Where do you see yourself next year? How about in three years, or five, or ten? Those questions often come up in the interview process, or when meeting with interns, but they easily stick with you for years. Over the past twelve years, I would have probably answered those questions at least twelve different ways. What we want to be when we grow up can change as much as often as the four seasons, or persist through years of growth. I’ve wanted to be everything from an astronaut to a youth pastor and an architect to a rock star.

Over the course of working and trying to figure out what I would some day become, I’ve often felt overlooked. I’ve watched positions open up that I wanted to fill, only to see someone else get the job. I’ve been leapfrogged by people who I was once a leader to. I’ve pressed hard to find my place, only to be met by closed doors and solid walls.

One thing that I haven’t done in regards to my career is fervent prayer and fasting. Sure, I’ve prayed for God to open doors to new job opportunities or for an interview to go well, but I’ve never truly sought His will in the matter. I’ve worked like it depended on me, but I haven’t prayed like it depended on God.

There are a couple of ways to approach seeking God’s will. One of them was preached by Pastor Scott Stevens a couple of weeks ago. Pray like it depends on God, but work like it depends on you. This is more applicable to after you know where God is leading, but you can also approach seeking His will in that way. Check out Scott’s sermon from a couple weeks ago:

Another way to approach seeking God’s will is the way that I have been nearly all my life. Pray a little, but chase after everything with the mindset that you are in control and it’s up to you where you go. When opportunities arise, you chase after them. When doors close in your face, you walk away feeling defeated and frustrated. While there is some progress at times, it is usually a false sense of progress, or it is short-lived or unfulfilling. In general, this approach does not work very well.

The last approach I want to discuss is one that seems counterintuitive. Wait. Do your best right where you are and allow God. Trust that God will put you in the right place at the right time, or bring the right opportunity to you. I am wired to be a fixer. If something is not right, I want to make it right. If I feel like I should be doing something else, I want to figure out how to get to that point.

I had a meeting yesterday with Kent Chevalier, and he shared something with me that he learned from Dave Buehring that speaks to this approach. Dave told him that he is done chasing. He is done following every lead and chasing after every opportunity that lines up with his calling. He is just going to wait on God to put him in the right places or bring him the right opportunities.

If you look in Scripture, this is the way that God moved people into His calling for them more often than not. David was a shepherd, sent to take his brothers a care package. Moses was doing his job when he came across the burning bush. Esther didn’t become queen because she had a great campaign, she was chosen to be queen because of her beauty. All of the disciples were chosen from where they were to follow Jesus. It would seem that if you just do your job, God will bring about change when it is the right time.

In our discussion, Kent reminded me of a scriptural example of someone who tried to position himself in the right place. The rich young ruler wanted to be one of Jesus’ close followers, but he went away from his encounter with Christ depressed and defeated. He tried to position himself as the right choice for Jesus’ next disciple, but he wouldn’t take the steps necessary to fully follow Him.

Fasting, prayer, waiting, and knocking my current role out of the park have been common themes that I’ve been hearing a lot in my search for my calling. I know I have a general calling to ministry, but I want to know my specific calling. I’m tired of waiting, even though I haven’t really waited when I compare it to Dave Buehring’s version of waiting. I’ve worked hard at my current role, but I know I haven’t fully reached my potential. As I mentioned before, my prayers have been shallow and fasting has been non-existent.

So here is my action plan:

• Keep at it in my current role. Do everything better than it’s been done in the past and innovate in my current role.
• Pray. Ask God for direction, discernment, wisdom, and patience.
• Fast a meal at least once per week. When the people of God fast, He moves in their lives. The point of fasting is to replace something (usually food) with prayer. This is an important spiritual discipline that I have lacked.
• Wait on God. Instead of chasing after every glimpse of an opportunity that I think I see, I am going to wait for God to bring opportunities to me, or put me in the right places.

