Now, it’s time to take a little break and talk about Twitter. And the signs you may be spending a little too much time on there.

Are you addicted to Twitter? Let’s find out.

1. You start addressing people in real life as their Twitter name. (ex. “Hello, CurlyHoward.”)
2. Other people frequently have to wait up for you as you stand still typing into your phone.
3. You time out real conversations by saying, “Hold up! I have to tweet this!”
4. You find yourself signing your name with the @ symbol. (ex. “sincerely, @thompsonland)
5. You apologize for tweeting too much. (“Sorry, guys, I went over the 5 tweet-per-day limit.”)
6. You think you should teach a social media class to tell everyone in your town how to tweet better.
7. You are quick to defend Twitter against attacks from non-Tweeps. (example: Your Mom: “I just don’t understand these kids today and the Twitter.” You: “Actually, Twitter can be a great source of news in the world. )
8. You find yourself hand-waving and eye-rolling when someone mentions Facebook.(“Pssshh.. Twitter is way better than Facebook.”)
9. You are suddenly the news expert in your home. (“No! I read on Twitter that wasn’t true! Darn you, Brian Williams!”)
10. You are generally the first to find out when a celebrity has died or done something crazy! (“Did you see the trending topics in the last five minutes?”)
11. You find yourself having a meltdown if your favorite celebrity shows up in a trending topic. (“OMG! Did Pat Sajak die? Why is he a trending topic?”)
12. You find yourself correcting new Twitter users on their Tweet Grammar. (Ex. @someoneElse: “I’m now on Twitter. Guess I’m a Twitter peep now.” / @You: “Actually, it’s pronounced Tweep. You’re a Tweep.”)
13. You know who web celebrities are and when you mention their names, everyone looks at you like you’re a crazy pig farmer. (“Hey guys, you hear that Joel Comm is going to be in Atlantic City this weekend? How crazy is that?” – blank stares in room)
14. It drives you crazy if you have to actually update your Facebook status because the connection to Twitter is busted.
15. When Twitter’s server crashes or gives the “whale” background because of the traffic, you secretly wonder if it’s your fault.
16. By the time MySpace actually began allowing Twitter integration, you had blasted MySpace all over the Internet.
17. Twitter has replaced Google for your web searches. (“Hey, anybody out there know how to cook a Thanksgiving turkey?” – yes, I tweeted that one year. Got some good auto-mechanic advice, too.)
18. You don’t let it be known that you actually Tweet from Twitter.com. Instead, you use one of the many Twitter apps (ex. Echofon, TweetDeck, Hootsuite, etc.)
19. You find it cool to let it be known that you ONLY use the native Twitter.com app on your iPhone or Android Phone.
20. When someone mentions Gary Vaynerchuk, you beam with pride and dream of a day when you’ll be a better social marketer.
21. You tweet at celebrities a lot in the hopes that someday, @aplusk (Twitter for Ashton Kutcher) will tweet back at you. Oh, that would be the day.
22. You were crushed when you found out someone had beat you to your full name for your Twitter name (you now go by @TimJohnson00542)
23. When a celebrity did tweet back at you, you told your friends about it for a week!(hence, my newfound friendship with Sinbad – only he doesn’t follow me back.)
24. You’re the only person in a committee, group, or event that is asking what the Hashtag is for that event. (“Hey, can we call this year’s Former Circus Clowns conference #fcclowns2011 for our followers on Twitter?”)
25. You write articles called “25 Signs You May Be Addicted to Twitter.”

Are you on Twitter? Me too! Follow me @thompsonland

What about you? Are you addicted to Twitter? Tell us about it. What were the signs you were addicted?

As I neared the intersection ahead, I saw a group of questionable-looking teenage boys standing in front of a particularly questionable house. And as I drove past this house, I heard a loud POPPING sound. I turned my head to see a BULLET HOLE in my van’s passenger window (which immediately began to shatter into thousands of pieces).

