Love, Cookies & Lasting Relationships

Have you ever tasted one of Debbie Fields’ delicious, hot from the oven, chocolate chip cookies? Although I wouldn’t advocate eating them on a regular basis, I have to admit that, along side a fresh glass of skim milk, those chocolate morsels melting in your mouth are absolutely delicious.

So what if you wanted to make cookiesjust like Debbie Fields’ cookies? Is it possible? The answer is: “absolutely”! All you need is her recipe, the proper ingredients, and, perhaps, a lot of practice.

The same is true in developing quality relationships. There are a few ingredients that are MUST-HAVES if you want to consistently create and sustain lasting relationships.

INGREDIENTS:

February is the month of LOVE.  Test yourself to see if you are truly full of LOVE by putting your name in the blanks below.  Then ask yourself if you are really reflecting LOVE in your relationships at work and home.

“________________ is patient, ____________________ is kind. ___________________ not envy or boast, _____________________ is not proud, rude or self-seeking. ____________________ takes no record of wrongs. ______________________ does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth. ______________________ believes all things, hopes all things and ______________________ NEVER FAILS.”

The greatest ingredient to thriving and lasting relationships is LOVE in its purest sense of the word.  Choose to sprinkle more LOVE in the lives of others and you will be set with a recipe for success!

Share the love…..Like this blog and post it to Facebook!  Thank you!

Secure Your Own Mask

If you are like many people, you have already made plans for the new year and, perhaps, those plans include changes you need to make in certain areas of your life. Personally, each year, my family and I sit down to evaluate the former year and ask ourselves, “What did we like?” “What would we repeat?” “What do we want to avoid or never do again?” and “What can we do to improve upon ourselves in the New Year?”

As I sat down to ponder this 2011’s results, I was reminded of a former trip with my family. There I was, sitting on the plane with my daughter on my right and my husband and son on our left, when the “emergency landing” video came on. The lady proceeded to tell us that, in case of emergency, the oxygen masks would fall and we should secure our own masks before trying to help those around us.

I thought to myself, “Yeah right, as if I would put myself before helping my own children. No way! I would help them first!” Then I started to rethink the logic of that decision. I noticed a single mom with a baby in front of me and an elderly couple seated on the front row. Then it hit me, “If I don’t secure my own mask first, I may not have enough oxygen for helping the other people on this plane.”

That same principle is true in life. Often times, we run out of vitality before the end of the day and have nothing to give the people we love the most. We burn the candle at both ends and fail to realize that we have put our core values in an order that is quite dysfunctional. When things get hectic, the first thing to go out the window is our exercise time or meditation time or “me” time. In other words, we try to put the “oxygen mask” on everything and everyone BEFORE ourselves and end up depleted at the end of a day or year.

As you contemplate resolutions for the New Year, I want to encourage you to “secure your own mask” by creating a plan for your own physical and spiritual wellness. That may include losing those last few pounds, working out more often, spending more time in prayer, or just taking the time to become centered on the things that matter most in life.

A well oxygenated leader is a stronger, more resilient leader worth following!

If you know a few friends that need more “me” time….share this post on Facebook or Tweet it and let them know!

Take Time To Sharpen Your Skills

There was once a Lumberjack competition between a young arrogant lumberjack and an old and quiet man. The contest began and the young man was determined to win on speed and agility.

As the day passed by, he grew more and more confident that he would win, noticing that the old man had to frequently stop and take breaks.

At the end of the competition, the young man was shocked to learn that the old man had won by a huge margin of cutting down 1/3 MORE trees than the young man. The young man walked over to the old man and asked, “How did you do it? You took so many breaks and I didn’t even stop once!”.

The wise old man replied, “Son, what you don’t understand is that on those breaks, in which you thought I was resting, I was actually sharpening my ax!   A well-sharpened ax makes for a LOT less work as it makes the trees fall fast!”

Are you giving time to “sharpen your ax”?  Take time to make sure that you are rested, sharp and on point for the destiny set before you!

Resolutions Vs. Results

Did you know that the majority of the world will NOT write out New Year’s Resolutions and four out of every five (4/5) people who DO, will eventually break them.  One third of those who write resolutions won’t even sustain them through the end of January!  Sound familiar?  Could it be that our tendency to over-commit and get bogged down with busy-ness versus effectiveness is keeping us from the most important things in our lives?

New Year’s resolutions are about YOU becoming a better YOU.  It’s about you making time for your core values and the things you know in your heart SHOULD take place in the year that lies ahead. 

Life will always push itself against you achieving your BEST.  If it was as simple as swimming downstream, everyone would do it!  Instead, studies show that the average human will use LESS than 3% of their full potential.

