Colquitt Learning Systems, LLC

Lessons Learned in Calica

clsonline — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 03:11:31 +0000

Well, it’s been a while since I blogged anything and now is a good time to start back. It took something really big to help me realize I had fallen down on the job, but at least I realized it. The guy’s name was Luis. He was our guide on a recent cruise my wife and I took. It was in Calica. We were spending a day touring and snorkeling. We had never done this so anything at all would be neat. Luis made it amazing.

Our first exposure to Luis was at the make shift office of the group he worked for. He was not the owner but a worker, paid by the day. That is important, and we will get to it in a moment, but for now… Luis was instructed to take us, as part of a small group around the corner to a tractor/trolley so we could tour the Tulum ruins. It was not his normal job but he took us just the same. Around the corner and through the buildings, and around some more corners… eventually we made it. He introduced us to several people in the area and off we went. You could tell he loved his work, and enjoyed helping people. Our impression of Luis was right on target. As we heard his story it all made sense.

Luis took us on dives in 3 different places. At each location we learned something about Luis that I believe you can apply to your own life. If you do, I believe you will experience a greater success in your life. So let’s dive into the adventure…

Our first stop was at a Mayan reservation of sorts. The people there spoke a different dialect than the normal citizens of the area. Luis took us through the area, to some under water caves. We were to dive the caves and see the wonders of things under the water. While at this place we learned how Luis made it a point to meet every person he could in his work. He spoke and waved with a smile to each person he came across. During our walk he explained that these people often help him out and having those relationships is important in his line of work.

That is very true. It is not that you are using the people you meet. Meet people to be friendly. Meet them to build relationships. Through relationships you will grow and as a need comes up from either side of the relationship it can be filled by both parties. When I share this idea with people they often say I making friends for your own needs. No… I’m making friends to be friendly. Needs come up all the time; friends help friends.

An example is when we were leaving the caves, we saw a spider monkey. We were in a hurry to get to our next site. The monkey was about 30 yards away through the trees… all of a sudden Luis told the driver to stop. A lady and her friends were in the area of the monkey and it had jumped on top of her. Before the van could stop, Luis was opening the door and preparing to run to help. As he stepped out, they men had managed to get the animal off of her and she was safe. He returned to the van and we drove off. Friends help each other out, no matter what.

Our second stop was at an ocean beach. The plans were to take a brief boat trip out into the ocean and snorkel in to look for sea turtles. This seamed easy enough. We later found it to be very tiring. During the dive we must have swam half a mile in circles against and with the waves. Luis was not afraid to ask questions of the other divers he encountered. He later told us that he was never trained on any of the things he teaches us but learned it from asking questions.

This was another very important point. If you don’t know something, find someone who does and ask them. There is always someone out there with the answer. Just ask and then you will know. If the answer does not make sense then ask the question a different way. I’ve heard it said and firmly believe it, every person is… YOU are just one piece of information away from a major breakthrough and windfall in your life. You just need to be asking the right questions of the right people.

Luis demonstrated this when we finally found a sea turtle. He was shooting pictures and dove deep a few meters from the turtle at the level of the sand. He floated with little movement as he passed taking as many pictures as he could. On his return to the surface, he was met by a man who claimed to be a ocean biologist. The man scolded Luis for swimming deep near the turtle. He reminded Luis that it was illegal. Luis asked if what he did caused harm to the turtle in an attempt to learn. The man, in a gruff attitude, said, “It’s just illegal.” Illegal or not, the question still remained. Luis was told by others, the safe way to approach sea animals when taking pictures. Luis was looking to expand his knowledge more, but the man refused. Either way… don’t be afraid to ask questions even if the person may have a negative tone towards you afterwards.

The last place we stopped was a lagoon. It was very beautiful but we were too tired to do anything. Beth and I sat at the table eating an ice cream. Relaxing and enjoying the day. As we finished, Edwardo walked up. He is the owner of the tour group. We told him how impressed we were with Luis. He explained how he found Luis, and that he hears those comments all the time.

According to the story Luis was working at a restaurant… the same one we had eaten at earlier in the day. Luis was a waiter who really worked hard to serve his customers. Edwardo recognized the skill and passion in Luis, so he offered him a job. Luis gladly took the job and never looked back.

