Welcome back brew nation! It’s the “Friday Coffee Guy” coming to you with 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:
- Eat Healthy – It’s Halloween candy season! Candy corn and mini snickers, and Reese’s cups, and all those fun little sweets we love to buy “for the kids” that I (yes, I will own it!) will snack on are dangerous. It’s not just Halloween, but I am always looking for healthy eating hacks. I read an article recently from Dan Go, online fitness guru, who had some Lean body hacks that can help us to curb our desire to snack. Here are a few that resonated with me:
- Drink water with meals – I tend to agree with him that the easiest way to feel fuller is to drink more water with your meals. He suggests 16 ounces before dinner and 16 ounces immediately after
- Eat a light breakfast – 1 to 1.5 hours after waking in morning to help curb nighttime appetites
- Set kitchen hours – I love this one. Make the kitchen a no-go zone after a certain time in the evening. For me, I try to make it 7:00 to start my time-based eating clock
- Add sugar free flavoring to your coffee to make it feel like dessert – I like the zero calorie coffee syrups in the evening just for a little sweet.
- Use the proximity effect – oh, so easy to say. If you do have snacks in the house for the little ones, do NOT put them in high traffic areas. It’s too easy to grab 4 or 5 candy corns every time I walk by them in the hallway. And, each ONE is 7 calories – just sayin’!!
- Work Hard – On a recent episode of the Corporate Competitor podcast hosted by Don Yaeger, the guest was Brandon Steiner, Marketing Guru in sports marketing and memorabilia who BOUGHT Yankee Stadium!! How many people can say they bought a stadium? Brandon had some great points to emphasize the need to be uncommon in your work:
- Consistency over time = credibility. Anyone can be great on a given day, but do you bring it EVERY DAY!!
- Just because you do a good job makes you extraordinary, it just makes you good, and basically, forgettable. (Uncommon is NOT forgettable)
- What is great about the word extraordinary is EXTRA, which means you have to do Extra consistently over time to be great (Uncommon).
- Read More – Last week, I discussed the impact that the book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership has had on my leadership and my intent to review one law each week. Let’s get started!!
Law 1 of 21 – The Law of The Lid
How Well You Lead Determines How Well You Succeed
John starts off with a juicy law here. Your leadership is the lid to your potential. I saw John talk about the 21 laws years ago in person over 20 years ago and I can still see him taking the top of one hand and smacking it against the palm of his other hand over and over to illustrate the law of the lid. In fact, I have proof! So funny, when I was researching this Law on YouTube, I found this video from 2001… Wow. I used to have bright red hair back then (2nd row on the left 3:11 mark of the video)! Ha-ha!! Gotta love the internet.
The Law of the Lid states that the (your/my) organization cannot rise any higher than the (your/my) level of leadership. Leadership is the lid on an organization’s success. It seems like this is most evident today in sports. When a team is floundering, they generally look to hire a new coach. In the NFL in 2021, eight (8) head coaches out of 32 were fired during or after the season!!
The good thing is that leadership can be learned. You can raise your leadership lid, and thus, raise the performance of yourself, your team, your organization, your family, your church. You can learn these laws. If you don’t develop a personal leadership development plan to change and raise your lid, you may find yourself being changed.
- Quote – “Become friends with the author of the book that you are reading.” – Ed Mylett
What You Need to Do:
Call to Action: I don’t believe that anyone who is a Champion or aspires to be a Champion wants to be forgettable. What can you do THIS COMING WEEK to become more consistent to raise your leadership lid? Can you go to bed 15 minutes earlier SO THAT you can get up and read that leadership book rather than hitting the snooze? Can you move the bowl of candy corn to the other side of the room SO THAT you can eat better? I believe you can. Drop me an email. Let me know how you did!
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 eat healthy, read daily and Grow Champions!
P.S. – Are you a podcast fan? Maybe the Uncommon Leader podcast is for you. 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!!
