Read These 3 Books and You’ll Be Ready to Begin Med School and Everything Else

Posted on by mikestinnett

Everyone likes a shortcut that actually follows through on the promise to save you time and get you to your destination faster. The problem with shortcuts is that most of them don’t live up to the hype. What if you could “shortcut” the learning curve to succeed in Med School? Well, this is exactly what I think will happen if you read these 3 books and apply the principles to the next few years of your education and your career as a physician.

The first book will give you new found energy and passion to pursue your purpose:

Start with Why – Simon Sinek

Have you ever wondered what makes some people more successful or influential than others? We all have the same access to the same resources, so what is the difference? What set Apple apart from its competition in 2010? What gave Orville and Wilbur Wright the perseverance to succeed despite having fewer resources and education credentials than the competition? What is it that great business leaders have that creates the Midas touch and turns everything into gold? These people knew WHY they were doing what they were doing. When you know WHY you want to be a doctor, you can work on the HOW to accomplish it! The WHY is what will drive you when the HOW gets really hard. Read this book, take notes, and discuss with a friend. It will inspire you to be more and you will do better. START WITH WHY!

“Leadership requires two things: a vision of the world that does not yet exist and the ability to communicate it.” -Simon Sinek

The next book on the list will open your eyes to a world of learning you never knew possible:

Make It Stick – Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel

“People generally are going about learning in the wrong ways.”

Cognitive psychologists’ research seems to suggest that most of what we’ve learned about learning turns out to be wasted effort at best, and harmful at worst. Imagine all the hours and the massive amounts of energy spent cramming for a test that you would certainly fail if you took again today.

Make it Stick will give you specific strategies that if properly employed will help you learn the content and retain it in a way that will greatly improve your chance of success. The medical school curriculum is a beast there is no doubt about that, but with quality, research proven learning strategies and good habits, you will learn to “tame the beast” and become a great physician.

“It’s not just what you know, but how you practice what you know that determines how well the learning serves you later.”― Peter C. Brown

Your journey to making it “stick” begins now. Get the book, take notes, and discuss with a friend.

The third book is necessary for every human who ever wanted to accomplish a difficult task. Too many of us give up when the challenge seems overwhelming. What if people are giving up just before the turning point that would have led to success? Climbing mountains is a dangerous, difficult task and the closer you get to the mountain the larger it appears, but the closer you get to the mountain the further you have come and the closer you are to the goal. That’s what Grit is all about.

Grit – Angela Duckworth

Angela Duckworth makes the case that the difference between success and failure is a combination of passion and perseverance or, as she calls it, grit.

Everyone begins med school with excitement and energy and then you are pushed under a waterfall and given a very small bucket to try and catch all the water. The excitement and energy seem to quickly fade as your bucket breaks and you are left really wet and frustrated. This is when most students start to lose momentum which is why Duckworth’s statement, “Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare.” is so valuable. Endurance with proper strategies is the key to success.

Don’t give up when it gets hard; refocus. Remind yourself of your WHY. Remember to STICK to the strategies that are proven and create better habits…Get the GRIT to finish the grind.

“Over time, grit is what separates fruitful lives from aimlessness.”― John Ortberg

The key to finishing well is starting well and keeping a good pace. These books will help you start well and give you the strategies to pace yourself for a great med school experience.

Links to the books:

Posted on by mikestinnett
Amd why you should stop doing them today.

So, You Want to Live Unhappy…Do These 5 Things

Nobody woke up today hoping to be unhappy, but many of us lived yesterday in such a way that happiness is not available for today. What if the choices we make today really do determine our happiness tomorrow?

If you are doing any of these 5 things, you will likely never experience true happiness in this life. So, if you want to be happy, stop doing these 5 things:

Keep Comparing Yourself to Others

What a joy suck comparison is! Comparison is natural, but it is deadly. Listen, I know what it’s like to sit at a red light and look over and think life would be better if you had that car or in a classroom and think life would be better if I had their intellect, his hair, her smile, his voice, joy, charisma, laugh, whatever…If we are honest, we don’t value ourselves enough. We tend to compare our weaker qualities to others’ strengths. We don’t stand a chance in the “court of comparison” because the verdict is rigged against us.