The point to make here is that hard work and a good work ethic will be noticed by those that matter. Your next opportunity is certainly looking at how you work now. If you look around you will see where people that can move you to the next level in your life, are evaluating you right now. If you have a good work ethic they will notice. If you don’t they will also notice. You may not be looking for a job… Luis wasn’t but one came and found him. If you want a job to come find you, you must stand out among the crowd. A business owner wants nothing more than to make money. For a business owner to make money he must serve his customers. Luis made himself an expert in customer service. He WOW’d everyone and Edwardo recognized it.

As we were in the various diving spots there were little things that Luis did, on his own, to make our trip better. He did not have to do it, but he did. At one spot, the mosquitoes were awful, so he shared his bug spray. We all saw him pay for the spray out of his own pocket, when he was at the shop. At another spot he made it a point to involve every person in something unique that the others did not. Luis also asked for English translations of some of his words. His English was pretty good but he said he wanted it to be better. He said that if he could not understand his customers he could not give them as good of a tour.

This day was an amazing experience all around, but the things I learned from Luis were just as wonderful. They cemented some of the concepts I already knew. This is why I believe it is so important for me to share them with others.

Remember, work like you are in the middle of a job interview, ask questions so you can learn something in every experience, and WOW your customer at every turn.

ACTION STEPS…

1) What will you do today to change how you work?

2) What question do you need answering, and who has the answer? When will you ask them?

3) Name three ways you will start WOWing your customer:

Send your responses to jimmy@clsonline.org . When you put them in writing you and tell someone you are more likely to be successful in your steps.

Jimmy

Job Search for RCPs (success story)

clsonline — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:05:44 +0000

In our conference call last week, I outlined the steps leading up to searching for a job. The discussion was geared towards RCP students, but in this blog you will hear how it worked for a non-clinical person as well.

As a quick review for those that may not have heard the conference, the steps are easy and logical. If they are unsuccessful the first time around, go through them again with a different set of limits or conditions.

Step 1: Identify Absolute Limits

List out every limit in your life that would prevent you from working in a given facility. This may be your inability or unwillingness to move where you live. It may be the amount of money you would make, or the schedule you would have to work. Every absolute limit must be identified.

From here list out every hospital you could possibly work in within these limits or confines. Each hospital should become a potential site of employment and be researched for details.

Step 2: Identify Relative Limits Or Preferences

List out the preferences you may have in a facility. This would be the type of hospital, or patient population you would serve. Consider if you want to work in an ICU or in a nursing home. Would you rather work with kids or adults? These details are flexible and open to easy change if you need to in order to find employment.

Go through your list of potential sites for work and mark those that fall within these limits. Don’t totally exclude any facility, just make a mark by those you are interested in.

Step 3: Draw A Picture With Details.

Now list out the fine details of where you want to work. This would be the dream hospital. List out every detail no matter how small. Consider your preference in pay, shift, skills/privileges, benefits… everything. You may not have any hospitals that give you everything, but at least you will have a wish list for future reference.

Now list out the hospitals based on your picture of ideal. Consider them from “worst” to “first”. The dream hospital or the one you most want to work at should be your target for employment.

Step 4: Line Them Up And Knock Them Down

Prepare for the interview and start with the “worst”. This will help you practice for your “BIG interview”. You don’t want your first interview to be the hospital you really, really, really want to work at. You want to make your mistakes at the hospitals that are not as important.

Now don’t just blow the first interviews off. You want to have back ups. You also don’t know what connections people have in the world. Your bad interview could precede you at the next facility. Do your best every time.

Now, my success story… I told many of you in the conference call that my wife (non-medical) was going to lose her job for the 2009 – 2010 year. This was really frustrating for her, and me. We prepared for the loss and went back through the list considering some limitation changes. In doing so we relaxed how far she would need to drive to get to work. This opened up an opportunity. It looks like she has landed an interview and a very good site.

On to preparing for the interview… Again, those in the conference call will remember some of this, but for those who didn’t drop me an email and I’ll get you the recording… she has started to prepare for her interview. She has started researching the facility, the director and staff, schedule, population of student, and everything. She has made contact with the director, and has invited him to visit her website. For teachers, a portfolio is proof in hand of what skills they have. She has basically done one on her school website. Her skills in technology and use of activities in the classroom will surely catch some attention.