The hard part of all of this is going to be sticking to it. One of the things that I took from Dave’s sermon this past weekend is that not every closed door is one that I should forget about and not every open door is one I should just run through. Dave Buehring’s taught practical ways to hear God in his sermon this past weekend. If you missed it, take some time to watch it now:

Do you want to be a leader in your field or would you rather stay in the same job forever? Do you feel like your salary matches your production? These questions probably have one of two effects on you. Either your frustration level rose because you feel underappreciated or stuck in a dead-end job, or you felt encouraged because you love what you are doing and you are being well compensated for it. Take a look at this list and tell me where you feel like you fit best.

1. You pour your heart out into your work, but you feel underappreciated because your compensation barely pays the bills.
2. You have been working hard at you job, but you don’t feel like you are just going in circles as you grind the millstone.
3. Your vocation is unfulfilling and you feel like any job would be better than the one have.
4. You have the best job you could ever ask for, if only you made a little more money doing it.
5. You are in the perfect place with the perfect job, the right salary, and you enjoy both your job and your family like never before.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of  possibilities, and I know you might find yourself feeling something different, but try to pick what matches you best. Many people who are further along in their careers have experienced all of these seasons at one point or another. If you are fresh out of college, you might feel like there’s nothing more than the first season on the list.

Let me give you some tips that I am still learning. Some of them might seem counterintuitive but they make more sense the more you think about them.

Do Stuff For Free

This one is geared towards anyone who is fresh out of college or looking for a drastic change in their vocation. This is probably harder to swallow the younger you are, but you have to realize that as you start out you are like a new swimmer who is trying out the deep end for the first time in a pool filled with olympic swimmers. You have yet to establish yourself as a leader in your field.

While this is a good starting point for anyone looking to build a career around something they produce, it is also helpful to start here if you are picking up a hobby that could eventually bring in a some income on the side. For example, I recently filmed an instructional video with Aaron Shust. He offered to pay for my services, but I told him no for a few reasons.

1. I have not established myself as a professional cinematographer. Why should I charge for something that h might not even like.
2. Aaron Shust is relatively famous. I was honored to even be asked to help him out.
3. I was able to build part of my portfolio with the work that I did, and having a big name in a portfolio can help a lot down the road.
4. Chances are much bigger that I would be asked again since I didn’t want any money for the project.

Can you see how doing something for free can help you lay a good foundation to build on in the future? I am doing the same thing with web design. I am currently working on three Standard Theme customizations. There is a cost for these clients to host their sites and purchase the base theme, but I am doing all of the customizations for free so that I can build up my web design portfolio.

Sometimes the side hobbies that you have can turn into something much bigger than you could ever anticipate. If it’s something you enjoy, go after it. Two of my close friends have their own photography businesses. Both of them started out with photography as a side hobby. Hot Metal Studio is now highly sought after in the Pittsburgh area for everything from weddings to family photo shoots. Rachel Rowland Photography stared as an understudy of Hot Metal Studio and is now working to become a top choice for Pittsburgh Wedding Photography.

Do More Than What Is Expected

If you want to move ahead, you have to go above and beyond what is required of you. Nothing shows that you deserve a second chance, a closer look, a job offer, more opportunities, or a promotion than going beyond your job description and exceeding the expectations that people have of you. To use a baseball metaphor, knock every pitch out of the park.

If you are consistently breaking through the ceiling of your role, your job is not going to be able to contain you. You will either move up in your current company, or you will be sought after by other companies that might realize your potential better. If you don’t have the drive for greatness in everything that you do, you are not going to go much further than you already are.

Become The Go-To Person

This tip is built on top of the other two. When you do things for free, building up a portfolio, and go above and beyond expectations, people will start seeking you out. If you make yourself the best there is at something, people will look for you to do that something for them. There is no set path to becoming the go-to person in any field, but it must include excellence. That is something you will have to work out on your own with the help of mentors.

Where Am I?

