Lead is a 4 letter word…#2

Continuing with the 4 letter lead series today. Four letter words are not always negative and they can be a great help to you, if you allow them to be.

(I will not have these up everyday, but every couple or few days - they're a little longer and I know your time is valuable.)

Let me remind you it takes WORK (a dreadful four letter word) to get to where you want to be in life.

Keep moving forward towards your goals and don’t let the challenges distract you.

If you missed yesterday’s word, you can see it here - LOST...

Todays word is SEEK - S.E.E.K…

Donate food...

I saw this sign and was immediately excited.

I love food. I have it in a couple of other posts...Food and ferns...BBQ...Microwaves...

I like to at at most any time, any day. 

Food is good. 

It encourages people to get together. It nourishes our bodies. It tastes wonderful (except for asparagus - not wonderful). It creates mood. 

There's another way to look at donating food...

Food can be defined as more than just what we eat. It's any nutritious substance or something that warrants serious consideration. 

Here's some food for thought...

Lead is a 4 letter word…#1

I am starting a 7 part series of four letter words that help you lead. I hope they are an encouragement to you, and help you with your work, your life, your church and your family. They will be simple, and I’m thankful for you reading them. 

Some have said that “Work” is a four letter word, giving it the connotation that it’s bad, or evil, or not to be done, or avoided, or negative. 

I posted some other four letter words - work, rest & fail. I also posted about the importance of the word word - it's a little wordy though.

It takes work to do anything that you want in life. Even the laziest person has to work to get the minimal things they want.

Work will be part of all the the four letter words I talk about in this series on leadership and you have to work toward any goal, plan or desire you have.

Don’t look at all four letter words as bad...I think that frogs are nice...wait, that’s five letters...you get the point.

Today’s word is LOST - L.O.S.T…

Ingenuity and the traffic light...

Recently, I was stuck at a traffic light at a very large intersection. I was mad that I got stuck, when the person in front of me got to go through the light - that always bugs me. 

There were two different men selling $1 newspapers to support themselves. This goes on at many large intersections in Nashville. 

Without getting into the history of this too much, it basically started as a way to stop those that were begging for money at corners, and allow them to have some organization, structure and a job, rather than just stand there. They now sell these newspapers as their job.

This is not easy...many people just pass by, or assume negative things. I'm in sales and know how challenging it is to sell under any conditions, but this sale is tough. BTW, it was 91 degrees at the time of the picture.

Whenever I see someone doing this, I think that it's great they are doing something to help meet their needs and that this may be the stepping stone to their next role in life.

Today's thought takes that to the next level...

Impacts…

Today I will be writing in sevens.

“Impacts” always has seven letters in it. 

Now you may say “Duh” to that.

I think seven is a cool number. 

Seven doesn’t have seven letters in it.

Lets look at impacts as an acronym.

Impacts can be broken down into ideas…

Thank-a-post…

I’m still amazed that you come to my blog.

More than that, I’m grateful that you do.

I truly hope that what I share everyday, is a blessing, an encouragement, a motivation, or maybe a conviction to you.

I take a risk to put my thoughts out for all to view and I’m appreciative for the support that you have given me.

Some of my posts have likely been boring.

Some have likely drawn a yawn.

Some have you disinterested in the first line.

But…

Beware of the dog…

I saw this sign while out inviting people to our church with some of our teen boys. I’m only semi-afraid of dogs. They need to be big dogs for me to truly get that tingly feeling of soon-I’m-going-to-be-mauled-and-die. Mostly, I don’t even notice the signs, expect for this one…

Our American flag in the wind…

When the wind blows the flag unfurls and you see the stars and stripes. It’s a patriotic sight and makes you proud of your country.

In a storm, the flag stands tall and proud and shows it’s colors.

The toughest time for a flag is when it gets whipped around by the wind, and yet that’s when it is strongest.

What about you?

What wind is blowing hard in your life right now?

Are you having a hard time standing in the wind?

Watch the video below...

Self portraits and our me world…

In the mirror, she's smiling at a picture of herself...

I’m sick of it. 

Call me old fashioned.

Call me a dork.

Call me any name you like, but I can’t stand all the self portraits and pics that are all over social media. 

People are stuck on themselves…

Count others, then count you!

You may have noticed I added this to my quotes at the top of my blog page. It’s not that I want to quote myself, because that actually looks a little strange on your own blog. In fact, I debated even adding it, because it looked like self-promotion, but it’s a concept I believe in and wanted to have at the forefront of my blog.

My blog started off just talking about fails in my life or fails that I have seen in others lives or in business. I still share those things, but I want to make sure that what I share impacts others and not just to draw attention to me.

Thus the title and concept…I briefly dealt with this in a post a week or so ago...Leadership is you?

Count others…

BBQ and bags of water…

I went out with a friend for lunch a few weeks back and we went to a little hole in the wall BBQ place. We had a good time and the food was great. 

While we were eating I noticed a bag of water hanging from the ceiling. I then looked around and saw another, then another and realized there were probably 20 or more in the restaurant. We both sat there trying to figure out the reason for this.

