day 1358: Controlling Ourselves

"But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.."

I've been at The Masters this week.  There are some very controlled golfers and then there are ones when they make one bad shot after another, they let those around them know that they have done so. Self control is one of the areas in life that others can immediately tell if you are good or bad at it personally. It is in some ways a trait that is quite different than others, as it is one that can allow for the others to either be affected by you, or not. Why I think it is important is that it is an area that is really about being human and if we don't have self-control we can end up messing up lots of good things. A few years ago the New York Times called out the CEO of Yahoo! for her continued use of expletives and then used their failing stock price and underlying business fundamentals as a way of saying, keep the four letter words in your mouth, because even if we did want to tolerate them, you don't have the business results to get us to turn a deaf ear.

Our language is a central area for our self-control (which is a fruit of the spirit) to either show itself or be hidden. It's a sure fire way yes, to let everyone know where you stand. One F-bomb in a meeting and if there was any doubt as to what we believe our actions have just settled the score. There are plenty of other ways to outburst that can cause the same reaction, but what comes from our mouth is clear and to the point. Good and bad. If today you are struggling with the language that you use, then fall back onto Galatians and go big with your prayers by asking God to give you the fruit of His spirit and especially self-control. From there, it will be up to you for that fruit to ripen to its fullest or for you to let it go spoiled. A little self control can go a long way.

Reference: Galatians 5:22 (New Living Testament)

day 1281: While Not Everything, Timing Matters!

"But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law."

I was lunching in Los Angeles last week with someone who said to me, "Gosh, if you guys were doing SNOCAP now, you'd be sitting pretty."  SNOCAP was the company I ran from 2005- 2008 that was yes, ahead of its' time.  And yes, this former music attorney was right; if we were now running that company it would be very important in the scheme of what is happening right now within the industry.  But, this is 2013, not 2008 and indeed timing made a difference. From my business experience, it is easy to be late, a lot harder to be early and really difficult to be right on time. But, that is what we have to strive to do with our products and services.  Business ideas that come too late are worthless.  Those that come too early are expensive and ignored.  Those that come just at the right time when the market is accepting and ready, well, those are the ones that we remember.  Each of us likely have something we are considering "rolling out", either externally, or even internally.  The question we must ponder and be able to answer, is this the right timing?  It's not easy to answer, but it is a question that must be answered and addressed honestly and boldly. Otherwise, we might be setting ourselves up for disappointment and/or failure.

There is no way we can know why God chose a little over 2000 years ago to send Jesus.  Nor can we know when His timing will be for Jesus to return to the earth.  What we can know and be assured of is that God has something the rest of us only wish we could always have; perfect timing.  The world waited for Jesus to appear the first time, but that timing left an indelible mark on the world.  We are waiting again, and it will happen and and when it does, the timing will again be perfect.  We just have to be willing to wait on perfection.  Think about it this way, God has unlimited patience for us so why can't we have patience for Him?  We like to try and rush or delay God's timing. We are guilty of both. But instead, we sometimes need to sit in His timing to understand and realize His perfect ways.  We are anticipating and waiting for Christmas.  Let's take these last few days of the year and lean into God's timing in our lives. Let's wait when we feel called to do so.  Let's act when the call comes to act.  Let's, without doubt, live into His timing for us.

Reference: Galatians 4:4 (New Living Translation(

day 1178: Distilling It Down To "Be Kind"

"But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!"

This past weekend Patti and I attended the Memorial Service of Bill Mahoney.  Bill was the first sales and marketing leader for Bridgewater Capital.  He died earlier this year of pancreatic cancer at the age of 55.  Among his many accomplishments and achievements in life, what stood out for everyone at the event, was not "what" he had done in his professional and personal life, but "how" he went about conducting his life and business. After all was said about him and the love and accolades expressed, it all came down to two words that Bill lived by and was the memorial's focus; "Be Kind".  Kindness is a great word that we don't use enough of in business.  Sometimes we pass over those who are too kind, as in, "He's a kind person, but maybe not tough enough".  The antonyms of kind are: cutting, edged, stinging, harsh, rough, hurtful, unkindly, and unsympathetic.  There is nothing in these that are positive traits to successful people.  Kindness is a trait we can adopt and establish as a part of our corporate cultures, if we so choose.  Bill Mahoney was not short on kindness and beyond being remembered, he will be long admired for keeping this front and center in his attitude and actions.