I reached for my phone to dial 9-1-1. My girls in the back of the van screamed and one of them began crying. I shook as I dialed the number. I tried to think logically as I told the operator what had just happened. I drive down to the end of the street and waited just out of sight. The operator told me an officer was on the way, then hung up.

I began to cry. I could feel my body going into shock. 

Things like this don’t happen to people like me.

The one thought that kept racing through my head was, “This isn’t happening.”

I’m a mom. I cook dinner almost every night. I clip coupons. I volunteer in my child’s classroom. I am at church almost as much as I am at home. I am a good person with good values. This doesn’t happen to people like me, I keep thinking.

The What-Ifs

And then, all the “What ifs” began to flood my mind. What if….I had just been a few feet ahead of that bullet? My baby girl was sitting just behind the passenger side. My oldest was sitting right behind her. What if the angle of the bullet had been different and had caught me in the head? What if…..

These thoughts are enough to drive anyone crazy.

As one night passed and the next day has begun, I am grateful. Grateful for my life, for a God who I believe was protecting my children and me. Grateful for the police who do their jobs. And perhaps more than before, grateful for my LIFE.

But those “What-Ifs” continue to race through my mind.

What are Your What-Ifs

Life is full of “What if’s”. What if….I miscarry? What if….I don’t get that job? What if……my husband and I don’t make this marriage work? What if…….this lump is cancer? What if……..I never do what I love?

There all kinds of reasons to not take risks. There will always be the “What ifs” but on the other side of those “what ifs” is life that could be fuller than you ever imagined. Sometimes we have to take that leap and just jump. Sometimes we have to take the risk that we might get hurt or shot at! But, most of the time, we will live to tell about it.

Have you stopped pursuing something because of the fear of risk? Have you given up on a relationship because the risk was too great?

Don’t make the mistake of wondering what might have happened if you had _______. Don’t spend your life wondering what may have happened if you had taken the risk you’re thinking about right now.

What about you?

What risks have you stopped taking? And what would it take to start taking them today?

Leave your comments in the section below!

And when this opportunity came along, I thought I had arrived. I got to play fun music and music I would have been kicked out of church for playing just a few years earlier.

And yet something got off-track for me quickly. The other musicians and leaders in this church were extremely cool. I mean melt-your-face-off-guitar-shredding cool. These guys could rock a stage. It was like going to a U2 concert, and suddenly, I was sharing the stage. And I felt this pressure to not bring the energy down.

So there I was, pacing the stage, doing kicks that would later make my Clark Griswold-aging body ache with growing pains, and banging my head to loud guitars, crashing drums, and flashing LED lights. I’m a dad of three kids, changing diapers, cleaning up spilled milk and spit-up, but when I’m on the stage, I’m a rocker: cool enough to feel fifteen years younger. 

Only, I’m not cool enough.

First of all, let me state for the record that I am still one-hundred percent honored (and flabbergasted) that I was selected to play for these packed-out crowds and help their second campus in its early days of growth. It is absolutely a blast and I love this aspect of my life!

But, make no mistake, it became exhausting quickly; I didn’t look cool in tight t-shirts; and those jump kicks were more apt to throw my back out than to get applause (I am in my thirties now, for Pete’s sake.) And I began to realize that I looked more uncomfortable and awkward than cool.

I had lost myself.  

While I love playing music and getting crowds excited, I also have to admit that it was very easy to lose myself in the quest to be relevant. Don’t get me wrong: I may be no spring chicken but I’m no geezer either. I have my fair share of people who love what I do (not that it’s about that anyway). But I also had to get real with myself.

I had to get honest about 3 things:

1. I was acting out of insecurity, not confidence.

2. Whenever I would compare myself to much more able-bodied rockers, I’d wind up feeling discouraged.

3. I had created all of this.

It was time to make a change:

Make no mistake, when insecurity strikes you, it infects the people you’re around. People know when you’re insecure, and they know when you’re not yourself.

This insecurity showed itself to those I worked around and to those I played music with.

