Your Champions Brew for Friday, June 10, 2022

Welcome back brew nation!  It’s “The Friday Coffee Guy” coming to you with a new edition The Champion’s Brew, a weekly assembly of material I am reading, listening to, watching, or thinking about that is designed to equip and call you to uncommon leadership.  I often add my own little spin based on my takeaways and would love your input as well.  Any of the points especially impact you?  Drop me a note at [email protected], or comment on the blog to keep the conversation going!  I believe you will discover that the format is not only useful, but also that you can consume it within the time it takes you to enjoy your daily ‘brew’!  Become a member of the Champions Brew Nation by subscribing here!!

Here is your weekly sip of what I have been reading, listening to or watching to equip me to:

• Worry Less – “Slow down, slow down, slow down.” – I am a big Andy Griffith fan.  If you have watched the show, you may remember the episode that the pastor gave a message at church imploring the congregation to slow down.  Here is a link.  A book I recently finished that I have talked a bit about is The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.  In the section on slowing down, the author suggests 20 ideas to gamify the discipline of slowing down:
  • Drive the speed limit
  • Get into the slow lane
  • Come to a full stop at stop signs
  • Don’t text & drive
  • Show up 10 minutes before an appointment without your phone
  • Get in the longest checkout line at the store
  • Turn your smartphone into a dumbphone
  • Get a flip phone
  • Parent your phone – put it to bed before you and make it sleep in
  • Keep your phone off until after your morning quiet time
  • Set times to check email
  • Set a time limit for social media
  • Kill your TV
  • Single task
  • Walk slower
  • Take a regular day alone for silence and solitude
  • Take up journaling
  • Experiment with mindfulness and meditation
  • If you can, take long vacations
  • Cook your own food and eat in

How many of these have you tried?  Have they worked to help you slow down and worry less or do they cause more anxiety?  I did try the ‘drive the speed limit’ on a recent 5-hour drive.  I would set the cruise at the speed limit as my foot wouldn’t let me drive 55 (OK, who just heard Sammy Hagar?!).  It was fascinating to observe the number of people passing me and I really didn’t notice that the trip took any longer.  But there are some that I am not sure if I could do very well, either.  Reflect on the list and find a way you can “slow down, slow down, slow down.”

• Be Happy – I enjoyed an entry this this week from my Every Day Reader from John Maxwell titled Pocket Change:

A leader’s history of successes and failures makes a big difference in their credibility.  It’s a little like earning and spending pocket change (this story might be a few years old.  Not enough coins left in the US to have pocket change right now – ha-ha!).  Each time you make a GOOD leadership decision, it puts change in your pocket.  Each time you make a POOR decision, you must give some of the change out in the form of a withdrawal.  All leader’s have a certain amount of change in their pocket when they start a new position (or relationship).  From then on, they either build their account or reduce their account.  When you’re out of change, you may be out as a leader!  Leaders who keep making good decisions and recording wins build up their account.  Leaders will make bad decisions.  It is important to build up the account (trust) to maintain a positive balance. 

• Eat Healthy – Have you broken down and gotten an air fryer yet?  My wife and I have found it to be convenient for us and healthy.  Last night we had roasted vegetables in the air fryer, and they came out very tasty.  The air fryer works well to prep protein as well (Chicken, fish, or pork… I will leave the beef to the Traeger!  Here is a great list of 14 simple, low calorie, high protein meals you can put together quickly in the air fryer.   I love how the wings come out and I have never made a Pork Schnitzel… may have to try that out some time
• Quote – “One of the great tragedies of life is that men seldom bridge the gulf between practice and profession, between doing and saying.  A persistent schizophrenia leaves so many of us tragically divided against ourselves.” – Martin Luther King, Jr – From his Strength to Love sermon

What you need to do:

Call to Action:  Of the 20 disciplines, what is ONE you are willing to try to help you to slow down?  Drop me an email ([email protected]) or comment on the blog and I will enter you into a drawing for a free copy of the book.  This week, I am going to get in the longest line at the grocery store.  It will slow me down a bit and I just might meet someone new in the process.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s edition of Champions Brew. If you did, I would appreciate it if you would share it with someone who might enjoy it as well and ask them to subscribe! I will make sure they automatically get this email every week.

Until next time, go and Grow Champions!

P.S. – Are you a podcast fan?  Maybe the Uncommon Leader podcast is for you.    I recently interviewed the friend who suggested the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry for an upcoming podcast.  You won’t want to miss that one so you may want to subscribe so it comes to you directly.  Are you interested in being a guest on the Uncommon Leader Podcast?  Do you have a story to tell?  Email me [email protected] and let’s have a chat and set something up!!