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:
- Manage Time – Or is it Manage Priorities… There is a debate in the self-improvement that ‘There is no such thing as time management’. Regardless, each of us are given the same amount of it every day 1 day = 24 hours = 1,440 minutes = 86,400 seconds. We can’t buy anymore. We can’t manufacture anymore so we better use it up wisely. Listening to a podcast this week steered me to a TEDx Talk from 2015 by Rory Vaden where he titled “How to Multiply Your Time”. The description says that ‘Everything you know about time-management is wrong. In this challenging and counter-intuitive video, Self-Discipline Strategist and New York Times bestselling author Rory Vaden, shows you why you can’t solve today’s time-management challenges with yesterday’s time-management strategies. More importantly he explains why procrastinating on purpose is the key to being able to Multiply your time.’ While it may be 7 years old, these insights still ring true to me today:
- Time management isn’t just logical, it’s emotional.
- If I put all my tasks into a ‘funnel’, there is a level of filtering that these tasks need to go through:
- Eliminate (In episode 20 of the Champions Brew, I called this ‘De-select’ as one of the 5 D’s)
- Automate ((De-construct – What can I spend time on today to automate that will make tomorrow better – He used online BillPay as an example… oh, how even more things have come into play the last 7 years!)
- Delegate (What can I give to someone else to do that they can do just as well as I can do, or probably even better soon because they are specialized in that area or just have more time than I do?)
- After it gets through the filter, I have two decisions:
- I can Do it now or
- I can Do it later (Defer) the task. Vaden called this Procrastinate on Purpose, the name of a best-selling book he would later write!)
Learning to handle your time better is critical to your success in business and life. You must be able to multiply your time so that you can do more of the stuff you love to do with people you love to do it with because life is too short not to!!!
- Stay Strong – This week on the Uncommon Leader Podcast, I interviewed Brendan Gallagher. If the last name looks familiar, you are right… it is my son. He is an athletic trainer in Lynchburg, VA, and I was happy to have him on to discuss his personal and professional fitness journey. During the podcast, I asked him to describe his ‘ideal client’ that is getting started on a fitness journey. These were some of the attributes he discussed:
- Have a reason to be there – Why do you want to go on this journey?
- Have goals
- Be a good listener
- Visualize – can you see what will be in the future when you are healthier?
- Pay attention
- Push yourself – While the trainer will push you, the person being trained is really the one who has to commit to being pushed and going further than they might go on their own
- Be open & honest – There is no reason to hide anything from your trainer!
I think this is a pretty good list of attributes to start with whether you are on a new fitness, spiritual, business growth, personal growth, or relationship journey. Click here to listen to the entire interview.
- Think Positively – Are you ready for some football? I love this time of year. While football season starts to signal the end of summer and beginning of fall weather, for me I find myself as anxious as a player getting ready to take the field for their first football game! Everybody has the same undefeated record to start the season and HOPE is at an all time high! One of my favorite football coaches and leaders has always been Lou Holtz. Lous was from my hometown of Follansbee, WV and coached the team I was most fond of growing up, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Lou is also an author and a sought-after motivational speaker. One of my favorite attributes is his positive attitude. I wanted to share an excerpt from his book, Winning Every Day, that talked about the power of a positive attitude:
Your attitude has the power to change your life. What should you do if you don’t have a positive attitude? Find one. Instead of thinking, “I can’t,” start saying, “I can!” It takes just as much time and energy. If you are surrounded by a lot of negativists, think about putting some distance between yourself and them. Surround yourself with people who encourage rather than discourage. Read books or watch films depicting the lives of people who overcame great odds. If they can do it, so can you. Think about winning before you go to sleep and the moment you wake. Remember: Every day, some ordinary person does something extraordinary. Today, it’s your turn.
- Quote – “A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are.” –Ara Parseghian
What you need to do:
Call to Action: What do you need to do to be more coachable this week? Are you open? Honest? Being a good listener? Pushing yourself? You and only you really know.
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 more, be a light 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!!
One Response
John, on the subject of time management. Managing your time is a bit like work and life. There is no work/life balance. There are a series of tradeoffs. I think our time is a bit like that, as we make decisions and tradeoffs.
Thanks again for some great reading and learning!