S.U.M.M.I.T. Leadership

"Everything you need is within you, the strength, courage and confidence to change your life. You just need to look within yourself and find it." - Amanda Ray   How do you handle everything that life throws at you? The people and unexpected situations that arise when we least expect it or at the most inconvenient time. It can feel overwhelming trying to keep up with all of our regular daily demands and deal with all of the inconveniences, challenges, uncertainties, and curveballs that life seems to throw our way. Just to irritate and upset us. Or so it seems.   It's easy to get upset or discouraged when things don't go the way we expect or planned. It is at that moment that we are faced with a choice.  We can react in a hostile, aggressive manner. Or we can take a more positive and thoughtful approach. We can control what we can control and let go of what we cannot.   Every time we work through and survive tough and challenging periods in our lives, we become stronger

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." -  Abraham Lincoln Procrastination is a challenge most of us have faced at one point or another. We struggle by putting things off, delaying tasks, and avoiding essential issues. It's easy to come up with an excuse to procrastinate, and as we all know, it only takes one. Our brains are programmed to procrastinate.  Need proof? Have you ever found yourself planning for a productive weekend with so much to get done? You organize a list of everything you want to accomplish, and you feel good about it. In fact, you might even be a little bit excited thinking about it. Then, Saturday morning rolls around, and you wake up tired or not fully motivated. Additionally, it happens to be warm and sunny outside. Suddenly, your present self becomes conflicted with your future self. Do I do the work I planned, or relax and go enjoy the weather? Sound familiar? How about this one. You've had a project due for sch

"Goals. There's no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There's no telling what you can do when you believe in them. And there's no telling what will happen when you act upon them." - Jim Rohn We've all heard the phrase "Go For It!" Something in the moment inspires us to decide to take action towards something we wish or desire. There is obviously no fault in responding this way when we feel the urge. We respond to an intuitive feeling that inspires us to take immediate action when we go for it.  Similar, yet different, I think we should "Goal For It!" Setting a goal, in advance, for what we desire implies intention and strategy. Goals are essential because they set a predetermined vision and direction toward what you want to achieve and motivate you to take action. It is something you set with purpose and on purpose, intentionally. Achieving it would not be by chance; it would be by choice. Goals put you in control. The m

"Clear thinking requires courage rather than intelligence." - Thomas Szasz Our minds produce thousands of thoughts every day, and each thought matters. Our thoughts reflect our innermost self and affect our moods, feelings, emotions, beliefs, behaviors, and actions. How you think is just as important as what you think and determines the quality of your life.  An essential skill to master is the ability to think clearly. Clear thinking is critical in analysis, learning, interpreting, remembering, and teaching. It is also vital in innovation, open-mindedness, planning, decision making, and problem-solving. With clear thinking, you'll spend less time having to correct mistakes and re-doing work. Clear thinking improves effective communication. Thomas Edison said, "Thinking is the hardest discipline of all." Like any skill you intend to master, it takes practice, repetition, and discipline to build up this mental muscle. The more you practice clear thinking, the mo

"The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were. Don't ask 'Why', ask instead, 'Why not." - John F. Kennedy   One of my daily objectives is to be innovative in my approach to everything I do. To dare to think differently. To challenge the status quo.   Everyone can be creative. But often, we continue to do things the way we've always done them and expect to get different results. If solving problems just meant doing the same things we always do, we'd all be problem-free.  However, as time goes on, it can be easy to just conform to the norms around you and not realize that your creative lens has clouded a bit. To solve problems in our personal lives or in the world, we need to think outside the box. We sometimes need wild creativity; we need ideas that might seem crazy at first. Some of those wild ideas won't work. Mayb

"Don't wait for everything to be perfect before you decide to enjoy your life." - Joyce Meyer Take Hold of Every Moment by Author Unknown A friend of mine opened his wife's underwear drawer and picked up a silk paper wrapped package: "This, - he said - isn't any ordinary package." He unwrapped the box and stared at both the silk paper and the box. "She got this the first time we went to New York, 8 or 9 years ago. She has never put it on. Was saving it for a special occasion. Well, I guess this is it. He got near the bed and placed the gift box next to the other clothing he was taking to the funeral house, his wife had just died. He turned to me and said: "Never save something for a special occasion. Every day in your life is a special occasion". I still think those words changed my life. Now I read more and clean less. I sit on the porch without worrying about anything. I spend more time with my family and less at work. I understood that

