What if Leadership was taught in everyday life as it is in sports?
Would the world be a different place?
Rise up this mornin’,
Smiled with the risin’ sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin’ sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin’, (“This is my message to you-ou-ou”)Singin’: “Don’t worry ’bout a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right.”
Singin’: “Don’t worry (don’t worry) ’bout a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right!”
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It’s a dog eat dog world out there. As hectic as life can get at times it’s absolutely critical to have good people around you that:
If you have read my blog and listened to my radio show you have heard me organize life into four areas:
I feel the area that is the most critical and can significantly impact the other three is relationships. When we set goals in the other three areas: Health, Finances, and Careers we can become successful and fulfilled by setting our goals and with our individual actions. Granted people are probably involved in each area, but in most cases we don’t have to be dependent upon anyone else for happiness, success, and fulfillment.
With relationships, we have to work directly with other people. Other people who probably have different:
A difference in any of these areas can lead to disconnection with in a relationship, be it personal or professional.
In ’7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ Covey talks about reaching the stage of interdependence. This means that we approach the world around us understanding that our best chance of becoming a highly effective person is to work with others as we are working toward our goals.
He also talks about the concept of ‘Toxic People‘. Toxic people are like poison. They stifle or prevent you from being who you want to be and living the life you want to live. Our ability to make wise choices with the people we surround ourselves with on a daily basis can make all the difference in accomplishing our goals and living the successful and fulfilled life we deserve.
In this song, the “Three Little Birds” represent those people in your life that help you be the person you want to be. The are supportive and encouraging. They want what is best for you!
We live in a crazy-fast paced world and sometimes it’s easy to forget and ignore the three little birds are in our lives are. We also forget that we have people in our lives who depend on our sweet songs and pure and true melodies.
“Don’t worry ’bout a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right.”
Business Leadership, Employee Engagement, Personal Leadership, Youth Leadership
Do you think you can change the world?
If not . . . why?
If so . . . how?
This is a great reminder of what can happen if we simply believe in ourselves. It’s a dog eat dog world out there and those who can overcome challenges, ignore insecurities, remove toxic people, and believe in themselves are the ones who have the greatest chance of living the lives whey want to live and impacting the world around them.
This video is a great reminder that it doesn’t matter what other people say or do . . . all that matters is you!
Are You Crazy?
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The other night my wife was out and I had daddy duty with my eight month old son.
With in the past month he has figured out how to army crawl all over the place. If he sees something he is interested in while you’re holding him he will relentlessly wrestle his way out of your arms to try to get it. Right before I took this video he army crawled over to the couch, reach up and grabbed the cushion with both hands, and tried with all his might to pull himself up. His first attempt ever was unsuccessful. I wasn’t about to let my little boy go out like that.
Knowing he was going after the remote control I sat him down about five feet from the couch and I showed him the remote. I knew once I set the remote down he was going to make another attempt to get it. As seen in this video, in a six minute period of time he:
But, he never quit!
What was six agonizing minutes for him is representative of what I and many other small business owners face on a daily basis.
I watch this video every morning to remind me of what I need to do and why I need to do it.
I hope he never loses his will to get what he wants in life!
What is Coaching?
When I meet people and we learn about each other I get more questions about my coaching services than anything else. If you’re like most people you may have met a coaching professional before or have heard of “life coaching” . . . but do you really know what coaching is?
Many people think only people with “problems” work with a coach. Or they confuse coaching with mental health. Both beliefs are inaccurate. Coaching is about opportunity and potential.
This impacts our effectiveness and focus with our families, careers, and how we see ourselves and the world around us. It doesn’t have to be this way.
In my information session I am going to give my perspective to why we as a society are in the situation we are in and what we must do as individuals to be different. I will talk about how Personal Leadership Coaching will help you do this. I have programs for:
The foundation in each is Personal Leadership.
At minimum you will walk away thinking differently about the world around you. If you like what I have to say, we will talk further. There will be no high pressure sales pitch. I have a proven track record of helping people live life and do business with greater success and fulfillment and I truly believe everybody deserves that opportunity.
To see information session details please visit YourFullCircle.net. Session information and an option to RSVP is available on the home page.
If you won’t be able to make an information session, but would be interested in learning more or attending an information webinar please let me know by sending me an email at: jason@yourfullcircle.net
Have an amazing and safe 4th of July weekend.
I hope to see you on July 16th.
Jason Kiesau
Owner and CRO
Full Circle Development Group
We Are Losing A War . . . the Information War!
We could all learn a lesson from Bill Cosby in this clip of the Cosby Show.
