Perspective

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day on this glorious Friday morning in my Sweet Home Alabama! The last Friday of 2023…hard to believe, isn’t it?! Let’s make sure we thrive through this one! 😊

Earlier this week I was reading the book, CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest by Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra when I read something that struck me as profound. Here is the full excerpt.

“As Ecolab’s Doug Baker puts it, ‘You sit in this job, and you have the broadest view of what’s going on in the company. You need to make sure that your leadership team has that view, too. It’s like being in the crow’s nest. You can just see farther because you’re higher up, so it’s important to make sure that everyone has the advantage of that perspective.’”

From a professional perspective, I had a couple of key takeaways. First, I need to make sure that the leadership team I am privileged to serve has the same information, the greater perspective of what is going on across the division, that I do because of my position. It is not fair to ask them to make informed decisions and suggestions when they only have partial information. Second, when asked about my thoughts and opinions as a member of the senior leadership team, I need to make sure that I have all the information that is needed to provide thoughtful feedback.

What I have spent a ton of time thinking about since reading that nugget of wisdom is the greater issue of perspective. You and I have different perspectives based on our beliefs, knowledge, and experiences. For you to have the exact same perspective as I, you would have to have lived the exact same life that I have lived, and vice versa. I would concede that we can have similar perspectives based on shared beliefs, knowledge, and/or experiences however they would still not be the exact same because, well, each of us is unique – beautifully so!

For me, there are three key takeaways when it comes to perspective.

First, we all have our own perspectives based on our beliefs, knowledge, and experiences – the lives we have lived. We would be wise to remember this truth, appreciate the beauty in the uniqueness of everyone, and value them as another precious soul. We would also be wise to recognize that the knowledge and/or experiences of others is greater than ours in some areas. It is at these times we would be wise to listen to them, to follow their leadership.

Second, I want to be very careful with the declarative statements I make. What I can testify to is what I have found to be true in my life but please remember, it is the totality of who I am that brought me to the point of whatever statement I want to make. Perhaps this is why those who seem to have the least often seem the most joyful and content. Regardless, any time I am speaking with another person, I must recognize that I am speaking with someone that does not have the exact same perspective I have. We can have many shared beliefs, knowledge, and experiences however we will still not have the exact same perspective. With this, everyone is not going to agree with everything I think, feel, and say. That is o.k. They are them and I am me. We don’t have to agree 100% on everything. Here are a couple of things I do believe are critically important when we have different perspectives. 1) I believe we do need to respect each other and our right to have different perspectives. Just because I don’t share the same perspective does not mean I can’t like you, be nice to you, and care about you. I would argue that you are even more valuable because your perspective is different, which gives me the opportunity to learn and grow. 2) We need to understand the vision, what we are trying to accomplish, so we can move forward together – whether in our families, at work, in our friendships, etc. Again, we would be wise to remember that others might have more knowledge and experience than we do. At those times, though our perspectives differ, we would be wise to follow the one who has the greater knowledge and/or experience. None of us are an expert in everything and we don’t need to be. It is one of the beautiful things about being human – we can learn and grow from one another.

Finally, we would be wise to listen to the perspective of others. We don’t have to agree with them, however how will we even give ourselves a chance to learn and grow if we don’t listen and truly seek to understand their perspective? There are so many people who have so much more knowledge and have experienced so much more than I have in numerous areas of their lives. I would be wise to listen, learn, and grow. I would again take us back to the excerpt; who has the advantage of the greater perspective?

Yesterday I shared a few thought-provoking quotes about perspective. I want to share them with you this morning.

“Remember, you see in any situation what you expect to see.” – David Schwartz

“Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile people live in a hostile world. Same world.” – Wayne W. Dyer

“For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing; it also depends on what sort of person you are.” – C.S. Lewis

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

I also want to wish you and your family a healthy, prosperous, and Happy New Year!

