In each of our 2017 family meetings we would read Psalm 27. The core of this Psalm is to have a singular focus on seeking God.
For 2018 we will continue our practice of turning to the Bible and seeking God during our family meetings. Our primary focus will be to “seek first the kingdom” from Matthew 6:33. Since this will be the focus for my home, my posts through 2018 will align with this as well. Continue reading “2018 Focus – Seek First the Kingdom”
This week I want to share a personal practice that I believe has helped keep my behavior in check, and my mind more focused on the most important things. I have not been perfect at doing this, and I have seen the opposite results at the times I have strayed.
Many years ago I was challenged to read one chapter from the book of Proverbs from the Bible each day. It doesn’t take long…usually less than 5 minutes. It was easy to determine the chapter to read because it was the “proverb of the day”.
See, the book of Proverbs has 31 chapters. This means there is basically a chapter of Proverbs for each day of the month. After a month you have read the book, and can simply start over.
After doing this off and on for several years, it has become a practice I really enjoy. Each time I read a chapter there seems to be a verse or principle I can apply to my life in a very practical way as a husband, father, son, employee, leader, friend or disciple. Somehow, at the right time there is a verse or passage that stands out for me. Sometimes it is right after a situation where I realize I should have handled something differently. Other times it is right before a situation and the verse provided the much needed preparation for the moment.
Here are a few “stand out” verses from yesterdays reading of Proverbs 15 (one of my personal favorite chapters):
While each passage has much to ponder, I tend to take one verse or so that stands out that day and focus on that for a while.
I encourage you to try this for one month and see how it helps you. Let me know how it goes!
“Burger Boy” is what they called me. My job was to make sure the meat was ready when the customers ordered sandwiches. I didn’t even make sandwiches for the first several weeks of my new job.
In high school I worked fast food. I still say this was the most fun job I ever had, and the most stressful. I worked at a particular restaurant for five years. In those 5 years I went from “Burger Boy” to the assistant store manager, where the store manager was the only person in the store above me. Most importantly in those five years, I met the girl of my dreams.
I was still working there when I had less than 12 months until our wedding. And I had a problem.
I had to make more money.
I set my eye on getting into the Human Resources (HR) field and the opportunities in fast food at that time were pretty limited. I had no degree, and honestly did not know very much about HR. I was earning an annual salary of $19,500 plus benefits. I also had the pleasure of working at least 50 hours a week closing the store most nights.
A friend worked at one of the large corporations in the area and she helped me get an interview in the accounting department for an entry level position. Interview went well and the offer came in…$19,000 (~3% reduction). To me, it was a no-brainer. Absolutely!
Later in my career I found myself working a job in HR. I was again working well over 50 hours a week. My ability to have successful relationships with family, friends, church, myself, and even my hobbies was diminishing. If I wanted to be a successful dad, husband, or even friend, then I would have to make a decision.
I had to decide what was more important – Success at Work or Success at Home
I chose home! After some soul searching and preparation, I began looking for new opportunities. Similarly, the solution came through a friend. The interview went well, and the offer came back lower than what I was currently making. To me, it was a no-brainer. Absolutely!
In both cases the opportunities outweighed the risk. And both cases turned out great!
Getting to the decision to make a change was not as easy. I needed to be sensitive to whatever that new opportunity would be.
Five key considerations before quitting your current job to go to a new one…especially if you are going to make less money:
Obviously, I didn’t seek a new job to make less money. And I would not encourage you to do that either. But, I would encourage you to look at your situation and determine if the money you are making is worth the sacrifices it takes. Tough times will come and go, so you want to be sure that in the long run you’re able to focus on the most meaningful things of life.
“So, what do you do?”, she asked me.
“I am a Business Analyst”, I replied.
“Oh, so you work with IT?”
“Um, no. I am in Compensation.”
“Oh, so you do payroll.”
“Um, no. I do market pricing.”
This conversation went on for a bit until she walked away, still having no idea what I did for a living.
I needed to change the way I answered this question.
So, what do you do?
The next time I was asked “So, what do you do?” the answer sounded more like this:
“I help companies meet their business objectives by designing and implementing competitive pay structures, benefits packages, and career opportunities for employees in every country. Today I am doing that for X Company.”
The Process – five steps I took to change my answer to this question:
Going through these steps helped me see my work as a key part of a bigger picture. It actually showed me where I had more influence than I realized, and, to be honest, where I had less influence than I should have.
Changing my perspective changed my trajectory!
COMMENT BELOW: So, what do you do?
It all started with a wheelie.