Here were some of our thoughts:

Pews are for service…

Sunday’s are not for going to church!

Just lost 18 followers, 12 daily readers and most all of my FB friends with that comment!

Sundays are for service. 

Sundays are for ministry.

Sundays are for others.

We often fail on Sundays. We go to church with the wrong attitudes and desires…

Why do you go to church? If you don’t go, you might want to start, and then go with the right reasons in mind.

Satire Saturday…2

This is a continuation from last Saturday’s headlines full of humor...hope you enjoy this one too…


A couple of other funny posts here and here...

Mailboxes and patience…

I would likely say that most of you are thinking that this post will be about waiting for mail to come.

In college, everyone loves to get real letters and packages, and you have to have patience.

When an important document or check is in the mail, you have to have patience.

When you are waiting on that new smartphone, or package, or gift to come to your home, you have to be patience.

When someone hits your brick mailbox, you have to be patient…

Surveillance and the sign…

I saw this sign a while back and then I looked at the building. It had at least 6 or 7 of this same sign posted at each door and along the main outside walls.

My immediate reaction?

Where are the cameras?

Did they have a camera at each door? On each corner of the building? On a pole?

I looked around and didn’t see a single camera, anywhere.

What’s the message?

Scars are cool…

I didn’t used to think scars were cool, when I was a hand model. It’s hard to get work with stitch holes in a knuckle, or big gash of days gone by. So off to another career path, because I have the hands of a lumberjack, not a hand model (to all of my lumberjack friends - please do not be offended).

We all have scars…

We all learn from our scars, just like our failures...

Leadership is you?

Who wants to follow you, not on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram or any other social network?

Are you followable? 

Do people look to you for help and answers?

Are you approachable?

Do others want you to lead them?

My title is “Leadership is you?” The question mark is on purpose. 

Ice crunchers and bird whistlers…

Little things distract us.

Annoyances impact us.

Pet peeves frustrate us.

We are bothered by things around us. 

We lose focus because of things out of our control. 

We can’t control those things, just us.

We can’t control the craziness of life, but we can control our thoughts and attitudes...

Freshen up…

Every morning (unless you work the night shift) you get up and get cleaned up for the day. During the day you likely check the mirror just to be sure that you don’t have salsa on your shirt, or a burgeoning zit (that’s for the teens, I hope), or your hair is messed up, or your…

We freshen up regularly.

We take showers to clean the dirt away.

We add cologne or perfume to create a better smell.

We spray our cars and couches to get rid of bad odors.

We comb our hair to look presentable.

We read a book to get up-to-date on a topic, or get motivated.

We go to a seminar to learn the newest, latest and greatest.

We go to church to get filled up with right and lose the wrong.

We brush our teeth, so we don’t create enemies.

We often refresh.

Satire Saturday…

It’s time again for some more simple humor. Saturdays are a stress reliever anyway, so adding a smile will only help the day go by faster.

Some funny headlines that will, at least, bring a smile to your face...I hope...

Always wrong…

Do you ever feel like you’re always wrong?

Does it seems like all your choices are wrong?

How often have you decided to do something and failed?

Do you feel you’re mistake prone?

Do you put your foot in your mouth a lot?

Do you hurt after you make a mistake?

Snappy dresser…

Yes I am! Just look at this outfit. I was headed to a discotheque to show some of my fine dance moves, just a few minutes after this photo. Look at my right hand - it’s ready to bust a move - I’m holding it back. My Buster Brown bowling shoes are ready to tear it up.

There are a lot of reminders that come along with an old picture…

This picture reminded me that trends change constantly, and marketers love to see it happen, because it makes them more money.

It also reminded me of childhood. We really didn't care what we wore, too much.

Man, was I a handsome little devil!

It reminded me that psychedelic argyle and wide collars are on the way back in.

I was reminded that you should never mix burnt orange carpet, red and white checks, and taupe lava lamp curtains together. 

The bowling elevator shoes work, no matter the occasion.

Even though the trends change and the styles come and go and come back agin, there are a few things that never change. Here are a few...and not just death and taxes...

Have you flipped?

I read a post last week that discussed the tipping and flipping point, with regards to business, where an idea goes from being, just an idea, to something that people gravitate towards and get involved in.

Facebook had a tipping point, where it took off to be a great success in connecting people.

Instagram had a flipping point, where it went from a quirky idea to a $1,000,000,000 sale. Yes, that's the correct number of zeros...

Satellite radio had a point where the idea went from a good thought to something that is in most new cars now.

There are tipping and flipping points in our lives, where we change from one course of action, train of thought, or life plan, to one that’s better.


THis post is not about tips or business. Also, this past post is a funny fail with a big tip at the end. it also happens to be my first post ever...

We also influence other’s in their tipping and flipping points…

Is everything okay?

This question can be taken in numerous ways.

Are you okay personally, professionally, within your family, financially…the list goes on?

It can also be taken in the area of standards…

We are in a very different world today, than my parents, or grandparents. 

