Quick question: If you were managing someone and had to guess the #1 thing that would most boost their inner work life, what would you guess it to be? Teresa Amabile, head of research at Harvard Business School has surveyed hundreds of top executives and managers. She has discovered that 95% of those surveyed have gotten the answer wrong. They simply do not know what motivates people. ANSWER: Small wins. Progress on meaningful projects. People feel their best and perform at their best when they’re making progress on something that matters to them. It’s the TINY little wins we can create for ourselves day in and day out that make the most difference.

You are the CEO of yourself! It is time to manage your “Rock-Star” employee as well as possible. Here are two things to consider:

1. What is a meaningful goal for you today?
2. How can you make just a little progress on this goal today!

Repeat tomorrow. And the day after that. And the one after that. Make creating micro wins for yourself a habit.

Suggested Book by Teresa Amabile & Steven Kramer

Three Key Questions

What is required of me?

What gives me my greatest return?

What brings the greatest reward?

Find the intersection of these three questions and you have found your strength zone. This formula was born after 25+ years of leadership by John Maxwell. He summarized his response to the above three questions like this; Connecting, Communicating, and Creating.

Stay In Your Strength Zone

People do not pay for average. People do not go looking for a mediocre restaurant. Employers do not award the contract to a salesman named Mr. Average. Nobody says, Let’s give the contract to the company that will merely do an adequately job. Here are some suggestions that will assist you in the discovery of your strength zone.

Trial and Error: Nothing teaches you more than your successes and failures. You must be willing to fail in order to discover your successes.

The Counsel of Others: Asking others to evaluate your effectiveness is not always fun. Be sure to chose people who do not have an agenda. Consider the Birkman 360 to get a solid report on God’s design of yourself and others perception of that design.

Personality Tests: There are many of these types of instruments. My all-time choice is the Birkman Questionnaire. Dr. Roger Birkman, founder had a drive to discover how we were fearfully and wonderfully made. This tool stands apart from all others. Some other suggestions might the Myers/Briggs, Strength Finders, or Disc.

Personal Experience: You get a feel for how well you do something repeatedly. Remember that experience is not the best teacher – evaluated experience is the best teacher!

“Nobody knows what they’re going to do with their *entire life.* Nobody… Having one giant purpose that you strive toward forever isn’t the goal. What is? An ikigai. A current aim. A reason to get out of bed in the morning. Retirement is a broken concept. It is based on three assumptions that aren’t true: that we enjoy doing nothing instead of being productive, that we can afford to live well while earning no money for decades, and that we can afford to pay others to earn no money for decades.” ~ Neil Pasricha – The Happiness Equation.

In North America while we think of retirement as a golden age of putting greens, staring at the clouds, and cottage decks. Guess what they call retirement in Okinawa? They don’t! There is no word for retirement for Okinawan’s. But there is a word that drives this culture – Ikigai (Icky-guy). It is the reason that I get out of bed everyday. It is the one thing that drives you the most at this stage of life. Okinawans live longer than most other cultures. They out live Americans by 7 heathy years!

Otto von Bismarck instituted mandatory retirement at age 65 in Germany in 1889. He wanted to free up jobs for younger people and guess what the average life expectancy was at that time? 67. Then, in the 20th century, other countries started instituting a mandatory retirement at the arbitrary age of 65 and—get this—marketing gurus spent a ton of money CONVINCING us that leisure was awesome, work was awful, and, well, here we are.

Issac Newton’s first Law of Physics says that a body in motion tends to stay in motion until acted upon by a larger force. Here is a daily principle to learn, “It’s easier to act yourself into a new way of thinking than to think yourself into a new way of acting.” Now go forward. Live out your Ikigai today!

In his famous March 2017 book release, Irresistible, The Rise of Addictive Technology and The Business of Keeping you Hooked, author Adam Altar mentions a line from an addictive recovery therapist. “Once your brain is pickled, it can never go back to being a cucumber.” In other words you cannot unpickle a pickle! 