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well! 😊

Kev

It Takes What It Takes

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day on this glorious Friday morning in my Sweet Home Alabama! 😊

Being 10 days from New Years Eve, I wanted to share a thought with you; It takes what it takes! My oldest Tender Warrior, Payton, and I have become fond of sharing this saying with one another when doing the things we need to do to accomplish the things we said we wanted to accomplish…you might want to read that again – “when doing the things we need to do to accomplish the things we said we wanted to accomplish.” As we look ahead to the new year and possible new years resolutions, we would be wise to remember that it takes what it takes!

I believe you can attribute this expression to the great theologian, uh, football coach, Nick Saban. Coach Saban said, “If you want to be good, you really don’t have a lot of choices, because it takes what it takes.” While Coach is undoubtedly right, I want to encourage us all to look at it through a lens broader than just football.

If we want to be good in our spirituality, it takes what it takes. It will be important to read the Bible, pray, go to church, do Bible Studies, get involved in church groups, etc. It is not about being legalistic, it is about the renewing of the mind and the transformation of the heart. It takes what it takes!

If we want to be good spouses/partners, it takes what it takes. We must invest time, be present, sacrifice for others, communicate, address issues, etc. If we want great spouses/partners, we must be great spouses/partners. If we want great marriages, we must fight for our marriages and refuse to give up on imperfect people…and may we never forget that we are imperfect! It takes what it takes!

If we want to be good parents, it takes what it takes. We must show up every day, be present, listen, care about what matters most to the precious souls entrusted to us, perhaps put aside our dreams for theirs, etc. I pray we will all understand and internalize, especially at this time of year, that what our children want most is our presence, not our presents. They want us to do life with them, to know that they can always count on us to be there for them no matter the success or failure, triumph or defeat, joy or sorrow. It takes what it takes!

If we want to be good in our chosen fields of endeavor, it takes what it takes. We cannot show up late and leave early, do just enough, cut corners, or worry about what anyone else is doing. We must have teachable spirits and servants hearts. We must have an insatiable desire to pursue the greatness that is within us. It takes what it takes!

So, as we sit back and think about our New Year Resolutions, there would be great wisdom in counting the cost! We cannot cheat the process of attaining the things we say we want to attain. I am reminded of my favorite quote, the one that changed everything for me the first time I read it:

“Nothing is easier than saying words, nothing is harder than living them day after day. What you decide today and commit to today, you must redecide and recommit to tomorrow and each day that stretches out before you.” – Arthur Gordon

Why? Because it takes what it takes!

Last year at this time, I established a goal for how far I wanted to ride my recumbent bike this year. Once I knew the total number, I did the math on how many miles I had to ride the bike every day to accomplish that goal. It did not matter if I was on vacation. It takes what it takes! It did not matter if I was on a business trip and the hotel did not have a bike. It takes what it takes! It did not matter if I was sick. It takes what it takes! It did not matter if I did not feel like doing it that day. It takes what it takes!

Do I believe you can be a good person, spouse/partner, parent, leader, or friend? Without question! Do I believe you can accomplish the goal you are thinking about setting for yourself in 2024? Absolutely! The only thing that I want to respectfully encourage you to consider is the cost or sacrifice it will take. Does it take a sacrifice to be a good spouse/partner or parent? Absolutely! Something will be sacrificed if you are to be a good spouse/partner or parent, and something will be sacrificed if you are not. We just have to decide which price we are willing to pay because it takes what it takes!

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your family, please stay well, and Merry Christmas! 😊

Kev 

Let's Be Noticers!

 Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day on this glorious Friday in my Sweet Home Alabama! 😊

Last Friday I served as a bell ringer for the Salvation Army with my Rotary team members. I believe I talked about this last year but just in case…if you are ever given the opportunity to serve as a bell ringer around the Holidays, I want to encourage you to take it! I can’t explain it, however I walk away joyful, grateful, and so very blessed every time I do it! And, if y’all are really wild and crazy, you don’t have to wait for the opportunity to come to you, you can go seek it! Perhaps the topic for the first Happy Friday of 2024! 😊

One of the reasons I love to serve as a bell ringer is because of the people you get to serve alongside. This year I served with a wonderful woman who is a lawyer. Like me, her faith is very important to her. We were talking about life, family, and growing up. She was telling me about her Mom and she said, “She was a noticer.” I smiled and my spirit convicted me…

Do you remember the topic of last week’s Happy Friday? It was “Let’s Be Doers!” I was so proud of myself for that Happy Friday and I am fully committed to being a Doer however when she stated that her Mom was a Noticer I knew, at least in some instances, being a Noticer comes before being a Doer.