I had to come to terms with the fact that I’m not a head-banging rocker. I like to play guitars and make great music, and I love to get involved in the music that I’m playing so that it moves me, but if I’m all over the place, I get clumsy fast.

And I had to come to terms with the reality that I’m okay with not being the rocker.

I’m okay being me.

Here’s 3 steps to getting yourself back!

Maybe you’re no musician or singer or worship leader. But maybe you’re stuck in living someone else’s life. Maybe you’re trying so hard to model your job as the person before you or as your boss that you’re losing yourself in the process.

Step One: KNOW Your Strengths

You have them! And odds are, you have a bunch. Take a step back and take an honest inventory of your strengths. Write down all of the skills you bring to the table. Write them down!

Go on. Write them down!

Step Two: KNOW Your Weaknesses

Here’s the thing: you are probably already doing too many of these weaknesses because you’re trying to do what somebody ELSE is doing. Take a step back and write down areas you aren’t so great at. Because we’re going to learn how to do our best work by bringing our STRENGTHS to the majority of our jobs, not weaknesses.

Step Three: Use Your STRENGTHS to Be Your True Rockstar

You have the ability to bring your greatest assets to your job, to your life. It’s time to know those strengths and STRATEGICALLY put them into place, using them in your job. Be intentional about it. Write your plan to do it! Once I stopped being somebody I wasn’t, I set things in motion to allow myself to do my job very well!

And it helps to know what your passion is so you can live it!

If you haven’t gotten my free ebook, The ONE Thing You Were Born to Do, get it free by subscribing to my free newsletter below!

What About You? 

Have you ever played to your weaknesses? Even in your dream job? How did you learn to use your strengths to make a difference? Write your comments below.

My Guilty Pleasures.

One of my favorite blogs is Michael Hyatt’s blog. If you’re a leader, blogger, or social media student, you should head over to MichaelHyatt.com and have yourself a read. And one of the things that amazes me about Hyatt is that he blogs without fail DAILY. Every weekday of the week, I get a new post from Michael Hyatt. Monday through Friday.

On the other side of the coin are other sites I like to frequent, such as The Sales Lion and CorbettBarr.com. Marcus and Corbett do other things in addition to blogging, but they still manage to pump out 2 to 3 posts per week.

Here’s where you come in:

My goal in 2012 is to up my consistency to this blog and to you! And I need you to give me some feedback to help me do it.

First, you who are viewing this right this moment, right now: 

How often can you use personal development tips? Keep in mind, ElevationLife keeps things moving – I won’t talk about the same thing each day. If we talk about relationships one day, we’ll talk about something else the next (money, leadership, productivity, etc.).

Second, for you RSS and Email Subscribers:

I know you may be in the first group, too. But here’s my email question:

Do you prefer daily emails as blogs are posted? 

Or do you prefer more of a weekly summary?

And if you get a weekly blog, are you more inclined to read it Monday or Friday?

What do you think?

Please leave your comment in the section below. Or you can email me at bryan (at) elevationlife.com I appreciate your feedback, and it helps this site to be more what it was intended to be. Thanks!

We’re going to lay them out there and talk about each one: 

1 – Know your expectations and KNOW your partner

Kristin: Don’t play games and think that your spouse can read your mind. Don’t be afraid to vocalize your expectations of gift-giving, kids, sex, money, and the list goes on and on.

Bryan: It’s true. I’m a terrible gift-giver. I would try and surprise Kristin each year for our anniversary. True story: some would end in TEARS!

2 – Know how YOU give and receive love

Bryan: This is critical. A lot of people wind up unhappy in marriages and relationships and each time, they’re blaming something on their partner. But often, they don’t even know what their own love language is!

I’d recommend everybody reading Gary Chapman’s The 5 Love Languages. You and your partner both have one, and it’s always essential to know your own first!

Kristin: You can’t understand how to give love until you understand yourself and how you receive love. It’s kind of the same scenario: you can’t know where you’re going in life unless you know who you are.