We even drove to the school to get a feel for the area. She wanted to see where she needed to go so she would not be late for the interview. She wanted to also get a feel for how long it would take to drive there if she did get the job.

So… my question for you all… how is the list coming? Have you written out your list of potentials? What about the other preference, and ideal site lists? Get them started now…

Nail them down with a deadline. Email them to me ( jimmy@clsonline.org ) or someone who can keep you on track. Last minute planning will only lead to frustration and lack of an excellent performance. Now days hospitals only hire the best. You want to look your best when you interview. Start getting ready NOW!!!!!

Service and Excellence

clsonline — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:10:51 +0000

Boy… I’m sore. Not in an attitude way but in a physical one. Yesterday, our hospital hosted the largest respiratory and critical care conference in the south east. It was amazing. We had 300 registered (only 250 showed up) and could stack only 236 in the conference room. Sounds like a problem? Well, we anticipated only having about 180 seats for people to eat in… bigger problem? Well, one of the caterers did not make it to work. She was sick. This meant all the events being catered throughout the facility would be handled by one person. Are you getting tired of hearing the problems?

With this many problems, you are probably asking how we were able to pull off a conference that sparked comments like “amazing”, “awesome”, “the best yet”, and “impressive.” Well it comes down to principles… Service and Excellence.

You often hear the terms put together like “excellent service” and “service excellence”, but consider them apart for a moment.

Start with Service. What is service? Service is the caring for the needs of another person. This takes an investment of your own time and energy to help the other person out. Most of the time you get nothing in return but a warm fuzzy feeling. I’ve heard it said, “Successful leaders lead by serving others.” How do you serve someone in a conference event? Fill their need. Place people in locations where questions would come up. Instruct your team to look for the person’s need and fill it. Is there a need for someone to bring fresh drinks? Do the vendors need something? Is there a need to bus tables? Is there trash on the floor? Service means not thinking about what you want to do but what your customer needs you to do. It means moving past your normal job and helping another do theirs if the need arises. It means looking for a way to wow them.

Now what about Excellence. Excellence is all about pushing the limit. The limit of what everyone else is doing. If everyone else is giving cookies and milk during the breaks, add hot cocoa. That means you are constantly in a mode of excelling or pushing higher. This does not mean forget the small things. To excel it also means to push lower. Details matter. How much does it matter if you have the president of the United States come to speak if there are no seats and you can not hear him? Who cares if you have a wonderful lunch meal if the servers have a negative attitude? Who gives a rip if you have an extra large conference room but the place smells bad? Excellence means to push higher and lower.

In this meeting I saw several departments working together to meet the needs of the event. I was several individuals working as do alls for the guests. It was amazing. Some of the staff working the conference missed lunch altogether to meet the needs of the guest. That is customer service. That is a mind of excellence.

Colquitt Learning Systems works with conference coordinators to prepare teams for excellent meetings. Skills learned from the CLS training carry over into the day to day operations of the organization. If you are interested in discussing CLS training for Customer Service and an Excellence Mindset, contact us atjimmy@clsonline.org

Lifting Up Your Boss

clsonline — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:10:06 +0000

Today I was brought to tears when I heard a story about my boss. At our preconference dinner, one of the speakers from Texas was speaking to my boss, my coworker, and me about the AARC. He spoke of my boss becoming the Chair of the Management section for the AARC. During the conversation the fact that my boss was being nominated for the FAARC status in the association. The Texan said yes and spoke of how a mutual friend of the two had called him a while back and asked for his support. My boss then told of the mutual friend muscling the chair of the selection committee with him standing there and said, “This is ___ and he should be a fellow.”

This may seem like a boring story but the thing is these three came together for a common goal. It all started with a subordinate of my boss, ME, writing a letter to the AARC nominating my boss. I was frustrated about some things and expressed them to the mutual friend, not knowing he would help. He promised but I had never heard anything back. It looks like he kept his promise.

