The Power of Inspirational People: Ian and Larissa

The news is often full of things that don't inspire me.  I realize I need inspiration in my life. 

Seeing others persevere inspires me.  Watching others endure tragedy and persevere challenges my heart. 
Today, I watched a video that touched my soul. 

The Power of Inspirational People

There is a lot of heart ache in life.  I like to read the newspaper everyday.  The Newspaper generally displays stories of pain and anguish and problems around the world.  I like newspapers because I can filter from headlines.  If a story seems particularly gruesome, I can spare myself reading the details.  There is much in this world that is troubling. 

For me, I love Inspiration.  I find it most in people that inspire me.  Often when I am downcast and sad, I like to reflect on inspirational people. 

Over breakfast recently, I sat with my kids and read some of the story of Katie Davis.  We even used the qr code that took us to a Youtube video.  We all shed a tear as we watched the story of this young woman who is making a tangible difference in the lives of hundreds of people in Uganda.

There is something about watching a person live life to the fullest that calls out the best in me.

What do you do to find inspiration?

Great Quotes: Do they motivate you?

I recently had a leader share this quote from Teddy Roosevelt with me:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

 

This quote resonated with me.  I wanted to take action and do something and not be a critic or a complainer.  Over my lifetime I have heard many great quotes.  Sometimes they get me excited for a brief moment; while other times the quote gives much greater context to things I decide to take part in.  I think that it is important to surround ourselves with Motivation because it is so easy to drift towards lethargy.  So I love to read great quotes.  

 

Do great quotes motivate you?  Do you go back to the same great quotes or do you prefer a new quote to help you press forward in life?

 

 

 

The Tensions of Social Media

In my lifetime I have lived through several eras of technology.
I remember when my family got a VCR.  I remember when cordless phones came on the scene.
I remember when the internet started to pop up and you would "dial into the internet."  At the time, email was used similar to the way you would write a card - as thoughtful personal pieces.  Email usage has changed today.

Social Media has been a tremendous game changer to people's lives.  Some estimates put social media usage at roughly 4 hours / person in North America.  This makes you wonder what people were doing with those 4 hours before the advent of social media.

For me, social media is the intersection of two tensions in my life.

1)  I desire to be connected with others.   The Bible teaches that we as humans are unique and relational.  We long to be in relationships with others because we are made to be relational by God.

2)  I desire to be walk with humility.  In the Bible in James 4:6 it reads, "God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble."  For me, there are layers to my usage of social media.  I am not talking about others usage - just mine.  For me, there is an element of using social media that strikes me as an excessive focus on myself.  For me, there seems to be a part of social media usage that is image management and that is not good for my desire towards humility.  But this gets complicated, because in my facebook fasts or ponderings on this topic, it is so easy to slip into false humility which is a more deeply rooted form of pride.

Obviously I am blogging now, so I have made it over some hurdles, but I am cognizant of the way the tension between a desire to be connected intersects with my desire for humility.


What tensions have you seen in your social media usage?

What makes something your best day?

I recently took my 5 year old son for lunch.  As we were driving away from the restaurant he said, "This is the best day ever."  Then he stopped and said, "Wait" and he paused and then said, "The best day ever will be when I go to heaven." Then he summarized, "This is the best day on earth."

The idea of our "best' day intrigues me.  What we find best displays what we find most valuable.  What makes something feel the best demonstrates what we find most important.  I remember "best days" in my life - getting married, seeing our children be born. 

Additionally, the object of what we value is greatly esteemed.  I felt great when my son said that it was his best day - to be hang out with me.  He didn't follow it up immediately asking for a new toy, so I assume that he had no ulterior motives.  He simply enjoyed being with me.  I felt great joy knowing that. 

So it is with what we cherish. 

One of my favourite pictures of faith in God is that of delight.
Psalm 37:4
"Delight yourselves in the Lord."

It is easy to picture faith in God as drudgery, when this passage commands delight.  To delight is to have our best day ever hanging out with God. 

 Have you ever said, this is my best day ever? 

At what point do you make a decision?

Decision making.  It is not easy to make decisions in a large group.  This is particularly true in volunteer organizations.  

I often ponder how can a group of people in a volunteer organization come to the best decision in a timely manner that can be implemented in the most effective way possible? 


I think there are two fears in today's world to decision making in a volunteer organization in a large group from a leadership perspective. 
 
1)  The fear of being autocratic.  Underneath this fear is the fear of making the wrong decision because of being hastily autocratic.  I suppose it is possible to be autocratic in a slow moving manner, but in general, it seems autocratic decisions comes from the need for speed (whether real or perceived) in decision making.  Even more than the fear of making the wrong decision, the fear of being autocratic is related to the fear of making a decision and no one wanting to implement it in a volunteer organization. 


2)  The fear of over-consultation.  Underneath this fear is the fear of making no decision.  In attempting to get everyone's feedback, leaders fear that over-consultation will lead to decision paralysis. 

In a group setting, the fears of the people in a group generally relate to trust.

Specifically, Can I trust that my perspective is being heard?  
Can I trust that my perspective is informing the final decision?

Patrick Lencioni has said, "People have to weigh in before they buy in" meaning that participating in the decision making process is important not just to make the right decision but to develop ownership of the decision. 

What processes have you seen in a volunteer organization that enable great decision making and great ownership of decisions?


Are there other fears that are missing in my list?

What keeps us from Communicating Well?

In the 1970's the CEO of IBM famously thought, that as computers developed, people would work less.  This is sadly not the case.  

Today, communication devices are everywhere.  I have a smart phone, a blog, several social media pieces, email, skype and yet I often find that I struggle to communicate well with people.  The more communication offerings I have available, the more I seem to sputter in communication.

Organizations struggle to communicate even though today there are more options to communicate than ever before.   Not only are there more options, but technology makes communication cheaper than ever before.  


I recognize that tools are only as good as the user, but I wonder - as technology continues to ramp up - will communication improve or will our expectations only increase and lead us to disappointment.  

Thirty years from now will people have endless amazing communication options available, but mostly feel under-communicated to?  What does the future hold in communication?


What do you think keeps us from communicating to the level we desire?