If you want to be unhappy, keep it up. You will never be satisfied with what you have, who you’re with, where you are, an the list goes on and on.

If you want to be happy, stop comparing yourself and start living your life. Do the one thing that no one else in the universe can do as well as you: Be Yourself. Take the energy you use wishing you were someone else and invest that energy in developing yourself and becoming the best you you can.

Keep Living for the Approval of Others.

If you live for their approval, you’ll die from their rejection.

Lecrae

If we want to be unhappy, keep trying to please everyone else. Pleasing everyone is as impossible as catching your shadow. Nevertheless, we work tirelessly to make sure people approve of us. This is an easy fix though. Stop surrounding yourself with people you have to work to make approve you and surround yourself with people who already do.

Working from the approval of others is always more life-giving than working for the approval of others.

Find a company, a spouse, a friend who approves of you because of who you are. Find people who see your value because of who you are. If you surround yourself with people who only value you because of what you can do, you will become trapped in living for the approval of others. There are people out there who will value you for you. Find them.

Keep Avoiding Challenge

Challenge is risky because challenge innately presents the potential for failing and/or discomfort. If we want to be unhappy, we can keep avoiding challenge because we are afraid of failing. We will inevitably live a bit more stable, but we will regret the decisions we wish we would’ve made but didn’t have the courage to make. Regret is an enemy to happiness. Happiness and regret can’t live in the same space.

It seems to be a law of nature, inflexible and inexorable, that those who will not risk cannot win.

John Paul Jones

If you want to be happy, take risks. Look at challenge as an opportunity. Understand that challenge is the only way to grow. Don’t be stupid and take risks for the adrenaline rush or just because, but don’t allow yourself to avoid the challenge out of fear.

Keep Lying about Your Struggles

People who pretend to have everything together are the people to first fall apart. If you want to stay unhappy, keep lying about how good you are. Keep saying, “Fine” “OK” “Good”, when someone asks how you are. We lie about our struggles because we are ashamed of our struggles. Shame will not make space for happiness to exist. Of course, part of the problem is the circle of people we have surrounded ourselves with. If my circle is not a safe place for me to share my struggle, I must work to get a new circle.

If I am going to be happy, I must talk openly about my struggles. I don’t have to live in fear of being “discovered”. I don’t have to worry about people finding out because I’m the one who tells them. Authenticity is so freeing. Freedom is a friend of happiness. Live in freedom by squashing the fear that leads us to lie.

Keep Living for Yourself

The truly happy life is lived for other people. If you want to be unhappy, live for yourself and miss the magic in making other people’s lives better.

The quality of your life is determined by how you much you live for other people.

You have gifts and abilities that other people need to experience. You have exactly the right words that someone else needs to hear. You have experiences that other people need to learn from. One thing you will never regret is the joy you bring other people.

So, if you want to be happy, live with other people in mind. Be helpful. Be kind. Be generous. Don’t fake it, but really live for others. You will find great happiness in the life you live.

What other habits or choices keep us from being happy? Let’s discuss it.

When the Mission Matters Most

Posted on by mikestinnett

Have you ever lost sight of your mission? You know that thing that drives you to do more, to be more.

Yeah, Me too.

Here’s what I’ve learned about “mission distraction”:

Mission is the thing that matters most, and it doesn’t necessarily change. For instance, I am on a mission to create a lasting, life-giving marriage that models a marriage my boys want to have one day. I am on a mission to raise men who live with courage and gentleness. I am on a mission to inspire people to never stop believing that there is hope for a better life.

I often lose sight of the mission. Here are 3 things that can distract me and probably you too.

1. Urgent things– Urgent things are those things that must be done within a certain timeframe, and since I haven’t discovered a way to create more time, I often let “urgent things” take the place of more important things. I may have a deadline that needs me to work late, but I promised my wife I’d be home, I may need to take a phone call when I’m at my boys’ game, I may need to paint the wall or mow the yard and not have time to throw a ball. Sometimes things come up that need to be done, but we must discipline ourselves to keep the mission the most important, and the most important things can never be misprioritized.