We need to learn how to say: “That’s the dumbest thing I have ever heard in my life.” We need to teach our children to do so as well.
Consider these statistics:
As we “Americans” seem to be struggling in every area of life.
It is my opinion we as a nation are are living in insecurity and until we as individuals regain confidence in ourselves life will continue to be an unfulfilled struggle.
Why Is That?
As stated above the average American receives 3,500 – 5,000 marketing messages per day. These messages come to us in a variety of ways and regardless of how they act like they want to help us . . . most messages have the senders best interest in mind. In the United States alone, $6.7 million is spent on market research each year. This means that $6.7 million is spent on understanding how babies to elderly people think and behave. The business world knows that if they learn how you and I think and behave that they will be able to speak to us in ways that will influence, motivate, or manipulate us to take action in their favor.
They know what they’re doing . . . and they’re winning!
Let Me Ask You a Question!
With of all of the 3,500-5,000 messages your children or students are hearing on a daily basis, what are you doing to make sure your message gets the attention you need it to?
We wonder why parents are having trouble controlling their children. We wonder why teachers are having a hard time in the classroom. How are your messages competing with the thousands of other messages coming at them?
They’re not . . . and that’s a problem!
Parents and the education world need to start thinking like a business. What do you need to learn about the children you are working with to touch them at their souls? Businesses need to start treating their employees like they are customers. You do market research for a reason. Why don’t you give the same attention to your most important resource . . . YOUR PEOPLE?
Is There Any Hope? Can we win this war?
It’s not looking good!
Where do you live?
We live in such a fast paced world where information is coming at us none stop. We as a society are arguably out of control. We are struggling in each major area of life. (Health, Finances, Relationship, & Careers).
What are you doing to gain control?
Control just doesn’t happen. It’s something that each of have the ability to create for ourselves, but very few people know how . . . because we haven’t been taught. We’ve always been told what to do, but few people have been taught how to think.
I try to simplify this never ending battle with two words. Chaos and Control.
Flickr by Focal Intent
Chaos is defined as:
Control is:
Take a minute to think about yourself. Think about the people around. Think about the children in your life.
Flickr photo by law_keven
Do you see chaos or control?
I see a few people who understand control. I see more that don’t.
Control is simply our management of emotions. It’s about having awareness and recognizing when we are feeling different, disconnected, insecure, or stressed in ANY situation we face.
When we experience chaos we are not capable at functioning at our highest levels . . . Chaos is like poison in our system and until we remove the feeling, it will continue to hold us back. Also . . . chaos does not mean life altering disaster . . . chaos is anything that takes us out of our game.
Chaos is everywhere:
When parents are living in chaos they aren’t able to give their children 100% on a consistent bases. When teachers are living in chaos they ability to reach our children are limited. When children live in chaos they aren’t able to focus on school and achievement. When we experience chaos in our work place, we aren’t able to be 100% engaged in our work. We aren’t able to be the leaders the people counting on us deserve.
Chaos is something that is internal and just appears . . . the only way we can fight it and eliminate it is to take a stand . . . it doesn’t “JUST HAPPEN”.
People who understand this are more effective and productive in life . . . they live more fulfilled. People who understand this recognize the benefits and are able to help others gain greater control as well. They are difference makers!
So . . . I’ll ask you again.
Where do you live?
If you would like to discuss ways you can gain greater control and reduce or eliminate chaos feel free to contact me. The first consultation is always free.
Thank you for visiting my blog! I’ll apologize a head of time . . . I have a feeling this could be a long one!
Have you ever heard the quote:
“It’s hard to see the forest when you’re standing in front of a tree.”
Doug Wells/Des Moines Register File Photo
Over the last year the town of Parkersburg, Iowa has been rebuilding after a tornado ripped it apart. This morning the town suffered another tragedy as Ed Thomas, a well known Iowa high school football coach and teacher was shot multiple times in the school’s weight room. There were approximately 30 witnesses, but none were threatened and/or injured. You can read more about this by clicking on the links at the bottom of the page. The shooter is a 24 year old male who was a former student and player for Coach Thomas.
When I hear stories like this I of course feel bad and have great sympathy for the people a tragedy like this effects. The sad thing is this is just “another story”. It’s just another story of some young man who can’t manage his emotions and chooses to harm others and or himself.
This is the story this week and there will a new one next week!
Today the tragedy is in Parkersburg, Iowa. Last year at South East Polk High School near Des Moines they had three suicides in a span of five months. All teen boys.
Scan the following bullet points:
Did you notice any consistencies throughout each bullet point?