3 – Know how your PARTNER gives and receives love

Bryan: In addition to knowing your own love language, make sure and know your partner’s love language. Here’s a hint: the way he/she receives love is their natural form of giving love, too. That’s not to say you should be with someone just like you (my wife and I are POLAR opposites). But once you learn each other’s language, love comes from giving to them the way they receive it, not the way YOU receive it.

Kristin: If I had not known that Bryan receives love through words of affirmation, I would have continued to give him gifts and spending quality time, thinking I was giving him love (my languages). Learning these key elements has brought more respect and understanding into our relationship.

4 – DATE each other

Bryan: This was a tough one for me and one that took a long time for me to learn. Especially if you have children. Getting into a rut is easy to do. Kristin and I aren’t always able to go out (we have 3 young kids under the age of 7), but we find one night a week to do a Take-Out Night. We eat something nice when the kids go to bed.

Kristin: Since implementing the “Take-Out Night” one night a week, it gives me something to look forward to each week. Also, we try to find ways to be creative in that. Whether we eat our dinner on the floor by the fireplace or in bed or at the table, we make it exciting and fun.

5 – LISTEN to each other; don’t think of what you’re going to say next

Bryan: I have to admit, I’m bad about this one. I’m the “talker,” and so I can often seem like I’m “selling” Kristin on something when we’re in a discussion. I’m not great at conflict, so when we’re in one, I have had to learn to shut my mouth AND my mind and LISTEN. Truly understand what she’s saying.

Kristin: I totally agree with Bryan. He does try to sell sometimes. Seriously, I think it’s a natural human response to try and think of responses while the other person is talking. But when you really do stop and listen, you hear things you otherwise wouldn’t hear. I think it’s also good to repeat back what they’re saying, so there’s no miscommunication.

6 – LAUGH often

Bryan: Kristin is good at this one with me because we like to laugh a LOT. Don’t take yourselves too seriously. You’re best friends and that’s how it’s DESIGNED to be! LOVE life together!

Kristin: This is easy because Bryan is a pretty funny guy. And we have three little kids so it gives us plenty of material for laughter, if we ALLOW it to make us laugh.

7 – Be Spontaneous

Bryan: I’m good at this one because I tend to be very spontaneous. I like just up-and-getting out of town for a day off. Sometimes it really helps to shake off the grind and just explore things together.

Kristin: And PLAN to be spontaneous. Don’t always know what you have to do ahead of time. Sometimes it’s good to just know you’re going to be together for the day and let the decisions happen as they come.

8 – PLAN Time Together

Bryan: Being spontaneous is great and doing spontaneous things together are great, but let’s be realistic: you don’t always have time or money to do those extra-special spontaneous things. It’s a good idea to plan your time together. If you’re on a budget, take in a Redbox movie and make a nice meal together. The important thing is being together. Take that best-friend thing seriously!

Kristin: I don’t think I could say it better than that.

What about you?

Have you come across secrets and tips that make your relationship exciting? Write your ideas down (keep it work-friendly) in the comment section!

The Dreaded Plateau

The last couple of weeks I’ve hit a plateau of such in my running. Not being able to build up much speed and just feeling really tired of the whole thing. I knew I had to do something about the nagging pull that I was feeling in my right knee every time I’d run too.

So, I started walking more. Taking the days in between running to walk 2-3 miles felt a little dull but I saw it as a good time to reflect and just slow down. Something I don’t do well at. Monday came around and a new week of training had begun. I pulled my running shoes on and headed out with not much high hopes of it being any different than the struggle it had become. I walked a couple minutes and then started jogging. By the time I had hit a mile I was zooming. I felt free, light, and I just didn’t want my run to be over. I started wondering where this newfound freedom had come from and then it hit me, I had become unbalanced.

When you run there are muscles that are worked that are the opposite muscles that are worked when walking. Balancing walking and running strengthened me all the way around. It gave me balance.

Playing to your strengths is a fun thing to think about but not always easy.

