A Year In Review & Top Viewed Posts of 2014

2014 has been a year of change: changed jobs, moved across the country, adjusting to living in the deep south, one son married, another announcing a pregnancy, just to mention a few.  Through all of these changes, God has supplied strength and guidance.  I am always so amazed at the way our lives unfold, never, it seems, like we would have imagined.  

Two accomplishments this year that were important to me:  First, I published the discipleship journal:  Spiritual Warfare: Our Weapons are Not of This World.   I have felt for years that this was a project which God wanted me to finish and am thankful that it is now available.  Second, I published in Kindle format, The Principles of Life.  I am passionate about using a set of life principles to guide your life and I have shared these principles with hundreds if not thousands over the last 20 years.

It is always interesting to look back at which of the posts have received the most views.  Here are the top 10 posts as ranked by views for 2014:

1.  Creative Followership book Review

2.  Scaling Up Excellence, Chapter 1

3.  Scaling Up Excellence, Chapter 4

4.  Holiness: What Do You Know of Holy???

5.  Scaling Up Excellence, Chapter 3

6.  Gratitude Challenge

7.  Scaling Up Excellence, Chapter 5

8.  Twilight

9.  3 Chairs & Granny's Angel

10.  Scaling Up Excellence, Chapter 6

Hope you have a blessed New Year.

It's Not Rocket Science - 12

When I was growing up we attended Southside Church of the Nazarene.  We were there pretty much every time the doors were opened.  Our family of five typically arrived early due to responsibilities held by various members of the family.  One family, however, ALWAYS arrived late, with little regard or concern for their late arrival, no matter how disruptive it might be.  I was speaking at a workshop talking about culture recently and asked the audience for examples of their family's culture.  An individual responded by saying the culture in their family was to always be late.

When that lateness carries over into the workplace, in can leave a damaging impression and creates a reputation which can delay or sidetrack an otherwise promising career.   This is particularly important for individuals starting out in their career to know:  People know when you arrive and when you leave, even if you think no one is watching!!!!    If you are consistently late, or leave consistently early, it is noticed and marked in the invisible ledger within the minds of others, who usually are very willing to share that information as gossip.

Being on time means being 5 minutes early!  Follow this practice and you add one more positive factor to your success; if you ignore it don't be surprised if your forward movement is slower than you like.

This is not rocket science - be ON TIME: to work, to appointments, to your life!

It's Not Rocket Science - 11

Several years ago I needed to hire an assistant, selected several applicants to interview and set up the appointments. Since this was an entry level position, most of the applicants were relatively young, either still in college, or just graduated.  What amazed me was how the majority of the applicants dressed for their interview:  Jeans and t-shirts were the norm for male or female.  I think America has fostered a culture which is so focused on ME being ME that young people moving into the workplace are experiencing a shock when this culture doesn't carry over into the workplace.

Honestly, how much common sense is required to know that an interview for a professional position, even if entry level, might require professional attire?  This should not be rocket science.

How you dress does make a difference in how you are perceived.  It says something about your judgement abilities.  It suggests whether or not you are wise enough to handle little things and thus may be able to handle larger things.  This kind of perception lies as a subconscious layer in the back of a supervisor's mind and may never get to the surface, but it impacts their decisions AND their evaluation of you, your abilities, and your potential for advancement.  Go ahead, say it: "that's not fair!"  Do you hear the violins playing?  Fair or not, it is reality so get over it.

Give some thought to how you dress in relationship to the position you have AND the position to which you aspire.  Dressing appropriately is just one more indicator that you just might be rocket scientist.

It's Not Rocket Science- 10

Trust, but verify.

Some of my greatest blunders can be traced back to promises made to me by others to deliver actions or products, which were not delivered.  This became my blunder because I had made promises depending upon others fulfilling their promises to me.  I assumed that because a promise was made that it would be fulfilled.  I have written in another post about the dangers of assuming and I have, unfortunately fallen prey to that more than I care to admit.

It's not that most people intentionally break their promise, but it happens.  That is why I say, trust - trust that people mean what they say and have every intention of fulfilling their commitments.  But I have also learned to verify.  Verify that the promise is being fulfilled before it becomes an emergency or failure.  You could also call this accountability.  Holding people accountable is unpopular and challenging.

If you will be judged on your output, and most of us are, and your output is dependent at least in part upon others, and this is also true for most of us, then follow-up accountability needs to become second nature to you if you are going to succeed;  Trust, but verify.

It's not rocket science.