“Always be leading something” -Bill Hybels

Another takeaway from the Summit was: I need my leadership bell rung often! This takeaway came from Bill Hybel’s first session. He asked the question: “Have you had your leadership bell rung lately? Has there been any book, talk, experience, challenge that has rocked your world lately? What I know is that leaders rarely learn anything new without having their world rocked!”

I started thinking about whether or not my leadership bell has been rung recently. It definitely has. Helping plant a church, building and leading a youth ministry from scratch, and starting a new position at a non-profit managing hundreds of volunteers has my bell ringing loud and clear.

While I may be getting my bell rung lately, for a while, I was stagnant. I really wasn’t leading anything. I was stuck. I was frustrated. I wasn’t growing.

I needed to have my leadership bell rung. In his talk, Bill Hybels said, “When you are sick of staying stuck, you’ll do whatever it takes to go to another level!”

For me, it was taking on new leadership roles along with reading leadership books that were different from the ones that I was used to reading. I pursued opportunities that would allow me to lead. I started reading people’s biographies and autobiographies in order to hear their stories. I wanted to see how they became leaders as well as how they grew as leaders. Through the new books and my new experiences, my leadership bell started ringing. I started getting inspired, challenged, and encouraged!

In his book, Axiom, Bill Hybels writes, “I’m often asked how, in addition to reading, how to get better as a leader. And if I’m in a playful mood, I’ll sometimes say with a smile, “Just lead something! The more varied the environments in which you exercise your leadership gift, the stronger that gift will become. Lead something beside your main thing. You will become a far more effective leader.”

So the questions I’ve asked myself and that I will ask you are:

• When is the last time you’ve had your leadership bell rung?
• What have you done to ring your leadership bell lately?
• Are you growing where you’re currently leading? 
• Do you need your leadership bell rung?
• What new leadership experiences have you sought out whether at work or in another organization?
• What new books are you reading that are challenging and inspiring you?

Don’t let your life be average! Lead something! Make it awesome!

In reflecting on life recently, the only conclusion I can come to is: I thank God for my life.

I think that is an attitude we should all have as we go throughout life. So much of our life is what we make of it. It’s about our attitude. It’s about our choices. There are going to be ups and downs. There are going to be trials and tests. There are going to be tough times. But in spite of all of that, we get to live our lives.

We get to experience so much everyday that we take for granted.We get to have a relationship with God, travel, have great relationships, have bad relationships, go to school, go on vacations, go after our dreams, have crushes, get disappointed, fall in love, experience success, experience failure, go to family picnics, go to high school reunions, take classes to improve, interact on Facebook and twitter, go to church, serve our communities, network, listen to music, exercise, eat great food, smell flowers, see wildlife, shop, drive, watch great movies, you could go on forever on everything we can experience in life.

Life is Beautiful

The bottom line is: Our lives is where the action is. This is the only time in history that we get to live. The people we come in contact with, we may never come in contact with again. This is where we get to dream big and go for it. Everything here is a once in a lifetime experience. Enjoy the journey. Go after your dreams. Take nothing for granted. Realize that there is hope in the midst of any situation you may be in. Keep going. Don’t quit. Don’t get discouraged. When life is bad, realize it will get better.

Live your life for Everything it’s Worth.

Thoughts?

I just got back from vacation. It was fantastic! I thought I’d share with you my thoughts on how to make the most of vacation. After you read the post, I would love to hear how you make the most of your vacations. Here we go:

Prepare – Anytime I am going somewhere, I research what the “must-do’s” are. I also research the best places to eat! I’ll put them in a note in Evernote. While I am actually on vacation, I’ll ask as many locals as possible what I have to do and where I should eat while I’m in town. I’ve gotten to see some pretty cool things that I would have never seen had I not done the research and asked around.

Vacation Traditions – No matter where you go, make traditions with your friends and family when you take trips! Whether it’s taking similar photo’s each year, letting each person pick what to do each day, always going to a nice dinner, you name it.

Eat Everything – I set no boundaries when it comes to diet while I am on vacation! It’s wonderful! I must have consumed 10,000 calories a day on vaca! Throughout the week, just for dessert, I consumed: 7 ice cream cones, 2 whoopie pies, 2 pieces of blueberry pie ala mode, 7 pastries! It was awesome! Enjoy life!

Unplug from Everything – On trips where I don’t have to work. I unplug from everything. I don’t take my cell phone with me anywhere I go, I try not to check social media sites, I don’t respond to texts or calls unless I absolutely have to.  This is hard for me because I am social, but it’s one of the only times all year where I am fully engaged in every moment with the people I love most.

Make Memories Intentionally – This is a core value for me. Whatever you have to do to make memories, do it! Once you make a memories, record it in a journal so you don’t lose it and you can always go back to it and bring it back up on future vacations and dinners with friends and family.

Take as Many Adventures as You Can – This is a core value for me to! If there is adventure to take, I want in on it! I want to climb every mountain, take every excursion, see every historical site, eat at all the famous restaurants, etc. Experience everything you can in life!

Review & Reflect – This probably consumes the majority of my time on vacation. I am constantly reviewing and reflecting on my life. Where I’ve been, where I am at, where I am going in every area of my life. Am I hitting my goals? Am I growing? Am I accomplishing what I want to be? Am I living by my priorities?

Commit – Once I’ve reviewed and reflected, I usually get 3-4 things that I recognize I need to change and commit to. I’ll write those 3-4 things down and commit to making the changes when I get back from vacation. Then I’ll ask someone to hold me to what I’ve committed to!

Read – I read as much as I can on vacation! I love reading! I always try to find a few books to go through while I am on vacation!

Take Pictures and Journal – These are the two things you’ll be able to leave your kids when you are old! Pictures and words that you journal are the only tangible things you’ll have to remember your vacations and memories! Capture everything!

These are some of the things I do to make the most of my vacations, what do you do?