As followers of Jesus we know that kindness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.  Today, the question is as simple as this; "Are we showing kindness to others in our work?".  What ways can we do so?  In all ways. In every conversation, in every negotiation, in every interaction, we can, if we choose, demonstrate the fruit of Kindness.

Reference: Galatians 5:22 (New Living Translation)

day 1170: One Divided By Two Equals Freedom For More

"So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law."

Today, one entity becomes two.  NewsCorp has split into the new Newscorp and the new 21st Century Fox. Newscorp keeps all of the print and digital media and Fox gets the broadcast and cable media.  Their theory being that dividing the company, the two entities will be more focused and therefore stronger than the one put together.  We will find out later today how the shareholders respond.  There is nothing new with the spinout or the splitting of a corporation, but with each of these moves what is truly desired is that the freedom from the other creates new opportunities for creativity and leverage.  In my experience what I have seen is that one of the entities will immediately flourish and one one will stay somewhat the same. In this case, we will also have to wait and see.  What we can predict is that the one that feels the greatest amount of freedom will be the one that exceeds the expectations.

When we accept and follow Jesus He frees us from the worldly being that we were before and allows us to live and flourish in His grace and love, not bound up by those laws and rules that we could never achieve or uphold anyway. Yes, in order to flourish and grow spiritually we also have to shed parts of us that are holding us back.  What we know for sure, that no one can predict in the business world, is that when we couple ourselves with Jesus we are on the right side of the growth equation. As we start this week where we as a country celebrate our freedoms we can also focus on how Christ frees us from those things that hold us back. Split and shed for freedom.  In Christ, this makes perfect, predictable and reliable sense.

Reference: Galatians 5:1 (New Living Translation)

day 1151: The Search Is On!

"Be sure to do what you should, for then you will enjoy the personal satisfaction of having done your work well..."

Many of us who are working today can remember work before the times of voice mail, email, cell phones, air cards, texts, wifi, gogo, and even the internet. It's hard to think about work before all of these great tools. They have made us more productive and yes, probably because of the always connected nature of these tools we have added some stress to our working (and outside of work) lives. I also marvel at what we did for knowledge accumulation and knowledge dissemination before the advent of the search engine. Google is a verb and a household word today. We turn to Google first (sorry bing and yahoo) to find something we don't know, for quotes, for articles, yada, yada. We turn to Google and the other search engines for just about everything we need or want to know. What did we ever do before search engines? But search engines can't tell us everything we need to know. We are faced with decisions each day at work about what is right and what it wrong. We can't (yet) put a decision in a search engine and have the search engine run an algorithm that will spit out what the is the right thing to do in that situation. Fortunately, for us we have the ultimate combination of a search engine that leads us in what these right and wrong decisions should be.

Between our prayers, the Holy Spirit, and the words given to us in the Bible and those who we are closest in our faith, we have our own algorithm that are built for each of us personally. And we can see in Galatians 6:4 that when we search to God for what is right and wrong that we can find what it is that we are supposed to do and find the outcome that we can expect; "Be sure to do what you should, for then you will enjoy the personal satisfaction of having done your work well..." Today you may be searching for what is the right thing to do, the right decision, the right words to resolve a situation with a co-worker, or you may be looking for the right decision for what to do with your career. Today you can know that you have an even more powerful search engine to access for these decisions. You don't even have to be online as God is much closer even than that to you, if you allow Him to be so. A search engine even better than Google? Yes, you have it even closer to you than your fingertips.

Reference: Galatians 6:4 (New Living Translation)

day 1039: Office Gift Time

"But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

By the end of this week people will be leaving for the Christmas week, so between now and Friday whatever gifts that are going to be exchanged in the office will likely be given. As such, the business media pulls out their annual stories about the gifts that are given in the office and what is appropriate and what is not. Some companies have their own rules around what can be given to vendors or customers and those policies have to be followed. But few talk about what is okay to pass along to other co-workers, the boss, and subordinates. I was never much of a gift giver but if I did give a gift I played it safe and I would give, for example, the same book to all my direct reports. The reason we have to play it safe is that even a gift can be misinterpreted or worse yet animosity can be created if one person gets one gift and another gets something else. So, whether we like it or not, we even have to think hard about the gifts that we give at work. Another reason, I guess why we call it work.

