems like a fantastic idea. U.S. News & World Report produced a short little read in 2018 that addressed strategies to get our minds to a more productive place. In summary:

  1. Catch yourself. (You can’t stop if you aren’t aware.) Learn to recognize the physical symptoms you might experience, when you’ve been replaying that stressful conversation in your mind for several minutes. If you can identify that pit in your stomach (or whatever it is) you can begin to shift your brain back.
  2. Call out your thoughts. The author’s example: “For instance, turn ‘I’m a bad parent,’ into ‘I notice I’m thinking I’m a bad parent.'” Step back and observe the thought process versus thinking it’s factual. Think through a truth that proves that observation wrong if you have time… that will immediately shift your mind’s narrative.
  3. Set a deadline. If you must, allow yourself to ruminate for a period of time and stick to the boundary. “I will give myself 15 minutes to think through that tough conversation, and then I will focus on solutions and a move-forward plan.”
  4. Shock your senses. “Thinking is a mental activity, so the best thing to do is start doing something… anything that uses the senses can work, smell lavender oil, or do pushups…”
  5. Give up perfectionism. Enough said.

Here’s to a great wrap to this week and to a September that takes us to the next level in our personal growth.