The most important things can never be misprioritized.

2. Good things- This is a tricky one, but hear me out. Good things are just that, good things. But when good things get in the way of the best things, the good things become bad things. Good things become distractions. For example, being a hard worker is a good thing, but finding my identity and worth from my work will lead me to miss the mission opportunity my work provides. people who find their identity in their work tend to value the product they are responsible for above the people they are working with. Making money is a good thing, but if making money becomes the main thing, I’ll never make enough. Getting rest is a good thing, but if I seek rest before I “work”, I’ll create the wrong legacy. Good things are good when they further our mission rather than distract us from it.

3. Easy things- I am often consumed by the EASY things. Afterall, these are the low hanging fruit. I like TV. I like games. I like things that don’t require much effort, but these things are actually exhausting. Furthermore, if I spend my time doing the easy things, I’ll quickly discover that I’ve done a lot and accomplished nothing. That leaves me frustrated and a little angry. and then I fall into the blackhole of self-pity and self-loathing, which is a cocktail nobody wants to drink.

When I learned what distracts me, I was able to create a strategy for staying focused. I fight to stay on task and I have to have people helping me because the Mission Matters Most, and I can’t afford to miss it.

So, these are some things that distract me. What distracts you?

Steps for Leading Well Part 3

Posted on by mikestinnett
LISTEN. LISTEN. LISTEN. LISTEN.

Aristarchus, Kepler, Copernicus, Galileo. Except for names you don’t hear much anymore, what do these guys have in common? …..

Nobody would listen to them. They believe the sun, not the Earth, was the center of our solar system(ish).

If you are going to lead, be a listener. Everyone wants to feel important. Everyone wants to feel valued. An easy way to accomplish this is to listen to them.

Here are some keys:

Listen to what is said: Ignaz Semmelweis was an obstetrician in the mid 1800’s. He noticed birthing mothers were dying at an alarming rate and did some research. He discovered that doctors were working with dead bodies in the mortuary and going back to work with living patients. While doing this, the doctors were unknowingly bringing disease and infection to the living women. Semmelweis instructed all hospital employees to begin washing their hands. Mortality rates drastically improved until Semmelweis was declared insane and put in an asylum where he was brutally beaten and later died. All the hospital had to do was listen to Semmelweis’ advice. The solution is often right in front of our ears, but we don’t listen.

People will speak if they believe someone is listening. As a leader one of the most important skills you can possess is listening. If you don’t listen to those around you, they will either quit talking to you or they will leave. Some leaders have a knack for driving people away because they don’t listen. If you don’t listen, you may miss some of the best ideas. Learn from Hewlett Packard’s monumental mistake when they didn’t listen to Steve Wozniak’s idea for a personal computer the first 5 times he shared it which led him to co-founding Apple. So, stop talking long enough for someone else to have a chance to say something and if you’re lucky, they may just give you a billion-dollar idea.

If you don’t listen to the people around you, you will be surrounded by people with nothing to say.

Listening shows trust. Let your people know that you believe in them by listening to them. Some of your best ideas are hiding in the minds of someone who isn’t you. Too bad you will miss it if you don’t learn to listen. Trust makes people feel safe. When people believe they are safe, they take creative autonomy and greater risks. These lead to better exchange of ideas. Show that you trust your people. If you don’t trust them, they are not the right people or you are not the right leader, yet.

So…

If your team or relationship is flailing, try listening.

If your organization is sinking, hold a creative team meeting and listen to the team’s ideas. Forget your own ideas and let others speak. You may just discover the solutions have been right in front of your ears all along.

FWIW: All of this applies to relationships.

Steps for Leading Well

Posted on by mikestinnett

Are you satisfied with your leadership ability?
Do you ever feel like your tires are spinning, but you’re going nowhere?

Me Too!

