Some Good Poetry

My good friend Kyle posted some great poems. They're simple in prose, yet profound. Check them out:

Air Fills My Lungs
The Happiest We Ever Were
It Beats Harder

Police Speed Trap Illusion

Don't you hate it when you drive past a parked police car running radar and you look in your rear-view mirror and it looks like the police car is moving. It is an illusion, and it freaks me out! Even when I know I'm going under the speed limit, it still freaks me out.

Who Are You Reading?

I read several blogs on a daily basis...thought I'd share them with you in case they interest you (it'll certainly tell you a little more about my personality): [in no particular order]

43 Folders
Church Communications Pro
Church Marketing Sucks
Church Relevance
Daily Cup of Tech
Lifehack.org
Lifehacker.com
Matt Cornell
Scott Berkun
Seth Godin
Tim Ferriss
The Scoggins Saga
Web Worker Daily
Zen Habits

I use Google Reader to gather all of my feeds in one place.
Tell me who you're reading in the comments!

Google AdSense

Several of you have asked me how much money my "prostitute blog" has made me so far. It has made me a whopping $0.43 cents. Too bad that Google only sends you a check after you've earned $100.00. That means that by the time I'm 40 years old, I might get a check.

The funny (or perhaps scary) thing is that the ads are context sensitive...so every time I write the word "prostitute" it becomes more likely that an ad I don't especially want at the top of my blog will show up.

It Just Occurred To Me...

It just occurred to me that if you were just looking at the last few postings on this blog, you're probably wondering what all of these "sessions" things were about. They are my thoughts from the Willow Creek Leadership Summit.

I explained what they were when I started posting them, but since the postings list in reverse order, it might not be real clear what's going on with them.

Hopefully I'll get to post everything from the later sessions soon.

Session Three (part two)

Three Myths & Truths About Strengths & Weaknesses
From Marcus Buckingham
Note: This is a continuation post from an earlier entry.

Myth: As you grow, your personality changes
Truth: As you grow, you become more and more of who you are
If you were to take a personality test every decade of your life, you will most likely get the same result every time.

Myth: You have the potential to grow most in your area of weakness.
Truth: You have the potential to grow most in your area of strength.
You need to ask yourself what situation(s) you can put your strengths in to make them stronger. How can you sharpen your skills? Is it possible that by growing stronger in your strengths you can grow your weaknesses?

Myth: A great team member puts their strengths aside for the better of the team.
Truth: A great team member volunteers his/her strengths to the team most of the time.

Three Skills To Work In Your Strengths Most of the Time:
1. Know Your Strengths
2. Change Something (Each Week) To Help You Grow In Your Strengths
Put Together a Strong Week Plan - where you reduce focus on a weakness and increase focus on a strength.
3. Learn to talk about your strengths without sounding like you're bragging and talk about your weaknesses without sounding like your whining.
This is the only way you can talk to your boss/spouse/secretary/etc. about delegating your weaknesses and working in your strengths.

4 Signs Something Is A Strength (Or, Ways To Identify A Strength)
1. You are successful AND effective at it.
2. If you instinctively look forward to it
3. Doing the thing makes time go faster
4. If it seems as if you were made to do it...you feel energized about it.

Note: Must meet all four qualifications to be a strength. You might really enjoy something but not be effective at doing it.

Basically a strength is any activity that makes you feel strong!

Session Three: Marcus Buckingham - "Put Your Strengths To Work"

I love this guy, Marcus Buckingham, so I might have to break this post into two postings. I don't know why I like him so much. Perhaps because he's a great communicator. Perhaps it's his English accent (he's British). Perhaps because he knows his stuff. Perhaps it's because his content really resonates with me.

Buckingham has written 3 noteworthy books: The One Thing You Need To Know, First Break All The Rules, and his latest, Go Put Your Strengths to Work. They all revolve around the principle of "build on your strengths, and manage around your weaknesses." His thesis is that people need to do what they enjoy & are strong at, not spend so much time improving your weaknesses because you'll never move much in improving your weaknesses, but can be the best in the world at the thing your strongest at.