Here is a set of appropriate gifts that you can give to anyone and a set of gifts that can be given all year long, every day, to everyone. No, they are not Harry and David fruits. They are even better. The fruits of the spirit are the gifts that are all age, people and job appropriate. We read in Galatians 5:22; "But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." I cannot imagine a better set of gifts to give to others for this coming year. And how these gifts would multiply if we were able to give them daily and consistently. As we think about what it is that we can give to others, before we go to the superficial and the ones that are soon forgotten, used up, or thrown away, think about the gifts that you have as a believer and follower of Jesus and see if you can't start giving these gifts away, right away, even starting today.

Reference: Galatians 5:22 (New Living Testament)

day 986: A1

"Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives."

Have you ever been to a time management class where they teach you to make a to-do list and and then place an "A" next to the most important items, then a "B" next to the next set on the importance scale, then a "C" and a "D"? After you do all of those then you can note "A1", "A2"....."B1, B2"...and on and on and you do know that you aren't even supposed to pay attention to the "C's and D's"? That is the drill. It does make you better organized and more productive so it is a good skill to develop. And the drill is good for the priorities of life too. The question always is though how is is that we know what are the "A's"? At work it is always the balance between urgent and important. Sometimes the urgent takes over, but if we make that the priority standard then we end up chasing short-term tasks vs. also seeing the long-term strategic needs. If we err the other way then we end up looking over the horizon and missing the short-term, ultimately not getting much done. So, yes it is a balance.

As believers we need to also factor in that we have another higher priority that must influence our to-do list. Galatians 5:22 tells us, "Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives." We have to be sure that we get our "A1" right first and once we have that at the top of the list then from there "A2" and on and on will fall into place. So today as you sit down to look at that list in front of you, take a moment to be sure that your "A1" is living in the Spirit and allowing the Spirit to lead across all parts of our lives. That is the "A1" that we all should be sure we have in life and at work.

Reference: Galatians 5:22 (New Living Testament)

day 950: Badges

"But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!"

This past two weeks what we haven't seen is the behind the scenes activities at the Olympics from the people who attended the games live.  We were fortunate enough to attend the Atlanta summer Olympic Games in 1996 and what happens is that there is a whole other economy that happens on-site with people bartering, trading and buying pins and badges for what events they attended and saw.  It's fascinating as status us earned by amount and type of badges and pins accumulated.




Companies have learned that "social status" is a powerful consumer force and a powerful motivator.  I read of the MacArthur Foundation's work with HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Sciences and Technology Advanced Collaboratory) to create badges for proficiency of work, skills, trades and knowledge.  It could be interesting if indeed we do see these take hold.  Giving someone, anyone a way to be recognized for their achievements and advancements can be significant and it is worthwhile to explore how to use this concept internally and externally to our organizations.

We are challenged as believers to turn the concept of badges inside out.  Yes, we are to wear our armor of God, but that armor is only as good as what flows from inside of us out to others, who are watching and assessing how real and legitimate we are followers of Christ. Our badges that we are given come from the Holy Spirit and we learn that if the fruits of His spirit are not evident an growing that something isn't right.  God gives us our own internal "badge" system to evaluate ourselves.  As we start this week, let's read through the fruits of the Spirit to ensure that we are focused on what is right and best for us and consider the badges that others see us wearing.

Reference: Galatians 5:22-23 (New Living Translation)

day 934: Hot Days... Still

"So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up." 

The New York Times this morning detailed the U.S. drought as the worst nationally since the late 1950's.  It's been a hot summer and we are only half way through with many  hot days that will follow. The hot days outside and the hot days inside. Yes, there will be hot days inside our office and it won't just be the weather that makes the difference. There is always another "hot" topic or "hot" issue that must be addressed and when these come and especially when they come day after day, week after week, it can wear us down and like the oppression of heat and humidity outside, we thirst and we search for shade and relief. But that is hard to find when the deadlines are looming and the heat has been turned up by the boss or the bosses' boss. This is the time when perseverance and commitment shows up, or doesn't. As a person who uses long distance running for my exercise I remember hearing the great running philosopher George Sheehan write that running in the heat builds commitment. I hear that in my head on every long run when the sun is beating down on me. 

Just like in the long run, when the heat is turned up at work we have to find that commitment down deep inside of ourselves to carry on and carry on in the way that others never really see us sweat. God gives us His promise that we can do so if we are doing the right things and doing our work in the way we should. In Galatians we read; "So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up." Even though those "hot days" will be upon us, if we are doing what is good and doing our best to bring the glory of God through our work, there is the blessing and the refreshment of the harvest waiting for us, and a much cooler season coming...soon.

