How the Day Ends

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I know how this day ends. By my best estimation, this day ends with me laying my head on a pillow and closing my eyes.

What I do not know, is how the day unfolds. Every moment today will present a new challenge, a new adventure. The challenges and adventures of the day may be something I have encountered previously, or they may be something for which I was not prepared.

Either way, the challenges and adventures presenting themselves to me today have to be met, and I will meet them with enthusiasm.

But, at the end of the day, regardless of the challenges and adventures I encounter, I know how this day ends. And when this day ends, I will be grateful for the time I had and the lessons I learned along the way.

I hope when your day ends today, you will be able to look back and know you made the most of what came your way.

Check It Out: A Lesson from a Busy Street

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Leadership development is a journey, to say the least. As we spend this week packing our house to move to a new leadership journey, I thought I would share a post from 2017 about one of the realities of developing leaders around us. Click here to see what we can learn from a student driver trying to parallel park.

Here’s a clip:

Yesterday, after making a hospital visit, I sat in my suburban and watched as a student driver tried to parallel park two spots in front of me. (If it had been the spot directly in front of me, I may not have been as patient.)
The car pulled up, waited for a while, then slowly started backing up. Every passing car on the busy street caused greater hesitation, and I could sense the anxiety of the driver from where I sat.

Go check it out today!

No vs. Yes

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If you’re reading this near the original publishing date, I’ve got some good news: Lessons from the Farm is coming in April. Over the past two years, some of the best response I have seen has come from the Lessons from the Farm series. So, over the next few weeks, you might want to check out a few of the past lessons. Here are some of my favorites:

Don’t forget to subscribe or like 3QL on Facebook to make sure you don’t miss any posts!

Today, let’s shift gears a little. I ran across a quote earlier this week and thought I would share it:

The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes.

Tony Blair

If you have been in leadership for very long at all, you have felt the tension of deciding between yes and no.

As a leader, saying no is not an automatic response, but many times the necessary response after weighing the possibilities. Our role as a leader is to look at the bigger picture and make decisions based on the information presented, as opposed to being able to zero in on a single situation and make a decision based on limited factors.

Parents know this struggle. Our child comes to us, wanting a toy/snack/prize/drink, but we know the looming results. Sometimes it can be exhausting to be the adult in the relationship, but the truth remains–someone has to be willing to say no.

I know for most people I don’t have to say the following, but for someone I do: Saying no all the time is bad leadership. Beware of being the person who never says yes. As someone who battles the balance, learn to say yes and pursue the adventure.

Today, you may be presented with an opportunity. It may be a great opportunity. It may be a mediocre opportunity. Do you have the wisdom to discern between the two, and the courage to give the right answer, not the easy one?

Checking In

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As of last night, it was Facebook official, so let’s make it blog official today.

This past weekend I went in view of a call to Trinity Baptist Church in Kerrville, Texas. They voted to extend the call for me to come as their Minister of Students, and I accepted.

I will start in two weeks, which means a couple things.

First, I fully plan to continue posting during the transition. 3QL has become such a vital part of my information processing, that I cannot imagine it not being part of my routine moving forward. That being said, there may be a day or two where I don’t get a post up, so forgive me ahead of time, please.

Second, transitions create excitement. That means in the months ahead, as I get to experiment with some of the theoretical ideas I’ve presented on the blog, I’m going to make mistakes. But mistakes mean growth, right?

Finally, there may be a little bit of a format change for some of the posts, but we will have to wait to see how that develops.

One last thought: February brought the highest number of visitors to 3QL in it’s 2 year history, blowing the previous record out of the water. I’m looking forward to year full of these milestones, but I need your help. If you read a post you find helpful, please share it on Facebook, Twitter, through email, or carrier pigeon.

I’m so grateful you’re joining me for this leadership journey, and I look forward to continue helping you expand your leadership influence.

Mistakes Mean Growth

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This year I got a daily desk calendar with leadership quotes. It’s been interesting to see the different quotes over the past two months. Some of the pages remain on my desk, making an appearance when I want to remember a quick lesson or share some encouragement with a friend. Other pages are not so lucky.

Several quotes hone in on a particular theme, one which I have been spending extra time pondering lately, and they make regular appearances in my reviews. So, today, I thought I would share one.

Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the error that counts.

Nikki Giovanni

The past year has been full of lessons for me, but mistakes are something to which I keep returning. I am realizing over time the necessity of mistakes. I have gone through seasons in my life where I have been afraid to act out of fear of a mistake, and that missed the point. I have gone through seasons where I make mistakes, learn from them, and grow as a result.

Mistakes, as quoted above, are a fact of life. Everyone makes mistakes. You make mistakes. I make mistakes. Our heroes make mistakes. The question then comes down to: are we willing to make the change necessary to correct the mistake the next time around?

I don’t view this as a license to live by the mantra “it’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission”, but even that mantra is necessary on occasion.

If I can teach my children, student leaders, or adults one thing lately, it is that mistakes will happen. Mistakes have to happen. The magnitude and impact of the mistakes can be mitigated, but mistakes are natural.

We should not live in fear of making mistakes. We should live in fear of not learning from the mistakes we will inevitably make. The subtle shift provides remarkable freedom.

What’s holding you back in life right now? What action are you not taking for fear of making a mistake? What if you lived by the mantra that making a mistake is not the worst thing that can happen to you, but making a mistake and not learning from it is the worst thing that can happen to you?


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