WOW! This is a powerful illustration that Altar’s uses to discuss the power of technology and its effect upon our daily lives. Neuro-scientist are stating they simply do not know the long term impacts upon humans. There are a number of studies that have begun on adolescents and are following them through their twenties. What is obvious to researchers is our social behaviors and interactions have definitely changed and in many cases are pickled! The famous news program, 60 Minutes, did a feature on “Brain Hacking” that is a great segway into this discussion.

Adam Altar’s reports that New York Times journalist Nick Bilton reports Steve Jobs as saying in 2010 that his children had never used an iPad. Jobs reported that we limit our children’s use of technology in our home. Bilton further discusses other Tech Giants such as Chris Anderson former editor of Wired stated that he limits his children’s use of technology in the home admitting to Bilton, “…because we have seen the dangers of technology first-hand.” Evan Williams, a founder of Blogger, Twitter, and Medium has bought hundreds of books for his two sons, but has refused to give them an iPad. Bilton would go on to write in his article, it seemed as if the people producing tech products were following the cardinal rule of drug dealing: never get high on your own supply!

We all have addictions on some level. The science is compelling, our brain fundamentally changes by means of repeated stimuli – before your realize it, you brain becomes pickled in that area. You cannot unpickle a pickle!

You may ask the question, “So what is the answer?” I would suggest a simple starting point of imposing a DIGITAL SUNRISE and SUNSET! Do not touch you digital technology until a specific time to start your day. Turn off your use of it at a designated time in the evening! Before you send hate mail, I am not discussing emergency calls. That said, ask yourself one question, “How do likes, streaks, and tweets make my life better?” You decide! What does this mean for the faith community in attempting to communicate an ancient eternal message in a tech world? That is a blog post for another day.

5 Keys to Becoming A Person of Action

Am I a person of Action?

Col Chamberlain – “My future is immediate I will capture it and carry it with running feet.”

Hesitation will never get you answers – John Maxwell – Only action will get you miracles!!
There is a point that you must move from action and intuition to moving out from answers with experience and intuition. You cannot always know the plan.

5 Keys to Action

1. Overcome Your Fears – fear paralysis’s action. Fear of failure keeps us from action – put the ask out there. What is the source of the fear? Take Action – Once you have identified your fear, you must act. Fear is the single greatest lid on activity. Failure is not final.
2. Prepare to make quick decisions – Calvin Coolidge stated that we cannot do everything at once, but buy God we can all act on something at once. Changing the world begins with a single act. Good preparation when it is aligned with who we are will pay off one day! When opportunity comes it is too late to prepare – Coach Wooden
3. Have a growth plan and work your growth plan – When you action steps are aligned with intentionality to your life plan – miracles will occur. Growth’s highest reward is not what you get from it, it is who you become through it. End of construction – thanks for your patience – Ruth Graham’s headstone.
4. Become an early riser – Mark Cole’s mother stated that something was wrong with her because she had to take a nap this morning even thought she slept 3 hours. I must be getting old! Thomas Jefferson stated “whether I go to bed early or late, I will arise with the sun! Action defines who you are!” “Determine to never be idle – it is amazing what can be accomplished when we are in action” T. Jefferson. The harder I work and the harder I work the more luck I have – T Jefferson. John Maxwell – Think until you think through!
5. Capitalize on your strengths – we all excel at something, leverage that to advance your dreams. Answers will become the by-product of movement.

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y97rBdSYbkg

As you think about 2018, what is the number one goal that you could write down right now? It is a goal that consumes your thoughts and imaginations. It is living into your fullest potential for 2018. The next thing to consider is what do you need to do sequentially to get to your number #1 goal? What are the small steps that will move you in the direction of that number #1 goal? These daily small steps are in fact cascading action steps that result in accomplishment.

If you are to improve your leadership capability in 2018 you must begin with a conscious awareness of yourself and your surrounding. Shepherds Advantage Coaching is a premier program that not only grounds your life in conscious awareness of your surroundings, but also focuses the dreams and passions that are already inside of you. Click on the link below for detailed information on our coaching experience.