So where do you start?   One area that most often gets thrown to the sidelines is the push for healthier lifestyle.  You know you SHOULD exercise more.  You SHOULD choose better foods.  You SHOULD lose weight.  And you SHOULD spend more time seeking peace and rest.   But the more you say, “I SHOULD do this or SHOULD do that, all you are doing is SHOULD-ing all over your best life!”

Resolutions are nothing more than words on paper.  Resolutions are saying “I SHOULD”.  But results require action.  They require moving beyond “I SHOULD” into a posture of saying “I MUST & I WILL”. 

Make an “I WILL” list and then choose to become UNSTOPPABLE in your efforts in 2012

To help you take immediate action in your “I WILL live a healthy lifestyle”, I suggest kicking off your new year with:  The LIFE By Design system offered through FirstFitness Nutrition.

THE ULTIMATE WEIGHT-LOSS & WELLNESS SYSTEM

Never give up.  I am believing God’s best for you in 2012!

OUR TIME CAPSULE = GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Before my father passed away, he made sure that we all understood many things that would give us the wisdom and inspiration we would need for life. As I take time today, December 31, 2011, I am quietly able to meditate on a few of them that bring such solace to my soul.

1. HOPE – My father always said, “Hope is the EARNEST expectation that something GREAT is about to happen.” I have lived with HOPE and expectation my entire life and that is why, I believe, I have been so blessed to speak, sing and share valuable time with so many notable leaders, Presidents and world changers. It is also the key to my joy in the midst of life’s most challenging storms.

2. ONLY BELIEVE – Perhaps the greatest gift my father passed on to me was the gift of FAITH. (Luke 8:50) What a blessing to believe in the impossible, trust God through the improbable and stand for even the most unlovable. This is the value of the belief he taught me in saying, “With God, all things are possible!” There is ALWAYS a way of escape and an opportunity for a dynamic turnaround.

3. NEVER GIVE UP – Possibly the most important value he engrained into my heart during my adolescence. I was small, skinny and to most, looked like a poster child for Feed The Children. But despite my frail physique, I was determined to be an all star basketball player. He never said, “You are too small or you’re not built for the job.” Instead, he encouraged me to practice 10x as hard as the others and said, “No matter what happens, you can do this if you work at it hard enough, practice and NEVER GIVE UP!” He was right and that principle guided me throughout so many other adventures in life.

Tonight, at 11:30 p.m., we will open our “time capsule”, a small box in which we wrote out our “BELIEVE LIST” for 2011 to see all the wonderful things God has done for us this past year.  We will then exercise our HOPE by writing out our list for 2012, put it in the capsule and enter 2012 with great expectations in what God will do this next year!!!  (Mark 11:22)

Happy New Year….I am BELIEVING God’s absolute BEST for you in 2012!

LOL!

Did you know that laughter is one of the best medicines known to man and an amazing way to de-stress in 2012?  Of course, we’ve reduced it to a symbol (LOL), however, if we could actually bottle it up, it would be worth MILLIONS!  One of my favorite things to do to de-stress is experience time with friends, family and entertainment that makes me LOL (laugh out loud).

Last night, I took time to defy the critic’s ratings, which were poor at best, and go see “Alvin & The Chipmunks – Chipwrecked”. Put yourself in the posture of a 5 year old, and you will LOL from beginning to end. Stay in the mindset of a stoic critic and you will be disappointed with the childish voices and slapstick humor. Honestly, I sat there thinking…..”Man, can those Chipmunks SING!”. Their rendition of “I’m A Survivor” was epic. (Did I just say that?)

I sat with four kids all under 11 years old and LOVED their joy-filled giggles throughout the movie. So my tip for today’s PRE-New Year excitement is: Alot a place in your resolutions to give more time for LAUGHTER.

“A cheerful heart is a good medicine; But a broken spirit drieth up the bones.” – Proverbs 17:22

Want more tips for De-Stressing your life?  Watch this video interview:

Leadership Tips From Santa

Check out my interview with Santa and what he has to say about Branding, Team Development, Customer Service Alignment and other valuable leadership tips that make his brand iconic.

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

A HEART OF GRATITUDE

What a precious season to take time and give thanks for the many blessings of our lives!  As I sit here awaiting the homemade Thanksgiving dinner prepared by my 10 & 11 year olds, I am still questioning how, on earth, I landed such a sweet deal this year.  Here I am, not lifting a finger, and my kids are scurrying around in the kitchen making what should be the dinner of a lifetime! I see recipes that I wouldn’t even attempt and enough chocolate to dip a turkey!  Dear me, what have I agreed to?

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