I’m not a strong runner but I am a strong walker. “There is no shame in walking,” Olympic Gold Medalist Jeff Galloway is always saying to me in my iPhone training app. Training is exactly how it sounds, it is hard and uncomfortable otherwise it wouldn’t be called training. When you are training for something you are stretched in ways that you may have never experienced before. Same is true in life. We are all in a continual state of training and then we will hit a brick wall where we feel exhausted, worn, and like giving up. Don’t give up! Reevaluate the situation. Are you getting enough sleep? You are eating a diet that is balanced? Do you need to sit in the sun on your lunch hour to catch some Vitamin D?

Create the balance you need. Here’s some homework.

On a piece of paper write these three words, Physical, Spiritual, & Emotional. Then underneath each of those key areas of your life name just ONE action that would move you into a more balanced life. This can be something that you put a time line on as well. “I will do these things and incorporate them into my life for the next 30 days.”

Balance isn’t easy but necessary. 

What about you?

How are some ways your find your balance and what are some areas you need more balance? Write your answers in the comments below.

I was frustrated, and not for the first time. 

Too Many Years, Too Many Careers

I had had these moments before. I’d start a career field I had some interest in, and I’d do my job until I would manage to do something terribly wrong, and then I’d find myself frustrated. I’d discover I wasn’t as interested in that thing as I’d thought I was. Or I’d find I wasn’t very good at it.

This moment in my children’s pastor office was one of those moments, but it was more than a frustration in not being good at something.

It was a frustration at my own questions of WHY I was even doing it in the first place.

Did I like kids? Absolutely. Still do! And I love my own more than anything!

But was I passionate about what I was doing?

Not at all.

I began to realize something very powerful that day. And I knew something had to change.

I had been going from career to career, looking for something I might be good at or capable at. And in all that time, I never once pursued my passion full-time!

Right now, in this moment. Some of you are exactly where I was a few short years ago. You’ve invested your life into jumping from path to path, hoping to find something you’re either interested in or something you half-way like that you might make a few bucks for.

Or worse, you’re living your life doing something completely unfulfilling and don’t even know what you’re passionate about!

You Have a Great Passion!

The truth is: you have a great passion in life! It’s that thing you could spend hours writing, talking, or thinking about. It’s that thing that you sometimes get lost in a daydream over.

And every moment you ignore it is a moment your life passes you further and further by.

A New Book and Test to Get You Living Your Passion NOW

Over the last few weeks, I’ve begun putting together a guide to help you get from where you are to where you want to be. And now, I’m delighted to share it with you ABSOLUTELY FREE!

My new eBook, The One Thing You Were Born to Do, is out NOW and it’s free to you when you sign up for ElevationLife’s email updates!

Click here to sign up and download your book now or enter your email address below.

What About You?

Are you living your passion? And do you know what that is? What are steps you can take right now to take you closer to your dream? Write your comments in the section below.

Myth #7

Having children makes women happier. Not Necessarily. It turns out that kids are a bundle of stress. All studies linking stress and satisfaction with motherhood reveal the same finding: married mothers are always more stressed and less happy than married women with no kids. (I know, you love your kids, but this finding has been repeated so many times, in so many countries, there’s no escaping it.)

I’m real about Motherhood.  There’s no escaping that my life is much more stressful compared to married women without children. Duh, Marcus. One of the key elements of stress is the lack of sleep. We all want more. Here are a few problems and solutions that I have found to work with my kids. I hope that you find something that will work for you as well.

Yep, this is our kid, Noel.

1) “My child wakes up at the SAME time every night!”

I’ve dealt with this with each one of my kids. 4:50 a.m. Noel wakes up. How they get in this habit of waking up, only Scientist know. But, I do know how to fix it. The method is called “Wake to Sleep”. It sounds odd but it works like a charm. The first night, one hour before the child would normally wake up, you go in and rearrange their blanket, take paci out & put it back in, or something that makes them kinda stir a bit. Don’t wake them up fully, but you want them to just stir. Then go back to bed. Do this for 3 nights in a row, 1 hour before they are in a habit of wake up. By the 4th night they will sleep through. This resets their REM cycles!