What is a Noticer? A Noticer is a person who sees the lost, the hurting, the broken, those in need of help, etc. Are you a Noticer? I know for me I can get so caught up in MY problems, MY challenges, MY issues, MY cares, and MY concerns that I have little time to notice anything at all! I just can’t believe that we were created to live that way. Philippians 2:4 seems to tell us to be Noticers; “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” And Galatians 6:2 makes it explicitly clear that if we are to be Christ-like, we are to be Noticers; “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

And so, Friends, that is the challenge for this week’s Happy Friday; let’s be Noticers. Let’s care enough about others – there is another Bible verse that tells us if we love God and love people we will have fulfilled our purpose! 😊 – that we take the time to notice the lost, hurting, and broken. And then, let’s be Doers! 😊

Also, for a couple of weeks now, I have been saving a screenshot I took of 25 life lessons from “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch. If you have never watched The Last Lecture, I want to encourage you to Google it and do so. Randy was a college professor who was terminally ill with pancreatic cancer. The Last Lecture was based around answering the question; “What would you say if you knew you were going to die and had a chance to sum up everything that was most important to you?” The wisdom is profound! I am sharing it with you for more tools to be added to your toolbox.

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”

“When you do the right thing, good stuff has a way of happening.”

“Brick walls are there for a reason…to show how badly we want something.”

“If you have a question, then find the answer.”

“Get the fundamentals down, otherwise the fancy stuff is not going to work.”

“No matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse (or better).”

“Time is all you have. You may find one day that you have less than you think.”

“Give the gift of knowledge, not stuff.
“The best gift an educator can give is to get somebody to be self-reflective.”

“Teach something by having them think they’re learning something else.”

“Critics are telling you they care about you and want to make you better.”

What we learn from sports: “Teamwork, perseverance, hard work, adversity.”

A parent’s job: “Encourage kids to develop a joy for life and follow dreams.”

“Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.”

“Inspiration is the ultimate tool for doing good.”

“Earnest is better than hip…Hip is short-term. Earnest is long-term.”

“Problem solving beats complaining.”

“If you wait long enough, people will surprise and impress you.”

Focus on the big issues: “Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?”

“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.”

“The best shortcut is the long way, which is basically two words: work hard.”

To be an optimist: “Have a contingency plan for when all hell breaks loose.”

Three words of advice: “Tell the truth.” Three more: “All the time.”

“I’m dying and I’m having fun…because there’s no other way to play it.”

“If you lead your life the right way…the dreams will come to you.”

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great evening, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well! 😊

Kev

Let's Be Doers!

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day is dawning in my Sweet Home Alabama! This is such a special time of year! I truly hope you are cherishing this season with family and friends! 😊

This week’s Happy Friday is going to be short and sweet and not at all dissimilar from some of what I talked about last week. It is shaped and informed by my memory verse from this week and a quote I came across.

“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” – 1 John 3:18

“The day you find out who you are is when you look back and realize that it was never the words, rather your actions that defined you.” – Shannon L. Adler

Who are you? Who am I? It is defined by what we do, not what we want, think, intend to do, or say. Let’s be doers!!! Whether it is love, compassion, empathy, helping, giving, or living…let’s be doers!!! Let’s not waste another opportunity on intentions. Let’s not let another day pass before we start living. Let’s honor the lives we are blessed to live, our purposes, and every person that is placed before us by being doers!

I must share when I knew what this week’s Happy Friday was going to be. Earlier this week I was writing an email to a friend of mine. I closed the email as I always close emails, and Happy Fridays for that matter! 😊 I wrote, “Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you. I will always help you any way I can.” And then I wrote, “Test me on that!” It just flew out of me and after I typed it, I sat there and looked at it for a moment. I was literally asking my friend to test me on my offer to help him any way I can. In reality I was asking him to hold me accountable for being a doer. My Spirit had convicted me, and I felt inspired to be more than a wanter, thinker, intender, or sayer…I want to live the life of a doer!

