Train With Len

Initiative, you can’t leave home without it…

trainwithlen — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:27:21 +0000

In leading a team and attempting to influence people, keep in mind you are responsible for initiating the connection. Connect and then find ways to stay connected. (I’m glad we are connected, me and you…)

I say let’s take initiative today. Yeah, today.

Everyone has some good ideas when they are in the shower, but not everyone gets out, dries off and does something about it. I want to challenge you to put some of your ideas into action. Try it out. Why not? Keep in mind that you will fail sometimes and miss it. However, you will hit it too! Check out what JFK said, “There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.”

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” Robert Kennedy

Opportunity doesn’t knock, you have to create it. So squash whatever hesitation you may have to initiate your creative ideas.

You do have creativity to offer the world around you
Today is always the day to initiate
You will fail, but you will also succeed. A “failure” is not someone who gets knocked down, but it is someone who stays down.
Identify who is looking for your expertise?
Keep putting yourself and your skill set out there. Contact the work and work your contacts.

Today, make it happen!

Unlock it! Unlock that potential that’s in there. Let it go and let that stuff loose!

the repeat is not inevitable, get a new filter…

trainwithlen — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:47:29 +0000

A thought hit me this morning as I was in the gym. (It’s funny how good thoughts don’t seem to hit when I am at my computer or when I have a notepad open. Nope, they come when I am on the treadmill, driving in heavy traffic or in the shower. Well, at least they come…)

When looking ahead at our responsibilities, hopes, dreams and plans, let’s look at them thru the lens of optimism and success not past shortcomings. In other words, when thinking ahead at a potentially cool situation, don’t allow your heart to drop because you associate that with the idea of that old rut you used to get stuck in. The negative bad energy stuff tries to creep into our future plans sometimes. Free your head from thinking that the repeat is invevitable. Get a new filter. Filter your future thoughts and happenings to a new hope. Why? Because you can, because your thoughts today equal actions tomorrow, to continually develop a pattern of personal advancement, and realize the old is wiped away and the new has come!

Before anything can change, we gotta change the way we think!

Stop And Think about that…

Incurable optimists…

trainwithlen — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:47:02 +0000

Thomas Edison was named the number one man of the millennium by Life magazine. He had a record of 1,093 inventions. He held more patents than any other person in the world.

Most people credit his ability to being a creative genius, but he said, “Genius is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration.” Another factor in his success, which drove his perspiration, was a positive attitude.

I know we hear those words all the time, “stay positive.” But are we really staying positive? I have noticed in such a huge way that I get so much more accomplished when I am positive. It changes my outlook which changes my work ethic. I have more get up. I want to go and do and be. When I am struggling with negativity, my productivity is sluggish. And I don’t just mean productivity at work; I also mean productivity in relationships and personal happiness.

Back to Edison as an example… He had built a world famous lab in New Jersey, calling it his invention factory. He loved the place, and often slept there on one of his lab tables. He and his staff conceived inventions, developed prototypes, manufactured products, and shipped them to customers. In 1914, when he was 64, the lab caught on fire and burnt to the ground. As he stood outside and watched it burn, he was reported as saying, “Kids, go get your mother. She’ll never see a fire quite like this one.” When most would have hung it up, he simply started over. He then stated, “I am never too old to make a fresh start.”

It all goes back to a fact of life, what happens around you is not nearly as important as what happens in you. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.

I love the title of Michael J Fox’s book, it’s called The Incurable Optimist. Here’s a guy that chooses to not let his Parkinson’s disease get the best of him. What is getting in the way of your positive attitude? Get a fresh start!

Maintaining a good attitude is easier than regaining one.

look at challenges from different angles.

trainwithlen — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:45:52 +0000

Never allow others to put obstacles in the pathway to your dreams.

There is always a different angle to look at a situation. For example, I recently began a new position where I am trusted with authority to not just manage people, but lead a team. And I love that challenge! As a program director I think the best method is to develop a relational model not a programmatic one. Interesting concept huh? We use programs to reach people but quality connectivity is the glue. The quality of connecting each other and connecting clients or customers to who you are is more important that connecting them with what you do. (That’s a good side note)…

So, when I look at a challenge I do my best to look at it from different angles. I digest different possibilities. And I always get stoked when I get to dig around for solutions because I have the conviction that some really good stuff is going to come from this. Especially as I pull strengths from the team.

I heard a good line yesterday that said “don’t fire them, instead fire them up!” I don’t see the value in firing a whole department or replacing an existing team simply to get a “new” flare. If we as leaders model the problem solving techniques that see objectives, not obstacles, and the positive outcome, not the negative situation; then we all grow and get fired up!