The look on my boss’ face was priceless. If he never earns the FAARC credential, that is OK. Based on his facial expression, he is already a fellow in his heart. I wanted to keep this tight lipped but I’m glad it came out. You could clearly see he was pleased at the thought of one of his staff members going through the trouble of nominating him for the fellowship.

As a person serving under another, my job is to make them a success. I should do whatever it takes to help him/her achieve his/her goals. If it is small or large it does not matter. The end result should be success. The difficulty is when the leader does not clearly explain or describe success. When the leader does not have a clear goal in mind the follower has no idea if they are helping or hurting.

My boss has been receiving coaching, in a weird way, but coaching none the less. Through this coaching he has started to discover his goals, vision, passion, and abilities. He gets it for free because I work for his success.

If you are interested in knowing what coaching can do to improve your life, email me at jimmy@clsonline.org and give it a try. The first telephone meeting is free. What do you have to loose?

The Children’s Hospital Carnival

clsonline — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:09:31 +0000

You know… It’s amazing where I find myself sometimes. Today… well yesterday, I found myself playing DJ for the Children’s Hospital at the Medical Center of Central Georgia. I was asked by a friend if it were possible to provide some music and lights for a spring children’s carnival. I, as always, agreed. I’m a sucker for a good time.

While at the event I had the extreme privilege to speak to several of the patients. All were children and all were dealing with different issues. I see children from time to time in my normal role as a therapist, but this was very different. I’d like to share my experience with 2 of them here… I will keep the names and medical specifics out of it… I certainly don’t want to be a HIPPA-crit.

Anyway… The first patient was dealing with a condition that confined them to a wheel chair. I will call him, Bill. Many times during the day I asked Bill about things that normal non-wheelchair bound persons would do at a carnival or with a DJ. Things like dancing, and playing games with a hula hoop. Each time Bill would look his legs or the wheel chair and gave me the impression that he was saying would not be possible. Bill also told me about what he wanted to do when he grows up. Then with a sad face looked at his legs and again gave the message, “that’s not possible.”

If you have read any of my other blogs you will know what I did next. I sat on the floor beside Bill’s wheel chair and took an opportunity to speak into his life. The message I gave Bill follows…

Bill, what are you saying? You can do anything you want. Your legs and wheel chair can’t stop your will. If you want to dance, I can make that happen. It may look different than the others, but it is possible. Bill, you can hula! Give me a chance and I’ll show you. Bill, You can be a ____. I know it. I have watched you sit and read. You observed people and analyzed what I have been doing here all day. You have a great mind. You can do the work of a ____. I know you can, and don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise, especially yourself.

I told my wife last night, “I hope something I said stuck, and I wish I could see what Bill turns out to do with his life.”

My second encounter, of the patient kind, was… well let’s call her Kay. Kay was a little younger and enjoyed the video game and technology stuff I brought in. She spent the day looking at everything and wondering about it. At one point I spoke to Kay and asked what she wanted to do when she grew up. What she said did not matter as much as how she said it. She spoke with confidence. When I asked her about her grades and how school was going she spoke with something much less.

I encouraged her in her obvious confidence and can do attitude. Although she was in for a minor problem, my words of encouragement were just as needed.

Later in the day I invited Kay to look at the sound and light equipment. She was very surprised about the invitation. I gave her a crash course in light controls and how to make things flash, turn, change colors, and everything. My demonstration was short, but she picked up on it very quick. Before the end of the day she was using the lights to excite other kids in the room.

I came back and spoke to her for one last minute. What I said to her follows…

Kay, you learned how to run this lighting stuff really quick. You found it interesting and that is what made it easy to learn. I almost failed out of high school, and at one point considered quitting college. I hated school, especially reading and writing. It was not until I realized that if I read about something I liked, school stuff came much easier. Kay, I learned how to run light, sound, and video stuff by reading the book. If it were not for reading I would be probably working fast food. You can be whatever you want, but learn the basics now. Once I realize I could read my way to more fun in school and make more money, I was on it. Kay, did you know you could make $100 an hour as a kid DJ doing parties on Friday’s and Saturday’s? Read and learn and do it…

Kay was amazed. I think at two things. One, this stranger spent the afternoon telling me how to do his job, and two that with a little effort she could make a lot of money having fun. She probably had never heard that before.