We live in a now society, that knows everything that’s going on and has incredible numbers of connections.

We live in a time, where styles change at a pace, that very few can keep up-to-date.

We have technology that outpaces, even our wildest imaginations.

We have many laws, but common sense seems to be limited.

We have a focus on allowing everything, but I’m not sure everything is right.

So, is everything okay?

Back to the future…

I know that this is the title of an 80’s classic movie, that most everyone has heard of, but I couldn't resist the title, based on the photos today. It’s not everyday that you get to see a DeLorean in real life, right beside you. This one was parked in the lot at my office and I had no option, but to take a picture (it will thrill my youngest son when I show them to him - he loves cool cars). Just for nostalgia sake, it’s cool to have on file, so I can remember my youth.

The car brought several things to mind…

Time for a trim…

Can you believe the excellence in the manicure (or would it be pedicure, because they were closer to my feet? - I’m really not sure), I gave the bushes, in front of my house (it took hours to get the white one, in the bottom picture, perfectly cylindrical). I may need to change careers...wait, I just did…

I should have taken a before picture, since these bushes had shot up within a few weeks this Spring. They weren’t ridiculous, but they needed to be trimmed up so they didn’t look shabby.

I have to do that same thing with my beard - well, I don’t have a beard, but I do shave for work and church, so that I look sharp - or as sharp as is possible with me - wait again, my chiseled chin looks pretty rugged, so, sharp I am! 

We also need to get haircuts, because our hair gets out of line within a few weeks. I am not growing the afro-mullet back. It was amazing, back in the day, but it’s gone now.

Trims are needed regularly, and they are just cleaning up loose ends and tidying up areas that are not neat.


I wrote a couple days ago, about swinging the axe, but sometimes it's just a trim that's needed.

What other areas do we need to trim up?

Silly Saturday #2…

I started this one last Saturday…

I love to laugh…I think life without laughter would be awful. Truly, I don’t even like to go an hour without laughing. I think that God made us without a laughter mechanism, that we shouldn't waste. 

I especially think that we need to laugh during trials, tough times and the saddest points in our lives. It helps us release the hurts and bring in the joy.

You can look at any of my posts under the label of funny, or specifically at these…

Today, I’m just sharing some funny sayings, quotes and other silly stuff…

I hope you enjoy. I don’t know who these are from, so if credit is due, then take it...sorry...

1. If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.
2. A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.
3. Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
4. For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism.
5. Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks
6. No one is listening until you make a mistake.
7. Success always occurs in private and failure in full view.
8. The hardness of butter is directly proportional to the softness of the bread.
9. The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the ability to reach it.
10. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.
11. To succeed in politics, it is often necessary to rise above your principles.
12. Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7 of your life.
13. Two wrongs are only the beginning.
14. The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.
15. The sooner you fall behind the more time you'll have to catch up.
16. Change is inevitable except from vending machines.
17. Get a new car for your spouse - it'll be a great trade! (you must be rolling on this one!)
18. Plan to be spontaneous - tomorrow.
19. Always try to be modest and be proud of it!
20. If you think nobody cares, try missing a couple of payments.
21. How many of you believe in telekinesis? Raise my hand…
22. Love may be blind but marriage is a real eye-opener. (hilarious)
23. If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving isn't for you.
24. Support bacteria - they're the only culture some people have.
25. When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane and going the wrong way.

Lessons Learned: Laughter continues each week, hopefully, each day, or hour...

Thoughts: Do you love to laugh?

#failalot

Swing the axe (or ax)…

Half a tree - pretty cool to see, but do I want it in my front yard? 

We get attached to anything on our properties and it’s hard to let go. We like to have things stay the same. Sometimes, a tree was planted in memory of, or to celebrate, or when we bought or built our house. We don’t want to let go of the stuff we own. It’s hard to take the axe (which can be spelled both with or without the “e”) to things in life. 

I saw this down the street from me a few days ago, and it made me think…

Food and ferns…

What a weird topic title!

You can’t eat ferns, or maybe you can? With all the "froufrou" (I know that means rustling of silk, like a dress, but I use it like “fancy”) salads, or meals, out there nowadays, maybe there is fern salad…

Grilled chicken fern salad with vinaigrette dressing.

Fern and friends salad.

Fried fern with fries (anything’s good with fries).

Fern and spinach salad.

Fern a la mode.

You get the picture.

I bring up the two words in the title today, because of God’s provision, not because I’m hungry, although I can eat most anytime, and the fries comment has me thinking, “McDonald's run” right now.

It’s amazing to me how God provides:

Hard trying…

Have you ever tried something really hard? 

Have you ever worked towards a large goal?

Have you ever focused on a task, that was little larger than you realized?

Have you ever _____________ ?

You fill in the blank. You add your hard thing. You add the big challenge.  You put the tried goal right there…

How do you define success?

This picture is great!

We so often define a successful life by what we see, and in a lot of cases it’s not what we see at all.

Sometimes we only define success by our own standard, of what we think success is. It’s more than just our definition.

Sometimes we only define success by what we see in our world...money, fame, position, etc…