Significance

What do you know about your great grandparents? I would think that if you asked 10 people this question, then 9 would say they don't know anything about their great grandparents. They wouldn't know what their great grandparents interests were. What their hopes and dreams were. Or anything about what really made them tick ... what made them unique.

I think it's natural for us to have a natural yearning to "leave our mark" on this planet. I believe that the best way we can do this is by influencing other people. More specifically, helping those around us to get the most out of life. If we are doing that then we in turn will be getting the most out of life.

Here's where it gets tricky for me. What type of imprint am I making on the planet that will be seen or felt by my great grandchildren. What will my daughters children's children know about me ... or will they know anything about me? If history is a good predictor of the future, then I already know the answer to my own question; they won't know much of anything.

I've been giving this question some thought the last couple weeks and here is my conclusion:

* I can instill values, integrity and the thirst for knowledge in my children which will pay dividends for generations to come. The bible says that the sins of the father get passed down for several generations I believe the reverse can be true as well. I am a benefit of the heritage my ancestors created for me, whether I recognize that or not.

* The effect I have on others can not only improve their lives now, but into eternity. I think we will all be surprised when we get to heaven and learn of the impact we all had on each other without even realizing it. That's motivation to make every day have purpose. You never know who's life you can positively effect each and every day.

Feelings

I've been thinking about something that I'm not even sure if I can verbalize it. I might as well spill out my thoughts onto my blog and see what sticks:

Everything we surround ourselves with, everything in our day-to-day lives has an affect on our feelings. Things, people, animals, food, drink, ... everything only affects how we feel, nothing more.

Let me give an example or two. On my commute to work I drive by some $1 million dollar homes. These homes are incredible to look at. They are absolutely beautiful. I specifically enjoy looking at the entrances to these high-dollar subdivisions. The entrances are colorful and inviting. No costs were spared. I can't help but thinking lately about why the entrances are so beautiful? I mean, they don't provide any real value to anyone, they are just nice to look at. So the only thing I can come up with is that the entrances in all their splendor, make people feel a certain way. We like to look at pretty and expensive things, but why?

Here is another example; the design of cars. You know how some cars you can look at and say outloud, "Wow!"? And then there are others (PT Cruisers for example) that make your stomach a little queasy. Why is that? What does the design of a car really have to do with us. Other than makes us feel a certain way.

What's in a feeling? And the question that I keep pondering is, "Can we change how we feel?" Or should we just be expected to manage around our feelings? Is that even possible?

We spend a lot of money, time and effort on things that only make us feel a certain way. Is that what our lives should be all about?

Talking

Small people talk about people.

Medium people talk about things.

Big people talk about dreams.

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What do you talk about most?

Abundance

Have you ever worked with someone who tears people down in order to build themselves up? Man, I have and those people just plain suck.

It reminds me of a story of a man that wanted to have the tallest building in his city. His was the second tallest. Rather than figuring out how to make his building taller, he just tore down the tallest building. Same result but much different method.

People like that have a scarcity mindset. They compete with others and use competition exclusively as a measure of their own success. These scarcity people think that there is only so much fortune, success, fame, or recognition to go around .... and they want it all before it dries up.

An alternate mindset is an abundance mindset. Rather than competing against others, people with this mindset use their influence to complete those around them. They realize that fortune, success, fame and recognition are limitless. There is more than enough for everyone.

Leaderment

The last two weeks I've been listening to a 26 CD set created by John Maxwell called "Lessons on Leadership". It's been very rich and challenging me.

Can I be honest with you though? It's one thing to understand leadership principles but it's a whole other challenge to know how to apply it. I have poured about 9 hours of leadership teaching into my brain the past two weeks and yet I still feel like the same leader I was two weeks ago.

I blogged last June about leadership and spoke briefly about managing and leading. I mentioned that there is a time for both. Reading it again, I must say it's a really good blog. I asked you if I could be honest, remember?!

I believe the key is to understand leadership principles but then more importantly, know when and how to apply them to your specific situations. For this, I came up with the word, "LEADERMENT". Here's my definition:

Leaderment - the ability to lead others through effective management principles which produces healthy, motivated, and productive teams.

Correction

Here are seven steps to correcting ones behavior that I just read in the book, Maximum Achievement by Brian Tracy. These steps can be used with your children, friends, or people at work.

Step 1: Protect the individuals self-esteem at all costs. Treat it like a balloon with your words as potential needles.

Step 2: Focus on the future, not the past. Talk about "What do we do from here?"

Step 3: Focus on the behavior or the performance, not the person. Replace the word "you" with a description of the problem.

Step 4: Use "I" messages to retain ownership of your feelings.

Step 5: Get clear agreement on what is to change, and when and by how much. Be specific as well as future-oriented and solution-oriented.

Step 6: Offer to help. Ask them "What can I do to help you in this situation?".

Step 7: Assume that the other person wants to do a good job and that, if he or she has done a poor job or made a mistake, it was not deliberate.

Nature

I was talking with my mom the other day about some wood rot we had noticed on our house. If you live in Johnson County, you know that wood rot is about as common as breast implants and mini-vans. My mom made a statement that stuck with me. She said that nature is always trying to reclaim the land.

Just moving into a brand new house, with brand new grass, brand new windows and brand new bills . . . it is easy to fool myself into thinking that I don't have to do anything to keep everything looking nice and new. But nature is there, and slowly but surely picking away at my precious house and land. My house will need constant maintenance as long as I remain here. Some mowing, painting, cleaning, replacing, and protecting.

More important than houses, our minds need constant maintenance as well. Nature and those elements around us all want a piece of our minds. And if we trick ourselves into thinking that's not a big deal, then where will we be? Broke? Probably. Depressed? Maybe. Sorry? I believe so.

My challenge then is to stay sharp! Do the required maintenance! Read the book, see the movie, spend the time with family, give the hugs, tell someone how you feel, make time for friends, take the pictures, give to your church ... Do the things that are easy to put off. Do the maintenance necessary to ward off nature so that you can experience a fulfilled life.