Again, I hope to one day find out what Kay did with her life. I hope I made a difference.

You, You too can make a difference. Consider the words of you mouth as surgical instruments on someone’s life. Your words can cut deep to the secret places and take out the darkness, or they can cut shallow to the vital places and kill the person’s future. You decide.

I was once told and now believe, Hurt people, Hurt people. Are you hurting? Get help. Are you wondering about your future and where your life is heading? I can help. I can help you discover your dreams, and achieve your destiny. Email me at jimmy@clsonline.org

The Hutchings Career Center Experience

clsonline — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:08:40 +0000

I’d like to tell the world about an experience I had today at a local high school, William S. Hutchings Career Center, in Macon Georgia. I went to observe Mrs. Wilcox’s Health Sciences Classes as an assignment for one of my own classes. During the visit I was asked to speak to the students about my profession and my career path.

Prior to my visit to the William S. Hutchings Career Center I had no knowledge of the facility, programs offered, students served, or really anything more than the location. As I arrived I was overwhelmed with amazement at the faculty, students and facility. I was welcomed by faculty and students alike. The facility was much cleaner than schools I had visit in the past. There was a real sense of excellence in the school.

During my visit I met a number of very interesting students. Many were very motivated to learn. Some seemed less motivated but in reality knew the material being covered and were just relaxed. In each of the classes I spent a few minutes asking questions and imparting some of the “nuggets” I have picked up on my journey in life. I will share them here for those that visit my site and the readers of this blog.

What do you want to be when you grow up? – Some told me about being a mechanic, truck driver, coroner, pathologist, doctor, nurse, PT, OT, lab tech, etc. These students were looking for something that was interesting and exciting.
Remember, you are the only real limiting factor to your life. You are the only person that can say whether or not you can do a particular job. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you can’t do something. Your potential is unlimited. You set your mind on what you want to do and do it !!!
Why that? – I asked the students to tell me why that was their career choice. Some told me for the money. Others said it was because their family advised them to go that route. Others recognized that they wanted to avoid working with the ‘front line’ customer or patient. That is respectable. Know your personality style and what you like to do. If you are not a people person, great. Find a job that limits your exposure to people. That is not a bad thing.
Remember, no matter what you want to do in life know the real reasons why. Don’t ever let MONEY be the first or second reason for choosing a job. The reason is if the money is no longer as good, you are stuck in a career you never liked in the first place. Find a job you enjoy and then figure out how to live with the pay available in that job, OR find a way to make the money you need to live on in other ways. There is always a solution, it just depends on how hard you are willing to look for it.
What are you doing to get in to that career field? – Your actions now are investments into the future. If you jump into the career field in 10 years and find that you don’t like it you have wasted 10 years of your life. Find someone that is doing what you want to do and “pick their brain”. Find out what they did to become a nurse, doctor, coroner… it does not matter. Find someone that is in the field and professionally arrange an appointment with them, either a phone call appointment or a visit. Keep the appointment. Come prepared with questions for the person. Ask the questions in a way that will get the person talking. See what happens. You may be turned down once, twice, or ??? times. Who cares… if you really want to be an underwater basket weaver… nothing can stop you from your goal but you. If they turn down the interview, ask another person. Keep asking until you land a hit.
Are you living that life now? – Live the life you want to have in 10 years. If you want to be a nurse, look at the nurse you want to be like and start doing the things they are doing. Attending nursing related functions, read nursing related books, act professionally like a professional nurse would act…. Learn the language of the level you want to live on in 10 years. If you learn the language and life style of that level you will reach that level. If you continue to act like a high school student doing high school student things for the next 10 years you will be in high school in 10 years. This is not a put down or dig to high school students but a wake up call… YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN MOVE YOU FORWARD.
What are you doing in life that will sabotage you in reaching your goal? – I know we did not talk about this in class but it needs to be said. There are things you can do now that will prevent you from achieving your goals in life. Drugs, Sex, Poor Diet and Negative behavior will stop you in your tracks. Think of things that will not be allowed on that next level. They are things that will pull you back to lower positions in your life. Smoking is another thing. I know people on all levels do that, but consider this. If you give ANYTHING a chance to control your life you are basically saying, “not my will, but thy will be done.” “No my will but your will, Drugs, Sex/girlfriend/boyfriend, Poor health/diet, smoking, negative behavior, be done.” You decide who is in control of your life. If you can’t go a week without it totally messing your life up, it has you handcuffed or chained to it. You are a slave to it….
REMEMBER… you are better than that. There is nothing that can hold you back but what you let hold you back. You are the key to this situation. Set your goals and live them out. Never look at the roughness of the path, difficulty of the tests, cost of the education… only look at the goal and the fact that you want to achieve it. You can do it…

