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> I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.> > - Rusty




 



 



 

 

 




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Reminder about your invitation from Rusty Railey

 



 

 









 




This is a reminder that on September 7, Rusty Railey sent you an invitation to become part of their professional network at LinkedIn.


 



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On September 7, Rusty Railey wrote:


> To: com [9e2af90fbd23bc6f@typepad.com]

> From: Rusty Railey [rustyrailey@gmail.com]


> Subject: Invitation to connect on LinkedIn

> I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.> > - Rusty




 



 



 

 

 




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From Rusty Railey


 


Lead Pastor at Cross Point Church

Kansas City, Missouri Area

 







 



 



I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.- Rusty



 



 







 


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60 Tips For A Great Life -- By Robin Sharma

Here is a great blog written by a great leader and coach. He gives tips and advice on improving your life and making this year a great year! 

60 TIPS FOR A STUNNINGLY GREAT LIFE  I want to shift gears from leadership to a pure focus on crafting an exceptional life for this blog post. Ultimately, life goes by in a blink. And too many people live the same year 80 times. To avoid getting to the end and feeling flooded regret over a live half-lived, read (and then apply) these tips: 1. Exercise daily. 2. Get serious about gratitude. 3. See your work as a craft. 4. Expect the best and prepare for the worst. 5. Keep a journal. 6. Read “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin”. 7. Plan a schedule for your week. 8. Know the 5 highest priorities of your life. 9. Say no to distractions. 10. Drink a lot of water. 11. Improve your work every single day. 12. Get a mentor. 13. Hire a coach. 14. Get up at 5 am each day. 15. Eat less food. 16. Find more heroes. 17. Be a hero to someone. 18. Smile at strangers. 19. Be the most ethical person you know. 20. Don’t settle for anything less than excellence. 21. Savor life’s simplest pleasures. 22. Save 10% of your income each month. 23. Spend time at art galleries. 24. Walk in the woods. 25. Write thank you letters to those who’ve helped you. 26. Forgive those who’ve wronged you. 27. Remember that leadership is about influence and impact, not title and accolades. 28. Create unforgettable moments with those you love. 29. Have 5 great friends. 30. Become stunningly polite. 31. Unplug your TV. 32. Sell your TV. 33. Read daily. 34. Avoid the news. 35. Be content with what you have. 36. Pursue your dreams. 37. Be authentic. 38. Be passionate. 39. Say sorry when you know you should. 40. Never miss a moment to celebrate another. 41. Have a vision for your life. 42. Know your strengths. 43. Focus your mind on the good versus the lack. 44. Be patient. 45. Don’t give up. 46. Clean up your messes. 47. Use impeccable words. 48. Travel more. 49. Read “As You Think”. 50. Honor your parents. 51. Tip taxi drivers well. 52. Be a great teammate. 53. Give no energy to critics. 54. Spent time in the mountains. 55. Know your top 5 values. 56. Shift from being busy to achieving results. 57. Innovate and iterate. 58. Speak less. Listen more. 59. Be the best person you know. 60. Make your life matter. Robin Sharma is the author of the #1 international bestseller “The Leader Who Had No Title” (Simon & Schuster). Pass this list on to a friend by using the tools below.

 

Celebrate Failure

Unless you're skydiving, tightrope walking, or trying to land a space shuttle, failure IS an option. In fact, the most successful people usually are the ones who have failed the most. Unafraid to take risks, they stumble frequently, but in doing so they learn valuable lessons and improve themselves.

Consider Google. The California-based firm revolutionized Internet search technology and Internet advertising, and it has created a host of innovative tools such as its mapping service (Google Maps), email platform (Gmail), web browser (Google Chrome), and mobile phone operating system (Android).

But spectacular successes rarely come without spectacular failures. The company massively misfired with Google Wave, a web application designed to integrate email, social networking, and instant messaging. On August 4th, Google announced its decision to shut down the high-profile project, not even a year after its launch. In explaining the decision, Google CEO Eric Schmidt asserted the company's attitude toward the situation:

"We celebrate our failures. This is a company where it's absolutely okay to try something that's very hard, have it not be successful, and take the learning from that."