It's not that you shouldn't work on your weaknesses, but you should focus more on your strengths...and when you are working on your weaknesses, you should do so through your strengths. For example, if your kid is really good in Science and failing Algebra, you don't abandon Algebra. However, your kid is probably not strong in math and likely never will be, simply because he's not made that way. But, if you can help him approach Algebra in a scientific way, he can improve his weak area some (some being the key word there)...and perhaps enjoy it in the process because he's using his strength. What you should really do, though, is help him be the best scientist ever, because that is his strength.

Next time I'll post on his talk: Three Myths & Truths About Strengths & Weaknesses

Session Two: Carly Fiorina "Tough Choices"

Carly Fiorina is the former CEO of HP. She facilitated the merger between HP & Compaq...considered by some to be the biggest hi-tech merger of all time. She was fired from HP in a shady ordeal and wrote a book about it called Tough Choices. They say it's a great book...i've added it to my "books to read before I die" list.

She had a few quotes worth mentioning...let me know in the comments if you agree/disagree with any or if any jump out at you:

• Nothing worthwhile happens as an individual alone.
• Motivation is moving people in a certain direction. Management doesn't involve motivating people, but leadership is all about motivating people.
• Leadership, to be effective, involves a vision that is bigger than people's fears. You have to show them that, though it's going to be painful it's going to be worth it.
• Leadership is seeing & unlocking potential in others. When a leader sees the potential in others, it's motivating. Leaders need to take chances on people.
• Leaders have to be authentic. You can't fake authenticity.

It was pretty interesting that she said if she had to do the whole HP thing all over again, knowing the painful ordeal she would have to go through - the public firing - she would do it because she learned so much about leadership & integrity from it. She said that everything is a gift, even the painful trials in life because they make us stronger (hmm...where have I heard that before?).

Session One: Bill Hybels - "Vision To Die For"

Bill Hybels always does the opening talk at the Summit. The whole conference is really his baby, and he truly gets jazzed up for this event. Probably because he feels that "the local church is the hope of the world." Nothing can provide hope like the local church when working effectively. Government can help people, but it can't help the human soul. Doctors can heal people, but they can't heal our sin condition. You get the picture.

In the first talk, Bill talked about a vision that people are willing to follow...even more than follow, a vision that people are willing to own and even (God forbid) die for. He gave some pointers for forming a compelling vision, but said that the most important aspect is the process. The vision is best formed, refined, and declared to the group that you desire to own it by first drafting it (preferably with the team that will be asked to own it), then re-drafting it, then editing it some more. The point is that if you try to sell the first snapshot that comes in to your mind, you'll probably fail miserably.

The single most determining factor, according to Hybels, that will effect the ownership of the vision for your followers is the extent they sense you, yourself own it. Vision leaks, and the more you refill the cup of those who follow you, the more they will sense you own it and the more they will be willing to adopt it themselves.

Question to ask yourself: Would you be willing to die for the vision God has given you? How much ownership do you have for the thing God has given you to do? Is life more about you, your career, your comfort, your path, etc; or is it more about doing whatever it takes to reach the finish line?

Everyone Is Leading Someone

Several people who read this blog are fans of the Leadership Summit - a conference put on by Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago...broadcast via satellite to over 100 cities across the world (including Calvary) - but were unable to attend for one reason or another. So, I thought I'd take a few posts over the next couple of days and give some of the highlights as they touched me.

Side Note: Lots of people never consider going to the Summit because they don't consider themselves to be leaders. Though the Summit is targeted at church leaders and (to a lesser degree) businesses executives, I would contend that there is something for everyone at this event because everyone is a leader. Whether you lead people at work, at a church group, at a local organization, your kid's ball team, or (last but not least) your family...everyone is leading someone. This year's Summit slogan is "Lead Where You Are." So, I would encourage you to buy the DVD's of the Summit...they'll do a lot better than I will in stretching your leadership potential. But, if you refuse...perhaps my recap will touch you some way.

21 Pages

Can someone please explain to me why there are 21 pages of advertisements before the table of contents in a subscription-based magazine? I'm ok with a page or two of ads to help make Men's Journal a profitable outfit, but really, 21? What am I paying for? Why don't they call it an advertising directory? Seems to me like someone needs to cut some overhead expenses. Men's Journal better be glad that my credit card points were about to expire and I needed to "spend" them on magazines. It's sad really...they had a chance to really impress me while I was getting the magazine for "free." Instead, they made sure I'll never "pay" for the magazine subscription.