"People that have trust issues only need to look in the mirror. There they will meet the one person that will betray them the most." - Shannon L. Alder Whether we intend to do so or not, we all judge other people and situations. It is somewhat normal and can even be helpful to some extent. It's how our brain functions to help make sense of the world around us. This often occurs within the first few minutes of meeting someone. We form an opinion about someone or something based on our thoughts, feelings, and what we deem as evidence. Initially, when you judge a person, you assess their character to determine if they are safe. This is done subconsciously as your brain takes in information to decide if you are in any immediate danger. This is important to your survival and is instinctual. Once we determine there is no immediate danger, our judgment is often used to compare and contrast. Comparing others helps you determine similarities or differences with the other person.  

"Every day stand guard at the door of your mind." - Jim Rohn Our mind is like a sophisticated filing cabinet. We store all of our thoughts, memories, beliefs, and learned information in it, feeding our emotions and feelings. But just like a paper filing cabinet, it is only of good use if we can adequately access and strategically use the information we are storing and organizing. Otherwise, it is just storage. Our minds are the same. You have to manage it. We need to be willing to take inventory of our mental assets and liabilities to benefit and grow from them. We must get in the habit of taking a truthful and honest inventory of the things we are good at, as well as the things we struggle with.  We need to assess what things benefit us or hinder us. We need to be aware of and understand our emotional triggers and motivating factors and how and why we respond to them in a particular way. What thoughts, feelings, beliefs or emotions do we respond positively to; which do we re

"Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change." -  Bob Kerrey A glass of milk…by Author Unknown One day, a poor boy Howard Kelly, who was selling goods from door to door to pay his way through school, found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry. He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door. Instead of a meal, he asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked hungry so brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it slowly, and then asked, "How much do I owe you?" "You don't owe me anything," she replied. "Mother has taught us never to accept pay for a kindness." He said... "Then I thank you from my heart." As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in God and man was strong also. He had been ready to give up and quit. Years later that young woman be

"Forgiveness is not always easy.  At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it.  And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness." - Marianne Williamson THE SANDS OF FORGIVENESS: A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. At some point of the journey, they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE." They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him. After he recovered from the near drowning, he carved into a stone: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE." The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?" The ot

The Seven Wonders of the World by Author Unknown Junior high school students in Chicago were studying the Seven Wonders of the World. At the end of the lesson, the students were asked to list what they considered to be the Seven Wonders of the World. Though there was some disagreement, the following received the most votes: Egypt's Great Pyramids The Taj Mahal The Grand Canyon The Panama Canal The Empire State Building St. Peter's Basilica China's Great Wall While gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one student, a quiet girl, hadn't turned in her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The quiet girl replied, "Yes, a little. I couldn't quite make up my mind because there were so many." The teacher said, "Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help." The girl hesitated, then read, "I think the Seven Wonders of the World are:  To touch… To taste... To see... To hear... (She hesitated a little, a

"Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming." - John Wooden John Wooden is considered to be one of the greatest NCAA basketball head coaches of all time. Not only was he one of the most successful college basketball coaches in history (winning 10 out of 12 NCAA National Championships, at one point winning 88 games in a row!), but he was also a great human being and a great leader. Coach gave us all tremendous inspirational wisdom. Here are a few more of my favorite Wooden quotes: "Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability."  "It isn't what you do, but how you do it."  "Never mistake activity for achievement." "Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."  "Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be."  "If you'r

