The teacher looked at his class on Monday morning and announced that on Friday afternoon there would be a 2 kilometre race in which everyone was expected to participate.
Ben looked across the room and knew that he could beat anyone in the class. His only challenger was the slightly younger and smaller Eddie who had never defeated him, but consistently came second.
In fact, Ben was a very talented athlete who hadn’t been beaten in a race for four years.
Ben got home from school and told his parents about the race. With Friday so far away, he took it easy and didn’t go for a run that night.
Eddie got home, told his parents about the race. They asked him if he thought that he could win. Eddie shrugged his shoulders and expressed his doubts, knowing that Ben was a formidable opponent with much more natural running ability.
His parents responded, “He may seem more talented, but are you willing to train harder than him?”
Most people who have been involved in leadership or coaching would be aware of SMART goals.
The acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely and if your goals meet these criteria, you are on the right track.
Alternatively, there are DUMB goals.
These are the unhelpful goals that I see people setting for themselves or their organisations far too often.
What does DUMB stand for?
Think carefully and answer correctly.
What’s scarier?
Living a life where you follow your dreams, ignore the critics, pursue excellence, take risks, go against the tide, create new businesses, never stop learning, leave the office early to spend time with your kids and keep growing and developing?
Or getting to the end of your life regretting what you didn’t do?
Here’s your mission for the next week.
Find someone who looks uninspired and find a way to inspire them.
Find someone who feels discouraged and encourage them.
Find someone who looks lost and point them in the right direction.
Find someone who thinks that life is hopeless and give them a reason to hope again.
A funny thing happens when you start to look for such opportunities. You find them everywhere.
As many of you would know, for the past two and a half years, I have been working full-time on the pastoral team at CityLife Church here in Melbourne and running our resume and career services business.
The time has come to make a change, so I have resigned my role with CityLife and from 2013, Karen and I will be operating our business on a full-time basis.
I am very excited about the opportunities ahead and look forward to the new challenge. Our business has gradually grown over the past couple of years and we believe that the time is right for us to make this change.
I still love CityLife and it will remain the church that our family attends. I will always be grateful for the opportunity to work with such a terrific bunch of people and will remember my time on staff with great fondness.
However, I believe that this next chapter of life is the best use of my skills and abilities. I feel a great sense of purpose about the work that Karen and I perform in helping people find meaningful work. We are passionate about what we do and have a combination of skills that has enabled us to assist hundreds of people in their careers and we look forward to extending the reach of our influence.
I want to let you know about this change because I appreciate and value the support of my readers and want you to be aware of such significant events. I added a couple of FAQ’s in case you’re interested:
When it was time to consider schools for our oldest son, Karen and I visited a lot of schools in our area.
We didn’t really know what to look for, so I asked a good friend, who is a school principal, for some advice and he was very helpful.
Armed with this information, we had a list of criteria that we used to assess each institution.
We were very impressed by most of the schools that we visited and had a tough choice to make as we compared cost, student:teacher ratios, facilities, distance from home, size and the core values of the schools.
After much prayer and careful consideration we made our decision and have been rapt with the school that we chose for our family.
But as dramatic as this decision was this wasn’t the most important choice that we had to make regarding our children’s education.
Marathon runners talk about experiencing “the wall.”
It’s a feeling that they get when they get to a certain distance and don’t feel as though they can continue.
The legs feel heavy, the mind starts to wander, strides shorten and an overwhelming feeling of self-doubt starts to take over.
More than 50% of marathon runners will hit the wall at some stage. At that point, they each have a choice.
I know that I should eat healthily and exercise regularly.
I know that I should spend as much time as I can with my family.
I know that I should read if I want to have a healthy mind.
I know that I should pray and read the bible every day.
I know that I should work hard if I want to maximise my capabilities.
But if I don’t want to do any of those things, I probably won’t.
Dog & cat (Photo credit: normanack via flickr)
It’s said that a dog’s diary looks something like this:
8:00 am – Dog food! My favourite thing!
9:30 am – A car ride! My favourite thing!
9:40 am – A walk in the park! My favourite thing!
10:30 am – Got rubbed and petted! My favourite thing!
12:00 pm – Milk bones! My favourite thing!
1:00 pm – Played in the yard! My favourite thing!
3:00 pm – Wagged my tail! My favourite thing!
5:00 pm – Dinner! My favourite thing!
7:00 pm – Got to play ball! My favourite thing!
8:00 pm – Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favourite thing!
11:00 pm – Sleeping on the bed! My favourite thing!
And a cat’s diary says:
As a father of young kids, I often have to convince my children that there are no monsters in their bedrooms.
But like most kids, they still go through three stages of fear:
- Imagining the monster.
- Fixating on the monster.
- Convincing themselves that the monster exists.
We go through this stage as kids, but do things change that much as adults?
Source : betterlifecoaching[dot]wordpress[dot]com
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