Monthly Archives: April 2019

Motivation, Personal Goals, Uncategorized, Work Life and Career

Why You MUST Expand Your Horizons

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The Future Requires It

Do you think your 4-year degree was enough education? Do you think having a Masters or Doctorate under your belt means your education is complete? Think again! Heather McGowan and other forward thinkers are telling us differently. In addition, there are macro trends making it absolutely imperative that we expand our horizons to continue learning and become innovative.

Let me back up and explain

Have you noticed how Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning is already impacting your life? Both are hot topics in the organization where I work (and likely yours, too) as leaders try to determine how AI and machine learning will transform the workplace and the workforce. But it’s not just something that’s coming; some aspects of AI and machine learning are already here and impacting our world more than we may realize.

For example, you’re probably familiar with the fact that Facebook, Instagram and other social media/online platforms gather data about you and your interests — basically learning you — based upon what you click. Then through complex algorithms, they show you more of what you seem to like and want.

social media icons
social media icons

How great is that personalization? We love it, right? In fact, that’s probably why we’re so addicted to our phones. Not only can we find just about anything we want, but we hardly have to work for it. Searches aren’t even really necessary because once you’ve clicked on something, more, similar content will be pushed right to you.

Want an example?

When I was interested in starting a blog, I saw one ad in my Facebook feed for an online blogging course. I clicked to read more about it, and the next few days my newsfeed was inundated with entrepreneurs who had hit it big through blogging, or writing, who now wanted to offer me their online courses as well. It was practically unavoidable!

The more links I clicked, the more content was tailored and pushed right to me. Pretty soon, I found other people, like me, who were in the process of starting a blog or who had gone before and now had lessons learned they were willing to share with newbies.

This is nice, right? I had all the info I could ever want about starting a blog right at my fingertips, and I had like-minded people with similar goals to guide me along the way. It was super helpful, and it took some of the leg work and guess work out of the equation. Who would complain about that?

I’m not complaining per se, but I do want to draw attention to one potential problem: As I became more micro-focused on only the things that interested me, I was losing sight of the macro world around me.

I do want to draw attention to one potential problem: As I became more micro-focused on only the things that interested me, I was losing sight of the macro world around me.

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Christian Faith, Parenting and Motherhood

Pick Your Battles

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If you’re a parent, you’ve likely heard the phrase, “Pick your battles.” Typically, it’s the young, new parents who are told this by well-meaning and more experienced parents who have gone before them.

I definitely heard it when my girls were young. Especially after describing how my daughters wished to declare their independence by wearing mismatched clothing to daycare or by refusing to allow me to brush their tangled, bed-rumpled hair.

I had quite a learning curve figuring out how to “let go” and be okay with their less-than-perfect looks. It was difficult since I had been a long-time perfectionist who believed their appearance reflected poorly on me and my parenting. It was not easy to learn; but learn it, I did. And good thing, too.

Now, as my daughters are getting older, it seems the stakes are getting higher, and they’ll only continue to do so.

A must with strong-willed children

Picking your battles is especially important for parents of strong-willed children. The strong wills cause them to go head-to-head on more issues than other children. They tend to be more argumentative and defiant by nature. Rather than fighting about everything under the sun, parents have to choose which issues matter, and which don’t.

That’s been our experience with one of our daughters. So when she recently asked if she could dye a bit of her hair teal, we had to decide if this should be a battle or not.

While I’m sure some will not agree with our decision to allow the teal hair, I want to share how we reached the conclusion to permit it. If it helps one family, it will have been worth sharing.

I also should mention that we consulted the great work of Dr. James Dobson in his recently revised book, The New Strong-Willed Child. I freely admit that parenting is difficult, therefore, I have no trouble deferring to experts for advice and guidance. After all, we want to get it right. These little people are quite special to us.

The New Strong-Willed Child
The New Strong-Willed Child by Dr. James Dobson

Dr. Dobson says parents should approach strong-willed children with a balance of Love and Control and should steer away from becoming angry, oppressive tyrants, or the opposite: passive, permissive, and disengaged parents.

His advice helped us to reach our decision this way:

  1. Show love and acceptance by sharing our beliefs
  2. Put controls in place
  3. Allow something harmless, fun and temporary

Continue reading Pick Your Battles →