Are you an intentional thinker? Are you a good story teller?
Happy Friday, Brew Nation!
Grab your favorite coffee cup, sit back, relax, and get ready to sip on some enriching and thought-provoking content that will equip you to thrive in all areas of your life:
- Work Hard, BUT Relax Often – My coach introduced me to the writing of Carey Nieuwhof a couple months back and I am grateful for that introduction. Nieuwhof is a former lawyer turned founding pastor of Connexus Church. He speaks to leaders about leadership, change and personal growth and is passionate about helping people thrive both in their personal life and within their organizations. (That sounds a lot like the Growing Champions mission!)
This week I came across one of his blog posts titled ” Exhaustion is the Gateway Drug to Moral Failure + 6 Other Shocking Consequences”. He explains how he teaches leaders to break their calendars down into green, yellow, and red zones. Most leaders today are ‘busy’ (this is NOT a good word by the way) and that busyness is the Red zone. Spend too much time there and you risk exhaustion. Always in the Red zone is a pace that cannot be maintained, and he describes seven consequences of exhaustion:
- Your Family – If the Deloitte study is correct and 82% of executive leaders finish every work day feeling mentally or physically exhausted, what does that leave for family?
- Burnout – This word is often overused, but ultimately, if you don’t decide to change, your body will choose for you
- Moral Failure – When exhausted, bad things seem good and good things seem too hard.
- Terrible Decision Making – This shows up in your diet and self care.
- A Defeated Team – Your team will mirror how you show up. Show up exhausted, and they, too, will soon be exhibiting these consequences.
- More of the Same – The infamous hamster wheel. Continue to work harder and harder and get nowhere.
- Ineffectiveness – Eventually, your chronic fatigue will lead to languishing in your leadership.
Click here to read the entire blog post.
Do you feel like you are always operating in the red zone as a leader? Do you see one of these seven consequences occurring in your life and business? It may be time to seek out some help. Click this link to set up a FREE CALL with me to see if coaching may help you to get off the hamster wheel and develop a system that helps you to succeed in business AND life.
Are you aware that The Champions Brew explores various topics that I frequently coach and consult on with other leaders and organizations? If you or someone you know is seeking to elevate their business or personal life from underperforming to uncommon, I would love to connect with you and discuss 1:1 or group coaching, as well as performance consulting. In fact, click the following link to schedule a FREE CALL to explore how coaching could benefit you and your team. Let’s work together to unleash your full potential and achieve your goals!
- Think Positively – I had the opportunity to preview “The One Truth”, an inspirational book penned by the talented author, Jon Gordon. If you ever get the chance to participate in a book launch team, I highly recommend it – it’s a fantastic opportunity to preview a book from a respected author and provide valuable feedback. I have no doubt that “The One Truth” will rise to the top of the bestseller lists. One passage that resonated with me was Gordon’s inspiring words on “elevating your thinking”. Allow me to share them with you:
“Be intentional with your thinking. When you start to feel entitled or complacent, focus on appreciation. When you appreciate, you elevate. When you feel fear, remind yourself that love casts out fear and focus on loving the process rather than worrying about the outcome. When you feel lost, pray for guidance. When you feel weak, pray for strength. When you want to give up, remind yourself how far you have come and where you are going and why you are going there. When you are facing a challenge, find the opportunity to learn and grow. When you are going through a difficult time, tell yourself to stay on the roller coaster and trust that the adversity will build your character and strength. Find meaning in the mundane, purpose in the pain, and focus from the frustration. Through all your daily challenges keep thinking with faith and hope (two of my personal values) . Faith in God and hope for the future gives you power in the present. Stay positive. Be optimistic. Keep believing and trusting that the best is yet to come. When you elevate your thinking, you elevate your soul and your life.”
He had me at ‘be intentional with your thinking.’ This is the kind of inspiration that we need to feed our minds daily. So much development for me in the past few years has been in the space of positive mindset. I have said it several times, but thinking positively is a muscle that must be exercised daily, or evil will creep back in and render you feeling unworthy. I think you will really enjoy this book when it comes out this week.
- Read More –Each week I have been sharing my takeaways with you as I read The 16 Undeniable Laws of Communication – Apply Them and Make the Most of Your Message. This week I review Law # 12 of 16:
Law # 12 – The Law of Story Telling
People See Their Own Lives in Stories
When I was introduced to John Maxwell back in 1998 with The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, one of the gifts he gave that drew me to his writing style was his ability to tell a story. His story telling gift was amplified when I got to see him speak in person the next year. So, when I saw this chapter, I knew I was going to enjoy it and learn.
Cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner estimates that people are twenty-two times more likely to remember a fact when it has been wrapped in a story. I thought that stat was compelling. For me, a good story can create a picture in my mind of what good looks like. Stories also connect, stick, captivate and animate.
A good story has a hero, a villain, a victim, and an outcome. Think about it for a minute… look at all of your favorite Disney movies from the past however many years. One of the first I remember as a kid? Snow White. It had a victim (Snow White herself), a villain (the evil queen) and a hero (the prince!), and I am sure you all remember the outcome!! And, to this day I believe that the start of the fall of NASCAR was when Dale Earnhardt died on the racetrack at the Daytona 500. He was the villain that everyone loved or hated!
Good stories convey heart, help, humor or hope (or some combination of all four). Are you a good storyteller when you communicate? If you are, keep getting better. If not, there is hope. You CAN develop the ability to tell a good story. Maxwell outlines an acronym that can be helpful:
SHARE
Show – What do you want people to SEE and HEAR? You want them to see themselves in your stories. Don Yaeger is an author who is a master storyteller. He says, “There’s nothing that makes someone more interested in you than when they find you’ve taken the time to show interest in them.”
Help – This is the storytelling ROI (Return On Investment). A story that can be applied is a story with a happy ending (ROI)!
Amplify – A good story helps people to engage their aspirations.
Relate – A good story answers the question, ‘How do I want them to feel?’ . If you want to tell a compelling and connecting story, put your emotions into it.
Enjoy – A good story is fun and when it is fun, it is memorable. “Laughter is like a windshield wiper. It doesn’t stop the rain, but it helps us to keep going.” John Maxwell has a great tip here for his go to stories. He prints them on a card and laminates the card and carries them with him. He explains that by reading it, experiencing it, and reacting to it WITH the audience, he can come across as more authentic, not TOO polished, and helps them feel the story more.
He finishes the chapter with this quote from Charles Swindoll: “Stories transport us to another world. They hold our attention. They become remarkable vehicles for the communication of truth and meaningful lessons that cannot be easily forgotten.”
Become a great storyteller and watch your communication skills grow.
Quote of the week:
“If you want to feel rich, count the things you have that money can’t buy.” – Jeremy Scott
What You Need to Do:
Call to Action: How is your thinking? Are you being intentional to think positively on a daily basis? I would encourage you to print out the excerpt from The One Truth I shared above and read it every single day.
It’s an honor to be your trusted “Friday Coffee Guy”. Each week, I’m excited to provide yet another round of curated content that I’ve been reading, listening to, watching, or thinking over. The purpose of the Champions Brew is to inspire, equip and encourage you to become the uncommon leader you were designed to be. I am so grateful for your decision to invest a few moments with me! 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. 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!!
