Post-it Notes

Leaders love post it notes.  I love post it notes.  I have them scattered on my bulletin board, through out books, even at times on my laptop.  They help me remember appointments, I am able to quickly jot down short notes, and they stand out, causing me to re-read them over and over.

But here's the one thing about post it notes that they probably were not intended for.  They cause me pain.  No not paper cuts, thought they do hurt, this is on a deeper level, they cause a type of pain that brings about growth and change in who I am and the way I lead.

As I write down these short notes and thoughts, and quotes very often I am just writing something that I thought was a profound statement, and often at that moment, that's all it was a few words that caused me to stop and say WOW.  So I write it down, here's an example.  'Be a people who make interest not a people who pay interest.' Andy Stanley.

But as I reread these notes months or even years later, I am cut deeply by some of the statements that are on them, because they reflect words that at one time made me say wow, and now, well now they are just words on a blue post it on my wall or in a book.  Not doing what the words were intended for, but doing what the post it was intended for, just hanging there waiting to be read.  The words on the post it have the power, but it's the post it that is the messenger and the 'author' of what is hurting me at the moment.

As I read all the notes scattered in my office and house I realize one great thing, I have not lived up to what is written down, that great revelation months ago that I promised to stand on has slipped away and become decor on my walls.  I have come to realize that the reason I wrote them down was to better my leadership value, my goal is to one day lead as a 10, not stay as a 5 or 6 forever.

Post its, in my life, are a way of saying, I need to live at a higher standard.  I hold people around me, those who are in leadership with me, and under my scope of leadership to what may seem at times as an unlivable standard, and yet I hold myself to a higher standard then I have for them.

Throughout the world people look at others and expect huge things from them but in their own life they live at a very low standard, expecting and delivering the bare minimum.  This isn't always the case of leadership or management, but it does occur in these realms just as it does in everyday life.

We have an idea, one that is literally disturbing and disruptive, that others have to live in a standard that is higher then what we hold our selves to.  We cannot expect this of people, but we can expect it of ourselves.  You want to be a great employee or employer, maybe improve the way you serve in a volunteer roll, perhaps you desire to be a better spouse or parent, create a standard that is higher then where you are so you have to strive to improve the way you live  Not so much that you drain all your energy and never improve but enough that you recognize improvements and can determine what you can do to grow a little more.  I would never expect of myself to double the size of my leadership team in one day, but I do in one year, maybe even triple it.

The reason to all this is simple and maybe just as profound as the notes I have made; we need to expect great things of others, have a high standard for them, but we must have a higher standard and greater desire of our own lives, or we will never be happy with the way people around us lead/live/parent/serve.

Now, go buy some post it notes.

The remaining.

I've decided to wrap up the conversation on the generations and the risks and advantages each one has in today's society.  I'm doing this to be free from the burden in my mind that I NEED to finnish it, My intention was to complete it, with 5 separate posts, that is no longer going to happen.  The problem when you set out on a journey like that is that you bind yourself to the idea that it's the thing you need to do.  When really I wanted to post on the two generations I have, and leave it there.  But thinking on it I made the decision that one post for 5 different age categories was better for this blog.  I was wrong.  The goal of this blog from the beginning was for me to share what was going on in my life, to share insight and hopefully wisdom.

Can I accomplish this in what Iw as wanting to do, yes but I a recently read a wise man write the words 'under that fat blog is a skinny one waiting to live the life it was called to.... edit edit edit.'  I say that because if I had continued with the path I was on, you would be reading 3 entries that would progress in length and stats and some information that served only to entertainment myself and those like me.  Seriously I was about 2000 words into a blog entry on my generation, with only one major point left to make.  I want to get across to you the main ideas in articulated form, not rambles and rants.

So here you are, the rest of this post will sum up what every generation needs and the struggles they face.