In the past, I have often written out of struggles. I have been frustrated with my job or leadership. I have wondered why I was doing what I was doing. Those feelings are not what this post is written out of. This post is written out of a desire to help anyone move ahead into roles of leadership. I am in a position of leadership over teams of volunteers in the production tech world of my church right now. Some day I would like to have a broader role, but I will not get there if I am stagnant and not growing in my current role. I want to knock it out of the park. I want people to come to me when looking for tip in their own leadership. That’s why I am working on these same things.

In my quest to better understand myself and how I function in team and leadership settings, I try to take advantage of any opportunity I have to learn through my leaders, peers, and tests or assessments. When I saw the Action & Influence was giving away free assessments and coaching this year, I jumped at the chance to win.

Free Assessment and Coaching! – myai.org/giveaway-2/ // congrats to @tlamarca for last week’s win!

— Action and Influence (@actioninfluence) April 23, 2012

Over the course of a busy week, I had all but forgotten that I entered to win the free assessment and coaching until I saw on Twitter that I had won. This is exciting to me because not only did I get a chance to learn more about myself through the AI assessment, but I also get a free coaching session with John Saddington (TentBlogger.com, 8BIT.io, ChairCo.org, myAI.org) this Friday.

The last psychometric test I took was StrengthsFinder 2.0 as a part of the emerging leaders of North Way Christian Community. I’ve taken that test before and just like last time, it matched me pretty well. One of the things that I found to be interesting about the Action & Influence assessment is that it is geared more towards work as a team rather than just understanding your strengths.

I was impressed with how well the Action & Influence assessment matched me. I honestly thought my relational score would have been more on the insulated side than the empathetic, but I quickly realized that I was assessed correctly when I read the description of the “negotiator.” I can’t wait for my coaching session with John. I’m sure much more will be learned that I will share with you here.

If you don’t have 30 minutes right now to watch or listen to the following message, make sure you come back when you do. Pastor Doug Melder was truly anointed as he spoke on the subject of hearing from God this past weekend. Check it out:

God is a good Father who wants to give good gifts to His children. Sometimes I forget this truth and beg as though He needs convincing. It’s as ridiculous as if my kids thought they needed to beg me to hug them. It delights my heart to hug them.

Francis Chan – Forgotten God (iBook, Amazon)

When I read that segment of Francis Chan’s book, I immediately thought of the relationship I have with my own children. I love to go overboard in buying them gifts for their birthdays and Christmas, and I love it when they come to give me a hug. They know that they can get a hug from me anytime they want and in comparing that relationship to our relationship with God, I am reminded of Luke 18:17 that says we should receive the Kingdom of God like a child.

But my children do not always want a hug from me. Sometimes I feel like I have to beg them to give me a hug before I leave for work. I wonder if that is a more accurate picture of my relationship with my Heavenly Father. He wants to empower me with The Spirit. He wants to show me His love for me in tangible ways, but I would rather act childish and go on doing what I want to do in my own power.

I used to stand and wait for my children to give me a hug before work. I’m not a perfect father like God, so eventually I stopped waiting. I wonder if He sometime stops pressing us to engage in our relationship with Him. Every time I turn back towards Him, I can tell that He’s been standing there waiting for me.

Jesus didn’t say we need to be childish, but to have a child-like faith to enter the Kingdom of God.

Create an environment that helps people engage in worship and the Word of God. This is the task for production teams in large churches around the world. Everyone connects in different ways, and something that might help one person engage might be a distraction to someone else. No matter what we do, there will always be someone who doesn’t like at least one aspect of the services that we produce. To some people it probably even sounds weird to hear that we “produce” services. I’ll touch on that shortly.

Think about the last concert you went to. Do you remember the bright lights that were aimed at you and the crowd? I have some lights like that at our church, and I love to watch the congregation in worship when I bring them up. From upstairs in our production suite, I see more hands raised and I can hear the collective voice of the congregation grow louder. From my perspective, people are engaging more and focusing their attention on The One they are worshipping rather than the ones leading them in song.

