Why do we enjoy playing more than working? Working is about deferred gratification. Work pays us dividends for investing effort over time. We put in the work, we practice, we develop skills. We become better and stronger at working. We meet our goals. We learn how to work well. We build good working habits. Working gives us experiences of […]
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Building with bricks is not something we do lightly. The strength and integrity of a brick wall depends on working well, not necessarily quickly. Each brick relies on the other bricks around it, especially those that went before it. Each brick must be placed exactly where it belongs and joined to the others around it. While each
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It is easy to forget how dark darkness can be. Many of us live in places where real darkness is rare. Our dark times are diluted with night lights, lights over the door, street lights, lighted signs, and other things that glow in the dark. We turn our eyes toward lighted screens, hiding our faces from the
Spiritual Life Shines in the Darkness Read More »
I have worshiped with many different people in a wide variety of places. For me, worship spaces smell like a combination of furniture polish, candle wax, and a little soap. For some people, the aroma of incense is a powerful reminder of spiritual life. Spiritual life is more than worshiping together, and it has different smells. Some
How Does Spiritual Life Smell? Read More »
We are organized people. We appreciate it when life runs smoothly, efficiently, and regularly; like clock work. We take comfort from our ability to foresee challenges and plan our way around them. We enjoy feeling that we have taken everything into consideration, that we are doing a good job. Few things frustrate me more than
Companies, like all groups and organizations made up of people, are like people. They make decisions the way people do, they act the way people act, and they have souls like people. We know companies have souls because their values are so much more powerful than rules. There are quite a few companies around that
Leadership Builds the Soul of Your Company Read More »
This has been a challenging and difficult summer, filled with painful news from around the world. We can talk face to face with people on the other side of the earth, but cannot resolve long term problems. It has been a summer in which war, hunger, disease, and hopelessness have shown themselves again and again. What does
Spiritual Life Encourages Us to Take Heart Read More »
It begins before I lift my head from the pillow each morning. There are so many things that need to be done. There are the personal things, like shaving and taking a shower. There is breakfast, which leads inevitably to speculating about lunch. There are work things; I need to call her, email them, and
Working on One Thing at a Time Read More »
Leaders translate values and principles into everyday reality. The leaders who inspire me lead by example. They learn how to lead other people and organizations by leading themselves first. We need to see the picture before we can paint it. The first step in becoming a leader each day is knowing your own core values.
Leadership is Painting the Big Picture Read More »
It can be easy for us to perceive spiritual life as soft and fluffy, all sunshine and butterflies. We understand physical life depends on getting exercise. We know that financial life is based in earning and saving. We even have ways to measure our emotional lives, to test our EQ. Spiritual life seems different. When we consider our
Spiritual Life is Hard Read More »
