What are you REALLY doing?

Don't you hate getting "called out"? You know what I mean... you're making excuses that you think everyone will accept, and someone asks you a question that gets right to the heart of the matter. Sometimes it's a relief to be able to get a struggle out in the open and get help. Sometimes it's a reality self-check that isn't always pretty. Have you been untruthful with yourself? Hiding from responsibilities? Strangled by fear? Just plain lazy? Take a moment to examine yourself and re-focus your energies. You can save energy when you use your time productively, instead of using your time to hide or make excuses. Make it a priority - it's much harder to hear it from someone else.

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People test

"If you do not pass the people test, nothing else matters. Promotion without connectivity is destructive. I often share with church leaders that most of the churches in the United States should not promote themselves. Why? Simple. If your current membership is not actively inviting people or visitors are not staying, there are reasons why. If you do an advertising campaign, you are asking people to come in your doors only to realize why no one wants to invite anyone to your church. They never come back and leave to tell all their friends what they did not like about your church. This is not good marketing. The heart of marketing is people. Don’t start with mailers. Start with people. Ask yourself, “What am I doing this week to learn how to reach people more effectively? It's time to evaluate. Are we creating an atmosphere that fosters growth or are we ministering unto ourselves?" http://www.beyondrelevance.com/index.cfm/PageID/913/blog_year/2010/blog_month/2/index.html...

It's about them

One of my leadership activities is being a business coach. I help others identify their goals and plan strategies to achieve their goals. Very often, the initial coaching goes something like this- "What are your goals?" "These are my goals." "What do you need to do to achieve these goals?" "I need to do a,b,c." "When do you want to have these goals achieved?" "By this date." And then off they go. OK- so there is more, but this boils it down to the essentials. Next coaching (after they have actually done some of the steps) sometimes goes like this- "No one will a or b." "What was their objection?" "I asked them to a or b for me, and they just said no." "What did you offer them?" "I offered them a or b and they said no." "What was in it for them?" "I didn't even get to tell them because they said no." "So why would they want a or b?...

Clean House

While flipping through some late night television, I came across "Clean House: Search for the Messiest House in the Country 4". Now, without getting into a rant about how people could let their house get so full of "stuff" (let alone letting it be broadcast to the world), I want to touch on one of their underlying issues. The dad traveled a lot with his job, and every time he came back, he brought his family gifts to show them that he loved them and thought of them often when he was away. These gifts were contributing to a huge clutter problem and many gifts had never even been opened. The family was disconnected, because the wife and children really just wanted to spend time with the dad, who had to keep working more to buy more gifts... do you see the problem? This whole situation took me back to a book I read many years ago, "The 5 Love Languages" by Dr. Gary Chapman. According to Chapman, the 5 are: Acts of Service, Words of Affirmation, Quality ...

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