Have you ever sought advice about a leadership challenge from a friend, only to feel like their answer was lacking? Do you sometimes find that talking about being burned out doesn’t seem of interest to your colleagues at work? Are you frustrated at work because the person you report to isn’t modeling effective leadership principles?

In May, the Loflin family (minus one) headed to Hawaii. The occasion was to celebrate the upcoming high school graduation of our younger daughter Sydney. My wife Lisa and I made the decision many years ago that when our girls were nearing their graduation date we wanted to take them on a senior trip. We have three goals for the journey:

May is mental health awareness month. If you had told me that seven years ago, I would have looked at you and said, “Okay,” and carried on with the normal course of conversation. Even though I have long spoke about the importance of having healthy levels of physical, mental, and emotional energy to make the best choices with your time, I had never given much thought to the “mental health” part of that equation.

Let’s imagine for a moment that you are a gardener. Do any of the actions below seem like a good idea?

One of the tasks most gardeners dread is pulling weeds. In addition to being tiring and time-consuming, removing weeds from around garden plants can disrupt the roots of the plants you want to grow. And here’s the reality… if you are highly intentional in how you cultivate your garden, weeds won’t often become an issue.

I chuckled as I read the words in Kevin Kruse's insightful book, 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management: "Throw away your task list." In my time management and Juggling Elephants training programs I am continually surprised at the number of people who still use such a list to guide their choice of action throughout the day.

Confession. While I pride myself on being a good manager of my financial resources (and have a spouse who is fantastic in this area), I must admit there are times I look at a credit card bill and go, “How did this happen?” The amount due is significantly higher than I had anticipated. At first I try to rationalize that it’s been an unusual month or we’ve had unexpected expenses…

Notice the new phrase I am using instead of “work life balance?” The phrase “work life success” seems so much more positive. I was inspired when reading the definition of life balance shared by Christy Wright in her insightful read, Take Back Your Time. She writes, “Balance is something you create and feel and become in your life. It is being confident in who you are, the choices you’re making, and the life you’re creating.”

The next few weeks hold such promise for personal renewal and nurturing the most important relationships in our lives. Except for extended vacations, the days leading up to Christmas and New Year's Day have become the one time many of us in the United States will allow ourselves to take more than a day or two off from our work.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have experienced or at least read about the many benefits of gratitude to you. They include:

• Improved mental health

• Better sleep

• Deeper connections with others

• Enhanced job performance

I’ve written in the past about my disdain for the term, “work life balance.” I think there are way better lenses to use to assess the overall health and success of our lives. They include asking questions like:

• What is my purpose and how are my daily choices aligning/not aligning with that purpose?

• What fulfills me? How can I be more intentional in including (or acknowledging) those kinds of activities in my day or week?

Being an effective leader in any season is tough, but in today's environment it can be downright stifling. According to Carey Nieuwhof, there are several reasons why leading today is so difficult. They include new challenges, The Great Resignation, and the unsustainable pace you have been working as a leader.

❔ Do any of these statements describe your typical workday?

• I don't plan breaks from work. I just take them when I can... or when I hit a wall.

• I usually skip lunch (or eat lunch in my workspace).

• Many of my days include back-to-back meetings.

• I stop work for the day but still monitor emails and messages throughout the evening.

Do you find it hard to make good choices with your time when you are busy? Were you hoping for a little rest in your day but instead it ended up more like this…

Does this sound familiar?

It’s the beginning of the week and you look at your calendar. You see all the meetings you have. You begin thinking of all the tasks you hope you remembered to put into your calendar so you’ll know when they’ll happen. You then start thinking about all the relationships in your life that you want to support. And finally you start questioning how you will ever find time for yourself in the mix?

See if any of these scenarios sound familiar:

❌ You open your laptop to start your workday and feel a sense of hesitation. You know that from now until the end of the day, the pace of work will be wide open.

❌ You stop work for the day and already dread the mountain of personal tasks awaiting you. And you've also got to answer that all important question, "What's for dinner?"

Spring has sprung in NC! Warmer weather. Sweet smells! And of course: Weeds!

With the many spring rains, weeds seem to sprout overnight and quickly spread everywhere: the garden, the lawn, in between rocks and so on. Some weeds shoot tiny seeds into the air, some have shallow far reaching roots, while others root deep and are almost impossible to pull out.

I recently spent a couple of hours working with a new coach on listening. They couldn’t believe how much they had been missing in conversations with others. They jokingly asked me if it was okay to use these new skills with their spouse. They felt like they now had an unfair advantage in understanding them!

If I were to hold up a box of tissues and ask, “What is this?”, how would you answer? If you’re like most, you’d probably answer Kleenex because you recognize the brand, when really, they are tissues. All the other tissue companies would be very happy if you would call tissues by their product name, and not by the brand name Kleenex.

Since 2021 began, I've seen a huge surge in optimism about the possibilities this year. Interestingly enough, however, I’ve not been hearing many people get specific about how they plan to make this year more successful or meaningful than last year. All the uncertainties of the past year continue to influence so many of our goals and plans, keeping many in the "status quo" mode.