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Month: November 2009

Remember E Sabbath

Staff meetings happen each week in most organizations. This is the time we stop, report activity, recognize achievements and discuss next steps. This business practice may have deeper roots than people realize.

The Sabbath (or Sabbat) is a weekly day of rest and worship that is observed in the Judeo-Christian faiths. The Biblical seventh day of the week is observed as a day of rest in Judaism starting at sundown on Friday till sundown on Saturday. Sunday is observed in Christianity as a day of rest. Friday is observed in Islam. The term derives from the Hebrew shavat, “(to) cease.”

In the Biblical account, the term was first used in Genesis for the last day of the week of creation, when God ceased from creating and evaluated His work. To stop and reflect on what you created in the past week, appraise your efforts and be thankful may be a habit worth making in your leadership and life in 2010.

Action: Ceasing, stopping or disconnecting is difficult these days. A first step might be to initiate a personal E-Sabbath. Set a regular time each week to electronically detach. Turn off your email, twitter and text and use this time as a personal Sabbath to reflect on the week, record your insights and remember your many blessings.

Win in 2010, Part 5 of 5

Businesses use a balance scorecard in strategic planning to insure their long term goals contain four key areas: finance, customer service, operations, and talent development. People who desire more balance in 2010 might consider looking at life as if it had four rooms: a mental, emotional, physical and spiritual room. Then define a goal for each room such as: having healthier lifestyle strength by- growing as professional by-, creating deeper relationships by- putting my faith in action by- etc-

With goal statements clarified, it is important to set in place a system and structure to support your good intentions. Successful organizations always have solid systems and structures that help teams stay aligned. Force-of-will alone, seldom results in something great happening. A strategy, system and structure are all needed to create positive change and keep the devils of distraction chained safely in their dark dens of demise.

One strategy is planning to spend time in each of your four room’s everyday. Most of us tend to be focused in one or two rooms. The physical and mental rooms are the most politically correct areas. This is evidenced by the never ending promotion of reading “right books” and having “right looks”. If we bow to the opinions of sharper image makers and read only the books-of-the-month, the front door to a whole life is locked tight. This is called the comparing-yourselves-to-others deadbolt and it barricades us from entry into emotional or spiritual rooms. The way to unlock the doors to living a full life is to pull out the reclaim-what-you-treasure key, which opens all the rooms. Finding the key is hard. Using it every day can be even harder.

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting”.
E.E. Cummins

Journal Entry: So here are two simple suggestions to finding your key and stepping into a fuller life as a leader: 1) Put down the best seller list and pick up the type of book you have always loved and then tell people about it. 2) Avoid the advice of the be-ye-always-in- fashion doc’s and dress your best – your way, pick up an uncool hobby that doesn’t require custom stuff, visit a place of your childhood dreams instead of taking the paradise cruise of a life time. Continue fighting the good fight for the kind of balance you want in you leadership and life.

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