Late last fall on a Saturday afternoon, I heard knocking at my door. I was the only one home at the time so I sat down the magazine I was reading, walked to the door and opened it. To my surprise, there was a young girl standing there whom I had never seen before. At first, I thought maybe it was one of my eldest daughter’s new friends from school. I soon realized this was not the case. Before I could ask her name or how I could help her, the little girl began to tell me she was on a mission to help her school and she had some books for me to look at to purchase.
I wasn't surprised by her request and what it was she was doing. What caught me off guard was how good this young girl was at talking. She was positive, cheerful, clear, precise and confident. She looked me in the eye the entire time, never showing fear or that she was even the least bit nervous. Not even once! I am telling you, not only did she put the Kirby vacuum cleaner salesman to shame, he could learn a few things from this young girl!
I was impressed and also in awe of her sales skills at such an early age. I was a stranger and she never even flinched! After about 30-45 seconds of standing on my front porch and listening to her trying to gain my confidence, I had to stop her. I then asked her name and how old she was. She told me her name and said she was 9 years old! I said, "Nine years old? Where did you learn how to talk like that and be such a good salesman?" Her only answer was this, "My Dad says I am the entrepreneur in the family and I am going to own my own business one day." Not only was I still in a bit of shock, I was smiling inside to see such a confident young girl trying to sell me something. She made it look all so easy.
She was amazing! Shortly after she left, I began to think: How did she get like that? How was it she carried herself with so much maturity and self esteem? It is also easy to believe she has some natural God given talents and when you combine that with parents who encourage and support her ...look out!
I have learned over the last several years that kids rarely ever lack capacity, what they lack are teachers. Kids can learn things far easier than most adults. At times they even hunger for knowledge, if we will just take the time to give it to them. I have no doubt someone has spent time with this young girl who visited me and taught her skills in dealing with people. Every week I try to teach my daughters something new and introduce them to something they were not aware of. Why? I want them to grow, I want them to learn, and I want them to stretch. Kids will be far more equipped and ready to deal with the various curve ball's life tends to throw out us if we will only prep, support and invest our time into them.
Are you preparing your kids? Are you spending the time with them that they need? Do you encourage them to excel? Kids love praise and in most cases, will put forth a lot of energy to get it, especially from a parent. Not every seed we plant within our kids will reap a harvest. Scriptures tell us that. But what you and I have to do is plant enough seeds where there will be a harvest down the road and the harvest bears fruit, giving our kids the necessary tools they need to be a success in life. Raising and parenting a child to be an entrepreneur is not for everyone, I understand that. Yet what are you doing today to give your kids the essential tools they need, to be who God created them to be?
Have a great Friday everyone and may you be blessed.
Scott Stewart
Author, Speaker and Inspiring others to a life of greatness.
scott@lovelossandgrowth.com
541-343-3614
Friday, June 25, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Lessons Learned
I always find it interesting and helpful to look back at my life and reflect at what went well and what didn’t go so well. I believe our past mistakes or setbacks can be one of the very best tools we can use in moving forward in our lives. After all, you have to admit, lives do have a way of “educating us” along the way.
I will be the first person to admit I have not always made the best choices, but I will say those choices have helped to mold and shape not only the person I am today, but the person I am becoming. For over ten years now, I have shared the following quote with probably several hundred people: “We are given a lesson over and over again until we finally learn that lesson.” Why? Because I think this is something of which we all need to be aware. It is true we will continue to be given lessons over and over again until we think differently or change our actions and learn from them. For me, some lessons I learned very quickly, others not so much. It seemed I had to continue beating my head against the wall until not only did it hurt, but a lot of damage was done.
As I counsel, coach and inspire people to live healthier, more effective and meaningful lives, I am consistently amazed at how many people struggle to acknowledge this principal. Time and time again, they continue to repeat those self-destructive thoughts and actions that always seem to yield results they do not want. Over and over again, year after year, I see it all unfold right in front of them, yet they cannot seem to see it. I must say, not only is it disheartening to me, it is expresses the great definition of being insane: Doing the same things over and over again while expecting different results.
