Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - January 14th

Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t. – Steve Maraboli

...wanting change is step one, but step two is taking it. ― Isaac Marion, Warm Bodies

As we are fruitful individuals pursuing our dreams, we need to regularly review what we are doing in life to determine if the activities/tasks are moving us closer to our dreams.   

Through the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast titled “Six Steps to Your Best Year of Leadership”, the author was challenged by this statement in the leadership guide:

In order to accomplish more, you must do less. This seems counterintuitive, but the key is not simply doing more. The key is doing more of what matters. You only have so much time, energy, and resources. Consider what you need to have the courage to stop, both personally and organizationally.

This may seem trivial to some people, but the author decided to cut back on her exercise routine.  At the end of 2019, the author was lifting weights and running 2.5 miles.  In 2020, the author will continue weight lifting; however, she is now running only 1.5 miles.  This is minor, but for the author this is huge.  Each morning, this gives back 10 minutes to the author to either sleep or accomplish other activities/tasks she needs to complete.  As the author mentioned, 2020 is already crazy with work and that time can be used elsewhere. 

From this change, the author has not seen any changes in her physical physique and by not burning as many calories she is not as hungry throughout the day and retains the energy she would have burned off during that extra mile in her morning run.  Furthermore, the author has worked on her thinking to know that it is ok not to work out as much and that she would not gain weight from this small change.  The author increased the speed on the treadmill and still gets a great workout every day. 

It is mental slavery to cling to things that have stopped serving its purpose in your life. – Chinonye J. Chidolue

CHALLENGE: What do you need to change or stop doing in 2020?

Resource

https://api-assets.life.church/uploads/message/1235/podcast_show_notes/six-steps-to-your-best-year-of-leadership-part-1.pdf

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week -- January 7, 2020

This one step – choosing a goal and sticking to it – changes everything. - Scott Reed

Intention without action is an insult to those who expect the best from you. - Andy Andrews

2020 is here and the author is determined to dream bigger than ever!  She wants this decade to be the best of her life.  At the end of 2019 when the author reflected on the previous 10 years, she thought about everything that happened.  The author knows that if that much could happen in the last 10 years she is ecstatic to see what will happen in the next 10 years.

Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years. - Bill Gates

2020 GOALS

In the December 17, 2019 and December 24, 2019 Terri’s Tuesday Tip of the Week, the author talked about how she changed her perspective when writing her goals.  As the author stated, her job keeps her extremely busy and her boss recently told her that 2020 was going to be crazier than the two months they worked together in 2019.  Based on the facts, the author incorporated different goals and put more emphasis on other areas as she will explain below.    

When the author wrote her goals, she focused on the 6 F’s (faith, family, friends, finances, future and fitness) in goal setting like she has for many years now.  Here is an explanation on a few of the author’s goals:

Friends – 2019 taught the author a lot about friendships.  As someone posted on the author’s Facebook page in early 2019, the author desires to focus on doing more acts of kindness for her friends in 2020 to help brighten their days: 

Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud. - Maya Angelou

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. - Robert Louis Stevenson

Future – Goals that will help catapult the author toward accomplishing her dreams is where the biggest change came for her.  This year, the author knows she will not have time to read like she has in previous years.  The author desires to continue learning and knows that listening to podcasts and books are more realistic for her to accomplish based on her schedule and is best for her learning style.  Additionally, the author challenged herself to daily track the knowledge she gains by typing in an excel spreadsheet one thing she learned that day.  The author experimented with this in December 2019 and decided that she liked the goal because it forced her to synthesis the information she was hearing and track it.  Also, the author learned that some days she may not have 1 thing she learned that she can type up.  Her goal became on average to learn 1 new thing a day.  Some days she learns more than others.

Lastly, the author created the goal of developing and growing in her job.  The author did not like this goal because it will be very subjective at the end of 2020.  However, the author is daily learning about government, education and leadership.  Each of these topics will help her as she moves closer to accomplishing her dreams. 

Your big opportunity may be right where you are now. - Napoleon Hill

It is important to remember that setting goals is crucial in accomplishing dreams and it is also important to consider circumstances the reader foresees encountering in 2020.  We must stretch ourselves when creating goals, but they also must be realistic.  