I tend to only use those lights on special weekends and all worship nights, and there is a reason for that. On any given weekend, there is a number of first time visitors who are already overwhelmed by the size of our church (specifically the Wexford campus). To have bright lights blasted at them in the midst of their other senses being overloaded can be a little bit too much. There are other people who come from a more conservative worship background. They tend to connect more in the quiet moments of a hymn rather than the new choruses that we sing. Bright lights aimed at them can be another sticking point for them that pulls them out of the moment that we are trying to enhance.

The delicate balance between using technology to help people engage in worship and going overboard to turn people off can be compared to relationships in leadership. Some people respond well to pushing and prodding to encourage them to do better. Others are more likely to respond to an encouraging word or note, and others still would rather be left alone because they already recognize where they need to improve. Everyone responds differently to the same stimuli, so it is important to really get to know the people you lead. When you understand what helps your volunteers and/or employees engage, you can be a better leader to them. The productivity of a team is directly connected to its leadership.

Back to the “production” of services, because I know that some of you were thrown for a loop by that. Let me start by saying that we are still led by the Spirit. We don’t produce services to manufacture feelings that look like The Spirit is moving. We produce our services to create environments where people can feel free to worship and connect with God. The Spirit can and does move in small churches that don’t have lights and drums because the people there are open to Him. We just try to help people open up to The Spirit through the environments that we create. It’s meant to help people connect to God, not manipulate their feelings.

Put yourself in the shoes of the disciples, Jesus’ closest friends.

He’s been saying all kinds of weird things about leaving, being denied, and rebuilding temples. All of the sudden, Jesus gets arrested, tried, and crucified. Now it’s Saturday and there is nothing but confusion, fear, and most likely a tinge of hopelessness in your heart and mind. The one you thought came to save you is dead and buried. The way they killed him over the course of a day with extreme prejudice makes you want to hide from the masses, so you mourn the death of your savior in private.

Normally you would have turned to Jesus for direction in this moment, but he is behind a stone in a tomb. You remember when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and wish that He could call Himself back from the dead. You are at a loss without direction, and vulnerable to attacks from the enemy.

Jump back to your life today.

Do you ever experience seasons of hopelessness? Do you ever feel like there is nowhere to turn? When you look at your life, is there a laundry list of things that seem to be going wrong? I can tell you that as a church employee during Holy Week, there is a real threat from the enemy to disrupt what we are trying to do in the Name of Jesus to further His Kingdom. Pastor Scott spoke to us about this at our all staff meeting yesterday.

I hadn’t thought about it much until then. Stupid little things that can be annoyances any other time of the year are piling up right now. Communication breakdowns at work and at home are more prevalent, sickness is rearing its ugly head again in my family, long work days are exhausting me emotionally as well as physically, parts of my van are breaking, and that’s just a fraction of the list I wrote last night.

Any other week, my response to that list would be to brush it off. I should communicate better, illness happens, sometimes you have to suck it up and work long hours, and with as much as we drive it, something was bound to break on the van sooner or later.

I felt stuck in Saturday. Little things were compounding into arguments with coworkers, and the stress and frustration that I felt was bringing me to a breaking point. I was getting to the point of feeling as though my efforts were worthless and anything that I would normally look at objectively became personal to me. If someone didn’t like something, it must mean that they don’t like me.

But it’s not just me. This kind of thing is happening to pastors and church employees and volunteers everywhere this week. Satan would like nothing better than to disrupt our lives this week, the week we celebrate our salvation.

And with that in mind, I pray to God that His will be done. I pray for His protection against the enemy. I pray that His Name be proclaimed to the lost in a way this weekend that multitudes turn and place all their hope and trust in Him. I pray that the enemy who has already been defeated loses his grip on the lives that need Jesus and that every attack he attempts on the Church is denied. I pray that the Spirit moves people to come to church with open hearts to hear what they need to hear. I pray that the power of the resurrection of Christ breaks every stronghold, loosens ever chain, and softens every hardened heart so that He may be glorified. To God be the glory, power, and honor, forevermore. Amen.

