Growth Instigators Hotline
970.306.6432
Have you ever been to a circus?

Thank you for calling GIH where we instigate growth one call at a time where we utilize antiquated technology to deliver 3-minute leadership lessons every day of the week! This is message #105 and I am Aaron Havens.

If you’ve ever been to a circus or fair, you’ll hear, see and smell some pretty extreme things. Fairs are nothing more than extreme marketing techniques all yelling at you… clashing and battling it out for the limited cash in your pocket.

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls… listen closely… watch this amazing trick… witness this mind-blowing feat of strength…. Fix your eyes on this freakish thing… take in all the bizarre you will be subject too… buy this and that… you get it, yes.

Is your life a circus?

One minute you’re in a lion cage and the next minute your shoveling a funnel cake in your face and the next minute you’re winning a stuffed animal. All wonderful things on their own. At a specific time. Not a good way to live everyday of your life.

Do you go through your day expecting extremes? Do this, jump to that, send that email, answer that call, fling that leadership decision, make that call… so on and so forth.

My friends, let’s tell our calories where to go. Tell time how it will get spent. Build in room for the inevitable chaos and random things you will encounter today. If your schedule and life is already a circus, the last minute things will only add to your stress. May I suggest block scheduling? As my life has gotten busier I’ve begun making my schedule pretty protected. Ask me for a coffee before 8am and I’ll probably push it back to later… that time of my day is pretty focused. Emails… yeah… I’m beginning to read and reply during specific times of the day. So on and so forth. Life is already a circus. Let’s plan for the things that we know and are most important to our lives, and then let the Greatest Show On Earth throw whatever random things it wants at us today.

Thanks for calling in today. Tune in tomorrow for the weekend edition of the Growth Instigator Hotline. For today. I’d like to know if you have ever attempted a block scheduling. Does that work for you? How much of your schedule is routine and protected?

Growth Instigators Hotline
970.306.6432
I didn’t know the strength I had.
Well maybe it wasn’t strength.
I didn’t know the rage I had.

Thank you for calling GIH where we instigate growth one call at a time where we utilize antiquated technology to deliver 3-minute leadership lessons every day of the week! This is message #104 and I am Aaron Havens.

My wife and I followed the typical path or getting married and then buying a puppy. We bought a cute black cocker spaniel. We named him Starflyer. We babied that little guy. He was our trial run for having kids. Years latter we had two toddler girls and a mid-life dog.

One particular weekend I was SOOO incredibly sick. My wife took our girls to her parents house for the weekend so I could rest up. I slept and slept and slept. ZERO energy. I want to say again, I was SOOO incredibly sick and had ZERO energy so that when I say what happened next, you’ll give me a little slack.

On the third day of sleeping I had had built up to maybe 3% energy and felt like I could finally make something to eat. I built up the motivation to go down stairs and make a sandwich. It was going to take me back to to zero percent energy and I knew it was important. Guess what? I did it. I made a wonderful sandwich. Right as I was putting away the supplies I looked over at the table and my precious little companion was chomping down on my sandwich.

Absolute rage came over me. I don’t know where I got the energy but I grabbed him, high stepped to the back porch, swung open the door and launched him into the air. The dude probably flew about 1000 feet. I slammed the door, went upstairs (without eating) and went to sleep.

Have you ever done something like that? My strength was impressive. My rage though, was a bit terrifying. As I started to feel better I began to reflect on my actions. Once again, my very lovely companion friend had taught me a lesson. Wow. I felt bad. I took it too far. At least it wasn’t on my girls!! Yeah, I had to apologize to him and a week later I made him his own sandwich.

Where have you caught yourself off guard lately. Words have come out of your mouth, actions have be done, mentalities have sunk in, you’ve treated others in a way that socks you. Where has “rage” or being uncentered, or out-of-sorts has gotten the best of you? What steps do you need to take to make sure that version of yourself doesn’t being the new version of you?

Thanks for calling in today. Tune in tomorrow for a fresh new topic! After the beep I’d like to know a time you shocked yourself and had to reflect on your words or actions.

Growth Instigators Hotline
970.306.6432
Let’s just say you are sitting at a red light and you see someone flick a cigarette into a field of dry grass. You notice a flame beginning to start. What do you do?

Thank you for calling GIH where we instigate growth one call at a time where we utilize antiquated technology to deliver 3-minute leadership lessons every day of the week! This is message #103 and I am Aaron Havens.

Another way of asking this question is this.

Do you run towards fires, or do you ignore them?

Raymond Greene says it this way “Ignoring difficulties is a poor way of solving them”

I was part of an organization where the leader had a tendency to stick their head in the sand and hope difficult situations would just work out. Time after time again the problems not only remained, they compounded into major issues. What could have been taken care of rather quickly was ignored and soon the little flame had the whole grass field on fire. Ignoring difficulties is a poor way of solving them!

Even if the answer is “wait”… it’s not time yet… at least the difficulty is not being ignored. Setting up some sort of system to know when to respond and act is key. If you have a system that is working… stick with it! If not, maybe you could steal mine. Each week I look at “task” or “difficulties” or “to-do’s”… really I write down everything I can think about and then I put them in one of three categories. RED… YELLOW… GREEN…

RED>Obviously needs attention right away.

YELLOW>Concerning and could probably use some attention

GREEN>Noticed and might need some attention in the future

These categories have served me well. I think we all wish we could look the other way when difficulties come to our door. Wouldn’t that be nice. The fact is, abdicating your leadership and action in that scenario could result in double the trouble. That difficulty named Harry will temporarily go away and will return with his ugly cousin named Edgar. Yep… now you’re in for it.

Not today my friends. Not on our watch! Let’s be a people that throws the first punch. Let’s tighten our first and give it to Harry right between his eyes!

Thanks for calling in today. Tune in tomorrow for a fresh new topic! After the beep, tell me about a time you ignored or saw a difficulty ignored and it came back raging in spades. Don’t leave out any details. I want to feel your story!