More Life in My Day

We have a true modern day challenge. There's unlimited information and we want it all, but it's just not possible. What we are observing is, our society is getting overwhelmed with too much information (TMI) and it's perpetuated by our desire to soak it all in. This should tell us that the fix to this "overwhelm" is within ourselves. Now there may be many ways to combat the endless live stream of data, but how about this one? Temet Nosce | Know Thyself To do this, we are going to need some time to thoughtfully answer a few vital questions we haven't been asking. Take a shot at these questions and compare your answers to what you see happening in your TMI moments. Who are you?  What gets you excited? What is important in your life? What values do you cherish the most? How do you uphold the values that represent you? Where do you want to go? What would be an even a bigger vision to the previous question? Values Inspection Those are valu...

We can feel like we need to accomplish, alone. This is simply not the truth. Fullness in our life requires us to connect with others. We don't need to have dozens of friends but we do need a few friends... a few good ones, that is. There isn't a study out there that shows that human beings are better off in solitary. In fact, it's the exact opposite. Is it true that we have been hurt, slighted, mistreated and/or misunderstood by people? Yep! Yet, the happiest, most fulfilled people have these tragic stories, just like us. I guarantee it! So, what is the secret? Connect with people, but not just any people. Create a "people strategy" and do it on purpose. Find someone to help or serve, on purpose.  Make a friend, on purpose.  Interview a mentor, on purpose.  The good news is you get to pick your friends. Let's avert our focus from the quality of our friendships and instead, examine the quality of our choice in friends.  Our friendships ar...

Thinking. When do we really get a chance to slow our mind, sit and soak in our own thoughts? We go from moment to moment, reacting to input that doesn't seem to stop or even slow down. It has the making of an I Love Lucy , episode of comedy and tragedy, that goes something like this:  Lucy and Ethel wrap chocolates! Masters of Time If we can't think, we can't be ourselves and since we are moving from task to task all week it doesn't leave us with much time to actually think. We become expert at simply responding and diminished in creativity, patience and an additional long list of other virtues that get neglected. Time is what it is. So, we have to make it serve our needs. It is a courageous and proactive step to block out and guard our time to give our mind a chance to work for us rather than always giving it over to everyone and everything else. It may seem as if we need to get away from the noise because the noise is bad or evil. It's not! The nois...

Take a second to think. What do you really want? Many times we'll find that what we want is actually something that we feel is "missing." When we feel like something is missing in our lives we crave a variety of solutions that may not be the solution to get you where you want to go. The sooner you find out what these things are, the sooner you can understand and fill that gap with the the right things. If we can avoid or at least minimize missteps along the way we can get there quicker and maybe even redeem our time a bit. Let's Work Through It What is Missing? Make a quick list of what you feel like you are missing. Write these things down . This could be anything from a car to a mindset. Maybe it's a relationship, health or a feeling. Maybe it's several things. Take time to brainstorm as big of list as you can. Set a timer for 10 minutes and stay in a focused brainstorm mode until it goes off. If you run out of ideas 3 minutes in, stay in this...

Have you ever thought about getting your own Life Coach? If you did, what would you like to be coached around? Let's get to it! Following is a very short list of common reasons someone connects with a coach, for perspective, planning and determining what it's going to take to achieve. Which objectives stand out? What other objectives are on your mind that will require smart planning and strategizing for tomorrow? Life-work balance. Improving relationships. Mentoring/Discipleship development. Better performance. Discovering your passion. Losing weight. Improved fitness. Advance management skills. Career transition. Veteran transition. Starting a business. Planning for college. Raising productivity. Stress management.  What has to change to get to where you want to be? Planning and Strategy Planning and strategy are far too many times, things that we overlook. We'll spend hours and days putting together campaigns, sales pitches, and getting train...

Time is inelastic. It's flow is unobstructed and we cannot get more. With any resource that is non-renewable, we must show it the ultimate respect. Unfortunately, it is something that we ignore but always want more of. Yet, we don't really spend a lot of time thinking about how best to use it. John C. Maxwell , author, speaker, and pastor who has written many books, primarily focusing on leadership, makes the point that we don't actually manage time. We manage ourselves! That's exactly right. We can't change or slow the time continuum so that just leaves us with what we can manage. So, then, how do we manage ourselves? A great way to wrap your mind around the importance of making the most of your time, is to ask a few seasoned citizens how they feel about how they spent their time. "Do you wish you had more time?" "What else would you have liked to have done?"  "What does it feel like to have the real sense that time is short?...

In general, most people can articulate the things they would like to accomplish in life. At first glance they may not know every detail but will have a few specific thoughts and maybe a fuzzy idea on how to achieve those goals. If someone does find the ambition to actually define those goals and mine out the details on how to get there, they run up against the next challenge. Where am I going to get the energy to accomplish this goal? Our energy level is one of several long term challenges. It's a strong move to evaluate and integrate energy management right from the beginning. Energy Requires Fuel The first step is to be aware that to get energy, we require fuel. The four areas that require this fuel are the physical , the mental , the emotional and spiritual parts of ourselves. There are things that are energy boosters and there are things are energy drainers. The energy boosters are the fuel stations that keep us up and running. The primary energy booster is gene...

Seriously, how busy are you? It's true. We live in a time where pace, information and technology are moving and advancing so fast it's impossible to keep up with everything we want to do in life. The sooner we realize that we need to prioritize our life, the more we minimize the horror of looking back on a life that we did not intend. So, how then do we prioritize? Clearly, some things will have to be cut. Some things will have to wait. Others have to be done on a regular basis. Stop now and make a list of priorities! Don't prioritize them yet. Just write down all the priorities in any order. Now, to the next step. What Do You Value? To make the first list more meaningful try this. Jot down a list of values that are important to you. What are the values you would like to live in? Easier said than done. Where is a good place to start? Where do we set the bar for what's important? If you truly want to put more life in you day, ;-) let us remind you that...