2) “When I put her to bed, she takes forever to go to sleep!”

I’m a firm believer in bedtime routines. Kids love consistency because they find security in it. When a child feels secure, sleep is sweet. Establish a bedtime routine that you do almost every night. Bath, read story, say a prayer, get a drink of water, sing a song, lights out. Something like that. Now, here is a secret I figured out with my first child. Children aren’t like us. If they stay up late, they sleep in later. No, they can be trained that way, but it doesn’t come naturally for them. Children up to around 4 yrs. need about 12-14 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period of time. For a child 5 and under, bedtimes need to be between7:30-8:30. If you go any later than that, you will find that you have an overly tired toddler on your hands and the impossible fight of sleep will quickly follow. There is a window between tired and overly tired. Once you pass over into overly tired you are in for a long time. They will take forever to go to sleep and then, most likely, wake up all through the night.

3) “How do I combine two naps into one?”

This is a tough one because each child is different in what age they need to start take just one long nap a day instead of two. When you do it, it up to you, but usually around 15-18 months old you’ll notice their two naps are becoming shorter. The easiest way I’ve always found to do this is to extend the first morning nap 15 minutes every 3 days. So, if they usually go down for the first nap around 10 a.m. then push it to 10:15. Three days later push it to 10:30. Three days later push it to 10:45. This can take up to about 2 weeks. The goal is to feed them lunch around noon. Naptime between 12:30-1:30 each day. This is great because once you get this going you have your mornings to be able to really get things done without naps getting in the way.

I don’t pretend to be an expert, just a mom of three that has learned a thing or two or three. Hope something that I’ve said helps you!

What about you?

Are you honest about motherhood or parenthood? Leave a comment about what has worked for you and maybe you will be helping another mom!

Happy sleep!

Over the weekend, however, Kristin and I did curl up on the sofa to watch the latest Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts comedy, Larry Crowne (also co-written and directed by Hanks). Without giving the story away and only giving the premise given by the trailer below, Larry Crowne is a middle-aged man who loses his job only to find himself lost and with a limited number of career skills. After a string of unsuccessful interviews, Crowne finds himself enrolling in a local community college to begin a new journey to find himself.

Have you ever been beaten down?

Have you ever been laid off? Broken off from a relationship? Been given a terrible diagnosis? It’s tragic, but the truth is that these things happen all the time. And one of them is likely to happen to any of us at any point in time if we’re not on our guard (or, in the case of relationships, we’re too much ON our guard). We can learn a thing or two from Larry Crowne.

It’s Never Too Late to Start Over

Eighteen years ago, Tom Hanks could pass for the high-school Forrest Gump, but no longer. In Larry Crowne, he is faced with the horrific reality that the jobs aren’t coming to him when they are being given to men half his age with more technology skills.

So Crowne revamps his entire life. He sells his gas-guzzling SUV and buys a $3-filled-tank scooter, enrolls in a community college with the purpose of finding an all new career, and even joins a scooter gang. It’s adventurous, risky, and opens him up to a world of new possibilities in his life.

Maybe your bad news is really a chance to start over.

It’s Never a Bad Time to Learn

Not only is Crowne open to starting a new life, he is anxious to learn everything he can about it. He enrolls in a public speaking class and a finance class, knowing virtually nothing about either of them.

Anything more and I’ll start giving the story away (don’t worry, I didn’t tell you anything you didn’t see in the previews).

What About You?

What are you learning today that is preparing you for a new tomorrow? What seemingly bad things in your life could be opportunities to start a new adventure? Have you ever started over? What did you learn from your experience? Share your thoughts below!

And in the meantime, enjoy the trailer for Larry Crowne. (Courtesy of Universal Pictures) or buy or rent it here!

If you’re like me, you meet someone and talk business, then you take their business card before you leave. “Hey, give me your card! We should have coffee sometime!” You exchange cards and go on about your way. Think about the next time you call that person.

Click here to read the entire article!