Generosity encircles us throughout the Christmas season. This may not be evident while jockeying for position at checkout lines with other shoppers. However, Christmas reminds us of God’s generosity in sending Jesus to heal our brokenness and, in response, compel our generosity towards one another. The Christmas season brings a rise in charitable giving and volunteering. We eagerly search for wonderful gifts for our loved ones. There is just something special about Christmas.
I hate when I fail to achieve my goals. Don’t you? We often start a new year with new goals, feeling energized and hopeful. Then, by February, we’re into our old rhythms, overcome by busyness and left with little time to focus on the goals that seemed so important a month ago. Why do we lose focus? More importantly, how can we keep that from happening again?
As we move toward the end of the year, it seems natural to both look back and look ahead. Perhaps the holidays cause us to reflect. Possible New Year’s resolutions may be swimming through your mind. What will the next year hold for you, your family and your career? What will you make of it?
Some of us get excited about the possibilities. We enjoy plotting the course and look forward to setting our sights on new heights. We are eager to set and pursue our goals. Others may be a bit more apprehensive. Hopefully, you’ll decide the journey is worth the risks.
Procrastination can get the best of us, at home and at work. The last thing I want to do after an amazing breakfast is wash the dishes. At work, I find myself procrastinating when I get behind. It becomes worse when I’m tired, lack focus, or feel overwhelmed. The funny thing is, more often than not, once I get started on a task at hand, I get on a roll. It recently dawned on me that I could be more deliberate in tackling the procrastination problem.
If I were left alone in your office, what might you catch me doing when you returned? In the spirit of full disclosure, I have wandering eyes. I like to see how people organize their lives, what tools they use, what they’re reading. I’m always searching for better solutions. However, upon your return, you’d likely find me perusing your bookshelf. That’s assuming you still read printed, hardcopy books.
I sat down at my desk this morning, like many other days. Next I opened up my email, just to make sure there wasn’t anything urgent. A colleague popped into my office with an issue. After nearly an hour of triage, I finally started getting to the priorities on my to-do list. I sipped my coffee and stared at the clock for a moment. Then, the light bulb came on in my head. I’ve slipped back into old habits.
Maybe your days start like mine did. Or, maybe you’re better trained in the art of productivity practices espoused by the likes of David Allen, Stephen Covey or the latest from Lifehacker.com. Sometimes, we unintentionally let things slip and don’t even realize it. For example, have you been working out as regularly as you’ve intended? Frightening isn’t it.
Your sweet spot is “where your greatest strength and your greatest passion intersect,” according to Ken Coleman, host of the EntreLeadership Podcast and author of One Question. I love the depiction Ken paints of finding our sweet spots in life – the elusive grail so many of us long for.
When we aren’t operating from our sweet spots, we can end up frustrated and miserable. We’re frustrated when our enthusiasm doesn’t match our abilities. It’s like when I first learned to play tennis. I was awful because I didn’t have the skills to be good at it.
“The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work,” said famed football coach Vince Lombardi. “Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay the price.” I talk with a lot of people who want to achieve more, be better leaders and perform at a higher level. However, wanting to be better and more successful doesn’t make it happen. The question we must answer is, are we willing to pay the price?
Confidence is essential for becoming and remaining a high performer. You have to believe in yourself and your abilities, as well as in your team. Often our approach to maintaining confidence is to focus on all the things we do right, recalling our successes and building ourselves up. With such a focus, is there a danger that confidence will turn to overconfidence? How do we keep from crossing the line?
In their 2011 annual Stress in America Survey, the American Psychological Association (APA) reported that American’s main obstacle to their ability to make healthy lifestyle choices and positive change in their lives is a lack of willpower. Often linked with self-control or discipline, the APA defines willpower as “the ability to resist short-term temptations in order to meet long-term goals.” In our culture of microwaves, fast food and next day shipping, it’s no surprise that many see willpower as a challenge. With the Center for Disease Control and Prevention classifying 1/3 of U.S. adults as obese, I think it is clear that we’re suffering from a willpower epidemic.
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