Tag Archives: understanding seasons of change

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Navigating Limbo, In the Midst of Change

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Have you ever played Capture the Flag?  It was one of my favorite summer camp games because it was filled with adventure and intrigue as we plotted how we would get to the other side of a field, to capture the other team’s flag and bring it back to our side of the world!

The downside of the game was that if you were captured in enemy territory, you were frozen in place, unable to move forward to help your team or to retreat back to safety!  Being frozen was really a state of limbo.  It was watching the game unfold, not as a spectator, and not as a full participant.

As we prepare for our expat journey I’ve been reminded that I’m not good at limbo.  I would rather:

  • Be creating the change.
  • Play a supportive role:  If I know why we are doing something, when it’s happening, what I need to do and when I need to do it.  
  • Be a real spectator:  If I’m watching something amazing unfold, getting to share that experience with others and if I have some idea when the event ends!

I prefer to be participating, adding value, moving towards a goal, and quite simply just being in motion!

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Being a Leader Means Understanding…

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(Originally posted on The Be A Leader Blog…)

Has life ever handed you a hurricane of change that took you to your knees? And every time you started to stand another storm hit? A few years ago my husband and I were hit with several seasons of hurricanes. (Some literal, most figurative.) In the midst of lots of change that we had no control over, I was desperate to be in control of something! So I accepted a marketing position that I knew would challenge me and that I could learn from, even though there was a lot about the position I knew I would not enjoy.

One of my first challenges was to learn to drive a club-cab pickup truck and a 28-foot long trailer through traffic in the 4th largest city in the United States! (Let me be clear – I am as girly as they come and I don’t get a kick out of driving a car, much less a truck!)

On the flip side, my husband is completely comfortable with that world and he knows me well. He was fully aware that this thing that I’d agreed to do had many potential downsides including having an accident! He understood that I am a visual learner and that I needed to see the big picture before details would make sense.

Leaders understandSo he made a trip to the store and came home with a toy truck and trailer. He then grabbed some flip chart paper and drew a multiple lane road with a 4-way traffic stop and a parking lot. He put the paper on the floor, and had me drive the truck and trailer up and down the road, around the corners, and back it into parking spaces. Each time he helped me identify all the potential dangers like driving over curbs, hitting other cars, and considering how much time it takes to slow down, or stop that much weight!

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Life Overseas: Turning Unwanted Change into an ADVENTURE!

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Life Overseas, Expat, Unwanted Change

New beginnings and fresh starts…

  • Can be exciting and fun!
  • Can also be pain-filled and very challenging because an ending has to occur before a fresh start happens.
  • Can be terrifying because they require you to leave what you’ve known and to change.

One of my life’s messages is encouraging others to make choices to leave their comfort zones, reminding them about all of the things they miss out on each time they choose not to take a risk and pointing out all of the growth that happens when they embrace change.

In the fall of 2012, just after sharing this message, my husband was asked to take a new position, across the world, in the only place we said we never wanted to live.

When I got past the shock, got a lot of basic questions answered, and spent quite a bit of time in prayer, I thought of a friend of mine…  

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Comfort or Magic? Go? Stay? Stay? Go?

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A few months ago I received this image from Debbie Laskey.

This simple image and 7 words (Your Comfort Zone – Where The Magic Happens) were so powerful that I was immediately impacted.  Since then I have continually shared the photo to illustrate how our daily choices impact individual lives, families and organizations.

Today I was thinking about:

  • People with dreams that are so big they seem impossible.
  • People that have recently experienced a life-altering event and are struggling to believe that good things will ever happen again.
  • Organizations that are seeking to breathe life into a vision that is larger than any one person or department.
  • People that have lived so long in a comfort zone that can’t yet see how it is killing their imaginations, their dreams, their joy, their health and their relationships…
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Are You Ready To Lead?

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A dear friend of mine, Sonia Di Maulo recently launched her wonderful book called The Apple in the Orchard.  Apple-in-Orchard-book-cover-300x239

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It is a beautifully written story about a little apple that has a burning desire to be a part of something greater than herself, and the journey that begins when she chooses curiosity and courage instead of life as she knows it.

When I read this book for the first time I was reminded of a favorite quote from Albert Einstein, “If you can’t explain it to a 6 year old, you don’t understand it yourself.”

The story and the illustrations are simple enough to be a child’s bedtime story, challenging enough to be shared in an executive boardroom and inspiring enough to be read and savored again, and again, and again.  It is a perfect gift for yourself and for those you love and serve.

I asked Sonia to make a short video so you could see her, hear from her, and discover her passion for this book.

Ken Blanchard was the first Leadership Expert I followed.  If he wrote something, I bought it, studied it, I talked about it and I shared it!  Although I read lots of leadership material, I still quote him the most.  Check out what Ken has to say about Sonia’s book:  “The Apple in the Orchard by Sonia DiMaulo is a lovely little book with a profound message: To pursue greatness, aspiring leaders sometimes must dare to leave the familiar. Opportunities for growth and learning are all around you—so take the leap, and grow!” To learn more CLICK HERE.