1986 was a glorious year for BMX. The movie Rad came out. I saw tricks in this movie that blew my mind. I was going into 7th grade and I could do a wheelie and an endo (hit the brake and go up on the front wheel). This movie inspired me to take my BMX riding to a whole new level. Continue reading “What Flatland BMX taught me”
“Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you are right.” Henry Ford
It took me over 15 years to start writing. I talked myself out of it thousands of times. I would tell myself, “I don’t“:
I look over the last few months of blogging, and I can see that once I decided “I will“, then the “I don’t” began shifting to “I didn’t“. I still have a lot to learn, and I am okay with that. Pretty soon, I will look back and say:
“I don’t” became “I didn’t” and “I will” became “I did”
The truth is, I could:
The shift from “I don’t” to “I did” is like the remote control. I can see it across the room, but I have to move to get it.
My first 5k “run” was about 6 years ago. I had never ran more than a mile on purpose before then. Since then, I have “run” two other 5k’s. Each took me between 45-50 minutes.
This year I signed up for a half-marathon. This wasn’t on my bucket list. I am not a “passionate runner”. I ride BMX bicycles and do tricks for fun (more on this on my Wednesday blog).
I am doing this half-marathon for a cause – raise $3,000 to give clean water to communities in Africa. Learn more and/or help support me by clicking here.
When I look back to the day I said “yes” to the the half-marathon, I remember telling myself, “I don’t”:
In October, I will look back and say:
I didn’t. I did.
Each Sunday we have been talking about weekly planning. Today, I encourage you to think about the “I don’t” that keeps you from making meaningful progress towards a goal you want to achieve.
“I don’t” will not become “I didn’t” until “I will” becomes “I did”.
COMMENT: What is one action (“I will”) you can take to change your “I don’t” to “I didn’t”?
During the most recent election season I would see numerous polls telling me what the population believes. I remember a specific poll that showed a significant portion of the population held a view that I did not hold, and it startled me a bit. So, I looked the analysis up, and found that the poll was of 1,000 people across a three state area in the New England area. I thought to myself, 1,000 people? Is that really a true sample size of the 350+million Americans who have an opinion?
Whether you are looking at political polls, compiling big data, reading a magazine, watching a documentary, or even studying the Bible, I encourage applying these steps to understand the information.
When it comes to data or information analysis, focus on these four steps:
Collection, Interpretation, Application, and Communication
The steps are outlined below with an example of telling time:
Regardless of what you are analyzing the process is the same.
The hardest part of analysis is to simply follow the process.
Each step has it’s own challenges, key points, and implications for skipping the step.
Collection – Too much time collecting data can overwhelm the interpretation process. You must learn to weed out bad or irrelevant data. If you skip this step you are simply making things up.
Interpretation – The more variables there are in the data, the more complicated this process becomes. Too few data points may lead you to a false conclusion. You must identify the key variables, and consider multiple alternatives or ways to apply the information. If you skip this step everything else is simply your opinion and you may never know if you had the right information.
Application – There are always other factors you could not know or predict. Based on what you know, it is important to identify what you believe is the best option. If you skip this step you have nothing to communicate.
Communication – People will consume and interpret information differently, so there is not a simple answer here. Some will want to see all the data, how you interpreted it, all the alternatives you considered, and why you decided on your application. Others will want the concept and the soundbite. A big risk is to communicate misleading soundbites. You must identify your audience, and the level of information you want them to consume, or that they need to consume. If you skip this step then you are the only person who knows what the data is saying.
Using these steps will not only make you a better analyst, it may also make you question or understand the analytical results you hear from others.
Comment – What other ways do you interpret information?
Do you have a lot of messy work weeks? Do e-mails and meetings hinder you from a productive work day?
If so, I recommend an honest review of your work by what I will call the “principle of separation”. It’s like an orange. Separating an orange the right way leaves a beautiful wedge for eating. Separating it the wrong way leaves your hands sticky and everything messy.
Continue reading “Productive weeks are like separating oranges”
Why you will never earn what you are worth!
My heart was broken after a conversation I had with a young, well paid and respected executive. He was told in school that if he doesn’t double his pay every two years then he is failing at growing his career. For most of his career his pay had doubled at least every two years. What the instructor failed to tell him was what it would cost him. His family suffered greatly.
In that moment I wish the instructor had a different message:
You are more valuable than your paycheck!
Continue reading “Why you will never earn what you are worth”
I love the clear sky on a dark night. From our home we can see Orion some of the year. My family can sometimes be found laying on the sidewalk in front of our home looking up at the stars. There is something that happens as I pause and look up at the big dipper, little dipper, north star, and even the planets. Somehow, the problems of this world seem to fade as my mind looks into the universe.
What does the universe have to do with planning our week? Let me give you one thought! Details. Continue reading “He made the stars also.”
