My wife and I were outdoors last Thursday.  We had our two youngest children with us.  While trying to relax and enjoy the great weather, we noticed our parking area needed a little work.  It had collected a bunch of dirt due to our garage area being at the bottom of a hill.  After deciding we need some type of drainage to prevent this from occurring, my wife took a rake to break-up the dirt and I reached for a shovel so I could put the dirt into a barrel. 

Eventually, my children begin to participate in this teamwork my wife and I were displaying.  I begin to think of the great lesson my children were learning at young age.  Teamwork is experience important in a marriage and life.

Are you displaying teamwork in your home, at work, at church, etc?

How do you manage your time?  At the end of the day, how do you normally feel?  Productive?  Not Productive?  Managing your time is so critical.  For me, I spend time daily pondering how to better my time management.  There was a time when I would pray for more time in a day.  I wanted to share with you a list of my thoughts on time management.

my LIST on time management:

1. to do list
2. a calendar
3. less i.e. cut back
4. thirty minutes a day planing the next
5. notepad. keep a notepad to jot down things
6. organize your files
7. have your emails come to your phone (if possible)
8. discipline

Well, have fun managing your time and conquering the WORLD.

I was in a meeting last night.  The individuals in the meeting asked me why?  Why do I enjoy community building?  I told them I’m passionate about seeing people succeed.  In some degree, my passion to see people succeed plays a role in me getting up in the mornings.

People succeeding doesn’t always mean a good paying job.  There is more to succeeding than obtaining a good paying job.

succeeding looks other ways:

• becoming a more involved parent
• becoming a more active reader
• giving more attention to your health
• eating better
• volunteering more in your community
• becoming a more informed person
• taking your communication to the next level
• etc.

I’m passionate about seeing people succeed in all sorts of WAYS

“Great

leaders

are

born

with

better

brains.”  This statement was posted on one of my favorite sites – www.fastcompany.com.

Do you think leaders are born to be leaders?  Can individuals develop the ability to be GREAT leaders?

I personally believe that a person can develop the necessary skills to become a great leader by doing some of the things listed below:

• learn and keep learning
• find a mentor
• become disciplined
• hang out with other leaders
• develop good thinking
• find your passion
• listen and become great at LISTENING
• let go!

Work on BECOMING a great LEADER today!  GO FOR IT!

Here are five simple things you can do to grow as a leader:

1. work on being disciplined
2. be around other leaders
3. learn as much as you can in the field in which you want to lead
4. make out your definition of a leader
5. become a master in communication

There are so many other things that could be added to this list but I wanted to share these five.

Whenever I find good material, I’m so compelled to share it. Once again, on one of my favorite sites to visit, I found this post called Ten Strategies for Developing the Art of Leadership by Bea Fields.

Ten Daily Habits:

1. Spend 30 minutes each morning looking for “cracks” in the major areas of your life.
2. Show up and be ten minutes early for every appointment.
3. Be dedicated to a high level of learning.
4. Be simple and crystal clear in all communication.
5. Surround yourself with A Players.
6. Develop a sense of commitment and responsibility.
7. Develop a positive attitude by altering your mind.
8. Accept responsibility.
9. Make self-discipline a part of your lifestyle.
10. Develop courage by facing fear.

Read this entire post by CLICKING HERE.

At times, you may find that someone on your team is smelling up the place.  Here is one of the greatest opportunities to exemplify some great leadership skills.  Due to this team member smelling, you may want to approach this member about making some changes.

Changing the DIAPER:

1. Possibly the team member needs some training
2. Provide the team member with a mentor
3. Look to assure the member has an accountability partner
4. Give the member a book to read that could assist him/her
5. Confirm there isn’t anything going on at home with the team member
6. Check your training log to assure member was properly trained at the beginning
7. Assure team member is working in his/her strength areas
8. Give team member opportunity to do a self evaluation

These are 8 things to consider to help that smelly team member turn into good smelling rose.  What are some other things to consider to help change the smell of that team member?

I’m a big believer in writing out your goals and planning your day, week, month, year, and life. So, when I ran across this article, I felt compelled to share it. It was posted on Paula Yee Sing-Edwards’ blog, plus on Fast Company.

According to a study by the Ford Foundation:

• 23% of the population has no clue what they want from life and as such, they have very litte.
• 67% of the population has a general idea what they want out of life, but no clue how to attain it.
• 10% of the population has specific goals
• Only 7 out of that 10 achieve their goals half the time
• The top 3% achieved the goals 89% of the time

Paula then notes that “the difference between the 3% elite group and the rest was: THEY WROTE DOWN THEIR GOALS!!! Can you believe it? Sounds too simple, right?”

I encourage you to read the rest of Paula’s article Mapping Your Journey to Success by CLICKING HERE.

Consider all the things you can take away from driving the speed limit:

• Driving the speed limit is a sign of patiences.
• Driving the speed limit means you’re on time.
• Driving the speed limit means you’re one they plays by the rules.
• Driving the speed limit is setting a good example.
• Driving the speed limit says you are aware of your surroundings.
• Driving the speed limit means you’re willing to win the right way.
• Driving the speed limit means sound thinking.
• Driving the speed limit means you don’t take risk.
• Driving the speed limit means you might get passed.
• Driving the speed limit means you may act older than you are.
• Driving the speed limit means you probably don’t have unexpected fines.
• Driving the speed limit means you desire to stick to the budget.

Speed Limit Leadership?

Hello.

Hi.

we are going to create space for you. in this space, we want you to be productive.

NOW.

In order for you to be PRODUCTIVE in this space, we will provide you with several items.

WAIT.

When thinking about space, please don’t think of just a corner in a room or even a room. Space is YOU being added to a team. I’m your leader. I have CREATED space for you to be productive on an already SUCCESSFUL team.

I PROVIDE FOR YOU:

• A laptop
• Flexible HOURS
• WORK FROM HOME
• OR come work in our state of the ARTs facility
• opportunity to be creative
• ability to negotiate
• credit card with no limit
• transportation
• software
• BARNES & NOBLE ACCOUNT (if they exist)
• opportunity to go to any four conferences of your choice every year
• opportunities to lead the team periodically
• Continuing Education
• a MENTOR

When creating space for your next TEAM MEMBER, what will you PROVIDE them to be SUCCESSFUL/productive? You can ADD to this LIST.