CHALLENGE: Write your 2020 goals. 

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - December 31st

Until you run out of pages, there's still room to write an epic ending. ― Kevin Ngo

Tomorrow not only do we embark on a new year…we also embark on a new decade! 

As the author was reflecting on the last 10 years, she thought about the many things that have happened in her life.  Each experience she encountered lead her to the next event in her life.  When we look at each experience as the next stepping stone we must confront, we see each experience as an opportunity to move closer to accomplishing our dreams.

Flying back from Texas after visiting her family for the Christmas holidays, the author was reading a book and a thought popped into her mind.  If the Wright brothers had not dreamed and pushed passed the naysayers in life, there may not have been an airplane for her to fly to Texas in.  

Dreaming can be exciting and frustrating.  When a new dream is birthed in our hearts, we often tell other people because we are excited.  Many times, the people we tell about our dream think it will be impossible and often tell us they think it will never happen.  Remember that the dream was not birthed in them.  It was birthed in the reader and the reader is the one that will have to encounter each new experience, develop and grow as he/she moves towards accomplishing the dream. 

If you allow it, people will put their limitations on you. They will try to talk you out of your dreams. One of the best things I've ever learned is people don't determine our destiny, God does. People don't set the limits for our life. They may try to talk you out of it and tell you what you can't do, and I don't think you're that talented. It's because God didn't put the dream in them, he put the dream in you. – Joel Osteen

The author understands the above quote quite well.  She has a dream that she told a few friends about and it has become a joke.  People tell her that it will not happen and that she has to settle for something different.  However, after living through different experiences in 2019, she is determined not to settle and she is going to keep dreaming and believe that her prayers will be answered.  Recently, the author found this quote and it is her motto for 2020:

Why should you continue going after your dreams? Because seeing the look on the faces of the people who said you couldn’t… will be priceless. — Kevin Ngo

CHALLENGE: Take time to reflect on the last decade and evaluate how much you have changed and grown.  Then, dream about what you want the next decade to be like.  Write it down and remember to continually review.  If you tell anyone about your dream(s), make sure it is someone you trust and will encourage you.  Do not tell anyone that will not be supportive and will be a naysayer.  Dream BIG as we start a new decade!

Resource

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEb1j2d8rM0

https://sermons.love/joel-osteen/3262-joel-osteen-counted-by-the-creator.html

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - December 24th

There is no growth without tension. – Andy Stanley

You can’t grow without something being torn down and built back up. – Andy Stanley

2019 has been a very challenging time for the author based on the experiences she encountered.  She is not complaining, but there are many questions she has about why things happened and she knows the likelihood of ever discovering “why” is very unlikely.

The author enjoys her new job, but it has been challenging because she is an organized individual and she is now working in a somewhat chaotic environment.  Additionally, the author works long hours getting to work very early and often times staying late. 

As the author was thinking about her 2020 goals, her new job, the limited time she has for working on personal goals, she started getting frustrated.  After visiting the Wright Brothers National Memorial, she was challenged to think outside the box and do something different in 2020. 

Most of the readers have probably heard the statement “think outside the box”.  The author has heard it for years and even wrote about it.  However, she was challenged by the placard she read at the visitor center in regards to the Wright brothers and dreams, which helped her in creating her 2020 goals.

Listening to a leadership podcast by Andy Stanley, she heard him ask “When did you learn the most?”  Stanley’s perspective is that we learn the most when we go through a set of circumstances or season of life when we are challenged.  The challenge is difficult and most leaders know those difficulties provide them greater insight, better job skills and greater clarity on the other side of the challenge.  

The author knows this was her situation in 2019.  Through all of the challenges, she developed, grew and learned how to handle situations.  Reading books is helpful, but she knows that having to face life’s challenges taught her more than reading any book.  We learn more in our own experiences then reading about how someone lived through similar experiences. 

You are not going to grow as a leader without new challenges and embracing new opportunities. – Andy Stanley

When writing 2020 goals, focus on thinking outside the box, learning to embrace challenges and taking on new opportunities.  In those experiences, we learn and grow the most. 

