Tag Archives: Awesome

My Sandbox

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I’d like to invite you to join me in my sandbox.

 

You may be asking “What does he mean by “sandbox”? Good question. Lemme ‘splain.

My sandbox is this. Yep. This. Right here on this page. But it is more than this page. So much more. My sandbox is HUGE! Well, my future sandbox is huge. Right here on this page it is small. But it is growing. You are helping it grow. Every time I post here, and every time you read what I’m writing, and then share it with your friends and co-workers, you are helping it grow. (So don’t hesitate to tweet, share, link, etc.)

Why do I want it to grow? Wow. Another great question.
I want it to grow because I feel led to share what I have accumulated. I want to pour into you and help you grow your own sandbox. I believe I have been uniquely prepared for this moment. Uniquely prepared to work with and encourage you as your personal journey to awesome continues. Did you know that you are on a journey to your personal awesome? Did you forget? Do you have a dream that you put aside last year? Maybe you put it aside or buried it a long time ago. What happened to that dream? Why did you leave it in the attic to collect dust? I believe if you are true to yourself, you will find your dream again. You just need to go looking for it.

So I’m opening up the gate into my backyard, and I’m inviting you to join me in my sandbox. I have some great tools with me in my sandbox. May I share them with you? God placed these tools in my life. Many times I wondered why, but now I know. I’ve been carrying these tools around so that I can share them with you. We are going to do some digging and building in the sandbox.

Some of my tools.
Relational Selling – I have been selling vehicles for more than 16 years. I do not fit the well-worn car salesman stereo type.
A Listening Ear – Yep. Really. I have been blessed with the ability to listen to you share your personal story.
Compassion and Understanding – This particular tool ties in to the listening ear. I want to walk beside you on your journey.
Reading – I have a passion for reading. As my sandbox becomes larger I’ll share my favorite books and blogs with you.

These are only a selection of my tools. I’ll share more as we go along. I’ve acquired these tools over the years through times of debilitating pain, immense joy, hard work and simple blessing. Every single day God has been refining my tools and adding to my collection.

I plan to use these tools to talk with you about cars (I’m not a “car guy”, but I love cars.), selling (how I sell and my personal philosophy on selling), Depression and ADHD, my life as a husband/dad/son/brother, baseball and so much more.

But, my message isn’t about cars or selling or ADHD or Depression or my family. My message is about my story. My story is about leadership and success and encouragement. I’m going to share stories with you. Stories about what I have mastered in my life. Stories about what still needs to be mastered. I want to share with you all that I can give.

Please join me in my sandbox.

Pardon me, but do you have (the) time?

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Time. Tick tock.
How may seconds in your day?

Now that it is Day 28, I have discovered that we all have plenty of time available. We waste most of it.
I recently read somewhere (I apologize for not remembering where so as to provide the appropriate credit), that a typical worker in a typical work setting is only effective during the first 5 hours or so of the day.

No matter how hard we try, we aren’t 100% productive. It is impossible for us as less than perfect beings, to be 100% productive. We lose focus. We get tired (no matter how many cups of Starbucks, shots of 5-Hour Energy, cans of Monster or Cocoa-Cola we throw down).

We are lazy. Yep I said it. I admit it. I’m lazy.

I want to be awesome. All the time. But, I’m lazy. I don’t use all of my available time to work toward being more awesome. I probably need to convince myself that I won’t EVER be awesome all the time. Eh, take out the work “probably”. I need to come to grips with my imperfection. I believe we all understand that we aren’t perfect. We all know it is impossible for us, as fallen humans, to be perfect. So, why can’t we allow ourselves to be okay with the fact that we can’t do it all. We can’t be awesome all of the time.

Can we try to move toward being more awesome? You bet!

If you’re like me you want to do it all at once. “I’m going to be perfect today!” “I’m going to make effective use of every single minute of my day!”

By about 6:30am we’ve blown it. At least I have. You may get a bit further into your day than me.

Jon Acuff, author of the great new book “Start”, and creator of the blog “Stuff Christians Like”  (www.jonacuff.com/stuffchristanslike), has a couple of great suggestions to grab back some of the time we blow off and waste each and every day. ( I posted the link below.)

1. Work more.
Yep. We all get that one. A couple of more hours of focus each day.

2. Watch less TV.
What?! No way! I have to watch my shows! I can’t miss the baseball/hockey/football/soccer/basketball/golf game.

By far the easiest way for me to grab so more time from each and every day to work toward be more awesome, is to shut off the TV more often.

Last night I wanted to watch the Red Wings game. Game 6. “We” have the Blackhawks down 3-2. Series clinching game!

I didn’t see it.

My wife, bless her, insisted on watching something she wanted to watch. I could have gone to the other TV. Watched the hockey game all alone. I didn’t. I also didn’t really watch what she wanted to see. I stayed in the same room with her. I like to be around her. But, I read a book instead. I spent time with my wife (at least in the same room), and I took time to be more awesome by reading a book for the fun of it. I’m actually reading a book for enjoyment. Novel concept for many of us. The hockey game still went on without me. The Wings lost. (Game 7 coming up!!!!)

So, do you have (the) time?

http://www.jonacuff.com/blog/how-to-be-awesome-in-only-2-steps/