What if the problem isn’t the people we are leading, but the person who is leading them? Leaders must lead themselves before they can lead others.

Lead Yourself First.

Bill George in True North writes, “The hardest person you will ever lead is yourself.” He is absolutely right. We are quick to blame other people for not following our lead. We read all the books, listen to all the podcasts, and join all the Facebook groups, but we still don’t make the progress we are hoping for in leadership. Here’s what I’m learning from my struggle:

Our leadership battles within will always be stronger than those without.
With that in mind, let’s discuss how to lead ourselves well.

1. Renew Your Mind.
Renew means to make “new again”. Leaders are learners at the very least.
-Learn from those who are where you hope to be so you can catch a glimpse of the view.
-Learn from those you disagree with so you can develop an appreciation for their perspective even if you think it’s wrong.
-Learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others so that you don’t keep making them.
-Learn from failing so you’ll be ready when success comes.
-Learn the principles that are going to help you become the fullest version of you.

Whatever you are doing, you are learning. Take advantage of every opportunity to gain wisdom.

If you are faithful to “renew your mind”, you will be able to lead better and more consistently than ever before. But that’s not the only step we need to take.

Leaders are also risk-takers.

Nothing great has ever been accomplished without great risk which is why many of us never accomplish anything great.

2. Risk is Required.
Great leaders know that the view from the top is only seen by those who risk falling. Great leaders see the status quo and visualize how beautiful life could be, and they work toward the change. But change is risky. Most people love the novel ideal of change, but they don’t like the practical application of change. Change is always a risk:

-Risk your reputation if you fail.
-Risk your friendships if you push against the comfortable layer of normal.
-Risk your safety if you point out the error of others.
-Risk your acceptance if you challenge the culture of convenience.
-Risk your sanity if everything falls apart.
-Risk your emotional health if you challenge the status quo and are left alone.

Change will always come at great risk. That’s why leaders, as agents of change, must be willing to live at risk everyday. Leaders are climbing to the top so they can see the view and inspire others to climb with them.

Next week we will look at 2 more R’s for leading ourselves first.

What renews your mind? What risks are you taking?

When Effort Becomes Your Enemy…

Posted on by mikestinnett

We all know the story of “The Little Engine Who Could”. We love the stories that remind us to never give up, never stop trying, achieve what you believe, etc. The great philosopher Rocky Balboa teaches us that life is not about how hard you can hit, but it is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. The main idea in all of this is that if you try hard enough, nothing can stop you if you don’t give up. That sounds nice, but what if the trying hard is actually the problem:

Effort does not determine where you end up in life, DIRECTION does. You can give everything to climb the mountain, but what if it is the wrong mountain? Thomas Merton warned that, “People may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.” It is a scary reality that working hard and never quitting don’t guarantee success; they only guarantee that you will keep moving in the direction you are currently going. So, how do we make sure we are headed in the right direction to get us to where we want to land in the end? Here are 3 truths to help:

“People may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.”

Thomas Merton

Decisions Determine Direction

We cannot outrun our decisions. We cannot out maneuver our decisions. We cannot go back in time and change our decisions, so what CAN we do? We can begin now assessing our decision making processes. Am I making decisions with DIRECTION in mind or am I just making convenient decisions in the moment? Are the decisions that I am currently making pointing me in the direction of my desired destination? Did you know that a jet flying from Chicago to Japan has to constantly adjust flight patterns for multiple variables? A flight pattern off by 1 degree will land the jet nearly in Australia. That small 1 degree makes a huge difference over a long period of time. Consider that in our lives. If we allow small distractions in right now, they can completely change our direction over the course of our lives. This is such a big deal because we don’t tend to notice the small shifts in direction until it is too late: the student distracted from studying may not notice until the failing grade comes in, the husband distracted at work may not notice until the family is falling apart, the driver distracted by the text may not notice until the abrupt stop from colliding with another vehicle, the teenager distracted by the need for approval may not notice until he can’t recognize who he has become. Tiny, seemlingly harmless distractions can lead us to make poor decisions that alter the entire direction of our lives.

