The Christmas season fast approaches and many of us have begun our yearly ritual of shopping, decorating and generally being very, very busy! Our businesses drive to the end of the year, we contemplate the ending of one year and the beginning of another, we find ourselves – for better or worse – with family. My Christmas wish this year is for all of us to slow down a bit. Instead of stepping in the raging current called the holiday season and being swept along, my hope is that we’ll all slow down and pause over this incredible season rich with meaning. Let’s think about what the season truly means to us and how we want to choose to celebrate that meaning.

During the Christmas season, we are all very busy! But are we focusing on what really matters? Does the season boil down to getting the prized gaming console, having the perfectly decorated Christmas tree, getting those Christmas cards out the door before Valentine’s Day, throwing a great party, having the best light display?

Probably not!

So what does this season mean for us? I’m thinking back to a favorite Christmas show, “Merry Christmas Charlie Brown” for some guidance. Let’s see what wisdom Linus, the blanky carrying philosopher has to tell us about the meaning of Christmas.

I imagine if Linus was standing beside me right now (wait, is that a kid with a blanket over there?) he’d have at least three things he’d want us to know about the holiday season.

First, several religious celebrations occur in December and even if you don’t follow a particular religion, it’s pretty difficult to not get caught up in the holiday season to some extent. This year I’m going to slow down and think about the true meaning of the religious holiday I celebrate, Christmas. For me, it is about the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ! And I encourage you to do the same. Take time to find your center, that rock you stand upon to be the courageous, empowered, giving, loving person you are in the world. By nurturing our core we strengthen ourselves for all of the challenges, disappointments and successes to come.

Second, you might also recall that right after Linus shares his understanding of the meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown takes his little tree out to a field and with the help of his friends, they decorate the tree, hold hands and sing. The holiday season is a time to be in community. For some of us that means the family we were lucky enough to be born into. For others community can mean the family we were lucky enough to create for ourselves. Find your community, create it if you need to, but do have a community of people you care about and who care about you to remember the season together.

Finally, Charlie didn’t buy the biggest, most audacious tree in the lot. Instead, he leaned down to pick up a throw away, a tree that no one wanted. While it may seem that the season is all about getting (and I love a good Christmas present as much as anyone else), we all know that the season has much more to do with giving. Not the stuff we have loads of fun exchanging with each other, but giving our care, our love, and our helping hands.
Even if you love to stack the presents high around the tree, let’s all challenge ourselves to find someone who can use our help, our care. Reach out to someone this Christmas who won’t be able to give back anything but thanks. There are plenty of places to give, but here is a short list of my favorites:

American Red Cross, Boys and Girls Club, anything that will support our troops, American Heart Association, Mission India and many others.

So this holiday season may we all make time to pause, remember the reason for the season, enjoy our unique version of family and celebrate the season by giving.

From my family to yours, Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Wishing you God’s blessings in abundance,

Sharon

I’m not here today to make a call for your involvement. I know I am preaching to the choir on this subject! I think we can safely say that’s a given. We are all involved in life – through family, work and community.  Today I want to think with you about how we as individuals, no matter how involved we are, can increase both the intensity of our involvement and our ability to make a difference in this country. When I think of involvement I think of four key elements:  Heart, Mind, Body and Spirit.  Let’s look at each of those.

Heart.

To truly make a difference we have to be fully engaged with our hearts.  We have to care.  To care deeply.  Which often leads us to be emotionally engaged and passionate about our causes.  That passion, however, needs to be balanced with an open heart.  My passion drives me forward and my open heart allows me to continue to listen with compassion and see opportunities for connections and for making a difference.

Driving passion without an open heart is a bull in a china shop.  Driving passion with an open heart transforms the world.  Never pass up an opportunity to touch a heart!

Mind,

Whenever we hope to make a difference I think you will agree with me that we have to be fully engaged with our minds.  Without Heart, however, our intellectual engagement can turn into endless debate.  Have you ever noticed how a debate never really changes things?  Both sides argue with passion and entrench even deeper into their opinion and nothing changes.  A critical component to effective change, to really making a difference, is a lesson I learned quickly in business — change requires dialogue.  I can’t go to a customer and simply debate with them about the engineering parameters of a project.  We have to sit down together in a dialogue to understand each other and be willing to make shifts that will keep the project moving forward while enhancing both the quality of the work and the level of safety on the job.

To make a difference we have to engage the mind and the heart together.

Body

As I said at the beginning, I’m preaching to the choir here — right?  And we all know the toll it can take to be passionate, open hearted, intellectually curious, to be fully engaged and making a difference in the world.  It takes energy to sustain that kind of engagement!   Let’s face it.  Staying on our “A” game day in and day out, making a difference in all that we do, takes its toll on us, our health and even our families.

So how can we keep our energy up when we’re pulled this way and that, day in and day out by the causes that fuel our passion?