Reference: Galatians 6:9 (New Living Translation)

day 917: The Three Steps to Quitting

"So let's not get tired of doing what is good.  At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up."

I was at a high school graduation party last weekend in New York for our youngest nephew and I happened to sit aside one of the family's long term friend who is now in his junior year of college.  He is double majoring in acting and business.  I joked with him that they were interchangeable and that his first major in acting might get him to the CEO job faster than the business degree.  He is concerned that he won't be able to make a living being an actor so he wants a fallback.  At the same time he wants to chase the dream and go as far as he can before he quits and falls back. My advice to him was to use my "Three steps to quitting" process.  First, I advised him to seek out the best friend he had in the world who would give him unconditional love, support and advice and who was also someone he would listen to no matter what and was beyond reproach.  Once he knew who that person was, he was to go to him/her and ask them to be ready because he was going to make them a part of his three steps to quitting.  What he needs them to do is the first two times he comes to them and says about his acting career, "I'm done, I quit", to tell him to "Shut up and quit whining", "Get back on the horse", "Get back in the ring", whatever it takes to make him not give up and give it another go.  And he was to listen to them each time.  And then, if there is a third time, this chosen person was to to respond to his their, "I quit", with a hug , unconditional love and praise for not quitting the first two times, and then help him move on into another career.  This young man looked at me when I gave him this advice and you could almost see the weight come off his shoulders and with a smile, he said, "I know exactly who the right person is for me".  The three steps to quitting avoid us making the permanent decision to a temporary problem too soon.  Consider your own three steps before anything is ever quit.

"...If we don't give up", Paul says to us. The operative word is "if".  God doesn't want us to be quitters and we shouldn't be if we want to live in His likeness.  He has never quit on us or quit on anyone or anything so why should we?  For believers, I would add another step to a decision about quitting and call it the 'three and three steps" and that is to take any and all decisions first to the Three who will always lead us in the right direction; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and trust that direction before reaching to another person.  In fact, we can never go wrong if we ensure that all our decisions are guided by stepping towards His wisdom before all others. Of course there are some things in life that are better quit than continued, but let's be sure that we are using all of our resources and relying on the right advice and wisdom before we just make the decision on our own.

Reference: Galatians 6:9 (New Living Translation)

day 916: Timing

"So let's not get tired of doing what is good.  At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up."

Timing is one of those elusive but critical components of success.  In so many businesses it is just and only timing that can make the difference between success and failure.  I was complimented the other day for having run a business that was "Before its' time".  While I know it was a compliment, each time you hear that you always wonder, "What if?", and "What could we have done differently".  The answer might just have been, "timing" and who can really control that?  So, what is the advice that we can take from the lesson of timing?  Well, other than the pointed and not terribly helpful, "Just get it right", I'd say the lesson would be that I'd always rather be too early than too late. Being early means there is innovation, initiative and R&D in the DNA of the company. Being late is well, just not good, and companies who are late to the market should be evaluating themselves to understand what it is that has kept them from leading and getting there earlier.  "Better late than never" doesn't bode well for business unless you are bringing something to the market that is extraordinarily better.  Let's see which category Microsoft's new tablet will fall within.

God is always telling and teaching us about timing.  Our mothers and grandmothers inevitably told us somewhere along the way that things happen, "All in good time".  I suspect that phrase at one time originated from, "All in God's time". That is what we must learn to accept, even if it is hard to understand and follow. Paul tells us in Galatians that the harvest will be reaped, "At just the right time". So, yes, our lives are clearly all about timing, but what a promise and assurance we have when we know deep within ourselves that this timing in divine and appointed for each of us.  So, let's not fret or get too concerned about what appears daily to be misses or failings of human timing, but instead entrust that the right timing will be all in God's time.

Reference: Galatians 6:9 (New Living Translation)

day 766: Harvesting

"And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't get discouraged and give up."