Celebrating Failure

Leaders set the tone for how their people view failure. In particular the stance leaders take toward failure affects an organization's tolerance for risk, openness, creativity, and teamwork. With so much at stake, how can leaders create a culture in which failure is celebrated rather than feared?

1) Encourage Risk-Taking

Leaders invite their people to take risks when they entrust them with the authority to make decisions and the responsibility to exercise their own judgments. People who are empowered to act without having to seek the approval of higher-ups may misstep occasionally. Yet, in the long run they'll learn invaluable lessons and gain confidence in their own abilities.

2) Set Expectations

Leaders de-stigmatize failure by setting the expectations that, from time to time, people will mess up. Instead of insisting on perfection, seasoned leaders simply desire progress. They concern themselves with effort rather than focusing only on outcomes. To this end, they don't punish failure; they welcome it as a natural part of life and a necessary step in the process of maturing as a leader.

3) Interpret Setbacks

Some people are their own worst critics. After making a mistake, they have trouble recovering and moving on. Leaders come alongside their teammates to help them interpret failure. Instead of equating an error with disaster, leaders point to the slip-up as a portal of discovery. They frame failure as a learning opportunity and use it to instruct and guide team members.

Leadership Lessons from Green Day

Great thoughts from Robin Sharma:

Last night I watched a documentary about the rise of Green Day. They have morphed into one of the world's most popular as well as influential rock bands, selling over 65 million records, filling stadiums in cities across the world and inspiring a whole new generation of musicians.

Here are the 5 business as well as personal leadership lessons we can gather from Green Day's ascent:

#1: Every dream starts off small.

Green Day started off called Sweet Children. They played to empty halls and few gave them any chance of being successful. However, their vision was larger than their doubts and they stayed the course like the best Leaders Without Titles always do. Amazing things happen when you stay in the game longer than anyone thinks you should.

#2: They out-practiced their competition.

The original members of Green Day came from broken homes. Parents were not around much. So most of their free time they practiced. Often they would write songs all day and play guitar all night. Like all genius-level performers, relentless practice over an extended period of time births extraordinary performance.

#3: They were well grounded. 

After Dookie sold over 14 million copies, the members of Green Day reached superstardom. However, rather than succumbing to the seductions of success, they remained grounded. They started their families and they remained true to their roots. This has allowed them a longevity that so many rock bands never achieve.

#4: They understood the power of renewal.  

After the success of their breakthrough album Dookie, Green Day toured the world relentlessly. But then after that - at the peak of their success - they took a complete year off. They spent time with their families. They pursued other musical projects. And they refilled their well of inspiration. Rather than burning out, this period of time allowed them to come back stronger and to continue having fun at their craft.

#5: They dared to innovate.  

The albums that followed their breakthrough release actually sold many less records. However, Green Day were willing to relentlessly innovate. The album they were working on before American Idiot came out was actually a mess in the sense that their master tapes were stolen. Many bands would have given up. However Green Day saw it as an opportunity to rewrite the entire album. They came up with an idea of a rock opera and released American Idiot. This became their biggest seller and 15 years after they started, they reached a whole new level of fortune.

Leadership and Critics

One of the challenges for anyone dedicated to expressing their leadership best is dealing with the chattering voices of naysaying critics. As a matter of fact, the more brightly you shine in your work and the more quickly you innovate and the more excellent you become, the more foulmouthed critics you will attract. It's just part of the game. Emerson said it brilliantly: "Great people are always misunderstood."

Here some key insights to help you: 

#1: To lead is to often be unpopular. Leadership isn't a popularity contest. Leadership is about having the bravery to do what's right versus what's easy. That attracts criticism. Why? Because people don't like change. And they don't want to change. To truly lead is to disrupt the way things were-and are (in an effort to make things better). And rather than having the openness and courage to embrace the change, most people would rather shoot the messenger, in an effort to preserve the status quo.

