More Important Than Business

While business and results are important, they’re not the most important things in life. Maybe even in business.

Back in 2012, singer Fiona Apple realized this. She was booked for 12 dates in South America, but Apple postponed those tour dates because of something extremely important to her.

What was more important than touring? More important than pleasing customers? More important than making money?

Her ailing 13-year-old pitbull Janet.

Apple had rescued the pup 10 years prior in Echo Park, Los Angeles. She took in the dog, and the two quickly became best friends. Over the years, they had their good days, and then, in 2010, Janet began to show signs of a tumor. 

As Apple saw the health of her constant companion wane, she gave up what many people think is all-important: Business, customers, and making money.

5 Tips To Be More Intentional

You’ve seen the leaders who are distracted by every shiny object. They chase after anything and everything that catches their eye.

These leaders are willing to drop everything to see if the new thing will bring them the success they desire. Yet, each time, they get further and further away from what they long for. They also push away from their team members who are looking for a leader with intentionality.

Maybe this leader is even you…

People who are considered great leaders know they must be intentional about their actions. They must have a plan, follow through, and get things done. 

Sure, there’s time to chase squirrels and shiny objects, but great leaders are, for the most part, intentional about what they do. 

If you want to be more intentional with your actions, keep reading.

4 Ways To Unplug And Recharge

Being in the IT world, I know a thing about unplugging (or shutting down) systems and restarting them. It’s one of the first things I ask users: Have you restarted your computer? It’s a line they hate, but the step also frequently works.

Author Anne Lamont once wrote:

Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.

When I read that, I think of rebooting workstations or servers. It’s a brief unplugging and coming back up. But…

Lamont recognized that we need to unplug for a period of time. It is hard to unplug in this high-tech world of always on, always connected. 

Yet unplugging is vital to our health and relationships. We must be willing to disconnect from the world before we crash, burn out, or destroy our physical or mental health.

10 Things To Say Yes To

Guarding our time is important. We only have 24 hours to the day, with a third of those hours devoted to sleep. We then have to consider what to do with the remaining 16 hours of our day.

That includes at least 8 hours in the office for many of us. Then there’s the commute. 

The hours in our day go quickly. Be guarded about them.

But also be open to saying yes to using them.

Man in a blue shirt wearing red-rimmed glasses cheering

Photo by Nimi Diffa on Unsplash

We will miss out on so many opportunities and life events if we constantly say no. Today, I want to encourage you to say yes to the following 10 things.

10 Things To Say Yes To

1. To your family;

We’ve sacrificed our families on the altar of work and busyness. It’s time to say yes to them and show them how important they are to us.

How To Better Manage Your Time As A Leader

I remember being amazed at plate spinners growing up. These men and women would keep plates spinning on poles for an extended amount of time. They wouldn’t fall off but be kept going by the constant movement of the performer. 

Their act looked fun. I wanted to attempt it, but any time I tried to spin something on a pole or my finger, I couldn’t keep it up.

Many leaders feel that way these days. They have so many plates spinning that there’s no time to relax. It’s constant go, go, go.

Busy street scape. Cars are moving and their movement is blurred. Lots of colors. People are standing around the edges.

Photo by Dan Freeman on Unsplash

What if there was a better way? What if you could better manage your time so that you had more time to do things only you can do?

Sounds like a dream, right? It’s not. It’s possible if you apply the time management tips I share in this post.