Loosen up the mindset…

trainwithlen — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 15:25:27 +0000

This has been a cool week. We all need those when we can get em huh? I had a great week (finally, thank you Jesus) in career advancement, networking, started teaching at a local college, had a really good interview with a great company that matches my skill set and comfort level, filmed for the TV show I am going on in September, had a sweet birthday with some cool surprises and just couldn’t lose. I should have spent the week in Vegas.

I’m saying that to say we gotta capture the good feelings as they come. It’s trippy because when you have gone thru a ton of turn downs, dead ends, doors closing, financial frustrations and the like; it’s easy to just accept that’s the norm. As long as you keep getting up, keep looking up and keep practicing your desire for more, it will start to come together!

I’m talking to so many people right now who feel they are stuck. The reality is, we always- I say always- have options. We just can’t always see them. Everyone can see the same sky, but not everyone has the same horizon. We feel we get stuck because obstacles and distraction squeeze us in to the point it’s in our face and at every turn. Then we get the claustrophobic feeling formed directly around us and think that our potential and right road is way “out there”. Just know that what is stuck is not our potential, it’s our mindset. Loosen up your mindset and see all that you are and what you have to offer the world, and that good thing you have been waiting on, is in arms reach! Apply your own oxygen to your soul and the suffocation feeling with leave.

And I know this for a fact because I have lived it, and am living now; the deeper the level of intense pain- that is to the same extent that greatness is being pulled out of you. Oh yes, come on now. Work with me. Let’s see it for what it is. Don’t allow the downsides of life to override the potential upside. See it. You can only seize what you can see.

Everyday wake up expecting good stuff and things to come your way that you have been waiting on and working toward!

Lost in transition… Get back to where you once belonged

trainwithlen — Mon, 31 May 2010 16:50:47 +0000

I have been frustrated this weekend. For me, the bottom line is that I am not happy, am experiencing some big time internal frustration, because I am not where I really want to be. Shouldn’t it be a huge indicator if your insides are telling you to move into another direction? And then I heard that song “Dare You to Move” from Switchfoot on the radio.. perfect timing huh?
I have got to make movement toward where I really want to be. God, sometimes we can be such people pleasers we miss our own specific path and what would make us happy. The pursuit of happiness is not something that I have always strived to achieve. And I think for some good reasons, but now I am at a point of balance, or even leaning more toward the other side. I was raised with the Christian perspective of “die to yourself”, “lay your life down”, “crucify your wants, your needs, your desires, to pick up the life of Christ…”. But at this stage in the game I still do hold that teaching close, but also there are words of Christ like this: “I died to give you life”, “where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”. And Paul talks a lot of that kind of balanced stuff as well, and the bottom line is discovering a balance and recognizing seasons.
There is a season in life to go for it. The “it” I am referring to is that thing you want to do! Yes! Be honest with your emotions. Be true to who you are. If who you are with or what you are doing doesn’t match up with your honest emotions and desires, then you will live in frustration. Go ahead and get expressive. Even in causes hurt, but the one you think it may cause hurt to can only respect you for your honesty and transparency. There will be some friction anytime there is change, but that friction is much easier than living in that stagnate, limbo stage with frustration.
The thing is, it’s way too easy to get lost in transition. We have to do a job so we can eat, and then we just work and work and get lost in transition. We start dating someone just because we are lonely, and then next thing you know you just settle for what you have.
Start thinking back to when your ambition and hope was high, what is it that you wanted then?
What was your highest ideal? What road were you on?
Who did you want to be there with you, and what did they look like?
What job used to be your passion?
What do you still dream about doing?
What brought you life and what was it that was an adventure to you?
Now, did you get lost in transition? If the first word out of your mouth was “ah, seriously”; then you gotta do some soul searching. Like Cheryl Crow sang “A change will do you good…”
We have to be transparent, we have to get there. Don’t be afraid of getting your freedom. In you obtaining your freedom, you will attract the people you need in your life anyway. You can’t fit a circle where a square should be. Stop trying to fit into something and somewhere you are not, stop putting yourself in places that are not you! A different Paul, from the Beatles, sang “Get back to where you once belonged”. You will need to have the strength to change. A change will do you good! Think outside the box, get ready to move and shake things up, but you will move to the arena you belong in. Get to your pack, run with the right pack. If you are not a redskin, then go with the cowboys. Feel me? What is it that feels right? What makes you happy? What is that when you put it out, brings you fulfillment? Get back! Maybe it’s an area or town, maybe it’s a job, maybe it’s a hobby, maybe it’s a relationship, or a combination…whatever it is…. Get back! Maybe you need to go back to school, get that degree…. Got get it…
Really hone in on it. For me, I just listed two things. My top two areas that I am making changes in. I think certain levels of frustration are ok, because you don’t want to just settle. You want to find contentment, but we can’t ever act like there is nothing else. And in the midst of trying to work all these hours to pay rent, you can’t lose sight of your bigger goals. Way too may times we as people, people who want what’s best for ourselves and family, people who do have a good work ethic, have gotten lost. And having a good work ethic is not the issue, the issue is what are we working towards? Where are putting all this effort? Is it in the exact direction we know in our heart we need to go? What road should you be on? And why are you not there? That is exactly what I confronted myself with yesterday. When you start crafting out a plan and take the first step toward it, that’s when your heart will thank you and you can breathe again.
And I am not saying to give up on something when the going gets tough, or to change for the sake of changing; not at all. What I am saying is that you know when you are just spinning your wheels and have left your purpose. Start spinning those wheels in your right direction. To bring about some balance to all this to, keep in mind life is about some compromises, and those are the things that move us along. So, naturally there will be some give and take. But as long as we are on our specific path, a little detour here and there is ok. And life happens, stuff that is out of our control. But when it does, we just can’t get lost in transition.
Let’s do it.