#2: Critics Can Serve You. Sometimes, there is some truth to what your critics are saying. Smart leaders have the intelligence to discern the difference between the misguided ramblings of those seeking to knock them down and negative feedback that has truth beneath it. Each of us can get to a whole new level of excellence by improving our weaknesses. 

#3: You Can Create More Value Amid Your Critics than With Your Fans.  Yes, moving your closely cherished vision/mission/ideals/goals forward in the face of people throwing stones (or even simply laughing) at you is hard work. But, ultimately, doing what you believe to be right/good/important surrounded by critics is more valuable than doing all that alongside your supporters. Why? Because the critics are resisting what you are trying to change. And if you can positively influence them (even a few of them), then you've advanced your mission much more significantly that preaching to the converted.

Wishing someone would do a Dos Equis beer style commercial about Jesus.

Wishing someone would do a Dos Equis beer style commercial about Jesus.
via Stuff Christians Like - Jon Acuff by Jon on 5/2/10


I bet you thought, “You know what? I imagine Jon is going to compare a Latin beer commercial to Jesus one of these days.” And today my friend, is indeed that day.

Because Dos Equis currently has a campaign called “The most interesting man in the world.” In the commercial, they tell us about a wildly interesting gentlemen. They make statements like, “His blood smells like cologne. He speaks Russian in French. People hang on every word even the prepositions.” The commercials are brilliantly funny and I included two examples at the bottom of this post.

But as a Christian prone to completing ripping off popular culture, or as I like to say, “liberating it from satan,” I really felt like it was time to set the record straight with the management at the Dos Equis corporation.

Jesus, is the most interesting man.

Why do I say that? The proof is undeniable and I will now attempt to write it out as if it were in fact a commercial.

Why is Jesus the most interesting man in the world?

1.    His birth was announced by a powerful supernova star, not a cheap greeting card.

2.    As a child, he used to go to the temple to teach old men.

3.    He once celebrated a 40 day fast by headlocking the devil himself into verbal submission.

4.    He is known to go for long walks. On water.

5.    When his friend Lazarus died, he didn’t bring flowers, he brought Lazarus back to life.

6.    When he throws parties, he doesn’t order a novelty 10 foot long sub, he multiples fish and loaves.

7.    He is an epic fishing partner and knows exactly where to throw the nets.

8.    His words are so important that if you were to print them, they would automatically come out in red.

9.    He once used a mud mask to heal someone of blindness.

10.    At parties, he doesn’t bring wine. He turns water into it.

11.    Long before Lance Armstrong, he was so popular, that people wore bracelets and wondered, “What would Jesus do?”

12.    When he shows up at parties, people don’t wait in line to get inside. They cut holes in the roof to get in.

13.    He is so unconcerned about taxes that he keeps his money in a fish.

14.    He doesn’t weather big storms, he stops them. With words.

15.    Despite his stature, he’s so humble that one of the last things he ever did was wash his friend’s feet.

16.    When he was baptized, his friends from small group didn’t cheer in church. God audibly gave him a shout out.

17.    At concerts when people are overly excited, they don’t yell “Hooray,” they scream his name out loud.

Those are my reasons for feeling that Jesus is in fact the most interesting man in the world. How about you?

Any to add to the list?

A great blog by: Robin Sharma

Once, there was a pristine green field that was alive and lush, amidst the extraordinary bloom of Springtime. Next to it happened to sit another field. This one full of weeds, dirt and rough edged stones. A testament to mediocrity. And an acute lack of care.

Through the operation of Nature's laws, the seeds of the weeds from the mediocre field were slowly blown over to the lush field. And so, day by day, the once stunningly beautiful one - with once awesome potential - succumbed to the influence of it's low-grade next door neighbor.



Before the season was through, there sat two fields. Both completely overcome by weeds. 



The leadership lesson for you and I (in this world that aches for real leaders): your influences and environments matter. The people you associate with will infect your thinking. The content of what you read/watch/listen to will affect your game. And the things you surround yourself with will determine whether you work at wow. Or end up at a field called mediocre.

Amazing Testimonies of what God did at camp this last week in Utica, IL

Crave Winter Camp 2010 | Day Two Testimonies from Crossroads Community Church on Vimeo.