If you and I are ever going to grow, leave poor choices of the past behind us and attract things in life that our hearts truly want, we must be able to not only learn from but grow from our past. What are the most important steps in doing this? First, we have to “want” to. Many years ago I had a mentor repeat the following words: “Scott… You just gotta wanna.” Secondly, reflect back and accept responsibility for the life you’ve lived. No one other person is in charge or is responsible for your life, it’s your responsibility. Last, tell yourself daily you are no longer going to make those bad choices you “used” to make and look for ways to make better choices today and tomorrow.
If you will make a commitment to do these things because “YOU” want to, I assure you, your life will start to look different and feel different almost immediately. Six months to a year from now, you will have transformed your life, all because you made a decision today to change just a few simple things.
Scott Stewart
Author, Speaker and Inspiring others to a life of greatness.
scott@lovelossandgrowth.com
541-343-3614
P.S. Is your organization considering an inspirational or self improvement speaker at their next event? If so, feel free to contact me for future speaking engagements.
I will be the first person to admit I have not always made the best choices, but I will say those choices have helped to mold and shape not only the person I am today, but the person I am becoming. For over ten years now, I have shared the following quote with probably several hundred people: “We are given a lesson over and over again until we finally learn that lesson.” Why? Because I think this is something of which we all need to be aware. It is true we will continue to be given lessons over and over again until we think differently or change our actions and learn from them. For me, some lessons I learned very quickly, others not so much. It seemed I had to continue beating my head against the wall until not only did it hurt, but a lot of damage was done.
As I counsel, coach and inspire people to live healthier, more effective and meaningful lives, I am consistently amazed at how many people struggle to acknowledge this principal. Time and time again, they continue to repeat those self-destructive thoughts and actions that always seem to yield results they do not want. Over and over again, year after year, I see it all unfold right in front of them, yet they cannot seem to see it. I must say, not only is it disheartening to me, it is expresses the great definition of being insane: Doing the same things over and over again while expecting different results.
If you and I are ever going to grow, leave poor choices of the past behind us and attract things in life that our hearts truly want, we must be able to not only learn from but grow from our past. What are the most important steps in doing this? First, we have to “want” to. Many years ago I had a mentor repeat the following words: “Scott… You just gotta wanna.” Secondly, reflect back and accept responsibility for the life you’ve lived. No one other person is in charge or is responsible for your life, it’s your responsibility. Last, tell yourself daily you are no longer going to make those bad choices you “used” to make and look for ways to make better choices today and tomorrow.
If you will make a commitment to do these things because “YOU” want to, I assure you, your life will start to look different and feel different almost immediately. Six months to a year from now, you will have transformed your life, all because you made a decision today to change just a few simple things.
Scott Stewart
Author, Speaker and Inspiring others to a life of greatness.
scott@lovelossandgrowth.com
541-343-3614
P.S. Is your organization considering an inspirational or self improvement speaker at their next event? If so, feel free to contact me for future speaking engagements.
Friday, June 11, 2010
What has Happened to Accountability
For some time now, I have felt the need to talk about a social topic that rarely ever gets mentioned. Something that our society just seems to ignore or be very passive about. Rarely do I even hear leaders mention much about this and truth be told, it concerns me. We have all heard of the analogy of the "Pink Elephant in the Corner." We all know it is there but no one wants to talk about it.
What I am getting at is: When was the last time you actually heard someone stand up, take responsibility and admit they were wrong or they made a mistake? You know, a personal (or public if needed) acknowledgment of making a bad choice. Why is it that so many people these days seem to "dodge that bullet" at whatever cost they can? What happened to taking responsibility and just admitting you made a mistake? Is that really so hard to do anymore? Is this traditional way of thinking on its way out the door? Worse yet, what message and example are we sending to our kids by acting like this?
From big corporations, Wall Street, government and all the way down to our local communities, trying to push blame onto someone else seems to run rampant these days. Why? I suspect that due to a lack of self responsibility and accountability, it just seems easier to "pass the buck" when in fact, I believe, just the opposite. Yes, personally, I do think trying to avoid responsibility for our actions does have far greater consequences and impact than just taking the bitter medicine of admitting and accepting.