CHALLENGE: What new challenges and opportunities are you going to take on in 2020?

Resource

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Flyer

https://www.thefreshquotes.com/wright-brothers-quotes-with-images/

https://www.nps.gov/wrbr/index.htm

Listener Questions Answered – Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast - https://podbay.fm/podcast/290055666/e/1459483201

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - December 17th

The Wright brothers flew through the smoke screen of impossibility. -  Dorothea Brande

If birds can glide for long periods of time, then… why can't I? – Orville Wright

116 years ago today Orville and Wilbur Wright changed the world by gliding through the air like a bird in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. 

As the author was talking with friends about where to go for a road trip over Thanksgiving weekend, she had no idea the impact one person’s suggestion would have on her.  The Wright Brothers National Memorial is located in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina about five hours from the author’s apartment.  When the author arrived at the national memorial, she saw an open field with a couple buildings in the middle of it, a boulder, a marble statue in the distance and a building that looked to be the visitor’s center.

Entering the visitor’s center, the author was taken through four years of Wright brother history as they experienced the ups and downs of dreaming to fly.  The author was educated on the Wright brothers’ life story, interesting facts about air flight and saw a replica of the plane that was used by the Wright brothers to make four flights on December 17, 1903 with the last flight traveling 852 feet and lasting 59 seconds.  One dream and one flight changed the world.  

The most impactful part of the visitor center for the author was a placard she saw: 

The Wright brothers accomplished their dream because they thought outside the box, were resilient and believed they could.

At the memorial, the additional features seen by the author were:

·       Buildings reconstructed to show what camp life was like in 1903. 

·       Large boulder was the location where the Wright brothers stood as they attempted the four flights. 

·       Marble statue in the distance was the memorial Congress dedicated in 1932 to this historical event. 

Next week, the author will discuss why this impacted her so much and how she wrote her 2020 goals like Wilbur and Orville Wright would have wanted her to.

CHALLENGE: Like the Wright brothers, how are you looking to change the world?  What goals are you establishing in 2020 to help you accomplish the dream?

Resource

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Flyer

https://www.thefreshquotes.com/wright-brothers-quotes-with-images/

https://www.nps.gov/wrbr/index.htm

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - December 10th

There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, there are no limits. - Michael Phelps

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence. - Helen Keller

Recently, the author was listening to Daily Hope, the daily podcast of Rick Warren, and he told the story of a submarine that sunk in the Newport News harbor in Virginia on its return voyage at the end of World War II.  The United States Coast Guard sent divers down to the sunken submarine to discover what happened and when the divers arrived, they heard a sailor inside tapping in Morse Code “Is there hope?”

They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for. - Tom Bodett

Dream achievement is not easy and requires hard work, persistence, determination and patience.  There are many dreams the author has been working on/waiting on for more than 10 years.  Often times, frustration, despair, doubt and disappointment begin to set in for the author when she thinks about the fact that she has no control over accomplishing a dream and starts to lose hope.  During the waiting times, the author has learned it is important to keep pushing forward, focus on what she can do, help other people, be grateful for what she has and remain strong in hope that her dreams will come to fruition. 

CHALLENGE: As you prepare for 2020, what dreams have you been waiting a long time on?  What happened in 2019 that moved you closer to accomplishing those dreams?  Take those events as hope and encouragement to press toward making even more progress on your dreams in 2020.

Resource

·       http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DailyHopeWithRickWarrenPodcast/~5/gbmRotWao4E/2019-12-06_DailyHope_radicalis_broadcast_radical-hope_pt-1.mp3

·       https://pastorrick.com/where-do-i-find-real-hope/

·       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_JSEOKFuBg&t=40s

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - December 3rd

You've got to believe that God is in control of your life. It may be a tough time but you've got to believe that God has a reason for it and he's going to make everything good. - Joel Osteen

Stop beating yourself up. You are a work in progress, which means you get there a little at a time, not all at once. – marcandangel (http://www.marcandangel.com/2017/09/04/40-quotes-for-coping-with-things-you-cant-control/)

Throughout 2019, the author has written about different lessons learned based on experiences she encountered including an apartment fire and 25 months of unemployment.  Lessons she learned include:   

• Embrace Every Situation
• What is Really Essential in Life
• Stay Calm   
• Live Life to the Fullest
• Gratitude
• Resilience
• Patience/Character Development  

As the author wrote on November 12, 2019, life is a journey and we must embrace each situation as we encounter it.  Often times, the situations we encounter are not our choice and we do not have control over them.  Our choice is how we react to the situation and to have the mindset that we will outlast the situation/difficulty to overcome it.  