ALL BOYS
Check out these stats from www.FBI.gov
In 2006 . . .
If you visit the FBI website you will see a much longer list of crimes that are also dominated by males. I am focusing on males in this blog because the majority of events like the one today are committed by young males. In fact, the majority of major crimes are committed by males. When you mix that with statistics of young boys without male leadership and the statics that show how boys are falling behind educationally . . . I think it’s something we should focus on!
What is my point with all this?
My point is WE AS A SOCIETY ARE MISSING SOMETHING!
We are struggling in each area of life:
Adults are having a hard time managing their lives . . . how they hell are we supposed to expect children to figure it out? How are we supposed to expect children to grow up to be responsible contributors to society when we aren’t doing it.
SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE!
Clearly what we are doing now IS NOT WORKING! And if it is . . . we wouldn’t be in the messes we are in. We wouldn’t have so many people wandering around trying to ‘figure it out’. We wouldn’t have good, bright, and talented children running around trying to figure things out and deal with the craziness of the world on their own.
Today in Parkersburg was a tragedy. This 24 year old kid has forever changed the world for himself and many others. We’ll talk about the situation for a few months . . . we’ll talk about him and wonder why for a few months . . . and then we’ll forget about him until the next time this happens . . . and we’ll do it all over again.
How bad does it need to get before we wake up? What can you do to help?
Personal Leadership, Relationships, What's Your Opinion?, Youth Leadership
There are a few great books out there that talk about the way people will need to think in the future. One I’ve read recently is “Five Minds for the Future” from Howard Gardner.
All this information is great, but it still comes down to parents and educators laying the foundation for the children. It takes everyone involved teaching kids how to think proactively and productively. Right now we are in an information war and we aren’t winning. From the time we wake up in the morning to the time we go to bed at night every single one of us are getting hammered with different messages . . . so are our children. If we don’t teach them how to receive information, ignore the bad, keep the good, and most importantly use it productively how are we preparing them for the real world?
Over the past couple of weeks I had heard an advertisement on the radio for a website that provides resources to help parents, grandparents, and caregivers create different learning situations for their children at home.
THIS IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!!!
The website is BornLearning.org. Their website states: Born Learning is designed as a tool for long-lasting community change that supports young children. It has three cornerstones:
Their goal is to inspire everyone who impacts young children to make the best possible decisions to boost school readiness. And they aim to give each of them the tools to make long-lasting community change.
If you have kids or know people who have kids this site provides some great information!
Enjoy!
Flickr photo by *L*u*z*a*
I’ve casually started flipping through a book that was given to me last year titled “Your Body’s Many Cries for Water” by F. Batmanghelidij, M.D.
This book talks about how many of the health issues we deal with today are a result of lack of water. The back cover says:
” . . . lack of water in the body — chronic dehydration—is the root cause of many painful degenerative diseases, asthma, allergies, hypertension, excess body weight, and some emotional problems including depression.”
I have been in a never ending battle with water consumption for years . . . it just doesn’t taste that great all the time . . . especially when you compare it to everything else available. When I was completing my undergrad I almost conditioned myself to zone in on my assignement only if I had a Diet Mt. Dew in hand. No kidding . . . when I sit down to study or do homework I instantly feel this type of anxiety and thirst that water just hasn’t been able to fulfill, however I will admit . . . I could probably try harder.
So, what if this is the case with water? What if our lack of water consumption are one of the root cause of all major things wrong with our health? With out getting too far into the book, my first reaction is that it makes perfect sense to me. If you look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs the number one most basic needs are physiological . . . air, water, food, sleep etc. We all know what happens when people don’t get enough sleep. They become grumpy, irritable, and sometimes difficult to be around and this can lead to stress and depression. How many people do you know that continue to push themselves to the limit and not get enough sleep. How is water any different?
As I am thinking about water I am telling myself . . . it’s so basic . . . it’s so easy . . . why do we struggle? WHY DO I STRUGGLE? Then I start thinking about the business world and water. I ask myself:
“If water . . . the most basic substance we can put in our bodies could be the key to living healthier lives . . . is there something super basic that we forget about in our professional lives as well?”
In a world that is so fast paced as the one we live in it is very easy to get distracted and focus on other things. Other things that are appealing and make us feel good, but really don’t help us reach our goals. Maybe in sales its moving all the other stuff out of the way, picking up the phone and talking to people. As a manager maybe it’s getting to know your people better.
Some of us do a wonderful job of muddying perfectly clear, pure, and basic water. What if we didn’t?
What is the water of your business and why aren’t you drinking it?