To stay involved over the long haul means we have to take care of ourselves.  How many here believe that how we take care of ourselves, how much sleep we get, what foods we put into our bodies, how often we exercise, impacts our ability to be involved and make a difference?

Okay, truth time.  How many of us are satisfied with how we’re taking care of ourselves, sleeping to feel rested, eating to feel energized and exercising to feel fit?

It’s a bit of a conundrum, isn’t it.  The more involved we become the more difficult it is to take care of ourselves.  And yet, it’s part of the job.

If you want to be engaged and make a difference — and live to tell about it! — You have to take time for yourself.

Spirit

I’ve left the most important element for last.  We can be fully engaged Heart, Mind and Body and yet, if we lose sight of the spiritual, that which centers us, if we lose sight of God, then all is for naught.  If you’ve ever skied or played golf or tennis or practiced yoga, you know the physical sensation of being centered and how all of your power comes from that centered place in your body.  In the same way, to be centered spiritually and then engage the world from that centered place gives you tremendous power to make a difference.  And when I say tremendous, I’m talking about multiplying your capability many, many times over.

Whatever your religious beliefs or spiritual practices, by finding that grounded center you will multiply your effectiveness as an agent of change many times over.

So, I want to leave you with this challenge.  Step back and reflect on your engagement.  Think about how you engage, Heart, Mind, Body and Spirit  and then commit to yourself to make one meaningful change that will make you an even stronger, more powerful, fully engaged person who makes a difference.

Go Forth Great Servant and make an impact!

Until next time!

God’s blessings,

Sharon

If you have been the parent of a two year old or ever known a two year old, you know the power of “no.”  You have a beautiful, sweet, innocent child who is discovering the world and delighting in the many colors and textures of life, that as adults we take for granted.  And then one day, one fateful day, this child learns the word “No.” 

No (I don’t want to eat my peas!)

No (I don’t want to take a bath!)

No (I don’t want stay here!)

No (I don’t want to go there!)

No (I don’t know what I don’t want to happen, but I’m going to say “No!” just in case!)

 “No” is the moment we each began to truly distinguish ourselves from the rest of the world.  I’m an individual, I’m me!  I assert who I am in the world!  And while the “no’s” have the potential to leave even the best parent yearning for life before language, Mom’s and Dad’s also sense that those “no’s” represent the awakening of a unique, wonderful creation who will continue to amuse, surprise, sometimes disappoint and often awe them, as long as they have the distinct pleasure of knowing this evolving human being.

 And everything is going great.  We’re two and testing, we’re teens and testing and then something mysterious happens to many of us.  Somehow, somewhere along our path, we forget how to say no.  Maybe I’m a teenager trying to fit in and say yes to be accepted as part of the group — when I know I should be saying no.  And as adults, the challenge to say no increases many times over.  We have responsibilities, a family to care for, a mortgage to pay, a job to keep and we put our dreams on hold.  Many times every day, each one of us is confronted with the choice between yes or no and often, if we’re honest with ourselves, our heads might say “yes,” but our hearts say “no.” 

 Now you might be thinking I’m overstating my case.  So let me ask.  How many of you reading this post have more to do than you have time in which to do it?  And I’m not just talking about work, I’m talking about life.  If you can honestly say that your life — work, family, friends, personal, spiritual and physical — is in harmonious balance, then maybe this post is not on target for you. 

However, if you find that you’re often over-committed or doing things you’d rather not be doing or not focusing your time on what is truly important to you, then maybe it’s time to embrace the ‘two year old’ in you!

 Here are a few suggestions for getting in touch with that ‘two year old’ inside of you:

 1.     Do a quick life inventory ~ “What’s inside your joy box?”

 Think about each aspect of your life:  work, family, friends, personal, spiritual, physical, financial.  Score yourself from 1 to 10, 10 being the highest on each aspect in terms of how well you feel you attend to that component.  For example, you may feel that you’re achieving an 8 in your work or business (you’re meeting your strategic goals), but a 5 with friends (because you don’t seem to take as much time you might want to stay in touch) and score on physical of 1 (because you haven’t exercised for years and keep putting off that visit to the doctor). 

 How can you raise the low scores?  Pick the lowest scoring life component and brainstorm ten ways you can increase that component in your life.  Now commit to do one each week for the next month.  Then move to the next lowest scoring component and do the same the following month.

 2.     Say “no”  first.  Always!  “Go ahead, throw that temper  tantrum!”

You don’t need to say it out loud, but in your mind, you do need to pause and just say “no” to begin to give yourself the room to make a clear, conscious choice.  And the more you say “no,” the more comfortable you’ll get with the word.  You’ll begin to notice that the world doesn’t implode and life goes on!  And if you want to raise the stakes, then tell the person you trust in your life, maybe a spouse or a friend or a work colleague, that every time they ask you to do something you are going to first say “no.”  Then you’re going to consciously choose what you want to do.  How liberating! 

 3. Rap about it.  Okay, maybe not.

 How about doing the internet baby dance!  Go for it!  When you say no, you give others the chance to shine!

