Sixth Place

The people who know me know that I am a fairly boring person. So, it may surprise you that over the last month or so I was involved in a tough competition, that if I had won, it would have been life changing. It was crazy how much time I spent thinking about how my life would change if I could just find a way to come out on top. In the end, I finished in sixth place. I know what you are thinking, you think I should be proud of my hard work and how coming sixth isn’t the worst thing. You’re probably thinking about how you would tell me to get back out there and try again. This is what I can tell you, I’m going to wait awhile, but I will try again. But here is the other thing, you came in sixth place also. That family member of yours, that co-worker of yours, came in sixth place too. So, in case you haven’t figured it out yet, I am talking about the one billion Powerball competition. For the last month or so, I bought some tickets! I had dreams of having the freedom to go out and do the things I wanted to do. It would have truly been life changing. Here is what I learned from taking sixth place in Powerball. It’s fun to think about the possibilities. It’s fun to think about not having to work and being able to do whatever you want. But, when I look back on what I thought about doing if I had won, something interesting comes to light. I think I just assumed the whole time that I would go out and buy some crazy things and go to places that most people could only dream about. But I never really got to the point of thinking of specific places I would go or things I would buy. I did, however, find myself thinking about specific people. I thought about some people in my life that need a little help right now. It’s amazing how much a few thousand dollars is when you are struggling. I didn’t think of places I would go, but I did think about who I would go with. I thought about how much fun it would be to go on a family vacation. Probably, two family vacations, one for each side. I always have a vision of a really long table. I know that sounds weird, but what I really mean is that I want to be somewhere with a really long table that will fit my whole family. If I had a place to go that had a really long table, we could truly eat as a family. No kids table, no half in one room, half in the other room. One big table! What does this story have to do with leadership? I’m not sure that it does, but I know it has a lot to do with thinking about things that are important and in our control. The chances that any of us ever win the lottery in a life changing way are pretty slim. The chances that we are ever going to be able to just go around and pass out thousands of dollars to everyone we love is also pretty slim. So, what can we do? The first thing we need to do is realize that there are things more precious than money. Health and time are more precious than money. I’ve heard people tell stories about others when they are getting older and their health is in decline. They talk about how they would trade all that money for a chance to be younger and healthier for a few moments so that they could go back and enjoy a few things they did when they were younger. Right now, most of us have the time and are healthy enough to go out and do something with people we love. It might not be on a fancy trip or somewhere with a huge table, but we can go do something. So many people right now are feeling drained or rundown. So many people right now feel like they are moments away from a breakdown. Maybe you can’t quit working or go on an extravagant trip. But you can spend some time with the people you love.  Who are the people that you can hang around with that make you feel better? Who are the people in your life that you walk away from feeling like you just won the lottery? Now is the time to go and spend some time with them.

Focus for the Week

This week I want everyone to do two things. First, go out and find some people to spend time with and encourage them. Chances are pretty good that they are feeling a little low right now. Stay away from conversations that are negative. For now, we aren’t trying to fix issues, we are trying to build each other up. Second, and yes, this is selfish, go and check out the Instagram page and let me know what you think!