A Key Ingredient to A Fulfilling Life

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One of the most important keys to a successful and fulfilling life is friends.  We are not made to walk this journey alone – we are made for and need others.  True friends are priceless.

Gordon MacDonald covers this beautifully in his book – A Resilient Life.

Today it is hard to focus on writing.  Two dear friends who have been our mentors are walking through a hard time.  These two wonderful people have loved us, taught us, guided us, and encouraged us.  We are what we are, is in a large part due to their input into our lives.

Today though, they are at the hospital as the life support is turned off for their 44-year old daughter this morning.  She had an aneurysm earlier this week.  We had just had lunch with her and her parents only a couple of weeks ago while in Mississippi.  She leaves behind two teenage children after having been divorced just a few months ago.  I cannot imagine what these children are going through.

Fortunately, all of them have a deep and abiding faith in our Lord.  So, if for some reason they come to your mind today, would you pray for them?

Friends are precious.

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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Time Management – An Assessment Tool

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If you struggle some with time management or just want to get a little better - click here for  a MindTools.com assessment of how you are doing and then some suggestions on how to get better.

Your time is a precious resource – steward it well.

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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Email versus Your Vacation

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Vacation time!  You and our family are excited, but then it begins to dawn on you that the emails won’t stop just because you are on vacation and you could be facing a “mountain” of them once you return to work.  but, if you keep checking your laptop, ipad, or PDA, your family may not be so excited either.

So, what do you do?  Michael Hyatt has a great post on this problem.  He deals with the three approaches many of us choose:

1. Remain online.

2. Go offline.

3. A hybrid – staying online with strict guidelines.  As with Michael, this option works best for me.  In fact I am in the South right now visiting family and friends before we head back to Michigan later this week.

Michael says the key is to have a plan and stick to it.  Click here to read some of his great suggestions on how to handle e-mail and vacation and still retain your sanity!

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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10 Steps to a Healthy Schedule

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Energy management (personal energy that is) is a very important aspect of a healthy life for all of us, but especially for those called to lead others.  This morning I came across a great article by Joe Thorn on his blog site.

Following is a brief excerpt from his post.  I would recommend taking the time to read his entire post.

Following are ten things he did to rebuild for himself a healthy schedule – it is good advice.

1. Establish roles, priorities and goals.

2. Let some things go.

3. Schedule everything.

4. Create boundaries.

5. Turn off my cell phone when I’m with the fam/wife.

6. Kill social media updates and notifications.

7. Organize and manage my email. 8. Get feedback and input on new schedule/boundaries from wife, coach and elders.

9. Give it time.

10. Anticipate surprises/interruptions.

Managing your time is critical to long lasting effectiveness – you are the steward of your time, so use it well.

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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Do You Know the Difference?

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Did you know that you truly are different from other people?  Did you know that many other people truly don’t think the way you do?  That they actually have different priorities and goals in life than you do?

We would probably all answer that of course we do.  Scripture and our life experiences verify this as well as a myriad of studies.  what I find too often true in my life and in others, is that while we may give intellectual assent to this, we actually or functionally operate as if others were “wired” just like us.  We expect them to react as we would, we expect them to understand as we do, we expect them to value the same things we do, we expect them to communicate in the same way, to receive rewards in the same way, and so on.

I was talking to a great young leader this morning who is dealing with a challenge on his leadership team.  From what I gleaned from our discussion, one of the key issues (not the only one), is that there is a major difference in personalities on the team.  the various temperaments and skill sets are needed, but the differences are getting in the way.  It sounds like a next step for them is an honest discussion of how they are uniquely wired by their Creator and to begin the process of valuing hose differences and learning how to use those differences to make a stronger team.

This young leader knows these things, but actually implementing this is very hard work and messy – but oh so necessary.

How about you?  Are you really valuing the differences on your team and utilizing them to make your team stronger?  Or are hose difference an irritant to you and acting as “sand in the gears’ of your team?

Have a blessed week!

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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10 Common Leadership Mistakes

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I am writing this post from the home of some of our friends in Mississippi on a beautiful cool spring day in the South.

As leaders, we are subject to many of the same or common mistakes that can be easily avoided.  MindTools.com has a good article on ten of those common mistakes that we need to avoid.

Lack of feedback – are you providing timely and beneficial feedback to hose you lead?

Not making time for your team – are you regularly scheduling time to meet with your team individually and corporately?

Being too “hands off” – sometimes we disengage too much from a project and don’t give enough guidance to our team and then we are surprised when they don’t meet our expectations.  This is a particular challenge for me.

Being too friendly – sometimes we work so hard at being friends (or being liked) that we forget that we are also their authority.  Are you balancing the social aspect with your responsibilities to also lead them?

Failing to define goals – do your people clearly understand what you want accomplished and why?

Misunderstanding motivation – do you truly understand what motivates your team members?  Are you aware that what motivates one may not motivate another?  Do you know your people?

Hurrying recruitment – when you have a personnel need do you allow the pressure to cause you to rush the recruiting process?  If so, you may be in for trouble.  This is too important to rush!

