Category: Creative Vulcan

Walking in the shadow

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty” Psalm 91:1
As I was walking my little girl to preschool one day, she discovered a fun game that if she walked at just the right spot beside me, she could be completely hidden in my shadow. She would walk there and then run ahead to see her shadow reappear and then back up until it disappeared again. It was a sweet game and fun entertainment during the brief walk to preschool.
After I dropped her off, I realized that this is exactly what we do with God. If we run too far ahead, we are no longer “in the shadow”, but if we walk beside Him, we are under His cover. I don’t know about you, but that’s a cover that I desire to have on my life.
Are you walking in the shadow?

Why I shouldn’t check email late at night

I had an interesting experience this weekend that provoked me to consider deeply why I think email late at night is bad for me.

Here are my top three reasons:

1. Whether I intend it or not, most email is directly related to work. Even if I’m just glancing for an answer to one question, invariably there is something else there which may flip on the “time to think about work” machine in my brain. I have found that once this happens I have difficulty going to sleep. And even when I do, I don’t sleep well.

2. My filters don’t work as well at night. Every day things cross my path (electronically or in person) which I have to respond to. My preferred response in every situation is a gracious, God-honoring, “how can I be a servant here to bring resolution” type response. Sometimes, my natural response is not that. 🙂 When my feelings are less positive, I attempt to filter these out rather than letting them get into my communications. Except at night. At night, when tired, I don’t have the same patience or self-control, so the filters fail. When this happens, a friend or team member (or worse, my boss) gets an email response that reflects my negative mindset at the time. Not usually a good idea.

3. Even though I choose to limit when I check email, I have observed that everyone doesn’t do the same. Some people look at email on their phone whenever it comes in. As much as I might discourage this, I am not likely to change it. So, my last reason why email at night is bad for me is simply for the sake of the receivers. Because if they don’t protect themselves from thinking about work at night, I can protect them by not sending them anything.

What about you? Any other reasons why you think email at night is a bad idea?

Don’t be the boss everyone likes

I have held managerial responsibility for other people since my first job at 16. I’m pretty sure I haven’t always been great at it. One struggle I have had is always wanting my people to like me. This seems like it would be a good thing but I have discovered several reasons over time why I no longer want to be “the boss everyone likes”.

1. Nothing gets done because the boss holds no one accountable to their commitments. No accountability = no results.

2. Bad news is uncomfortable to deliver and to receive. If you can only say what you think people want to hear, you can’t be honest. No honesty = no trust.

3. No decisions are made because inevitably someone disagrees with someone else. No decisions = perpetual stalemate.

4. No conflict is allowed in meetings when the boss is afraid of hurt feelings. No conflict means there is no healthy exchange of ideas, which generally leads to only mediocre ideas getting presented. Everyone can agree on mediocre. People who want better will leave the organization to find a place where conflict promotes improvement.

I still fight the tendency to fall into these bad habits from time to time, but I clearly recognize that when I choose to prioritize things other than being liked, I am much more effective as a supervisor.

What about you? Ever made these mistakes and suffered the organizational consequences?