Just Do It!!!

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day and a very successful week coming to a close for you.

I want to share a quick story and a quick thought with you all today.

The Story

So on Tuesday evening a massive dust storm – 15 miles wide and over 1 mile high – traveled from Tucson through Phoenix (just another example of not much good coming out of the Town to the South!! J…love ya Kitty fans!!). Driving through the back end of the storm and getting home after Gehrig’s (my 11-year old) baseball game I went out to check on my pool…could call it a swamp, lake, etc. Landry (my 6-year old) always wants to be with Dad and always wants to work with me. I walk over to the edge of the pool and look into mud, tumbleweeds and other unidentifiable stuff. Then in a sweet little voice that could only come from a 6-year old, Landry says, “Are there any fish in there Dad?” Suddenly my self-pity of having to clean all of this up turns to thoughts of how sweet and innocent the thoughts of our kids. Before I can say anything however there is a little deeper voice of a boy becoming a man as Payton (my 15-year old son) says, “No, but there could be snakes in there.” Suddenly my thoughts of how sweet and innocent the thoughts of our kids are turn to thoughts of “your Mom and I brought you into this world, we can take you out.” J Oh the joys of parenthood. I truly love being a Dad!!!

Thought

I am reading “The No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity at Work” by Jon Gordon. Earlier this week I was reading Chapter 3 which is titled “Morale”. The following excerpt struck me; “everything was always more urgent than their employees’ concerns, so negativity kept spreading and morale kept getting worse.” For me it was not just about the brief sentence. My mind instantly raised back to conversations at literally every place I have ever worked that ultimately ended in something similar…yes, the people, the morale, caring, etc. is very important however we don’t have time to focus on these things because we have to recruit, win, hit numbers, etc. I also thought of the conversations Kath and I have had over the years. Times when we discussed the need to really invest in our family, each other, etc. and we would as soon as recruiting, the fiscal year…fill in the blank…was over. Then the Nike slogan popped into my mind; “Just Do It.” What if we just did it? What if we really took the time to care about our husbands/wives and showed them now, today and not whenever that thing that does not have eternal ramifications is done? What if instead of waiting until that project is done or the weekend comes we just sat down and really talked to our kids, eyeball to eyeball about stuff that really matters…to them? What if, instead of worrying about the strategic plan, numbers, contacts, etc. we first and foremost genuinely cared about those with whom we are privileged to call co-workers, colleagues, etc. and lived it out? AND, this one really drives me crazy, how come we find it so easy to put off people – truly the most important thing – in order to chase goals, numbers, strategies, etc. and then, when we are broken beyond repair, we sheepishly return to what matters most and will enable the success we are pursuing – the people? It really is crazy isn’t it?

You see, I have read countless books on leadership, customer service, personal development, etc. In reality none of them really say anything different…it might be packaged differently, there may be different words used however it is usually the same thoughts, ideas, etc. that we have always known. The key I truly believe is in just doing it. We are really, really good at searching for answers…we are not always so good at acting on what we know to be true. Here are two quick-hitters for you:

1.     Insanity or stupidity has been defined as, “doing the same thing over and over again expecting to get a  

     different result.”

2.     John C. Maxwell in one of his books said, “What is the difference between those who do great things and

     those who don’t? Those who do great things turn off the water, dry off and then go do it.”

Can we please stop talking about things we should do and “Just Do It”? Each and every one of us knows what those things are in our lives – PLEASE let’s not look out the window on this one…it is not about our husbands, wives, sons, daughters, co-workers, etc…it is about YOU and ME. Let’s make the decision to do them TODAY! Tomorrow let’s make the same decision again. I know in my heart of hearts that when we do this our families will flourish, our businesses will flourish and we will completely set ourselves apart from the rest of society…simply because we just did it.

Please let me know if there is anything I can do for any of you. Please know that you are truly a blessing in my life and that I am always willing to help you any way I can.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please, “JUST DO IT!”

Kev