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Your audacious life goals are fabulous. We’re proud of you for having

them. But it’s possible that those goals are designed to distract you

from the thing that’s really frightening you—the shift in daily habits

that would mean a re–invention of how you see yourself. – Seth Godin

Here’s the truth…

Becoming the type of person you want to become — someone who lives by a

stronger standard, someone who believes in themselves, someone who can be

counted on by the people that matter to them — is about the daily process you

follow and not the ultimate product you achieve.

• Why is this true? Because your life today is essentially the sum of your habits.
• How in shape or out of shape you are? A result of your habits.
• How happy or unhappy you are? A result of your habits.
• How successful or unsuccessful you are? A result of your habits.

What you repeatedly do (i.e. what you spend time thinking about and doing

each day) ultimately forms the person you are, the things you believe, and the

personality that you portray.

The most common mistake that people make is setting their sights on an event,

a transformation, an overnight success they want to achieve – rather than

focusing on their habits and routines.

The Apostle Paul stated it this way; “ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14 ESV. The idea of pressing into something first of all indicates a deliberate action – “I PRESS…” Someone or something is not pushing you, rather you are initiating the action upon yourself by the power of choice within you coupled with the power of God guiding you. However, understand, you act upon your deliberate choice.

There is a simple 3–step pattern that every habit follows. I call this pattern the “3 R’s of Habit Change” and it goes like this…

1. Reminder (the trigger that initiates the behavior)
2. Routine (the behavior itself; the action you take)
3. Reward (the benefit you gain from doing the behavior)

This sequence has been proven over and over again by behavioral psychology researchers.

Success as a leader is built on the foundation of character

SELF-CONTROL

Self-control is the ability to choose to do the things we should. 

“Self-control — our hyphenated English is frank and functional. There’s no cloak of imagery or euphemistic pretense. No punches pulled, no poetic twist, no endearing irony. Self-control is simply that important, impressive, and nearly impossible practice of learning to maintain control of the beast of one’s own sinful passions. It means remaining master of your own domain not only in the hunky-dory, but also when faced with trial or temptation. Self-control may be the epitome of “easier said than done.” – David Mathis.

“True self-control is not about bringing our selves under our own control, but under the power of Christ.” Consider…

“…for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7 ESV

Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Titus 2:6

“…and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,…” 2 Peter 1:6

Significance Begins HERE

Success as a leader is built on the foundation of character

SELF-SACRIFICE 

What is it about self-sacrifice that breeds followers? Followers don’t mind putting in the hard work. They don’t even mind a leader making more money or reaping benefits from their work. What followers do mind, though, is when the leader is using them for personal gain. People of good character don’t use other people, period. So when a leader shows sacrifice of personal gain, it says to the followers that they are willing to come alongside of them—and followers reward that almost universally. A person of good character shows that they can give up personal gain for the good of the whole (Jim Rohn).

The highest ethical gesture is a sacrificial self-offering which expects no benefit in return. The good is, paradigmatically, a purified sacrifice, the purest sacrifice imaginable (John Milbank). Said another way; Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends – John 15:13 ESV.

When setting goals, a secret ingredient is to visualize attaining the goal, keeping the thought of the end result in the forefront of the mind. Visualize holding that trophy, moving into that house, sitting at the promoted desk, holding a loved one’s hand while taking vows… whatever the goal is – visualize the end result.

See your goal in complete detail. Write it down. Draw it. Create a vision board so you can look at it as often as you want to remind yourself why you are doing all the smaller steps to get there.

Visualizing becomes a part of your here and now and allows your mind to accept the goal as if it has already been achieved. You will begin to see opportunities that were always there but are now noticeable. You will be able to accept new challenges and new ideas because you already see yourself at the finish line.

Visualization is what allowed everything around you to become real. Everything started as an idea in someone’s mind and then became a real tangible thing. It was first visualized and then it was created physically.

This technique is highly effective and a very worthy exercise in achieving your desires and dreams.