I admit I have made poor choices in my life (I bet you are shocked to hear that, right?). I have not done things the best way I could. There are things I wish I could go back and change, but I can't. History is set in stone, not in the sand! But when I needed to, I acknowledged, admitted and asked for forgiveness. Yeah, there were probably more times I did this than I want to recall. Why? Because in my heart, I knew it was the right thing to do. I knew if I didn't "come clean" I would carry it around with me for the rest of my life. That burden, was simply not worth carrying. We are only human, we all make mistakes and we all make poor choices from time to time. Hopefully though, after realizing we made a poor choice, we learned enough from it that we won't repeat it. Seriously, why would anyone want to carry the lie and dishonesty around with them for the rest of their life? Is it really worth it? I say no!
I have never sat at the head of a multibillion dollar organization and no, I have never had to answer to shareholders staring me in the face. But trust me, I have been put in the pressure cooker a few times and it is NOT fun. The principals of accepting responsibility and being accountable are all equal, regardless of your "status". You are either accountable or you are not, there is no room for middle ground. I know in my own life, I have been given a lot of grace from many people, even when the outcome was very damaging. I think deep down, most of us have grace to give at all levels but they first want to hear the person or group of people admit they were wrong, then have them take responsibility. It also helps if the person has a "back up plan" to remedy the situation rather then call it quits. Then, when that level of accountability is reached, grace can be released.
In this era, I can see by owning up to our faults rather than pushing them off on someone else, is the right thing to do and it is the right way to raise our kids. It is also the right way to run a business, or organization and to lead people. I don't believe any one person expects you and I to be perfect, but they do expect us to be responsible.
Have a great Friday everyone.
Scott Stewart
Author, Speaker and Inspiring others to a life of greatness.
scott@lovelossandgrowth.com
541-343-3614
P.S. Is your organization considering an inspirational or self improvement speaker at their next event? If so, feel free to contact me for future speaking engagements.
What I am getting at is: When was the last time you actually heard someone stand up, take responsibility and admit they were wrong or they made a mistake? You know, a personal (or public if needed) acknowledgment of making a bad choice. Why is it that so many people these days seem to "dodge that bullet" at whatever cost they can? What happened to taking responsibility and just admitting you made a mistake? Is that really so hard to do anymore? Is this traditional way of thinking on its way out the door? Worse yet, what message and example are we sending to our kids by acting like this?
From big corporations, Wall Street, government and all the way down to our local communities, trying to push blame onto someone else seems to run rampant these days. Why? I suspect that due to a lack of self responsibility and accountability, it just seems easier to "pass the buck" when in fact, I believe, just the opposite. Yes, personally, I do think trying to avoid responsibility for our actions does have far greater consequences and impact than just taking the bitter medicine of admitting and accepting.
I admit I have made poor choices in my life (I bet you are shocked to hear that, right?). I have not done things the best way I could. There are things I wish I could go back and change, but I can't. History is set in stone, not in the sand! But when I needed to, I acknowledged, admitted and asked for forgiveness. Yeah, there were probably more times I did this than I want to recall. Why? Because in my heart, I knew it was the right thing to do. I knew if I didn't "come clean" I would carry it around with me for the rest of my life. That burden, was simply not worth carrying. We are only human, we all make mistakes and we all make poor choices from time to time. Hopefully though, after realizing we made a poor choice, we learned enough from it that we won't repeat it. Seriously, why would anyone want to carry the lie and dishonesty around with them for the rest of their life? Is it really worth it? I say no!
I have never sat at the head of a multibillion dollar organization and no, I have never had to answer to shareholders staring me in the face. But trust me, I have been put in the pressure cooker a few times and it is NOT fun. The principals of accepting responsibility and being accountable are all equal, regardless of your "status". You are either accountable or you are not, there is no room for middle ground. I know in my own life, I have been given a lot of grace from many people, even when the outcome was very damaging. I think deep down, most of us have grace to give at all levels but they first want to hear the person or group of people admit they were wrong, then have them take responsibility. It also helps if the person has a "back up plan" to remedy the situation rather then call it quits. Then, when that level of accountability is reached, grace can be released.
In this era, I can see by owning up to our faults rather than pushing them off on someone else, is the right thing to do and it is the right way to raise our kids. It is also the right way to run a business, or organization and to lead people. I don't believe any one person expects you and I to be perfect, but they do expect us to be responsible.
Have a great Friday everyone.
Scott Stewart
Author, Speaker and Inspiring others to a life of greatness.
scott@lovelossandgrowth.com
541-343-3614
P.S. Is your organization considering an inspirational or self improvement speaker at their next event? If so, feel free to contact me for future speaking engagements.
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