But, there is a way to avoid the regret of prolonged bad decision making or unintentional “directional drifting”.

Little Adjustments Make Big Differences

The key to staying on course for the desired destination is constant monitoring and adjusting. We must learn to assess our decisions and check the direction we are heading. This is not as hard or tedious as it sounds. One way to do this is with feedback from people we trust. We need to have people in our lives that we give permission to course correct for us. These people can speak into our lives when they see us veering off course. We tend to have blindspots or tunnel vision that prohibit us from seeing our true direction. It appears to us that we are heading straight, and perhaps we are, but what are we headed “straight” into is the question we must ask. Andy Stanley tells of a time that he and a friend took a shortcut to get home. They hopped onto a stretch of highway that was under construction, but it appeared to be finished. A few miles down the road another vehicle raced in front of them and stopped Stanley and his friend. It turns out that the unfinished road stopped a little ways ahead with a bridge in a swamp. Stanley was headed in the direction he wanted to go, but he needed to make some adjustments or he would not end up where he thought he was going. Isn’t this true for us? How often do we make decisions that we think are right, but they don’t take us where we thought they would? Or, how often do we make a “small” decision that sends us in an entirely different direction: that first puff of the cigarette that leads to a battle with lung cancer, that first glance back that leads to an affair, that first episode of FRIENDS that leads to a full NETFLIX 7 day binge, that first dive into the ice cream that ends with an empty half-gallon container and some guilt and shame as we cry ourselves to sleep. This is why we need people to help us course correct.

We also need to establish clear values. Values become habits if we practice them long enough and believe them deeply enough. Our values are the guard rails that keep us on track for the desired destination. If we consistently assess our decisions against our values, we can make the regular, minor adjustments that will help us avoid major setbacks and disappointments. Think about your desired destination. What values do you need to get to that place in life? What habits do you need to create to help you? Make the necessary adjustments now to avoid working really hard and ending up where you didn’t want to go.

Don’t Be Afraid to Quit

This sounds like bad advice, but that is because we allow the negative connotations of “quit” to dictate our perspective. There are many things in life that we need to quit before they make shipwreck of us. We need to quit the bad habits. We need to quit making excuses. We need to quit blaming ourselves and other people. We need to quit taking the easy way out. We need to quit following the status quo. We need to quit believing lies. We need to quit seeking comfort and convenience. We need to quit working so much that we lose sight of what really matters. We need to quit sacrificing our relationships on the altar of career success. We need to quit spending more money than we have. We need to quit blaming our teachers for our unwillingness to learn. We need to quit busying ourselves with more than we can accomplish because then we feel like failures. We need to quit making promises to ourselves and other people that we just can’t keep. We need to quit cutting line at Target. We need to quit hurrying everywhere we go. We need to quit saying we value the things that our decisions contradict. We need to quit starting over and learn to make minor adjustments along the way.

If we learn to quit the bad habits and replace them with habits aligned with our values, we will make better decisions. If we begin making better decisions, we will head in a better direction. Remember, it is not about how much effort you put into life that determines where you end up, it is about making the right decisions over and over and over and over that will get you to the desired destination.

What adjustments do you need to make? What decisions are you making that keep you in the right direction?

How to Be a Leader Who Helps People Flourish.

Posted on by mikestinnett

Leadership is a hot topic in today’s market. Everywhere you look you can find a how-to or what-to in order to make you the leader people want to follow. Seminars, books, podcasts claiming to have the 3 keys or the secret ingredients or yada, yada, yada flood our libraries and inboxes daily. This blogpost is no different than those except that this is just one piece of a puzzle with lots and lots of pieces that often seem to be hidden under the rug. This is not the solution, but it is part of the solution.

So, how do we help our people flourish? Why should we even care about this idea? The latter question is simple: flourishing people create flourishing teams which create flourishing products leading to a flourishing business. The former question is really tricky, but I will offer a few ways that seem to work.

Show each person how valuable he or she is.