"Don't be distracted by criticism. Remember, the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you." - Zig Ziglar A friend posted this story. I thought it was a good lesson.   It was told, that one day a school teacher wrote on the board the following math examples: 9 x 1 = 7 9 x 2 = 18 9 x 3 = 27 9 x 4 = 36 9 x 5 = 45 9 x 6 = 54 9 x 7 = 63 9 x 8 = 72 9 x 9 = 81 9 x 10 = 90 When she was finished, she looked at her students.  They were all laughing at her because of the first equation, which was wrong. The teacher responded with the following statement: "I intentionally wrote that first one wrong because I wanted you to learn something important. This was for you to know how the world out there will treat you. You can see that I wrote the RIGHT things 9 times, but none of you congratulated me for it. Instead, you all laughed, criticized, and pointed out the one wrong thing I did." So this is the lesson: The world will not always appreciat

"The more you feed your mind with positive thoughts, the more you can attract great things in to your life." - Roy T. Bennett It's simple. If we don't eat, we get weak and die. Similarly, if we don't feed our minds, they will get weaker and eventually fail us. We need to feed our minds daily. We all have struggles and challenges. We all have fears. The best way to combat this is to feed your mind with positive input. Feeding your mind with positive information can turn your life around. If you want to feel more confident in life, you have to start reconnecting with yourself and your emotional state of mind. Reconnect with your thoughts, feelings, emotions, and beliefs and determine if those thoughts, feelings, and beliefs benefit or hinder you. This is important because our emotional and mental state controls our reactions. What we think about, we bring about. What goes into your mind determines how you experience your life. What you feed your mind will help to de

"We all make mistakes, everybody should be given a second chance." - Lailah Gifty Akita Has someone ever given you a second chance? A chance to start over? A chance to start anew? If you've ever been 'up against the ropes' or 'at wits end' or 'on the brink of failure or giving up' and someone or something allowed you a second chance, then you know the feeling of vitality you get when it feels like you have been given a new lease on life. The delight and joy that comes with an opportunity to do better, an opportunity to be better. Some of us have experienced life-changing moments like these in our lives. I know I have. And I am forever grateful for them. That's what life is about. We do not get redo's or do-over's, but we do get second chances. We all like second chances. Some of us are waiting for someone or something to come around to give us that second chance. But do you realize that you don't have to wait for someone else to giv

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." - Charles Darwin Change is an unavoidable constant in our lives. Sometimes portions of the change that happens are controllable, but often it is not. In the workplace, our job roles change, processes change, or systems change. In life, circumstances change, our environment around us changes. We are forced to see things differently, do things differently and adjust and adapt to changes as they occur. Research has shown that those who are happiest in old age are the ones who have dealt most successfully with the changes in their lives. Learning to accept and adapt to change is the skill of a lifetime. And because there is never a shortage of changes for us to face, we should have plenty of opportunities to practice our adaptive skills and even get proficient with them. We have already faced so many changes in our lives. In this year alone, think of all the thi

"Memory believes before knowing remembers." - William Faulkner I'm feeling nostalgic today. Just listening to some music, thinking about the past weekend. I had a great weekend! I was able to spend a couple quality days just hanging out with the kids. I love it when we plan a weekend full of Fun, Film & Feast. Which for us is basically family game night, movie night, and of course, overindulging in food all rolled into one fantastic weekend! The only problem seems to be getting the Sunday blues at the end of the weekend. I find myself getting nostalgic, not wanting the weekend to end. And, I often resort to listening to great music. Even after the best of weekends, there is a bit of a cloud that descends in our minds. This feeling we get when we don't want something to end because we've enjoyed it so much reminded me of how we felt as kids not wanting the summer to end, knowing that it will soon be back-to-school. Or also how we even feel as adults after a lon

"The best mirror is an old friend." - George Herbert Lifelong friendships. Not everyone is lucky enough to have them or enough of them. Relationships with people we literally have grown up with have been there with us over the years. A shared bond with someone who is always there for us, whether we know it or not. Our best friends are sometimes like stars; you don't always see them, but you always know they're always there. I have been blessed to have some lifelong friendships like this. Sometimes I feel the need to take a sabbatical from social media and won't log in for extended periods. There are periods when I get engrossed in it and then periods when I don't spend much time on it at all. After my last extended social media sabbatical from 2015-2020, I decided to log on to see what I might have missed.  I had noticed I had recently been tagged on a post from an old friend. It was an older picture of us from 2013 of a lifelong friend, Paul. We had run into