To the students from Mrs. Wilcox’s class: You ladies and gentlemen are great. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak into your lives. You will be successful if you put your mind to it. To the FVSU student… you will be a anesthesia doc/nurse, get ready. To the Marketing student… you will be a business leader one day. To the student working on taking blood pressures… you can do this. Don’t let it beat you. To the speech therapist… You will be great. Make it happen. To the neonatal nurse dreamer… those babies are waiting on you. To the team of forensic pathologist, and coroner group in the back of the room… keep your promise to yourself to meet those that are already doing this. To the pediatric nurse practitioner… you told me you would talk to someone in the next 3 months… keep your word!!!

Mrs Wilcox… you are a great teacher. Your passion for your students is amazing. You will see the program succeed. You will see your vision become reality… Keep up the great work. You are making a difference.

Get Started NOW!!!

clsonline — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 14:07:51 +0000

I was speaking to several of my students today about their plans for the future. The students were preparing for their credentialing exams and their externship. They are 8-10 weeks from graduation and it is time to look for a job. A job… Oh boy!!!

As always, when I bring up applying for a job, the student or soon to be graduate says they are not ready. They are scared, or they don’t know what to do. I gave these students my tips for success and I’ll share them here…

Don’t be afraid of applying early - Apply now. What is the worst thing that could happen? They tell you to apply again in 2 months? Come on… the application process is like writing a paper. If you don’t know how to fill out an app you will need to practice. Gather all the information you need before the last minute. You’re going to need addresses, telephone numbers, names of people, etc. Get started now. Ask people if you can use them as a reference. Get their permission early.
Interview where you DON’T want to work first - What if the first time you played a game of baseball it was during the World Series? Or the big event you wanted to win was the first time you had ever done the task or activity? Many times a person’s first choice for a job is the first interview they do. This is not smart. I recommend applying for every position that opens that you would be remotely interested in. Practice the skill of interviewing. If you get the job offering and you don’t want it then gracefully turn it down. Practice… Practice… Practice…
Be prepared - Pretend the job interview is a final exam. Research the organization. Know the leaders in the department. Know what the department strengths and weaknesses are. You are in the information age. GOOGLE the place and it’s people. Find out who they are and be ready to answer questions about them.
Interview the organization - Come in with questions that go deeper than what you can find on the Internet. If you really want the job this will show you have thought things through and that you are ready to join the team.
Ask for a tour - If you are told that the facility does not have any openings then ask for a tour. You would be surprised how often positions are not realized yet. If you come in and start talking to the director about their organization they are more likely to remember you when a position opens. They will also work to get you on board if they have had a chance to spend time with you. This is a trick to get your foot in the door.

I can honestly say I have interviewed for 7-8 positions since I graduated from school. Of them everyone was a position I honestly wanted to have. I was offered only a couple but that was OK. I learned from each of them. It was almost like I should have paid them for the experience. The value of being put in the hot seat for an interview has been immeasurable.

I said “7-8 positions” because the 8th one was not for a job but for a position in Graduate school. I wanted nothing more in my education than to go to school at the University of Georgia. I walked in to the interview ready for everything. I found myself sitting before 6 PhD. and Ed.D. Professors asking me questions about the various adventures of my life. It was actually fun. I did not realize it until the end of the interview, but I had sat back and relaxed in my chair, speaking to these interviewers as if I were talking to friends in class.

The best time to start something new is now. You can decide at what level you start, but you must start now. This means you must decide what you want in life and what your goals are. That is where I can help… I can help you realize your goals, and coach you to achieving them. Take the quiz on my home page and see what happens… and above all else… GET STARTED NOW !!!