I am no stranger to the loss of a loved one. My grandfather passed away when I was in junior high. One of my cousins was killed in a car accident when I was in college. My dad died two years ago from cancer. The professionals who have studied grief tend to say that there are five stages of grief, known as the Kübler-Ross model, that people go through: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. These five stages are sometimes simplified to Arthur Schopenhauer’s three stages of the learning process: Ridicule, Opposition, and Acceptance.

Many people believe that everyone who experiences a loss or traumatic event goes through these stages of grief. Some experience the stages faster or more intensely than others, but everyone goes through them. I don’t think that is entirely true. Looking at myself as an example, I was sad when my family members passed away, but I don’t remember going through denial, anger, bargaining, or depression. I think that’s why I have such a hard time knowing what to say to people who have lost someone they love.

Some of my close friends have lost family members over the past month. Most recently, one of my close friends lost her father to a heart attack. I want to say that I understand what she is going through, but she lost her dad in the course of a week while my dad fought the cancer for six months. I understand the sadness, but that’s about where my understanding ends.

I don’t know if I have been desensitized to death or if I’ve been blessed to accept things quickly. Maybe I am just resilient. According to the research of George Bonanno, many people do not grieve, so in turn do not experience the stages of grief. For those people, offering condolences can bring on the grief that they would otherwise not experience. Those who subscribe to the five stage model might say that these people just never make it out of the denial stage. I don’t think I am one of those people. I grieve. It just looks different from the grief of others.

The sting of death only lasts in a moment of sadness for me. I cling to the truth in Scripture that there is victory in Christ.

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

2 Corinthians 15:54-55 (ESV)

I live with my eyes focused on the return of The King. He will wipe away every tear and death will be abolished. Mourning, crying, and pain will be no more.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Revelation 21:1-4 (ESV)

My grieving or mourning process may be different from most people I know, but I still want to be there for them if they need me. I can be anything from a person to hug to a shoulder to cry on. I can empathize with their pain or help them laugh again. It’s just that often times can’t find the encouraging words to share with them.

1. Image ©2011 RGBStock.com.
2. Source material for Kübler-Ross, Arthur Schopenhauer, and George Bonanno: wikipedia.

Like many other people, it took a financial crisis for me to understand the importance of financial stewardship. I used to operate under the thinking that if I had money, I could spend it. If I didn’t have money, I would either borrow it or not eat for a few days until payday. That’s easy to do when you don’t have a family to feed but I had to make a change when I realized that I have children who depend on me to provide them with food and shelter. Being a good steward of time is just as important as stewarding finances well. Sometimes handling time poorly can even translate into handling money poorly.

During my weekly mentor meetings, I tend to be hit by at least one morsel of wisdom more than anything else he says. Our conversations are full of great stuff, but there’s always that one thing that stands out from each meeting. This week he mentioned the stewardship of time. It wasn’t even a long part of our discussion, but it stuck with me.

What does the stewardship of time look like? How can I better steward my time? What areas of my life to I need to prioritize better? All of these questions instantly flooded my mind when my mentor said those three words: “Stewardship of Time.”

The stewardship of time goes beyond time management and scheduling time for higher priorities. Good time stewardship involves using time wisely and being proactive more often than reactive. Great leaders are great stewards of time. Leadership is not just about being a great communicator and being able to inspire people to achieve goals. Great leadership requires being more proactive than reactive and prioritizing well to use time wisely. An 80-20 balance between being proactive and reactive is a great ratio for stewarding time when leading others.

When a majority of time is spent reacting to issues and situations, how much progress forward can be made? The picture I have of a leader is someone who moves a group forward. Constantly reacting to things in the past or hidden hurdles slows progress to a crawl. When a leader proactively seeks out innovation and prepares for the hurdles that they see in the future, the group they are leading can progress quickly and efficiently.

When looking at the make up of an organization, the top-tier leadership should have something close to an 80-20 balance. Chances are that as you move down the ladder towards the support roles, the ratio begins to flip. Moving ahead in any role requires a display of leadership. The more proactive someone can be, the more likely they are to move up in their organization. Finding the right ratio is key though.