             

What we encounter may immediately look like a horrible situation, but it can turn out for our good and we are changing and growing through the situation. 

The circumstances we ask God to CHANGE are often the circumstances God is using to CHANGE US. - Mark Batterson

CHALLENGE: As 2019 is coming to an end, start working on your year-end review to determine what goals you accomplished, which goals you did not accomplish & why and what lessons you learned.  Start developing 2020 goals.   

Resource

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLfbogV4rn0

https://andknowblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/11/when-god-cares-more-about-your-heart-than-your-circumstances/

http://www.marcandangel.com/2017/09/04/40-quotes-for-coping-with-things-you-cant-control/

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - November 26th

Be Thankful - Poet Unknown

Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire.

If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don't know something,

for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.

During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations,

because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge,

because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes.

They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you're tired and weary,

because it means you've made a difference.

It's easy to be thankful for the good things.

A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who

are also thankful for the setbacks.

Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.

Find a way to be thankful for your troubles,

and they can become your blessings.

CHALLENGE: Have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!   

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - November 19th

Gratitude turns what we have into enough. – Anonymous

The more grateful I am, the more beauty I see. – Mary Davis

Gratitude is a powerful catalyst for happiness. It’s the spark that lights a fire of joy in your soul. – Amy Collette

 Gratitude helps you to grow and expand; gratitude brings joy and laughter into your life and into the lives of all those around you. – Eileen Caddy

As the author talked about earlier this year, she learned gratitude through many experiences in her life through 25 months of unemployment and her apartment fire.  This definitely does not mean to be thankful for the situation such as an apartment fire, but we can be thankful for an outcome from the circumstance.  For example, having to move to a hotel for 33 days was inconvenient; however, the author did not lose anything during the fire and made amazing friends that the author is grateful for every day. 

The author found the following quote by Buddha, which she thought was very valuable, a great lesson and something to ponder during the Thanksgiving season: 

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.

CHALLENGE: Make a list of at least 10 things that you are grateful for.  The author discovered that the attitude of gratitude often changes the perspective on life. 

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - November 12th

When life steers you in a new direction. Just hold on tight and enjoy the...Ride. – Joseph David

Life is a journey. If you got everything you wanted all at once there would be no point of living. enjoy the ride, and in the end you'll see these 'set backs' as giant leaps forward, only you couldn't see the bigger picture in the moment. Remain calm, all is within reach; all you have to do is show up everyday, stay true to your path and you will surely find the treasure you seek. – Ritu Ghatourney

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. – Charles R. Swindoll

Life is a journey and it is always important to reflect on the highs and lows in a journey.  As we near the end of 2019, it is a great time to reflect on the year.

 

When the author started contemplating her year, she thought about her new job, which is definitely a high.  For her, she could have thought the apartment fire was a low.  However, she does not look at it that way.  The author believes that everything can work for her good.  From the fire, she has a freshly painted apartment and great friends she met while living at a hotel have brought about many laughs and an increased knowledge about the United States military.     

On Sunday, the author was listening to a pastor speak on this principle.  When something happens, it may seem like the worst experience in that moment, but we all know that hindsight is 20/20 and something good probably came from a perceived low in life.  It is important to reflect on the whole experience and not just one moment in time. 

As we wind down the year, look at the highs and lows.  Think about what may have been considered a low in life and find something amazing that came from the experience.  

CHALLENGE: Start thinking about the last year of your life.  What have you accomplished?  What obstacles did you overcome?   

Resource

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUaFNmvG7J0