AWARENESS
Here is a little known fact about me. You may not believe it. Trust me, I’m telling you the truth.
I love the Little House on the Prairie book series.
I do! Really!
My love affair with Little House started when I was a kid. I would lie on my couch and watch the TV show. Often.
I carried this love for the Little House TV series into college, no joke. My two college roommates were just as hooked. We’d rush back from class to catch the latest airing of the old series.
ATTITUDE
Have you ever been stressed over buying a loved one a gift? Wondering: Will it fit? Will she like it? Is it the right color? Does she already have one? Is this too little? Too much?
For me, this used to happen every Christmas. I didn’t mean to get overwhelmed with the gift buying process. It’s not that my wife was super picky, needy or finicky. She didn’t have it all. For all intents and purposes, she should have been easy to buy for.
I think I know how I got this way, though.
There was one time. . .
I got a detention. Yeah, me. If you haven’t picked up on it already, I was quite a mischievous kid. I liked making people laugh and sometimes that got me into trouble.
Well, this one time, I was pressured into tossing a huge wad of toilet paper, soaked in chocolate milk, on the bathroom ceiling of the boy’s bathroom. Just as an aid walked in to check on us, it dropped at her feet.
It’s funny when I think of it now! Not then though because I got a detention!
We are all communicators and connectors. We are communal beings and we love good company and fulfilling conversation.
On one hand, communicating is very natural to us. Then, there is that other side to communication: where it can be awkward, it can feel contrived, it can be confusing and undesirable.
My dad was the best communicator I’ve ever known. He was never awkward in a conversation. When he spoke, it was never contrived. People loved him and connected with him with ease!
I’ve asked myself: what was his secret? You know, it was just a few years ago that I figured it out.
Courage determines our potential. It is the dial of success.
My two oldest kids are taking piano lessons this year. Some pieces they learn are instant hits: learned quickly and played daily, they become the family anthem for a short while.
Then, there’s those other songs: Way too hard, Dad! I can’t do it! I won’t do it! This is so stupid! (…stomping away, slamming the door…).
Mom convinces them to come back, be brave, believe they can do it, work through the hard parts, practice makes perfect, over and over… it may be painful.
When I coach people, I ask what surrounds them day in and day out. The people, activities, books, sounds… all these things influence us one way or another, for better or worse.
Can you think of a movie you used to watch (or still do) that got you really pumped up? For me, it was the iconic Rocky movies. I remember as a kid getting so excited watching those movies that I would be jumping up and down in front of the TV screen, doing push-ups, instigating some good-old brotherly boxing fights…. I’d even create new workout regimens in my basement so I could be as buff as Rocky.
For a while now, my front door has been purple. Not just purple: the Joker Purple. I’m not kidding. It’s a long story about how it got to be that way but my wife never liked it. (I thought it was cool!)
Recently, it was finally time. She asked me: Please, please, please can we change the door color now? She has painted around the house but I’m the one who used to do it for a living. When it comes to the front door and oil paints, it’s definitely my job.
As much as my beloved spouse was excited about the change,
The Salvation Army has the coolest signal ever – the little bell. I don’t know if you have ever seen or heard the bells but they scream, “Look at me and give me some money!”
I was walking through a store that had a volunteer ringing the bell and asking for donations – I could not help but look and want to give. That little bell was all the signal I needed to hear and know what I needed to do, to know what they wanted me to do. Great communication!
As a leader and communicator,