People are insecure and anxious. One way a leader can help her people flourish is to show individuals what they could become and help them become it. The creates a sense of purpose and value bigger than the person. If a leader shows her people what they could become and allows them to become it, her people will become more than she ever imagined. This requires intentionality.

As leaders, we must create opportunities to show value to each member of our team, and we must NEVER miss an opportunity to show value to our people. The reality is that deferred value from the leader feels the same as being devalued by the leader.

As leaders, we must create opportunities to show value to each member of our team, and we must NEVER miss an opportunity to show value to our people.

Leader, create a habit of giving people more value than they believe they deserve and they will accomplish more than they ever thought they could. Help them see what they could become and they just might become it.

See the perspective of each person.

Understanding perspective helps us understand people. Understanding people helps us understand their choices. The more we understand our people, the more we can help them grow. The more our people grow, the better our organizations become.

No leader regrets building meaningful relationships, but many regret not building them. Becoming a better organization is challenging because it requires building quality relationships that endure conflict, embrace risk, and encourage vulnerability. These kinds of qualities are much easier if we learn to see the perspective of each person. A leader must take time to consider what it might be like to experience life from his people’s frame of reference. When the leader takes this kind of interest in his teams, his teams will feel valued and they will be stronger, more productive teams.

Leader, take some time to listen to your people. Understand what drives them and help them flourish.

Set the course and set them free

Valuing people requires seeing their perspective, but it also requires giving them space. No one flourishes while being micro-managed. Leaders establish direction more than they give directions, so give them direction and let them go. If a leader can’t trust her team to finish the task or achieve the desired goals, she has the wrong people, the wrong goals, or she is the wrong leader. People thrive when the leader gives them direction with clear expectation and the freedom to work creatively to accomplish the task.

Leaders establish direction more than they give directions, so give them direction and let them go.

Remember, there will be more tasks to accomplish after one is finished, but you may not have more people. This makes it imperative that people feel a sense of autonomy within their work.

Leader, establish a clear direction then allow your people to accomplish the task using their own creativity and ingenuity and you will likely get a better product from your people than you had even envisioned.

What are some other ways you can help your people flourish? What are some of the ways you can keep your people from flourishing?

3 Enemies to Productivity and How to Overcome Them

Posted on by mikestinnett

Have you ever had a really important task but found yourself unable to accomplish anything meaningful?

How often do you finish the day or the week feeling like you’ve wasted another perfectly good opportunity?

If you’re like me, you don’t like the answers to these questions. They seem to be judging me and making me feel insecure about my work and about myself.

Let’s put an end to feeling like we have wasted any of our opportunities by being honest about why we aren’t productive.

Here are 3 enemies to our productivity and how to conquer each:

Comparing yourself to others.

Stop doing this immediately. You are not them. They are not you. When we compare ourselves with others, we tend to miss out on the opportunities before us because we focus on the opportunities other people have. Also, people are different. When you compare yourself to someone else, you are taking their circumstances and experiences and importing them into your current situation. This is not fair for them or you. So, stop it! Some people will always lead the team in sales or score highest on the exam. And…it might not be you, but that’s ok. You don’t have to be #1 at everything all them time. Everyone is different. Literally, EVERYONE. When we compare ourselves with other people, we create this bubble of insecurity that keeps us from being free to be our very best because we imagine that we aren’t good enough. Honestly, we have no way of knowing what would happen if our experiences and circumstances were different than they are, so there is no real benefit to comparing ourselves to others, so work hard to conquer this enemy to productivity. Here’s how:

What to Do:

Know yourself and be satisfied with who you are. So what, you’re not the leading salesperson every month. That’s ok. You don’t set the bar on the exam. You don’t make everyone snort when they laugh. You don’t like crowds or public speaking. Stop comparing yourself to people who do what you don’t do. Rather, realize that you are really good at being you. In fact, you do it perfectly. No one have ever been as good as you at being you. Do your best. Put maximum effort into accomplishing your goals(as long as those goals aren’t made for someone else). When you are satisfied with who you are, you are less likely to compare yourself to others.