I advise and invest in start-ups. I am used to speed-to-market as a principle of operating, and tomorrow not being discussed as much as today, and what we need to get done, right now. Recently, one of the companies I invested in went through a funding raise and it was not an easy one. Not because it isn't a great group of people with a really great business idea, but because of lots of the usual factors that can get in the way of getting a round completed quickly. While in the scheme of things, it didn't take that long, it felt like forever. Daily, sometimes hourly, we would move along the paperwork, and then sit and wait and sit and wait. This went on and on, until there were days that the CEO was ready to give up. This year I planted a garden for the first time in years. In June I put out three tomato plants and then we went away for the summer. When we came back, the tomato plants were huge and we had hundreds of delicious tomatoes. In September I put out some lettuce, broccoli, swiss chard and onions. Every day I go out to see how they are growing. They seem to grow so slowly I wonder if I will ever get anything from them. If you have read this far, you are probably wondering, what is this guy trying to say? In all things, business, gardening, life, there is a season of harvest that doesn't come overnight. Oh sure, every once in a lifetime there is the overnight success, but how many of those last through the test of time? Businesses that get it right, stick with it and then don't get tired or discouraged until they reach their harvest time, will tend to live on longer.

The same can be said in this daily walk that we make with Christ as His followers. There are harvest times and we see them here on earth, and then there is the super harvest that we will all experience eternally that we can get glimpses of as we continue faithfully on our walk. If we stay committed, there is a harvest of blessing that is coming. It's the time of year when the leaves fall from the tree and winter starts to blow in days of what is to come. At the same time the leaves are falling, a farmer is harvesting the fields. It may well be that it feels like the harvest will never come or that more leaves are falling than should be. Work, the job, the company, any of them may not be exactly what you want them to be right now and it's getting discouraging. Let's today, on this Fall Friday in harvest season, recommit to worKING into the harvest, not giving up, and staying committed! God has a blessing for us and a harvest that He wants us to reap. Let's together enthusiastically push forward to that day!

Reference: Galatians 6:9

day 677: Pros and Cons

"So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves."

A common decision-making process is to sit down and list out two columns worth of information; the pros and the cons. At the end of the exercise, we can look at the list in front of us and decide what is the best course of action. Businesses do the same thing as we are asked in the workplace to list out the positives and the negatives and then we hope that the positives outweigh the negatives so the decision can be made. In fact, we are expected to think in this fashion before we ever go into a meeting with a point of view. If we just say, "This is what I think we should do", without the backup of thinking, then we won't get very far before someone will ask us how we came to this position and at the very least we need to be able to say that we weighed out the pros and cons. While it may seem a lot heavier and more sophisticated than that, most business decisions are made just that way and our ability to objectively make an assessment of the pros and cons becomes an important decision-making skill.

In our work lives, in the rest of our life, and in our spiritual life we are also faced with constant decisions and our minds are always playing out the pros and cons. In Galatians 5:16-24, Paul provides us with an obvious pro and con list. (It's worth pulling out your Bible of choice now and following along.) First in this writing he tells us the cons of following the desires of a sinful nature. That list alone is daunting and we can only imagine being tagged with these as our identity and who we are. He then goes on to then list the fruits of the spirit as the pros of denying that sinful nature and instead letting the Holy Spirit rule our lives. This is indeed a fruitful list of pros. Paul lists out (depending on the version of the Bible you are using, 16 different sinful ways and nine fruits of the spirit. But like any other decision-making, the numerical size of the list doesn't decide the weight of the decision. The power of the words and the fulfilled life that we can live if we embody the fruits of the spirit are the best pros in life that we could ever imagine.

Reference: Galatians 5:16-26 (New Living Testament)

day 554: Appropriate Office Gifts (Redux)

Repost from last year at this same time...

Appropriate Office Gifts
By the end of this week people will be leaving for the Christmas week, so between now and Friday whatever gifts that are going to be exchanged in the office will likely be given. As such, the business media pulls out their annual stories about the gifts that are given in the office and what is appropriate and what is not. Some companies have their own rules around what can be given to vendors or customers and those policies have to be followed. But few talk about what is okay to pass along to other co-workers, the boss, and subordinates. I was never much of a gift giver but if I did give a gift I played it safe and I would give, for example, the same book to all my direct reports. The reason we have to play it safe is that even a gift can be misinterpreted or worse yet animosity can be created if one person gets one gift and another gets something else. So, whether we like it or not, we even have to think hard about the gifts that we give at work. Another reason, I guess why we call it work. Here is a set of appropriate gifts that you can give to anyone and a set of gifts that can be given all year long, every day, to everyone. No, they are not Harry and David fruits. They are even better. The fruits of the spirit are the gifts that are all age, people and job appropriate. We read in Galatians 5:22; "But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." I cannot imagine a better set of gifts to give to others for this coming year. And how these gifts would multiply if we were able to give them daily and consistently. As we think about what it is that we can give to others, before we go to the superficial and the ones that are soon forgotten, used up, or thrown away, think about the gifts that you have as a believer and follower of Jesus and see if you can't start giving these gifts away, right away, even starting today.