Let me leave you with the words to a rap Young MC did about young people saying no to drugs.  I think he has some wisdom for all of us.

Have a blessed day,

 Sharon McGee

 ’cause better safe than sorry

this is for real, this ain’t no game or folly

its your life and you only got one 

so you better do it right or it will soon be done

 

You want to be popular, you want to be cool

you want to be the one that every body likes at school

you want to be every thing just for every one else

but you better think of what you want to be for your self

 

 Every day people livin in the same old mess

hard to be original and not be like the rest

you got to go for what you know, you cant afford to guess

and heaven knows what would happen if you did say yes

 ~ From “Just say no” by Young MC

Maybe there is something that we are endowed with by the Creator that gives us an opportunity to naturally figure out how to make this a better place. ~ Bob Weir (Grateful Dead)

As a business owner or leader, you know firsthand the pressures of making critical decisions that impact your enterprise and the lives of your employees and customers.  And in some cases, even the lives of members of your community.   Who of us hasn’t, at one time or another, been  so distracted by moving fast or grabbing market share that we took our eye off the ball of the fundamentals and like a pedestrian looking the wrong way, got hit by a bus we didn’t even see coming?

The ball, of course, represents the fundamentals of your business.  For most of us, customer focus, quality and cost fall into our list of fundamentals.  In the building industry safety is key, both for the welfare of our employees and for the bottom line of our business.  What are the top five fundamentals of your business?  Do you have a way to monitor those fundamentals?

Some of you may be thinking, Sharon, I’m a one person show. Do I really need to be identifying and following the fundamentals of my business.  And my answer to all of my solo entrepreneurs out there is absolutely YES!  As a solo enterprise, your business is even more sensitive to any change in the dynamics.  When an employee of McDonalds  has a break down in customer focus by giving a customer a McChicken when they ordered a Big Mac and then fails to correct the situation, McDonalds has one unhappy customer who may McSplit and never return or more likely tells family and friends about their poor experience.   When you are a solo entrepreneur, in a moment of thoughtlessness, you fail to deliver to your customer, you could be losing someone who generates 25-50% of your revenue.

So we all have a ball called the fundamentals of our business.  How do we keep an eye on that ball?  I like to have some key metrics that tell me how my business is performing.  And then when one or more of those metrics begins to trend negatively, I focus my energies on determining the root cause and taking any necessary corrective actions.  Safety is a good example of the benefits of monitoring metrics and taking appropriate, timely action.  Most accidents are not single events, but the culmination of a series of small events and poor decision making.  For example, a crew gets to a work site late.  They feel rushed and know they need to get this job done quickly to stay on schedule for the day.  In the rush of the moment, one of the crew members fails to put on safety glasses, figuring it’s a small job that will only take a few minutes and going back to the truck for the glasses will just eat up more time.  Then the drill bit kicks up a metal shaving injuring the crew member.  Now we have an injured employee, insurance issues, lost time for the employee and the crew, delays with other projects, etc.   All of those consequences came out of the crew feeling rushed.  And so in this instance, I’d want to know what about our project planning or scheduling process is leading crews to feel rushed for time so significantly that they have started to compromise their own safety.

My challenge for all of us in August is to step back for a moment, clarify the key fundamentals of our unique businesses, determine what metrics will give us the best indication of the status of those fundamentals and then make the monitoring of those metrics part of our daily activity as business leaders and owners.  Please don’t compromise safety or procrastinate in doing what needs to be done.

Go out and make it a great day!

Sharon McGee

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness….

…And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Declaration of Independence

July 4, 1776

Two hundred thirty four years ago a band of brothers came together in the muggy summer heat of Philadelphia to stand up for the rights of a group of colonies in the face of the most powerful force in the world at the time — the British government.  Their courage to be willing to sacrifice their wealth, their liberty and their lives set our nation on a path to independence from England, but also planted the seeds in the American psyche that our cause, our purpose as a nation is for the establishment and protection of freedom in the world.  Courageous men and women have been standing up for independence and freedom from the hills of Concorde and Lexington, where the first shots of the  Revolutionary War were fired, all the way to the deserts of Afghanistan and Iraq today.  As we all know, our freedom does not come without sacrifice. 

This month as we join together, a diverse, but united American people, let’s remember the young men and women sacrificing everything for us and the many professionals who put their lives on the line every day to make our communities safe.  Take a moment to thank someone in the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, National Reserve, Firefighters, Police Officers, and Emergency Personnel.  And while you’re at it, thank yourself for all the times you have participated in democratic process that gives voice to our freedom.  Together we make this nation great.

And while we embrace that sacrifice, we also celebrate our liberty — a truly unique and glorious expression of human equality and unalienable rights of a free people.  Independence Day is a time of celebration — barbecue, parades, picnics, fairs, speeches, concerts, baseball and fireworks.  So let’s get out there and party!

Have a Happy and Safe Independence Day!

Sharon