Overscheduling your life.

Overscheduling sounds like a way to be superproductive. Like, the most productive people are probably covered up 8 days a week. This is a common misconception. Busy is not a synonym for productive, so stop thinking busyness is good. Since we mistake busyness for productivity, we cram our calendars and don’t have time to actually do anything. We have so many projects, so many meetings, so many tasks, that we never actually accomplish anything. It’s a masked enemy to productivity because it sounds productive. Don’t be controlled by your calendar.

What to do:

Take back control of your calendar. The most productive people control their calendar rather than let their calendar control them. Be reasonable with what you can accomplish in a day and don’t schedule anymore than you can reasonably do. While you’re getting control of your calendar, carve space for exercise and reflection. These are necessary for our emotional, mental, and physical health. You may not feel like you have time, but you don’t have time not to do this. It’s a little bit of time now properly scheduled that will save hours later by keeping you focused and productive

Refusing to grow

This is a tricky one. So many people feel like they know enough; therefore, they don’t take the necessary steps to get better. This is dangerous especially because you may agree to a task that you don’t know how to accomplish. You can’t admit you don’t know how to do it. You can’t research how to do it because that’s like, basically, the same thing as admitting it. This keeps you from being productive because you limit what you can do by limiting what you know.

What to do:

Admit when you don’t know what you need to know and take the necessary steps to learn. All of us have room for improvement. We can all be better. If you want to become more productive, recognize what is limiting you and do something about it. Choose to become an expert. Ingest and digest as much content in your field as you can. Talk about it every chance you get. Find ways to teach it. Never stop growing.

There are more enemies to productivity, but these 3 were on my mind because I struggle with all 3 of these.

What are your enemies to productivity and what do you do to defeat them?

3 Ways to Disagree Gently

Posted on by mikestinnett

How do you respond when someone disagrees with you?

How about when you know you’re right?

What about when you find out you’re wrong?

What if it’s something insignificant?

What if it is a foundational truth of your life?

There is a Proverb that says, “A gentle answer turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath.” Proverbs 15:1

Here are 3 ways to do that:

Learn to care more about the other person than your position.

Don’t let a disagreement ruin the relationship. How often have we destroyed any hope at true friendship because we couldn’t move past something we said during a disagreement? Make a determination right now to consider the other person more valuable than your position.

Don’t let your frustration make you a fool. 

You may have the better argument and all of your points may be valid indeed; however, if you become an angry moron, you will say things that you can’t take back and you will make an impression you don’t want to make. So, control yourself and be considerate. Listen more than you speak because foolishness lives in a multitude of words, and if you listen well, you may actually say something the other person will listen to when it is your turn to speak. This brings us to the final point…

Learn to process emotions before you respond to them.

Emotions are meant to help us understand the world. Sometimes we let them define the world for us. This is power that emotions are not supposed to have. We are often wrong in our assumptions. Not all people who disagree with us are actually horrible people seeking to destroy our very souls. We need to learn to step back and consider the other side of the argument. When we take time to process our emotions, we can respond in gentleness even if we disagree. We can keep from looking foolish. We can prove the other person matters to us.

Basically, don’t be a jerk that makes people wish they never knew you.

What are some other positive ways to handle disagreement?

5 Tips for Group Study

Posted on by mikestinnett

Don’t let an ineffective group “help” you reach the wrong goals.

“No one makes it as far alone as she would with other people helping her.” -Someone

Many of us know the struggle of trying to face obstacles alone. We often convince ourselves that we have to do this by ourselves. This type of thinking will almost always lead us to accomplish less than if we learn to work well with other people. Other people help us:

  1. Avoid procrastination
  2. Find support
  3. Give us inspiration
  4. Utilize more resources
  5. See our biases and blindspots

But what happens when your group doesn’t do those things? What if your group is bringing your productivity down? Try these tips:

