In his book "Live Your Dreams", Les Brown suggests 4 questions to ask to boost self-approval:
1. What are your gifts? What do you do well?
2. What are 5 things you like about yourself?
3. What people make you feel special? These individuals inspire something within you. What is it?
4. What moment of personal triumph do you remember?
It makes a difference how you look at yourself!
He made my generation smile, sing, dance, tap their feet, and vibe to a different beat...even this white man who couldn't dance. My wife Edwinna is really sad, she was extremely influenced in her singing and dancing by Michael Jackson. Outside of his music, one thing that really stood out to me about Michael Jackson was his love and connections to different cultures of people.
What's up everyone! As Will Smith would say, "HAPPY SUMMER TIME" to you. Our next AfterHours Experience will be held outside on Friday, July 3rd @ 6:30p - come join us and experience live hip-hop, spoken word, Chef Jeff BBQ, and some real good connection. Our spiritual conversation is on the subject of Urban Legends...Catch the VIBE and bring a friend!
AfterHours Rewind: Last month in the AfterHours Experience we explored what it meant to feel LOCKED UP!
Spiritually speaking, we have all been through what we might call "prison experiences" in life. Times in our life when we feel LOCKED UP in affliction and adversity for reasons beyond us. Have you ever wondered where God was in your pain ? And why adversity and affliction was a part of His plan for us? Many of us have lost our passion, our sense of mission, our sense of direction, and abandoned our dreams as a result of feeling LOCKED UP in our difficult circumstances.
What do we do? In chapter four of the book of Philippians Paul urges his readers to maintain a tough mind, fixing on what is right and profitable. Paul looks to discipline, contentment, and focus as a way to help him get through challenging times. Although many of us find ourselves in positions of adversity, nevertheless, we should be challenged to display attitudes of joy, peace, and conquest. Why? Because God is the source of our joy, peace, and conquering spirit. Paul was able to stay of mission, even in prison, because he knew God was going to see him through...Paul had hope and so can we!
Our challenge is to be pro-active people of mission. We can either surrender to God and His purpose/mission for our life or we can surrender to the adversity and difficult circumstances we are experiencing. The Apostle lived in constant adversity, however, he was a leader who was determined and able to leave his mark and never drift from his sense of mission.
How did Paul's sense of mission and purpose keep him in the fight of life as he literally sat in prison? What did he learn behind bars? John Maxwell points out 5 things Paul learned from being "LOCKED UP":
1. A purpose will motivate you.
2. A purpose will keep your priorities straight.
3. A purpose will develop your potential.
4. A purpose will give you power to live in the present.
5. A purpose will help you get through difficult times.
A DREAM IS AN IDEAL involving a sense of possibilities rather than probabilities, or potential rather than limits. A dream is the WELLSPRING OF PASSION, giving us direction and pointing us to new heights. It is an expression of faith, hope, optimism, and values lofty enough to capture the imagination and engage the spirit. DREAMS GRAB US AND MOVE US. They are capable of lifting us to new heights and overcoming self-imposed limitations.
Everyone has a dream deep inside. What’s yours?
How do you motivate your people? Everyone desires to serve a leader who motivates them to do their best. There are many things leaders need to remember about motivating and de-motivating people.
What motivates people (given from John Maxwell's Developing the Leader Witihin Workbook):
Significant contributions- People want to belong to a group or pursue a cause that will have lasting impact.
Goal participation - People support what they create. Allow people to have input toward change.
Positive dissatisfaction - Dissatisfaction can inspire change or create a critical spirit. They key to direct dissatisfaction toward positive, effective change.
What de-motivates people:
Criticism- Public criticism hurts! Stay alert and be sensitive to the feelings of others.
Manipulation - Manipulation tears down te walls of trust in a relationship. Honesty and transparency yield better results than crafty maneuvering tactics.
Iinsensitivity - Make people a priority. Leann to listen without being preoccupied and in a hurry. Let others know that you care.
Discouraging personal growth - Encourage your team to stretch and grow. Give people opportunities to succeed. Don't discourage growth because you may feel threatened by the success of others.
I read an interesting quote, it said, "Non-growing organizations are a result of non-growing leaders." Ouch, that hurts! For leaders who are leading GROWING organizations I here your sigh of relief. However, for those who are leading non-growing organizations, the quote SUCKS!
Great leadership is a life-long process. That is why it is essential to persevere in strengthening our leadership skills if we are going to continually grow. We don't argue this in the world of music, medicine, or psychology. We know that a musician has to have a persistent march toward his craft if the he or she is going to have solid music. The goes with a doctor, lawyer, or therapist. Why not the leader? Shouldn't the leader study leadership if he or she is going to lead effectively. We must have a tenacious attitude toward the development and sstrengthening our leadership skills if we are going to be effective. Because, as goes the leader, so goes the organization.
Self Leadership Questions:
George M. Adams said, "Encouragement is oxygen to the soul." How true. Encouragement isn't automatic, therefore, we must be very intentional about giving it. If you're a leader, then it becomes crucial to your effectiveness.
How to become an encourager (given by John Maxwell):
Build Relationships - The closer you are to people, the more your encouragement counts.
Believe in People - If you don't believe in people, they won't believe in you.
Walk Your Talk - Model first what you would encourage others to do.
Show People You Think They're Important - Remember names, and ask them for help.
Hold More Celebrations - Acknowledging wins motivates people to keep trying.
Raise the Bar - Many people will stretch to success if challenged.
Give People a Reputation to Uphold - People rise to the level of expectation.
Building Champions Ministry is our total body fitness environment that emphasizes holistic spirituality, core training and a healthy lifestyle. We emphasize the Hootcha attitude (Never give up) and incorporate such activities as Pilates, Tae Bo, cardio, weight training, and the "emotional and spiritual" for an overall fitness.
Peter Scazzero, in his book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, outlines the top ten symptoms of emotionally unhealthy spirituality. Here they are:
I read an article that said, "Be teachable, mediocrity begins with me." Then I thought yo myself, "How teachable am I?" Are you teachable? In my leadership journey I am attempting to posture myself as a person who can learn from anyone and anything. I think I am doing a decent job, however, there is always room for improvement.
It has been said that, "Leaders face the danger of contentment with the status quo." Therefore, I think it's essential for leaders to prioritize their personal growth, and learn to stretch themselves even when those around them seem content with the status quo. Mediocrity has a way of metastasizing throughout the body. When leaders remain open and teachable, growth is the end result. So the leaders job is to cultivate a teachable attitude in his or her journey.
Why should we keep growing (taken from 21 Qualities, John Maxwell):
Don't believe your own press. The greatest enemy of tomorrow's success is today's. Don't get distracted by your achievements.
Try something new. Whenwas the last time your did something for the first time? Challenges change us for the better (hopefully).
Grow in the area of your strength. Read books on leadership and in your area of giftedness. Keep stretching.
