motivation

Becoming

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As the end of the year rolls around, many of us start thinking about goals for the upcoming year.  While I believe goas are important (and I like having goals) my greater focus is on what kind of person I want to become in the years ahead.

As someone who plays electric bass, I want to become a musician who has a strong grasp of bass playing fundamentals and music theory, and can easily apply them to songs I play.  If this is what I want to become, then there are certain behaviors I need to engage in to cause me to become this type of musician.   

For example, I need to:

  • Constantly practice the bass playing fundamentals
  • Study music theory
  • Listen to other bass players and analyze what they’re doing in their playing
  • Attend concerts to expose myself to other bass playing styles
  • Apply what I’m learning to my own playing

As a follower of Jesus, I want to become a person whose life reflects what it looks like to be a true follower of Jesus.  In order to become this type of person, I’ll need to:

  • Read my Bible on a daily basis to I can be familiar with Jesus’s teaching
  • Put into practice what I learn
  • Make prayer a significant event throughout every day
  • Spend time in quiet self-reflection  
  • Be attentive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in my life, and respond accordingly.

For me, the focus on “becoming” is directed toward ensuring my behaviors each day are consistent with what it is I want to become.  It’s a great barometer for making sure I’m spending my days wisely, and that they’ll take me where I want to go.

So, what kind of person do you want to become?  Now the important question:  what do you need to do today to become that person?

Thinking With Others  

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 “None of us is as smart as all of us.”  ~Ken Blanchard

I’m working on a data visualization project at work with another person who also has a background in data.  After I first meeting, I knew I was going to like working with this person.

For starters, they had ideas about what they wanted to see in the visualization, and the questions they were hoping the visualization would answer.  What really impressed me about this person was that they were also willing to have their ideas built upon.

They’d throw and idea out, then I’d come back with and idea to build the idea they had proposed, and vice versa.  The end result of this “idea tennis match” was that we came up with some great visuals that will be useful for the folks in our organization that will ultimately consume this data.  In addition, it was fun to challenge each other with new thoughts.

I think it’s important to keep Ken Blanchard’s quote in mind, as well as keeping ourselves open to having our ideas stretched by other people.  Doing so exposes our ideas to the potential of becoming great ideas.

Bridging Gaps

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When my wife and I both started working from home a couple of years ago, we thought it would be fun once in a while, to take a quick break during the workday and run down to the local coffee shop to pick up a drink together.   We finally did that last Thursday.  It was a quick fun trip, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out why it took us so long to finally make it happen.

The gap between intention and reality is interesting to me, because the easiest way I’ve found to bridge a gap like that is to just take action and cause something to happen.  This can range from simply saying to your spouse, “Hey, do you want to run down to the coffee shop and get a drink”.  For larger intentions, it may be taking the first step of many, to put yourself on course to bridge whatever gap you face.  The important thing seems to be to just take action.

Be on the lookout for areas in your life, whether big or small, where you’re facing a gap between what you’d like and what’s actually happening.  When you notice a gap, consider what action you could take to help you bridge that gap. 

Then, take that step.

Effort Is Required

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One thing I’ve noticed playing the bass guitar for the last 5 years is that improvement takes effort.  I don’t get better because I’ve been playing for a certain amount of time.  I get better when I focus my efforts, and actually put in the time practicing.  There is no short cut or hack to bypass this step, unless my destination is mediocrity. 

That last sentence sounded a little harsh, but it’s true, and not just with bass guitar, but with anything we want to improve at.  Whether it’s communicating better with others, or improving our performance in a specific area, focused effort and time is the path to success.

Is there an area of your life where you’d like to see improvement?  If so, focused effort and time (along with the proper knowledge) is likely the path to seeing the improvement you desire.

Small Things Each Day

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I had a COVID booster this week that has left me feeling rather crummy. I’m coughing and just feeling generally worn out. Although I’m starting to feel better, I must admit that I had thoughts of skipping my blog post this week. I must say that I presented myself with some very compelling arguments in favor of skipping this week.  Excuses like:

·     I’d really just like to be done right now.

·        It won’t matter if I skip one week.

·        No one is going to mind, or probably even notice.  J

I just about sold myself on the decision to skip think week, when I had the following 2 thoughts:

·        You are a person who takes time to think of a topic every week and commit it to writing.

·        Extraordinary people do those things the other people would rather not do.  Like writing a blog post when they don’t feel well.