Reference: Galatians 5:22 (New Living Testament)

day 460: Self Control

Self control is one of the fruits of the spirit that we read about in Galatians 5:22. It is in some ways the one that is quite different than the others, but the one that can allow for the others to either be manifested or not. Why I think it is there is that it is the one that is really about being human and if we don't have self-control we can end up messing up lots of good things. A few months ago the New York Times called out the CEO of Yahoo! for her continued use of expletives and then used their failing stock price and underlying business fundamentals as a way of saying, keep the four letter words in your mouth, because even if we did want to tolerate them, you don't have the business results to get us to turn a deaf ear. Our language is a central area for our self-control to either show itself or be hidden. It's a sure fire way yes, to let everyone know where you stand. One F-bomb in a meeting and if there was any doubt as to what we believe our actions have just settled the score. There are plenty of other ways to outburst that can cause the same reaction, but what comes from our mouth is clear and to the point. Good and bad. If today you are struggling with the language that you use, then fall back onto Galatians and go big with your prayers by asking God to give you the fruit of His spirit and especially self-control. From there, it will be up to you for that fruit to ripen to its fullest or for you to let it go spoiled. A little self control can go a long way.

Reference: Galatians 5:22 (New Living Testament)

day 458: Control Freaks

I have a dear friend who is a senior executive who has become a control freak. Control freaks are people who can't let go and have to have everything within their life totally under their control at all times. Spontaneity disappears and what takes over is some kind of micro minutia management approach. The sad part about this is if we are doing it at work, we are doing it at home. Real trouble can brew if this happening. Now, there are those who have worked for me who would tell you that this is the kettle calling the pot black. Yes, it is true that I have the tendency to get into the details and manage the small when the bigger picture is hanging over me. That being said, I also recognize when I am doing it and then try and course correct. Control freaks don't care. It is what they do. They don't respond when their staffs tell them that they don't want to be checked up on constantly or be called on the weekends to provide an update or have to meet incessantly so that the boss has every piece of information and data. It's hard to let go, but when we do we are looked at in a much more favorable light from those who work with us. Nowhere is this lesson more clear than what we are taught in Galatians Chapter 5. Paul tells the Galatians to quit hiding behind the rules and the controls and instead find a new way of operating. Paul says for us them/us to allow God's Spirit to flow through us without over controlling the situation. He says let the fruits of the Spirit grow and be what takes over. Today, are you over controlling something or someone at work? If you are, then today is a great day to change directions. Today, think about allowing yourself to be guided by God's Spirit and call upon the fruits of the Spirit to be what shines through from you. It's hard to change but the peace and the confidence that can come from allowing Him to help you work, can be positively overwhelming and as far from being a control freak as you might imagine.

Reference: Galatians Chapter 5 (New Living Testament)

day 457: Timing

My friend likes to tell the joke that comedy is all about....timing. For the joke to be funny you have to hear him use the pause and the stressing of the word "timing" at the wrong time. Beyond the joke, so much of what we do to be successful at work has to do with timing and more importantly, recognizing when is the right and the wrong time to either do something or not do something. Some of the best ideas never came to fruition because they were introduced at the wrong time. Companies who are smart and learn from their mistakes know that those ideas should be brought back at another time to succeed. Back in the day when I worked at Frito-Lay, Sun Chips were introduced to a great success. Sun Chips caught the multi-grain wave and were a big hit and have continued to be. Even today the brand has been repositioned to catch the jet stream of being green and healthy at the same time. They have done a great job with that brand. What most people don't know is that Sun Chips were created and originally launched in the late 70's and failed miserably. Back then, no one cared about multi-grain snacks and certainly it would have been weird for a food company to position a snack that has a fully bio-degradable bag and is made in a manufacturing plant fueled by solar power. For Sun Chips it was all about timing. As is so much of what we do. It may also be that the timing of our rewards, achievements and fulfillment in our work is just out of our hands. We want every day to be the day when we reap the harvest, but again, its all about timing. We read in Galatians how this timing works; "So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up." God says to us, we will reap the blessing, when? He says, "at just the right time". Today, you may be expecting the blessing but it just hasn't been coming. See if you can take the disappointment and discouragement and reposition it to a place of anticipation. For if you believe the promise, it is all about God's timing. That timing is definitely worth the waiting.