Regardless of what you choose to do with this day, I pray there will be an awakening for each one of us to the truth that it was never the words, rather our actions that defined us.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well!

Kev 😊 

Consistency

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! 😊

Who do you want to be? What goals do you want to accomplish? Is your spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical well-being where you want them to be? How are your relationships?

Last Christmas my oldest Tender Warrior, Payton, and I talked about our workout programs for the new year. Coming out of that conversation I decided I was not going to go to the gym this year. Instead, I decided I would ride my stationary bike a certain number of miles every day and I would do 100 push-ups and 100 squats every day. The amount of miles on the bike is crazy so I won’t even share that with you. The ironic thing is, do you know what has been the hardest for me to do every day? 100 push-ups and 100 squats. It takes a fraction of the time that riding the bike does, it is not overly taxing, and yet, this is the part of the workout that I have found to be the hardest.

Earlier this week Payton and I were talking, and he brought up how hard it has been to consistently do his push-ups and squats every day. We then talked about how it is the consistency of the things we do that lead to the lives we live. This is the heart of the questions I asked at the beginning…

If you really stop and think about it, Friends, life is not nearly as hard or as complicated as we make it.

You want to grow spiritually? Consistently read the Bible, pray, and go to church.

You want to grow mentally? Consistently read a book.

You want to grow physically? Consistently work out.

You want to have a good relationship with your spouse/partner? Consistently show up, love, care for, and serve them.

You want to have a good relationship with your child(ren)? Consistently show up, love, care for, and serve them.

You want to achieve your goals? Consistently do the things you need to do that will empower you to achieve your goals.

We could do this all day…I think you get the point! 😊

I have already confessed once up above, let me confess again. Every (o.k., I literally paused when I typed that word… ‘Every’) morning after reading my Bible Study, my Bible, and reading from a leadership book, I pick a word, find quotes based on that word, and I share them on X and Facebook. Towards the end I usually type something like, “let’s pursue our purposes and let’s love, care for, and serve others today.” Many times I wonder if this is getting old, if people get tired of reading the same thing over and over again. What I am doing is encouraging them to consistently pursue their purpose and to consistently love, care for, and serve others.

Look, I get it! It is hard to consistently do most things! We get tired, we don’t feel like it, we get busy, etc. While all those are absolutely true, it does not change the fact that what we do consistently will determine the lives that we live. So, my encouragement for all of us on this 1^st day of December is to decide who we want to be, what goals and dreams we want to achieve, what we want our relationships to be like, what we want our health – spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical – to be like, and what things we will need to consistently do to accomplish these things. And then I want to encourage us to consistently do those things! And, from experience I can testify if you miss a day, don’t let it be two. Don’t get down on yourself but rather greet each new day with a grateful heart and a determined spirit. We might not be who or where we want to be today, however if we consistently do the things we need to do, we will get there!!!

And as I struggle to consistently do my push-ups and squats, I want to share some quotes about consistency that will hopefully encourage and inspire you to live the life you want to live.

“It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It's what we do consistently.” ~ Anthony Robbins 

“Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals.” ~ E. James Rohn 

“In the gym and in life, consistency is the bridge between goals and achievements.” ~ Vikram Verma

“Living an authentic life means your thoughts and actions will be consistent, no matter what happens, because they agree with who you are.” ~ Vincent H. O'Neil

“Consistency is the path that makes the accomplishment of your success, inevitable.” ~ Dexter A. Daniels 

“Success in spiritual life is measured not by spectacular events but by daily devotion.” ~ Deng Ming-Dao

“The seeds of accomplishment sprouts in the soil of consistency.” ~ Maxime Lagacé

“Your consistency says a lot about your commitment.” ~ Rasheed Ogunlaru

“It’s not what we do once - it’s what we do once a day…day in and day out…every day that brings lasting change into our lives.” ~ Toni Sorenson

“Small disciplines repeated with consistency every day lead to great achievements gained slowly over time.” ~ John C. Maxwell

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencbe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well! 😊

Kev