BEFORE MOVING INTO THE AREA OF PUBLIC VICTORY

"…….we should remember that effective interdependence can only be built on a foundation of true independence.

Private Victory precedes Public Victory.

As we look back and survey the terrain to determine where we've been and where we are in relationship to where we're going, we clearly see that we could not have gotten where we are without coming the way we came.

There aren't any other roads; there aren't any shortcuts. There's no way to parachute into this terrain. The landscape ahead is covered with the fragments of broken relationships of people who have tried. They've tried to jump into effective relationships without the maturity, the strength of character, to maintain them.

But you just can't do it; you simply have to travel the road. Habits 1, 2, and 3 come before the rest."

— The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: 30th Anniversary Edition by Stephen R. Covey

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Where are you right now?

• Unconscious Incompetence: You are unaware of all that you do not know. Right now, your bliss is ignorance.

• Conscious Incompetence: You are now very aware of all that you do not know, and the stress and overwhelm start to engulf you.

• Unconscious Competence: You still feel overwhelmed and a bit lost, but are smarter, stronger, and performing better than you are aware of.

• Conscious Competence: You are performing as an A-player, and you know why what you are doing is working.


Where will you be in 5 years?

#IN5YEARS

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Staying on Purpose

Staying on purpose is hard to do in this age of emails, blogs, Google and Wikipedia. I remember when the fax machine relieved stress, but now, we all want what we want and we want it....NOW.

I'm working in the box and not trying to be everything to everybody, but just doing what I can with what I have to work with. We can only do what we can do, pray like it depends on God, and work like it depends on Him also. Trying to work outside that box is more like a pipe-dream, a wishing well.

Looking back over my shoulder, reviewing the days events....I didn't get some things accomplished I intended, yet, I worked with what I had to work with and succeeded to the best of my abilities.

It was a good day. Challenging, but a good day.

Thank you Lord.

Succeeding in the box will only happen if we have the box defined and work hard at staying in the box.

We get outside that box when we try to shoot from the hip, or...when we attempt to circumvent writing policies and procedures, and/or following those policies and procedures.

We JUST WANT THINGS TO GO WELL. We want people to get along and JUST GET IT DONE.

Yet....we don't do the basics of defining the box we have to work in. We don't write the policy or procedure, we don't explain what we want to happen, we don't hold people accountable to their actions, or we attempt to hold them accountable to "things" we haven't explained very well..if at all.

Drucker wrote, way back in the 1967, He said that a good manager has to manage by walking around, and he has to repeat his desires over and over again. And if he doesn't keep repeating himself people will not believe he is serious. This has been quoted by management and leadership gurus many times since.

I've been told there is a book titled "Hope is Not a Strategy." The book is probably about managers that think they lead by hoping someone will adhere to a policy or procedure that hasn't been written. There's very likely a chapter on those that think something really needs to get done but doesn't take time to tell anyone else and instead hopes it happens.

I bet there's even a chapter on two people working on a procedure together, implementing that procedure, and hoping it is correct....even though other people in authority over the procedures actions haven't been consulted.

Thus, hope does not bring Joy at Work.

The Biggest Trouble With Trouble.....

Dr. Charlie Shedd, author of Letters to Karen and Letters to Philip, once said "the biggest trouble with trouble is that it keeps us expecting more trouble."

My dad would train his dogs and a few horses to not shy from the sound of a gun-shot. I aways thought it was strange that you would have to do that because all the dogs I grew up didn't run away from the sound of a gun. Yet, years later we bought a Collie and he would hear firecrackers and go absolutely nuts trying to get in the house he was so scared.

Failures in life can be like gun-shots. We are taught about succeeding and we hear about "when you get knocked down, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and getting going again." But how many times, and what does it do to your attitude? I've talked, written, and tweeted about "what you say when you talk to yourself." That is actually the name of a book I have by Shad Helmstetter and it was the first book my wife ever say me purchase 25 years ago. She was wondering "what?" The techniques in the book helped me through some things then and have many times since. Without getting into a deep positive-mental-attitude agenda, we do need to be careful about what we think, what we say to ourselves, the "pictures we have in our head."

Remember that "failure is an event, not a person." (Zig)

Today, let's expect great things! Today is the day my Lord has made and I'll rejoice and be glad in it.

To that end.....God Bless

Thoughts on Following

I began the week with a focus on following; reading and learning about
the subject, how it's done well, not so well, the-good-the-bad-the-
ugly, and just literally what it is.

The week is ending with pondering all the same, but from more of a
perspective of how well I followed. And was followed.

The box needs improvement on both. While some would say I've followed well, I say it has been quite blind and not near courageous enough.

To that end...

Trusting Yourself First

I have a few firm beliefs. One of them is this; "if I can't trust myself, I will not trust others."

Covey, in The Speed of Trust, talks about self trust in connection with it being the principle of credibility. I agree that to be credible to others one first has to trust themselves, and how well one trust oneself is in direct proportion to how WELL one trust another.

I've struggle with this quite a bit though because there are areas in which I trust myself but don't feel I can trust another. So, I circle back around to - what is good trust? am I blindly trust someone? are the results of the trust in proper proportion to the trust being given in the event it turns out bad?

We have to be certain we have the proper concept of trust down first and then we have to keep circling back to our own trust.

Do I trust myself to do what I need to get done in even the small things. Example; definsive driving - I knew when I agreed to take definsive driving after getting a speeding ticket that it would be a very slim chance that I would set down at a computer for 8 hours, or go to a comedy class, or whatever. Give me a break! A comedy class about definsive driving. It obviously works but I'll have to have at least one more ticket first.

I digressed....with all that I have going on in my life, agreeing with the Bee Cave court to take definsive driving was just plain stupid on my part and after not taking it, missing the next court date, paying the money I would have gotten out of, but paying for the definsive driving anyway, I now have another court date scheduled as I try get out of the $595 fine for missing the court date for not taking definsive driving that I knew wouldn't happen. I remember walking out of the court last March thinking "Smith! What did you just do? You agreed to set down and take definsive driving? Just pay the other $100 and be done with it!"

And what does that have to do with trusting others? Everything. In order to have a propensity to trust, one has to have a true north, a core, a foundation to start with. That true north starts with ourself. The Bible says to love others as we love ourselves. I know, it says to first to Love God, but that's another blog.

God Bless, learn to trust yourself....to that end.