2007 Celebratory

clsonline — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 09:06:50 +0000

I just finished reading one of those “weekly”newsletters that comes every day. You know the kind there you get so many you just can’t keep up. Well I spent some time catching up on them today. Many were carefully crafted advertisements. Poor form… my good man… Poor form… OK enough with the Captain Hook quotes…

I did however find an interesting challenge… It is called writing you celebratory. A celebratory is a list of accomplishments and blessings you are proud of. The newsletter points out that you need to congratulate yourself on your accomplishments and note the many blessings you have. This is true. It will help you realize you can accomplish more and be thankful for the blessings you have been given.

So I decided to note my accomplishments and blessings for 2007… I’m sure I won’t get them all, but I can try.

Accomplishments First

Started School -I would have never thought 10 years ago that I would be working on my PhD; and at UGA no less. The program is long and hard, but it is amazing how the stuff I need to be learning for my job, family, church, and business is the same as what I’m covering in the classroom. Cool…
Set up boundaries in my schedule - the biggest accomplishment in 2007 was to set boundaries in my life. I have worked to pass off many of the things that I “can’t live without.” The cool part is that the people I have worked with on these projects are now succeeding as the leader. They would have never done so if I had not let go. They are successful because I allowed myself to do less. Now I can be more successful in new things.
Started my own business - I remember when my father had a small business, at the same address where we lived. Now I live at that address and have my on company. My small business will become a large business, helping people and other companies grow and succeed.

Blessings Next…

My wife and children have been a blessing in my life. They keep me focused on the future, and enjoying the present.
My Church - God has placed my family in a wonderful church family. Life Center and Pastors Trey and Hope Jones have challenged me and encouraged me over the years. 2007 was no different. My wife and I are moving into new ministries and expanding our territory.
My job - I know there are many out there without a job. I am blessed to work in a wonderful facility with many great people.
My boss - I believe my boss was put in my life to advance me forward. I have found that when my boss succeeds, I succeed. The more I work to make him a success, the more I find myself being successful.
My friends - My dad and I were blessed by one of my work friends with a set of tickets to a UGA game. We had not gone in over 15 years. This friend just gave me his tickets, no strings. We met and enjoyed a wonderful game.

Please understand that I believe my life and everything I have in it is a blessing from God. I also want you to understand that God has called us to not just live our lives… but to live them exceedingly abundantly above anything we could ever imagine. Check it out for your self…

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Eph. 3:20 (KJV)

If that is what He has said, then why don’t we do it? It is because we don’t know how, or can’t within our current mindset. Many people just don’t or can’t believe what that verse says. I can help… Just give us a chance.

Colquitt Learning Systems, LLC… a dream come true

clsonline — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:12:12 +0000

It has long been a dream of mine to have my own business. Think of it… to me my own manager. To set the pace of my own projects and adventures. I could not wait… and now it is here. I believe everyone has dreams. Each of us have spent some time sitting in our easy chair, or lying in bed dreaming of something. So why are they still there dreaming, and I’m living my dream? I don’t want to sound cocky, I just believe people are wasting time when they could be living their dreams. So what did it take for my dream to come true. Well here it is… I dreamed. That should be an understood, but many people don’t know what they want to do in life. they don’t know what they want to dream of. Dream it… write it… then do it. When it is clear and to the point, you can focus on it. Your spouse can help with it. Your kids can dream with you. Ask people that are doing what you want to do. Do not recreate the wheel from scratch. Find people that are doing what you want to do and ask them how they did it. Many times you will not be in competition with such people. They will want to help you… Just be courageous and ask. Set goals to achieve your dream. Set our a plan with clear goals and then achieve them. If you don’t start moving in the right direction you will never get anywhere or you will end up in the wrong place. Read about your field. Learn more by reading. Expand your knowledge and grow mentally. Work. If I said, “just do it” it would sound too familiar when it comes to dreams. Work! is just what it sounds like. Work your plan. Do what you planned to do and work… I am living my dream. I have a wonderful wife and 3 wonderful kids. My career is expanding. I work for two great bosses. My education plan is coming together… and life is great. Join me.