Blogging just stopped being fun…

I have to apologize for my extended hiatus from the blogosphere. It’s been several months since I last put my thoughts out here. And I could say that it’s because family life got so busy or because I had too much going on at the office. Both of those things are true, but the real reason is – it stopped being fun.

When I started blogging a couple of years ago, I was excited. It was really refreshing to find an outlet for the thoughts and strategies that I felt like God had placed inside of me. It felt useful to get them out on the web and to share them with others. And the feedback I got was overwhelmingly positive so it seemed like people were drawing definite value from them. Each week as I’d write, new ideas would come. For the most part.

From time to time, I would find myself in a place where I didn’t feel like I had anything to say. Usually when I was busy with work or family stuff. I would skip a week here and there, but for the most part, I was able to keep the weekly pace. I was generally pleased with how it was working.

But then I decided that I wanted it to be even more effective. I wanted to incorporate some of the techniques that I saw other bloggers doing – adding a picture, paying more attention to my stats, linking to other posts in ways that would drive my traffic up.

So I did. And for a little while, it worked. I got the buzz of additional results, more feedback; I was excited about trying these new techniques and becoming like a “really good blogger”. But then things changed. My need for feedback to make myself feel like what I was doing was valuable drove me to putting more and more effort into my posts. And all of a sudden, the blog became something I had to do each week, rather than something I looked forward to. And then it just wasn’t fun any more.

So I stopped. And it’s been almost 6 months since I wrote anything at all.

I want to go back. I want to go back to when blogging was fun. When I didn’t feel the pressure to get my word count just right, or to find a compelling image or to do whatever was necessary to get more clicks. As soon as I made the decision that this needed to be my next post, I have five ideas for more posts which will follow this one. I will write those over the next few weeks and post them here. And hopefully, they will be valuable to you or to someone. But I won’t be measuring my satisfaction with how many clicks I get. My measure will be – did I have fun doing it? Did I share the thing that I felt like needed to be shared?

I’m hoping that’s what you will find when you come back next time. I’m pretty sure that sharing what’s on my heart will be a lot more effective than not writing anything at all.

think long-term

Three reasons you need to think long-term

It’s hard to think long-term

There are more variables to consider, more players to factor in, and more potential for things to go in different directions as your team moves forward. Not to mention, if you commit to a long-term strategy, you might block yourself out of a future option that has not yet opened up on your radar.

But just like someone has to manage the big picture in your organization, someone has to think about the long-term plans and goals for your team.

think long-term

Why you need to think long-term, even though it’s hard

1. The urgent will always overpower the important in the short-term. What you see in front of you will clamor for your attention to be accomplished and completed quickly before the impending deadline at the end of the week, or worse, the end of the day. Important things take time and will usually become urgent only when it’s too late to do them well.

2. Three hundred and sixty five days lived one at a time will result in the accomplishment of very little. A year long-term goal set, established, and chopped into 12, 100, or even 365 pieces will be much more likely completed.

3. If you establish a larger focus, small decisions are more easily made. When I know that my kids are more important than material success, I don’t even have to think about whether I take one more client meeting and miss my kids soccer game. Think long-term about your priorities and goals for life.

Think even longer-term

A friend shared with me this quote from Bill Gates that I thought encapsulated this perfectly:

“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”

Long-term isn’t just a year versus a day. It’s a decade versus a year. It’s an eighty year lifetime versus a decade. It’s thinking generations rather than just for your own lifetime.

 

Three leadership questions

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As a leader, asking questions is a valuable way to steer your team or a specific individual forward. Even though these seem fairly simple, these leadership questions can help you bring a diagnosis (if necessary) or identify potential solutions.

1. What’s the bottom line? When you are navigating a situation or challenge, it’s easy to get caught up in all the details and chaos associated with it. Try to think through it to identify the root of the issue. Then you can work on that. Don’t waste energy working on subsidiary problems.

2. What’s the question here? Team members often bring me an extended summary of a particular matter with multiple levels of challenge or concern to be navigated. Identifying the main question will make it easier to weigh it out and provide direction.

3. What’s the next step? Every journey to a destination begins with a single step. Rather than getting caught up in thinking through a whole project, I find it helpful when there are multiple projects swirling around to identify the next step in each. Then I decide which of these steps I can take now and how to begin moving forward. Maybe a simple phone call or email would move the ball “down the field”.

Any useful questions that you have identified in your leadership?