Reference: Galatians 6:9 (New Living Testament)

day 434: Hot Days

With the summer solstice having brought in the summer months we can all get ready for the hot days that will follow. The hot days outside and the hot days inside. Yes, there will be hot days inside our office and it won't just be the weather that makes the difference. There is always another "hot" topic or "hot" issue that must be addressed and when these come and especially when they come day after day, week after week, it can wear us down and like the oppression of heat and humidity outside, we thirst and we search for shade and relief. But that is hard to find when the deadlines are looming and the heat has been turned up by the boss or the bosses' boss. This is the time when perseverance and commitment shows up, or doesn't. As a person who uses long distance running for my exercise I remember hearing the great running philosopher George Sheehan write that running in the heat builds commitment. I hear that in my head on every long run when the sun is beating down on me. Just like in the long run, when the heat is turned up at work we have to find that commitment down deep inside of ourselves to carry on and carry on in the way that others never really see us sweat. God gives us His promise that we can do so if we are doing the right things and doing our work in the way we should. In Galatians we read; "So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up." Even though those "hot days" will be upon us, if we are doing what is good and doing our best to bring the glory of God through our work, there is the blessing and the refreshment of the harvest waiting for us, and a much cooler season coming soon.

Reference: Galatians 6:9 (New Living Testament)

day 304: Appropriate Office Gifts

By the end of this week people will be leaving for the Christmas week, so between now and Friday whatever gifts that are going to be exchanged in the office will likely be given. As such, the business media pulls out their annual stories about the gifts that are given in the office and what is appropriate and what is not. Some companies have their own rules around what can be given to vendors or customers and those policies have to be followed. But few talk about what is okay to pass along to other co-workers, the boss, and subordinates. I was never much of a gift giver but if I did give a gift I played it safe and I would give, for example, the same book to all my direct reports. The reason we have to play it safe is that even a gift can be misinterpreted or worse yet animosity can be created if one person gets one gift and another gets something else. So, whether we like it or not, we even have to think hard about the gifts that we give at work. Another reason, I guess why we call it work. Here is a set of appropriate gifts that you can give to anyone and a set of gifts that can be given all year long, every day, to everyone. No, they are not Harry and David fruits. They are even better. The fruits of the spirit are the gifts that are all age, people and job appropriate. We read in Galatians 5:22; "But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." I cannot imagine a better set of gifts to give to others for this coming year. And how these gifts would multiply if we were able to give them daily and consistently. As we think about what it is that we can give to others, before we go to the superficial and the ones that are soon forgotten, used up, or thrown away, think about the gifts that you have as a believer and follower of Jesus and see if you can't start giving these gifts away, right away, even starting today.

Reference: Galatians 5:22 (New Living Testament)

day 166: Search Engines

Many of us who are working today can remember work before the times of voice mail, email, cell phones, air cards, wi-fi, and the internet. It's hard to think about work before all of these great tools. They have made us more productive and yes, probably because of the always connected nature of these tools we have added some stress to our working (and outside of work) lives. I also marvel at what we did for knowledge accumulation and knowledge dissemination before the advent of the search engine. Google is a verb and a household word today. We turn to Google first to find something we don't know, for quotes, for articles, yada, yada. We turn to Google and search engines for just about everything we need or want to know. What did we ever do before search engines? But search engines can't tell us everything we need to know. We are faced with decisions each day at work about what is right and what it wrong. We can't (yet) put a decision in a search engine and have the search engine run an algorithm that will spit out what the is the right thing to do in that situation. Fortunately, for us we have the ultimate combination of a search engine that leads us in what these right and wrong decisions should be. Between our prayers, the Holy Spirit, and the words given to us in the Bible we have our own algorithm that are built for each of us personally. And we can see in Galatians 6:4 that when we search to God for what is right and wrong that we can find what it is that we are supposed to do and find the outcome that we can expect; "Be sure to do what you should, for then you will enjoy the personal satisfaction of having done your work well..." Today you may be searching for what is the right thing to do, the right decision, the right words to resolve a situation with a co-worker, or you may be looking for the right decision for what to do with your career. Today you can know that you have an even more powerful search engine to access for these decisions. You don't even have to be online as God is much closer even than that to you, if you allow Him to be so. A search engine even better than Google? Yes, you have it even closer to you than your fingertips.

Reference: Galatians 6:4 (New Living Testament)