  1. Set clear agreed upon goals. If people in your group don’t have the same goals, they will not get to the same place. It will be a tug-of-war with no winners. Get your goals aligned. If you can’t, get a new group.
  2. Set a clear meeting schedule. We schedule our priorities, and group meeting time needs to be a priority. Be consistent because meeting together is a priority. If members aren’t consistent, your group will be less effective. Also, start on time and finish on time. Value each other’s schedules.
  3. Set clear meeting objectives. Every meeting needs to have a specific purpose. Let everything done direct your group toward those objectives. This will help you avoid the inevitable distractions that are lurking in every group meeting. If you don’t set clear objectives, you will finish your group time wishing you had gotten more accomplished. Don’t waste the time by not setting objectives.
  4. Set clear agreed upon expectations. The should be a no-brainer, but as it turns out, some people will need these expectations in massive bold print glued to the insides of their eyelids(don’t try that at home). You should expect members to be active and engaged. Group is only as helpful to you as you are helpful to the group, and any member who is contributing to the progress of the group is actually keeping the group from progress.
  5. Define the WIN. Having a schedule and expectations and objectives and goals is great, but remember the WHY. Why is the group meeting? What is the purpose for the group? That is the WIN. If your studying for an upcoming exam, getting through the material together may be a goal. It may be an expectations, but that isn’t the WIN. Performing well on the exam is the WIN. Keep the WIN in your vision. Stay focused on it.

If you can do these 5 things, you will have an effective group that celebrates many WINs together.

Go, Find your People.

What other tips do you have for leading an effective group study meeting?

3 Things to Remember When You Disagree.

Posted on by mikestinnett

How do you respond when someone disagrees with you?

How about when you know you’re right?

What about when you find out you’re wrong?

What if it’s something insignificant?

What if it is a foundational truth of your life?

There is a Proverb that says, “A gentle answer turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath.” Proverbs 15:1

Here are 3 ways to do that:

1. Learn to care more about the other person than your position.

Don’t let a disagreement ruin the relationship. How often have we destroyed any hope at true friendship because we couldn’t move past something we said during a disagreement. Make a determination right now to consider the other person more than your position.

2. Don’t let your frustration make you a fool. 

You may have the better argument and all of your points may be valid indeed; however, if you  become an angry moron, you will say things that you can’t take back and you will make an impression you don’t want to make.This brings us to the final point…

3. Learn to process emotions before you respond to them.

Emotions are meant to help us understand the world. Sometimes we let them define the world for us. This is power that emotions are not supposed to have. We are often wrong in our assumptions. Not all people who disagree with us are actually horrible people seeking to destroy our very souls. We need to learn to step back and consider the other side of the            argument. When we take time to process our emotions, we can respond in gentleness even if we disagree. We can keep from looking foolish. We can prove the other person matters to us.

Basically, don’t be a jerk who makes people wish they never knew you.

What are some other positive ways to handle disagreement?

Leader Wanted: Courage Required.

Posted on by mikestinnett

Courage: Everyone wants it. Most claim it. Few have it.

Yahoo defines courage as “the ability to do what frightens one.”

Sometimes we misdefine courage as the absence of fear. Courage isn’t void of fear. Courage is simply the ability to face danger and not be overcome by fear.

Socrates and Aristotle both claim courage is supreme over all other values for a civil society. Watch any superhero movie and you will see that we agree with the Ancient Greek philosophers: Courage is required to lead and save the world from certain doom.

[Courage is] the first of human qualities…because it guarantees all the others.

Winston Churchill

Leaders are courageous decision makers. Leaders are constantly facing challenges that could change their world forever. That is why effective leaders must be courageous. Effective leaders must see challenges for the opportunity rather than the risk; otherwise, they will be crippled by fear.

Fear often hides your greatest opportunity for success. Courage finds it.

This fear is an important beast. Fear alerts us to a potential danger that is real and imminent. Good leaders don’t ignore fear, but they are not ruled by it. Leaders can’t make decisions from fear. They make decisions from courage. Fear often hides your greatest opportunity for success. Courage uncovers it.

Don’t let fear keep you from being a great leader. Someone is waiting on you to lead. It won’t be easy, but it can be amazing. Courage is required.