I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, People will forget what you did, But people will never forget how you made them feel. -Maya Angelou People will never forget how you made them feel. This is my all-time favorite quote. Maya Angelou gives the basis of how we think about the need for leadership as a parent. Parent leadership is how you make those within your influence feel about themselves. How you empower others is parentship. Think about those special people who have influenced your life. Most of the time, you don’t remember many of the things they said, but you can remember how they made you feel. Maybe they believed in you when no one else did. Read more…
Progress in life is as simple as doing the next right thing. Do I get inspired by Disney princesses!?! I am human, right?! I have a heart, right?!? You bet I get inspired by Disney princesses! In the second Frozen movie, our hero Anna sings a song when she is lost and does not have much hope. The song is The Next Right Thing. A simple theme with a powerful message on hope and personal progression. Life is a series of choices that lead to a series of actions. Our actions lead to our habits, and our habits determine the type of person we will become. The type of person we become determines what we bring into our lives. Life Read more…
Marriage is hard. Divorce is hard. Choose your hard. Raising kids is hard. Building loving relationships is hard. Choose your hard. Being in debt is hard. Being financially disciplined is hard. Choose your hard. Communication is hard. Not communicating is hard. Choose your hard. Life will never be easy. It will always be hard. But we can choose our hard. Picky wisely. Success in life and family is hard. Nothing worthwhile will ever be easy because success is never given. We have to earn it every day. The great thing about this life that can be hard is we get to choose our hard. Ultimately our success is up to one person, and that is the person in the Read more…
Skill and attitude are essential. Authority is not. In fact, authority can get in the way. – Seth Godin In most cases, we think that leadership and authority go hand in hand. If you are a leader, it is because you have a title of some sort. On the other side, if you are a leader, we think you automatically have authority. With authentic leadership, authority does not matter. As family leaders, we often rely too much on our title as a parent and not our attitude or skill. There is a phrase that I know I have used in my family too many times that is a sure sign that you are hiding behind authority. That is the phrase Read more…
“Small Deeds done are better than great deeds planned.” – Peter Marshall Small deeds are never glamorous, but they always add up when consistently done. In our families, we want that one big thing. If we did this, it would change our family overnight. There is no get rich quick route to family success or success in general. It always comes in the form of thousands of small deeds. Think about the consistent small deeds you have the chance to do every day. Something as small as saying I love you to those around you. Think about if you did this small action every day. Your family members heard this at least 365 times a year. Year after year, when Read more…