In my position at the church, I am a part of team that leads volunteers to run the production side of our worship services. We take the vision of the pastors and make it come to life with visual and audible support. We teach our volunteers how to create environments where the congregation can more easily connect to God through worship and the teaching of His Word.

Looking at my role, I would say that I have almost a 50-50 balance between being proactive and reactive. Some weeks it seems that I have to react more to where the leadership above me wants to go, and other weeks I am taking the lead on improving the environments that I can have a direct impact on. A 50-50 ratio in my position is probably about the right place to be. To be more proactive would likely make me seem pretentious. I don’t want to appear that all I care about is moving up the corporate ladder. That might be ok in a the secular corporate world, but I believe that there has to be a sense of humility, especially in the church. To be more reactive would mean just maintaining the status quo. I do not want to live my life by just maintaining.

Today I have begun my intentional journey of learning to better steward my time. I’ve prioritized and created an agenda for my day, and I am looking forward to using my time more wisely. What kind of balance do you have in your life? Are you more proactive or reactive? How do you prioritize?

One of the things I like most about the results from the StrengthsFinder 2.0 test is “Ideas for Action” section. This section gives you specific things you can do with each of the five personalized leadership themes that the test reveals. You might already be taking some of the action steps, and some of them might seem beyond your power at first, but you have to remember that they are suggestions based on your strengths. I think it’s important to at least pick a couple to work on at first, and I’d like to share a few of the action steps that I plan to work on from the results of my most recent test.

Strategic

• You are likely to anticipate potential issues more easily than others. Though your awareness of possible danger might be viewed as negativity by some, you must share your insights if you are going to avoid these pitfalls. To prevent misperception of your intent, point out not only the future obstacle, but also a way to prevent or overcome it. Trust your insights, and use them to ensure the success of your efforts.
• Help others understand that your strategic thinking is not an attempt to belittle their ideas, but is instead a natural propensity to consider all the facets of a plan objectively. Rather than being a naysayer, you are actually trying to examine ways to ensure that the goal is accomplished, come what may. Your talents will allow you to consider others’ perspectives while keeping your end goal in sight.

Sometimes I feel like people think that my tendency to bring up possible obstacles is just may way of trying to get out of a certain project. I need to learn to share solutions to the problems I see instead of just pointing out the problems.

• Make sure that you are involved in the front end of new initiatives or enterprises. Your innovative yet procedural approach will be critical to the genesis of a new venture because it will keep its creators from developing deadly tunnel vision.

Often times I am just given a project and I have to make it work the way someone else envisions it. While this is no problem for me, it would be a lot easier if I were a part of the planning process too. Interestingly, when I start a project on my own I try to plan ahead, but when assigned a project I tend to work out the process as I go.

Achiever

• As an achiever, you relish the feeling of being busy, yet you also need to know when you are “done.” Attach timelines and measurement to goals so that effort leads to defined progress and tangible outcomes.

This sounds like the A.D.D. in me. If I’m not doing something or I don’t have something occupying my mind, I get bored or antsy. At the same time, open-ended projects tend to be left unfinished. Timelines and specific goal points would definitely help me get things done.

• Your drive for action might cause you to find meetings a bit boring. If that’s the case, appeal to your Achiever talents by learning the objectives of each meeting ahead of time and by taking notes about progress toward those objectives during the meeting. You can help ensure that meetings are productive and efficient.

I definitely find meetings to be quite boring at times. Now it makes sense to me why I might enjoy the same meeting if I were leading it because I would have the agenda laid out and know exactly where it is headed. If I get the agenda ahead of time and take notes, I’ll be less tempted to pull out my iPhone and start playing games during meetings (That doesn’t mean that’s what I do during boring meetings).

• Continue your education by attaining certifications in your area or specialty in addition to attending conferences and other programs. This will give you even more goals to achieve and will push your existing boundaries of accomplishment.