A Prostitute Blog

I've decided to add a Google AdSense bar to the top of my blog to see if I can make a little extra income. Does that make me a blog prostitute? I don't know, but if you see something you like, take a click and see what you see...and make me a little moolah.

The Orange Story

It's the long awaited story of the orange dessert (ironically, half of the people who read this blog already know the story...it's worth posting for the other half).

A while back when we were on vacation in FL, my wife, my brother-in-law, my sister-in-law, and I went to a Japanese steak house (why we were going to a steak house instead of a fish place is a whole other topic). We had the grandparents watching the kids and were looking forward to a nice evening out. Amy even wore this smokin' hot dress...wait...that's another blog as well.

On the menu, they advertised that every meal came with a salad, soup, the main course, and dessert. All was going just fine...the salad was the typical ginger salad that you get at such a place. The soup was good...the brothy, onion soup that we all love and expect. The teriyaki steak wasn't the best that i'd ever had...but it was edible and certainly as advertised.

After we finished the main course, they brought the dessert...if you want to call it that. It was actually an orange slice in a bowl with a piece of mint leaf [I stand corrected...it was a cherry...and now that I think about it, mine only had a cherry stem]. I wish I had thought to use my phone and take a photo for you. (the image below is much more appetizing than the one I received as "dessert")
The thing that is incredibly stupid is that if the restaurant hadn't mentioned a dessert on it's menu, I would've never even missed it. Not only could they save themselves money on oranges, but they could also have kept their reputation in tact. It's a marketing principle that is pretty fundamental:

If you're going to make a promise, you'd better deliver.

Or, as Seth Godin puts it, it's best to under promise and over deliver (with some degree of moderation). The price I paid for the steak wasn't excessive...it didn't need a dessert with it. I didn't go to the restaurant looking for a meal with dessert included. But, once they offered a dessert with the meal, they should've come through with something big. If they wanted to bring me an orange...don't mention dessert, fruit, a surprise, or anything...just bring it out as an over delivery. If you're going to say a dessert is included, go big...make it a 3-layer chocolate cake with a scoop of ice cream and caramel drizzle with a cherry on top (note: i don't like cherries, but you get the point)...make it remarkable.

Who knows, perhaps they know what they're doing...they got me to write an entire post about it. But I refuse to tell you the name of the place. For one, I don't remember it...but if I did I wouldn't dignify them by mentioning it here. I'm not angry...just dumbfounded.

Faith To Get Out Of The Car

Tonight I had one of those moments. We'd just returned from our usual Friday night eating out. I was in the car with the boys and Amy drove separately...and she beat us home and was already inside. I got out of the car and promptly got Trip out of his seat. As I closed the door I caught Quinn's eyes...and noticed how he was intently watching me walk around toward the rear of the car. As I moved toward the back of the car, I quickly moved out of his view. Once I got to the other side and came back in to his view, it struck me how calm he was. He had faith in me that I would come around and get him out of the car, even though he couldn't visibly see me all the way there.
But why wouldn't he trust me to come around and get him? I'd done it plenty of times before. I'd given him no reason to doubt my faithfulness. He saw me get his brother out of the car...an example of my faithfulness in those around him. I think he knows deep down, subconsciously that I love him and want the best for him, which obviously means I won't leave him there to be engulfed in the heat.

What's facinating is that I know all of these same things about Father God: He's faithful time and again, He loves me, He shows me examples of his faithfulness all around. Yet, time and again I find myself wondering if He's going to come around to my side and get me out of the car. Oh to have faith like a child. Me of little faith.

Minnesota Bridge Collapse

Here is a phenomenal article on the greatness of God in the midst of the bridge collapse.

Putting My Daughter to Bed Two Hours After The Bridge Collapsed

What's The Big Deal?

I read 3 blogs today with people bragging about how they can now post to their blogs with their iPhone. I don't see what all of the fuss is about. Nearly every posting on this blog is from my Treo (including this one). The blog from your phone technology has been around for a long time. Someone please enlighten me.