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Show Up Scrappy

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There are aspects of leadership where you are leading, practically, because you are the loudest voice in a group and everyone else has either decided to (or are forced to) listen to you.   People will listen to the loudest voice in a room but they tend to follow the most confident voice. B eing louder and more confident will set you apart from most people.   A defining trait of a leader is literally being in where you should be   - another way to say this is "showing up."  Showing up looks like...being early/on-time and being "present" in conversations. This is a fundamental part of leadership. A leader is present physically and emotionally...and taking it one step more,  they make decisions.  If there is a group of 5 people and only one person speaks up about what they think is the best plan of attack – they are by default showing leadership characteristics.  It may not be the best plan, but it is currently the only plan. Leaders call others over to a focus on
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Work Daydreams and Hearing Voices

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  I would daydream as a kid about what kind of job I would have when I grew up. When I was younger, I would watch Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, where he looked slick, professional, yet always ready to kick someone's butt. I thought it would be the best thing ever if I could resemble him as an adult. After all, I did spend at least 10 minutes each week lifting my dad and brother's weights (about 1.5 minutes per day, lifting a few times, and then looking in the mirror saying "whew, nice work out"), and by the time I was 30 I thought my 10 minutes a week would turn into 3 hours a day, and I would have huge muscles as an adult like Arnold or Hulk Hogan. I imagined myself going to work, having the trademark Schwarzenegger haircut, wearing a suit, and riding my Ninja motorcycle to work with my slight mullet flapping in the wind. That, I thought, would look cool...and then I would think, "oh, I guess then I'd have to do some 'office-y' work the rest of the d
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Work, work, work, work, work...

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"You better enjoy this summer, bud, because next year you're going to start working - this is your last summer being a kid." It was 1989, and I was 11 years old. My dad was preparing me for the real world and trying to get me mentally prepared for the years ahead when I would be mowing yards, mulching flower beds, and raking leaves for money in my neighborhood. After that, as he would say, "you are going to work the rest of your life." That wasn't comforting to me, to say the least, but I tried to put his comment in my dad's context as a tough as nails road worker, and he always worked hard without much of a break. He was right though, it was inevitable; I was going to be working...probably until the day I died. Phew - that was a heavy and depressing thought. But.  I'll tell you upfront that working isn't a bad thing. It's a wonderful thing. Yes, I said wonderful! Let me explain. Work as Part of Our Humanity If you look at the animal kingdom,
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The Audacity...

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There is a certain audacity to hope, faith, and belief. They look at reality - the hard, cold facts - and say, "I don't believe you." Not enough money to make it happen? / "We'll figure it out when we get there." Why did you even apply for this job? You don't have the job history. / "I have similar experience and I know I can do this!" No one is going to invest in that idea - it's never going to work. When you've been sized up, as I have been hundreds of times, and been told your idea is not going to work, you're not good enough, smart enough, or successful enough to do [fill in the blank] - it can be devastating. For me, there have been moments where something rises up inside that says (silently) "I don't believe you." I've looked the cold hard facts of "no" in the eye many times and then turned around and found another way. I did the "impossible" - but really, I just figured out how to
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Wake Up and Dream!

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Hey, wake up. *Smack, smack*. Come on - open your eyes!  Some mornings do you ever feel like you got hit by a bus? It could be the stress, a lack of hours in bed, or maybe you had a little too much fun and now you're feeling it. Sometimes waking up just sucks. It's moving you from the comfort of blankets, warmth, and the fluffy clouds of a dream...to the feeling of cold hard bathroom floor under your feet. Suddenly "opening your eyes" is a full-on event. Once your eyes are open you "see" the daily tasks that need done, or the needs of your family, which bring life back into focus - and then dang it, it's time to go to work! Moving from sleep to productivity can be jarring. Are you still asleep (but wide awake)? Maybe you've been lulled into an apathetic existence via disappointments or monotony...or knocked into a state of surrender by kids/spouse/job...or you're just tired of it all and want to be left alone. That type of sleep is eve
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