I like this one a lot because I’ve wanted to continue my education for a while now. I have a yearning to constantly be learning new things. I never really thought of continued education as a way of creating more goals though. If I can’t create new goals, I think I’d become stagnant and just maintain the status quo.

Belief

• Actively seek roles that fit your values. In particular, think about joining organizations that define their purpose by the contribution they make to society.

I think this is why I have often thought about other jobs I could have. It’s not that I don’t like where I am or that I think I would be better at something else, but it’s about passions that stem from my values. I could creatively connect what I am doing now to my values, but there are other roles that seem to match more. One of the things that has made me realize that this is the right place for me right now is the fact that I value great leadership, and I am in a role under great leadership.

• The meaning and purpose of your work will often provide direction for others. Remind people why their work is important and how it makes a difference in their lives and in the lives of others.

I am in a place of leadership over volunteers who are behind the scenes. It can be easy to lose focus on why we do what we do in the production world. By reminding my volunteers of the difference that they are making in the lives of those who come to our church, I can possibly rekindle or even start a passion in the hearts of those that are serving with me.

• Set aside time to ensure that you are balancing your work demands and your personal life. Your devotion to your career should not come at the expense of your strong commitment to your family.

Balance has always been difficult for me. It’s not as bad as it used to be, but it still requires a god bit of effort on my part.

Adaptability

• Don’t let others abuse your inherent flexibility. Though your Adaptability talents serve you well, don’t compromise your long-term success by bending to every whim, desire, and demand of others. Use smart guidelines to help you decide when to flex and when to stand firm.

Before working on this one, I need to understand what “smart guidelines” are. This is where having a good mentor can help. I like being flexible, but it can be wearing. Knowing how to choose my battles would help bring balance.

• Look to others for planning. People who have strong Focus, Strategic, or Belief talents can help you shape your long-term goals, leaving you to excel at dealing with the day-to-day variations.

Strategic and Belief talents are two of my other top five. Does that mean that I should look to myself for help with shaping my long term goals? If that’s all I needed to do, I would have my goals all planned out already. I’ve always known that I’ve had a struggle with time management, even though strategy is one of my strong suits.

• Avoid tasks that are too structured and stifle your need for variety. If given a list of tasks to complete, try to indulge your desire for flexibility by making a game of that list. See if you can be creative or make the tasks more fun in some way.

Most of my structured tasks are short and easy to complete. When I have a lot of structured tasks to complete, I tend to work on more than one at a time to keep variety in my tasks. It helps to be on the kind of team that I am on where there is no shortage of variety.

Ideation

• Finish your thoughts and ideas before communicating them. Lacking your Ideation talents, others might not be able to “join the dots” of an interesting but incomplete idea and thus might dismiss it.
• Not all your ideas will be equally practical or serviceable. Learn to edit your ideas, or find a trusted friend or colleague who can “proof” your ideas and identify potential pitfalls.

This is a huge point that I need to work on. Inspiration often sparks my imagination and I tend to want to share those ideas with everyone before they are full developed. It’s no wonder that many of my ideas never get past the idea stage. If I spend the effort to develop my ideas better, chances are that I will be able to recognize when they are more likely to succeed.

• Schedule time to read, because the ideas and experiences of others can become your raw material for new ideas. Schedule time to think, because thinking energizes you.

I used to hate reading. I would do anything else, but picking up a book seemed too much like work. Recently, I have begun to enjoy reading, but I still struggle to make time to do it. I guess that’s where the scheduling comes in.

Taking Action

There are so many other action steps throughout each of my StrengthsFinder themes that I feel like I need to take. These are just a few that I am going to start on. If You haven’t taken a StrengthsFinder test, I would encourage you to pick up a StrengthsFinder 2.0 book and take the test. You won’t regret it. There’s also still time to comment on my last post for a chance to win a free copy of the book, including a code to take the test!

Results, insights, and Ideas for Action taken from my StrengthsFinder personalized results report, © 2000, 2006-2012 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.