Tag: discouragement

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motivation

Strategy and Tactics

Strategy and Tactics

The journey many of us take isn’t a smooth one. There will be instances that we cannot control. Anyone who didn’t know this before January 2020 knows it today. The plan we had made likely didn’t account for a worldwide pandemic. But that’s okay. There is a difference between strategy and tactics.

This quote by Jimmy Dean reminds me that plans must be flexible.

“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”

Jimmy Dean

Jimmy Dean Quotes. BrainyQuote.com, BrainyMedia Inc, 2022. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/jimmy_dean_131287, accessed January 24, 2022.
people riding on white sailboat on body of water
Photo by Quintin Gellar on Pexels.com

Our strategy may be solid. The goals we set out to do may have been worthy and challenging. And depending on how far out we planned, they may still look desirable and attainable. But when the wind changes unexpectedly, how do we adjust and change? There is a difference between strategy and tactics.

Strategy

Strategy is the long-term planning we do to achieve an overall goal. We see a destination and plan how to get there. It could be a business goal, a personal goal, or a life plan. It may be based on values we hold dear. We like what we see and plan how to get there.

Tactics

Tactics are the actions we take to achieve our plans. We may develop an action plan and follow through. But in the middle of it, the winds shift. Perhaps the data we had before is now obsolete. Maybe we are planning for a marathon and we get a blister. Or maybe we plan a move only to discover the job we relied on didn’t pan out.

Tactics are important. But they must be flexible if we are going to achieve our strategy. That can be tough when we were certain our plans would work out.

Adjusting the Sails

Today, our strategy may look good, but the winds of change have shaken us up a bit. I encourage you to consider instead of changing your strategy, consider if the tactics need to be modified. Instead of changing the destination, could it be we just need to adjust the sails a little?

I hope you have smooth sailing. But experience tells me there is always a shift in the wind and weather. Adjust the sails and keep moving forward!

Categories
motivation

Are you going to build up or tear down today?

Cartoon of a bully and his dog

When I drew this cartoon, I was thinking about what it would sound like if a school bully used psychiatric language to describe his actions. Since that time, my kids and one of my nephews have become very interested in psychology. Go figure!

Every day, we have a chance to tear someone down or build someone up with our words. We can give someone more hopelessness and make them feel lousy about themselves and the world, or encourage them to see there is hope and a future.

Not everyone is going to take the cue and be encouraging in return. In fact, some may scorn a positive attitude. After all, if someone receives hundreds of discouraging messages and then they hear one encouraging word, it will take more encouragement to reverse the trend.

There is no shortage of discouragement, ridicule, and doom in this world. Are you going to continue that trend, or are you going to be a positive difference today? Are you going to feel better by ridiculing another, or are you going to be a breath of fresh air and encourage someone today? Let’s make a positive choice.

Cartoon of a bully and his dog
Categories
motivation

Where Seldom is Heard…

Cartoon of two children running. Someone is throwing acorns at them. One says, "You shouldn't insult squirrels when they're in trees and have ammo."

Home, home on the range,
Where the Deer and the Antelope play,
Where seldom is heard,
a discouraging word,
And the sky is not cloudy all day.

Home on the Range by Dr. Brewster Higley

As a child, I loved that song. The thought of some place where none of the words were discouraging made me want to go west as soon as I grew up. Perhaps that is why I still have a soft spot for Arizona.

Nobody likes discouraging words. Unfortunately, we can all get a little self-righteous and justified in spreading a little verbal venom now and then. We can even feel like we are spouting truth even while we do it in a less-than-gracious way. Even squirrels have a rough time with insults and verbal barbs. They can return insults with nuts, especially if they have a birdseye view.

Cartoon of two children running. Someone is throwing acorns at them. One says, "You shouldn't insult squirrels when they're in trees and have ammo."

Be encouraged today. When you hear a discouraging word. Don’t return it with your own tirade. Get away from words meant to take away our courage. Find encouragement, and be an encouragement to others. That is a much better way.

Categories
motivation

I Had One Job!

Cartoon of a boy and a teacher. The boy says, "That was due today? Seriously? I need help.Where can I get some homework insurance?"

Looking back, it seemed such an easy job. All I had to do was complete my homework and turn it in. I had no other obligations. I didn’t have a job, nor did I have a side hustle. After all, I was in third grade.

I had plenty of motivation. I am a firstborn son and very self-conscious. I yearn to do the right thing and do it well. I feared my third-grade teacher because she was a yeller. I didn’t want to get on her bad side. Yet, somehow I forgot to do my homework that day. I had one job and I didn’t do it. I remember the yelling. I had to stay in the class at recess time. What was I thinking?

Cartoon of a boy and a teacher. The boy says, "That was due today? Seriously? I need help.Where can I get some homework insurance?"

Now I know why I didn’t do my homework. I reasoned there was nothing I could do to please my teacher. In fact, I was sure she expected me to mess up. So I delivered and didn’t disappoint her.

Frequently, I’ve heard the phrase, you had one job… as a joke. A seemingly simple job can be messed up. It may appear to others that a person had only one task to do, while it may have been one in a dozen that day. What seems obvious in hindsight may not have been so when the work was done. If a supervisor expects a direct-report to mess up, they frequently don’t disappoint.

I had one job in third-grade and I didn’t do it that day. I learned my lesson and got my homework completed after that. However, it took years for me to see myself as a good student and to do the work because I wanted to, not because I feared some wrath. I was motivated by fear, not by the enjoyment of learning something new.

Expect the best in people today. Sure, they may disappoint and there may be times when we wonder what they were thinking. But it is better to expect the best and get disappointed once in a while than expect the worst and get it every time.

Categories
church cartoons

Build up or tear down?

Cartoon of a girl deciding whether to tear down with words

Cartoon of two kids. One says, “I’m trying to decide whether to build you up today or tear you down.”