Taking Inventory… Sailing Adventure… Jan 7th, Here We Come…

December 20, 2011

Time is ticking and it is getting close to the start of our big adventure.  If you’re not aware of the big sailing adventure, I’ll fill you in.  My wife and I are taking our 3 boys out of school for 8 months so that we can sail around the Eastern Caribbean.  Very exciting!  This has been in the works for quite a while and we’re so excited.

A large portion of the fun of this adventure has been the planning, as it is with so many things.  And, the nice part of this was that it fit so nicely with one of my mantras… you’ve got to take inventory.  If you don’t have a good sense of where you are and what you’ve got, it’s going to be a lot harder to get where you want and need to go.  Every step of the way along our journey to getting to this point has involved some element of taking inventory.  Whether it’s figuring out what we physically need to buy or acquire, or perhaps some additional knowledge or training that we need, we knew what it was that we needed by having done inventory.  All this helped us to be ready to make it happen.

Now that our adventure is about to start, we will continue to do inventory.  We need to know what equipment needs to be replaced, or what supplies might need to be replenished.  The same is true with our businesses, our personal and professional lives.

So, keep taking inventory and keep pushing to make your plans come true… whether it’s sailing, building a business, nurturing a family, or just living the dream.  And, then, make it happen.  For us the adventure down south starts January 7th.  More news to follow.


Being Centered… Maybe Not

March 31, 2011

Often people say that you need to be centered.  That you need to find your center.

I won’t disagree with that but I will add a slightly different point of view.  While you need to be centered and know who it is that you are as a leader, business leader, or personal and professional person.  You also cannot necessarily learn anymore about yourselves if you only spend time where you feel safe, where you feel comfortable.

People and leaders, almost by definition, need to evolve.  You need to grow, to adapt to your surroundings as they change.  And, when that happens you become a new version of youself.  You learn more about what your skills and talents are, especially new and emerging talents.

Given this, you cannot grow and evolve without actually spending time exploring your edges.  

What have you done recently to explore your edges?


A Still River Runs Deep

March 24, 2011

That was a line in a song I heard recently.  When I heard it, I was quite impressed with the metaphor and thought what a great reminder for how we should deal with other people. 

Why you ask.

Because a still river is often still moving very quickly.  There can be a lot of stuff happening below the surface that we can’t easily see without looking deeper literally or figuratively.

And, this is true for us as people.  Often when we meet people, we may not get much of a sense of how “their river runs”.  It might be quite deep and fast.  For us to enjoy the real nature of their river, we will need to spend some time getting deeper.

And, of course, it’s always good not to make too many assumptions about a still river.  You may think it is calm and still but step in and you might just get swept away.


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