”The world is full of abundance and opportunity, but far too many people come to the fountain of life with a sieve instead of a tank car, a teaspoon instead of a steam shovel. They expect little and as a result they get little.”  ~ Sweetland - Author of I Will 

“Find something positive to think about and don’t let the conversation in your head end with a negative comment. Always end on a positive comment.”  ~Dr. Tomi Bryan and Dr. Jerry White

I was thinking today about the power of teaching with questions…and about how it’s much more often the questions that lead us towards excellence than the answers. 

Great leaders and great teachers ask themselves and those they serve great questions… that lead to great quests that require great commitment and sacrafice to discover the great answers and solutions that are greatly needed.  There is more greatness in questions that I have previously considered….

I need to think on this a bit and seek to find the answer to this question… “How can I be a more effective teacher, father and speaker by using questions to better teach, reach and inspire the people in my life….to achieve more, believe more and be more?”

Here’s a few Question-Able Quotes to ponder on your way to a more wonderful and Question-Able week.

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” Albert Einstein

“You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.”   Naguib Mahfouz

 ”Questions are the creative acts of intelligence” (or can be )

“He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever”  Chinese Proverb

“Questioning is the door of knowledge” Irish Saying

“The power to question is the basis of all human progress.” Indira Gandhi

Is Kirk out?

This wonderful story was shared with me by Frasier a few years back… and well I think he nails it!

Recently I’ve had contact with some very interesting people at work.  It doesn’t seem to matter how something is, they complain about how bad everything is.  I guess they’ve been doing it for so long at times they miss the point while they are letting others around know how bad something is.  It reminded me of a story I heard a number of years ago.

A number of years ago a salesman had gotten lost and drove up to a house to ask for directions.  He got out of his car and walked up to the porch where an elderly gentleman was rocking in his rocking chair and an old blood hound lay stretched out near by.  As he approached the dog lifted his head and let out a moan.  A moment later the dog again lifted his head and moaned.  The salesman began to ask for directions when he was interrupted by the dog moaning.  He almost got his question out when the dog moaned again.

Finally the salesman asked, “What’s wrong with your dog?”

The old man looked down at the dog and then to the salesman and said, “He’s lying on a nail.”

“Lying on a nail?”, asked the surprised salesman.

“Yep”, said the old man, “It bothers him enough to complain about it, but not enough to do anything about it.”

Doesn’t that seem to be the way with some folks.  They’ll complain about something, but they won’t do anything about it.

We don’t have to have the same outlook.  If something is bothering you then it is probably bothering someone else too.  Take that step to do something about it.  You can effect change.

  Make it a moan free weekend by getting off the nail.

Kirk Out

  

Dr. Robert Anthony has said, “The thing you resist is the thing you most need to hear. ”

 When my daughter Ashlyn sees me walking up to her with a toothbrush, a bottle of medicine, or her PJs she says, “Don’t say it Daddy”.   She doesn’t want to hear about what she doesn’t want to do anything about.  Like the girl in the picture she is emotionally putting her hands over her ears.   My teenage son uses earphones and music instead of his hands… I often use my schedule as a tool to resist listening to what I need to hear. 

What do you use to stop from listening?  And a more important question … what is it you most need to hear?  And the most important question…. What are you going do about it?

Kirk Out

It is not enough merely to read books about leadership or to proclaim that we are students of leadership, or want to be leaders. It is not enough to fill our bookshelves with books by Maxwell, Collins, Buckinham, and videos of Fish, Cheese and how to make Steam.  True Leadership is not a spectator sport. We cannot expect to experience the joy and growth of real leadership while we standing inactive on the sidelines any more than we can experience the benefits of health by sitting on a sofa watching sporting events on television and giving advice to the athletes.

“Leadership” is best defined as an action verb.  Leaders learn yes, but they don’t learn in the library as much as they do in a laboratory.  That we must learn and seek to know is a must.  But this just gives us the ability to apply for a position of leadership.  It is as we APPLY what we know that we gain experience.  It is when theories are tested, and principles applied and put into practice that leadership is proved, and improved. 

 One of my favorite college instructors, was in fact a substitute, who I only had the privilege of being with for 3 hours…but whose wisdom shared in those 3 hours has shaped my life almost more than any other.  His name was Alma Heaton, and he taught me that life is a laboratory… a place for us to experiment, to put ourselves, our ideas and our theories to the test.  Knowledge is only power if we put it to the test, use it, prove it, improve it and then improve our lives and the world with it.  So get your white coats on…and meet me in the lab….. the Leadership Lab.  :)  

See you there.  Kirk

 

Stuff is Going to Happen — We are people-stuff happens to people.  When stuff happens to you it just proves that you are alive, because as long as you live stuff is going to happen.  Stop thinking you are one of those special ones that nothing happens to.  Those people do not exist, and if they did, who would really want to hang around them anyway?  They would be so boring.  What would they have to talk about? 

  The stuff that happens to you is what makes life interesting-both the good stuff and the bad stuff.  It is called life.  It is not perfect.  It is just life.  Deal with it.  Put up with it.  Enjoy it as best you can.  But please, whatever you do, do not whine about it. -Larry Winget

In our family when someone starts to whine we all chime in with this reminder… “We’re the Weislers not the whiners”. (Yes, I’ve had the kids chant it at me a couple times …. Hey, we all need to be reminded)

Kirk Out

If you can start the day without caffeine,

If you can get going without pep pills,

If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can eat the same food everyday and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

If you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you when, through no fault of yours, something goes wrong,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,

If you can ignore a friend’s limited education and never correct him,

If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend,

If you can face the world without lies and deceit,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can relax without liquor,

If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,

If you can say honestly that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, color, religion or politics,

Then, my friend, you are almost as good as your dog!

Have a dog gone good day and let’s make it a dog gone good week!  We are the only ones who CAN!

Kirk Out

     

 ”The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out. Every mind is a building filled with archaic furniture. Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it.”

Kirk Out

 

“What we have to do …is to find a way to celebrate our diverstity and debate our differences without fracturing our communities.” - Hillary Clinton

Diversity is the one true thing we all have in common.  Celebrate diversity every day.  - Anonymous

“If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.”  John F. Kennedy

Kirk Out