Have you ever entered a store and walked down the candy isle hoping to make it past with out catching a glimpse of your favorite sweet?  For me it's anything sour.  And I am not supposed to eat sugar in excess, so I walk down to the isle of the store where the dog food and bread is, circle back to grab the last minute bag of milk we forgot from the grocery store, and make my back out, because I am at times, very weak, and just one sour patch kid won't hurt too much.  How about this, you're driving or are a passenger in a car, when you approach a green light and notice a car creeping into the intersection.  The gut reaction is to yell at them and brace for a possible impact.  Then as you pass safely, you comment on how horrible they drive.

Maybe you have been to a major sporting event and looked around at the thousands of people whoa re there with you, pondering on where they are from, what they will return to, who loves them, who cares for their health.  Or you have been bullied or abused in some way, verbally, physically, emotionally, mentally.  And all you want to do is escape from it all, run from the pain and threat of more pain.  Only to find that you can't, not without facing the pain head on.

Why am I sharing these illustrations, because they link to the risks we live with every day and the opportunities we have in other peoples lives.  Every day we are faced with self control dilemma's, should I or shouldn't I?

We have the opening for anger, justified or not, and to protect ourselves from what could possibly happen.  We meet new people and realize that their lives are nothing like ours, or they could be incredibly similar.  And everyday we are faced with pain of some sort, whether a large amount or a sliver of hurt, it's there, for some more then others.

So what does it all mean, why should you care?  You should care because you are a person, you live and breathe amongst other persons, and regardless of how we try to tell ourselves, we are never really that alone.  If we are willing to reach out and if we are willing to return the outreached hand.

What every person of every generation needs, has never changed.  LOVE, we all want, need, crave, desire, long for, wait for, and cry for love.  Because in love we can find acceptance, inclusion, faith, hope, friendship, compassion, opportunity, new dreams, greater passion for life, desire to help others, a hand of care, answers.

In love there are so many good things, but there is also risk, healthy risk, the kind of risk that might turn out poorly at first but will allows you to grow so immensely that you wonder why the risk was taken earlier.

So why take so much space to say that we all need love, to be loved, to show love, to share love?  Because sometimes we hold on to everything else and forget to love others.  The man walking down the street with no where to sleep, no food, no shower.  The lady who has lost everything and just wants a hand to help her through the mess she is faced with.  The young boy who can't see past the word orphan.  The pregnant teenage girl who is ridiculed and hidden.  The family who doesn't look like you.  Or maybe the person next to you on the couch right now, love over shadows all, but you need to let it.  And every generation needs it, more then anything else, we need love.

You will see and hold many things in your life, but love is the greatest.

Horrible Consistency

That's always been who I am when it comes to things like this.  I start with a great intention to blog about things that come to mind, things that I am processing, events that have effected me, issues in our generations and communities.  Then I get stuck on one random thought and I stop all together.

Why?  Where is is that the battle to stop being lazy when it comes to my form of creativity was lost?  When did I make the jump from motivated blogger to unrealistic expectations and unravelled desires?

This whole situation has me thinking that I should walk away from the keyboard for good, to end the cycle of promises to write more and read more, only to forget or make up an excuse or just not care.

The real problem?  I made a compromise.  I started writing a series of blog on the 4-5 generations I see in life right now.  I got through two of them.  Then I said to myself, "maybe I'll wait and be sure of my statements before I post the next one."  And so it sits unpublished.  Because I want to 'be sure'.

What began as a place to share my thoughts became a slate where I needed to feel like I accomplished something.  I have willing allowed this blog to cancel out my dream of writing just to write.  It has essentially ended my love for this craft.

But maybe that's a good thing.  Perhaps I can get back to what this was originally all about.  Hopefully there is a chance I can turn it all around and make good of all this mess.

With no desire for people to comment, no need for words of accomplishment, no hope for a transcendence to being a publicly published author.

All I want is to write, so that just one person has a positive change in their life.

Is that really so hard to fathom?