All my arguments against writing would have been valid, but I’m more concerned in becoming the person I want to be rather than gaining a few extra moments of comfort. So here’s this week’s post.  I hope you enjoyed it.  J

Switching Gears

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With the days getting shorter, and it getting darker earlier in the Pacific Northwest, I’m getting back to one of my favorite fall and winter pastimes: reading at night.  It’s one of the events I look forward to as summer wanes and fall approaches. 

Somewhere around 60-90 minutes before bedtime, I like to grab a pillow, a blanket, a book, and head for the sofa and spend my remaining moments of the day with a good book.  Our cats have become aware of these queues and are eager to join me on the sofa.  They don’t seem to mind what I read, as long as I stay put long enough for them got get a good pre-bedtime nap in.

During the spring and summer, when its light out right up until bedtime, I like to be outside or doing something more active.  However, dark, cooler, and often rainy nights are more conducive to a passive activity like reading.  It’s like nature giving me permission to slow down and relax.  Plus, by the time spring rolls around, I’m eager to start getting after it again.

Are there any activities that you look forward to as the seasons change?  If so, be sure to take part in them, and enjoy the time spent in said activities. 

The Most Beautiful Thing

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Last Friday evening, my wife and I were on a flight back from a week-long vacation in Boston, when I noticed the shape of a large man walking down the aisle.  As I looked up from my book, I was surprised, and captivated, by the scene I saw.

Securely cradled in this man’s arms was a 1-year-old baby boy (I talked to the man later, and he told me the boy’s age) who was sound asleep.  This dad was walking up and down the aisle of the airplane gently bouncing and rocking his sleeping son, in an effort to keep him soothed and comfortably asleep.  From the baby’s contentedly limp posture, I’d say this dad was doing an excellent job!

After watching this scene for several minutes, I nudged my wife and pointed out the scene to her.  After she saw it, I leaned over and said, “That’s the most beautiful thing I’ve seen all week.”

I’m always impressed by dads that are engaged in the lives of their young children.  We all hear stories of dead-beat dads or absentee fathers, so I’m especially awestruck when I see a dad who is shattering these aforementioned sub-par pictures of fatherhood. 

Here’s to all you dads out there who are actively and positively engaged in raising your kids.  Your children are blessed call you dad.

Cause It To Happen

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My wife and I just got back from a week-long trip to Boston.  We went with some friends to explore the town and learn more about ta place none of us had ever spent much time, but that all of us were eager to visit.

What always strikes me when we go on a trip or adventure is how it would never have occurred without some prior planning and forethought.  Think about it, you can have an adventure in mind, but without taking the steps to cause it to happen, it will remain an unfulfilled dream.  Our action is what transforms a dream into reality.

How cool that in order for much of our dreams to be realized, we simply need to put forth the effort required to bring them about.  The other side of that coin is that it is sad that we are often the ones standing in the way of our dreams, simply because we fail to take action.

What adventure are you dreaming of?  Take steps today to begin causing the dreams you have to happen.  Your future self will thank you for the memories

Trust

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Have you ever heard anyone say, “I don’t trust anyone!”?  Have you ever said that yourself?  That comment makes me laugh, because each one of us puts our trust into others more than we realize.

For example, we trust that:

  • Cooks and staff at the restaurants we eat in are observing the proper health and safety procedures related to food storage, handling, and preparation
  • Letter carriers will deliver a correspondence you drop in the mail in an accurate and timely fashion
  • Gas pumps actually pump the type and grade of gasoline listed on the pump, versus diesel, water, or some liquid other that what the pump says.
  • Other drivers will stop when a traffic light is red, go when it’s green, and drive the proper direction in traffic, rather than just going whichever direction in whichever lane they feel like.

In all these examples, and hundreds of other daily scenarios, we are counting on others to be trustworthy.  This thought reminds me that others are expecting us to be trustworthy as well.  Let’s live in a way that the trust others have in us is well-placed.

On Apologizes

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This week, I had an interaction with someone where I could have behaved better than I did. What I knew I needed to do was offer an apology. Here’s the thing, when we know we need to make an apology: we can come up with all sorts of reasons not to.

It’s no different for me either. In fact, I was running through several reasons why I didn’t need to make the apology. My lame excused ranged from, “They probably don’t even remember the incident” to “I’ve got other things I need to be doing” to every other excuse in between. I told you they were lame.

In the end, I made the apology before my workday started. I decided it was, indeed, important and needed to be done. The person who I apologized to was gracious and said that they appreciated it.

All that to say, if you owe someone an apology, make it. Don’t wait, or put it off, or think of reasons to keep from doing it, because the person you owe the apology to deserves it.