Not “walking the walk” – Is your life message consistent?  Do you do what  you say and what you expect of others?  Are you a person of integrity?

Not delegating – this is a big one.  Do you delegate?  Do you know how to delegate?  Click here to read a post on delegation.

Misunderstanding your role – the skills and the role of a leader are different than what yopu were doing before.  Have you learned the difference and what is required to lead?

It is a good article and worth reading.

From down South,

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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Life Management Best Practices

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Life mismanagement is one key area that results in the downfall of too many leaders.  This is “Enemy Number  Two” in Greg Salciccioli’s book, The Enemies of Excellence, & Reasons Why We Sabotage Success.

In his book, Greg lists some best practices exhibited by leaders who have learned how to build sustainable success.  They are:

Establish work boundaries.

Schedule vacations and personal planning times a year in advance.

Invest mornings in uninterrupted, high-priority activity.

Engage in daily exercise, providing emotional and mental relief as well as energy replenishment.

Use the afternoon for management, including e-mail, meetings, and phone calls.

Guard evenings and weekends for relationship connections and personal enjoyment.

Invest in outside insight from mentors, coaches, and trainers focusing on personal and professional growth.

Greg then follows up with three key steps to mastering Life Management:

1. Determine Priorities

2. Plan Priorities

3. Practice Priorities

Some good advice – so how are you doing in terms of Life Management?  Could some of these suggestions help you to become more effective and to lead a more fulfilling life as you follow your calling?

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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Different Ways to Read

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If you enjoy reading, you might enjoy this blog post by Trevin Wax on the different ways to read. Read more at bgallen.com

 

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Seven Ways Leaders Sabotage Themselves

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Why do leaders fail?  Why do so many promising and gifted people wind up sidelined when they should be hitting their most effective years?

It seems almost common place to see prominent leaders falling and damaging so many others along the way.  I have mentioned some good books on this in the past such as Dave Kraft’s Leaders Who Last and Dr. Tim Irwin’s Derailed.  Well, now an excellent book is out by Greg Salciccioli entitled The Enemies of Excellence, 7 Reasons Why We Sabotage Success.  Greg is the co-founder and president of Ministry Coaching International.

Greg has coached leaders for years now and has discerned seven common things that lead to sabotaging leaders in their journey.  The seven Enemies of Success as defined by Greg are:

1. Egotism

2. Life Mismanagement

3. Bad Habits

4. Indulgence

5. Broken Relationships

6. Isolation

7. Self-Sabotage

This is an excellent book and I would recommend you picking it up to see how Greg explains how these seven “enemies” impact us as leaders.  Also, you can go to his site, coachgreg.com and download tools from the book.

Hope you have a blessed week and please do avoid these Enemies of Excellence as you lead others.

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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A Burnout Self-Test

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Burnout – too many leaders are being sidelined by this way of living.  It only produces hurt and shortens our careers.  Question – are you dealing with burnout?

Check yourself by taking this self-test on MindTools.com.

Remember – the stewardship of your life is a key responsibility of a leader.

For His glory!

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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Dealing with Mentoring Myths

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Mentoring, Coaching, Accountability Partners, personal Advisory Councils / Board, and so on are all ways of intentionally seeking out wise people and inviting them to invest into our lives.  Scripture admonishes us to seek out wise and godly counsel.  I have a Leadership Coach (Pastor Dave Kraft) as well as five men that are on my personal “Advisory Council” and they have all impacted my life deeply.

Mentoring is a powerful means to bring the influence and counsel of others into your life in a deeply meaningful manner.

The online version of Harvard Business Review has a good blog post dealing with some of the “myths” surrounding mentoring entitled Demystifying Mentoring. Following are the Four Myths:

Myth #1: You have to find one perfect mentor: It’s actually quite rare these days that people get through their career with only one mentor. In fact, many people have several advisors they turn to.

Myth #2: Mentoring is a formal long-term relationship: Because the world moves fast and people change jobs and careers more often, a long-term advising relationship may be unrealistic and unnecessary. “Mentoring can be a one-hour mentoring session. We don’t have to escalate it to a six-month or year-long event.

Myth #3: Mentoring is for junior people Many people assume that they only need a mentor when they are first starting out in their careers. “We used to think it was people at early stages of their career who needed mentoring . . . Now we understand that people at every stage benefit from this kind of assistance . . .”

Myth #4: Mentoring is something more experienced people do out of the goodness of their hearts: “It can be an honor to ask someone to be a mentor,” says Willyerd. But the respect isn’t the only reason people agree to help. Mentoring should be useful to both parties involved. Before seeking out a mentor, think about what you have to offer him.

This is a good article and it goes on to articulate some basic mentoring “Do’s” and “Don’t’s’ as well as giving three case studies.

The key point is that we all need others to grow in all aspects of our lives and we need to be intentional about building that into the daily fabric of our lives.

“Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.” Proverbs 19:20

BG Read more at bgallen.com

 

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