Stay motivated… Yup, you can.

trainwithlen — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:09:31 +0000

Stay motivated. Yup, come on…

You have to find ways to keep yourself up. Up I say. There are a lot of things that come, sometimes daily, that try to sabotage our strength and optimism. Notice I didn’t say happiness. I don’t buy into the idea that life is about the pursuit of happiness. To me, happiness is a choice not something to be based on circumstance. So, I am happy because I chose to be. I had a friend that chose to be happy all the up until cancer took his life. So, even in the midst of terrible circumstance, whether deserving or not, you can stay motivated. And it’s okay to feel frustrated on one end but yet motivated on the other. How is that?

It’s that way because you make it that way. Typically we feel that when hard times come, times that could potentially get us all out of whack, that we obey our “intuition” and get ourselves out of whack. Now, what if you trained your brain, which is the best trainer for your emotions, and conditioned yourself to stay motivated no matter what the heck happens?

Oh yes, again I say, rise up motivation! Why? Because you can.

Control issues…

trainwithlen — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 23:16:13 +0000

Psalm 23 talks about how God is our shepherd. That means He guides us. Guides us where? Into the right pasture, or setting, or lot in life. That infers then we don’t need anything else other than His guidance. Ties true. But what about when you want to go somewhere you ain’t being led? Or you do your best to push doors open, but then are not moving?

He has us like sheep in His pen. A pen has boundaries. So boundaries are set up for us, not really the ones we set up for ourselves. So, we ask “Why didn’t that work out?” Or “Why didn’t that come thru”, “Why did that relationship not pan out?” Because you were in His boundaries. Our steps are ordered. Order up!

I read Psalm 23 and it takes times to sink in. The reason for my frustration is because I want what I don’t have. Yeah, I do. And for some things I want what I can’t have today. So, what do we do?

Realize, accept and give it up that I can’t make certain things change and I can’t make people change, or anybody do anything. I can only do for myself. That is a crazy good fact when that is realized, internalized, processed and manifested back outwardly. When I want people to do what I would prefer them do, even when my emotions are into trying to coax them, I have poured into it, done all I can do, at the end of the day I just have to let it go. I am not in control. I was up a lot last night, couldn’t sleep because I wanted something to change right away, a few things actually. And it really did hurt and was very frustrating that this was the case. So, I should have done at 4am what I did at 10am; which was to pray about it, meditate and come up with the solution I just blogged about.

When control tries to reach beyond ourselves, that’s when it crosses lines. The recognition of that is freeing. No, it doesn’t absolutely cure what ails you, but it frees your mind to begin to free your emotions.

So continue to think on the fact that God is your shepherd, meaning He has you penned in for a reason. We try to grab things outside our pen and either it’s not time or it’s not for the best. Acknowledge, accept and let it go.

And try to have fun in your pen….

Fill your head with the best, not the worst.

yup, training that brain…

trainwithlen — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:53:57 +0000

Whew, it’s been a taxing week. And in the midst of typing this my 9 year old son just flung out of his chair in here in Starbucks and caused the loudest crash…

Sometimes your nerves just need a break ya know? When work is stressful or long, bills are coming in faster than income, and stuff is just not happening quite as fast you would like… what do you do? How about just smile. Yeah, just smile. Right where you are, and maybe turn it into a laugh. Whynot? Learn to laugh at yourself. Then continue to train your brain to turn a potential negative into a constructive positive.

And never forget that we also gotta have the supernatural all up in our business. God has the ultimate power to jump right in the DNA of that stronghold and unravel it.

Fill your head with the best, not the worst.

Yo, you gotta be your own inspiration…

trainwithlen — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:55:41 +0000

Ya know, we gotta be our own inspiration.

Even when, esp when, we put our efforts out there and it doesn’t seem to be enough. Hey, focus on what you got, the good you got. It’s in there. You do have good, and a lot of it, to offer the world. And you have the goods in you to stay content.

I reread the other day “after you have done all you know to do to stand, just keep standing.” You can take yourself up or down, you decide. Don’t let external forces undermine your confidence.