Leadership

GET BUSY

Someone gave me this advice once: "If you need to get something done quickly, ask a person who is really busy to do it." I've come to understand why this advice works. Busy people are busy for a reason--they get stuff done! Busy people are the most reliable at producing results, but they can have a life out of balance because of their busyness. Unfortunately, many student leaders fi t into the category of people who are overachievers and out of balance in their lives.

You need to learn as a young leader that when you say yes to something, you're saying no to something else. For example, you have lots of activities filling your schedule, and a friend asks you to try out for the school play. If you say yes to the play, you'll have to say no to other things. You have only so much time. The number of minutes in a day doesn't change to accommodate all your desires. You'll need to learn how to say no to things, or you'll overschedule yourself and have no margin in your life. When you overschedule, you'll find yourself saying no to your family, no to sleep, or no to time with God. Time with God helps you establish clear priorities about how to spend your time.

God created you intentionally with limitations. You're not designed to do everything. He made you to be dependent on others. When you decide to learn how to make the most of your time, you'll learn to say no without feeling guilty.

Just a note: Your life may not be out of balance because you're too busy. You may be out of balance because you're too self-absorbed. If you spend most of your time focusing on your own needs, you may need to take a positive step toward finding ways to get involved with helping others at home, church, and school.

Some students who are the least happy in life are the ones who are couch potatoes. They tend to be bored with life and are filled with relational tension, especially with their parents. If this describes you, you need to do something to improve your outlook on life. If you're bored, make it a goal to fi nd something to do besides lie on the couch and watch TV or play video games. Finding constructive ways to occupy your time will help you improve your feelings about life and help you learn to be a good steward of the time God gives you.

Whether you're overstressed or underchallenged, I hope you'll take a serious look at your life and discover what you can do to bring it into balance and make the most of the time you have. You'll be amazed at what God will do with a little extra time in your schedule. Your family will notice, too, and they'll thank you for it.

Taken from "Help! I'm a Student Leader" by Doug Fields, copyright 2005, Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission. Order the book here: http://www.youthspecialties.com/product/259614

FORGETTABLE FACT

Slinkys were among the first toys to to travel into space.

POTENT QUOTABLES

"A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit."
- John C. Maxwell

"Inside my empty bottle I was constructing a lighthouse while all the others were making ships."
- Charles Simic

PARTING SHOT

Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?

copyright 2006 :: Youth Specialties

$20 Bill

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this. He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air. Well, he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.

We have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value.

It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way.

We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who DO LOVE you. The worth of our lives comes, not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE and WHOSE WE ARE. You are special- Don't EVER forget it."

If you do not pass this on, you may never know the lives it touches, the hurting hearts it speaks to, or the hope that it can bring.

Count your blessings, not your problems.

"And remember: amateurs built the ark
professionals built the Titanic.

If God brings you to it - He will bring you through it.

Refining and purifying silver

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it"

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

This very moment, someone needs to know that God is watching over them. And, whatever they're going through, they'll be a better person in the end.

There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up a pen to write.

T-Shirt Design idea

What do you think? Is it keeping up with the times? Would YOU buy one?

Lady Liberty Fireworks

This link may be a day late, but it's still fun- launch your own fireworks online at:

Lady Liberty Fireworks - http://www.fireworkspop.com/liberty.htm

What kind of car are you?

I'm a Chevrolet Corvette!

You're a classic - powerful, athletic, and competitive. You're all about winning the race and getting the job done. While you have a practical everyday side, you get wild when anyone pushes your pedal. You hate to lose, but you hardly ever do.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Ups and Downs

Ups and Downs of the early season
AUG 24, 2006
I swore to myself that I was going to practice what I preach and stay positive all the time about Cheerleading no matter what this year. I think that even Norman Vincent Peal would find that one to be a challenge.

Whenever you have tryouts in the Spring for Football Cheer, you hope to get 10-20 candidates that you can choose 6-8 great cheerleaders from. We had 4 candidates. Mind you, they're all great cheerleaders. Even though three were freshmen and one had quit before the end of basketball season last winter, I was going to stay positive.

But it seems like we got whittled away as time goes on. One freshman wasn't sure. Her guardians are her older brother and his wife. First her brother didn't want her to cheer, he wanted her to go out for a "real" sport like volleyball. Then her sister-in-law decided that she needed to babysit her younger sister everyday. So she's off the roster. Would've made a good flier too.

Then another freshman must have gotten in trouble at home of mouthed off or something, because her mom was thinking of not allowing her to cheer at all, but conceded to let her so long as she only came to two practices a week.

I was excited when a girl who cheered for years at Charter Oak-Ute transfered to BV and told me she was interested. But she was really just interested in basketball season. And then she ran into a mess with her transcripts so now she has to take a night class if she wants any hope of graduating.

But just when I was ready to get all negative and feel sorry for myself, I watched the 3 I had practice. They remember most of their stuff. They're really pretty good. Just 2 of them are as loud a a lot of whole squads. They have some fun ideas for 8-count dances. What the heck, 3 can be a good thing. I offered to scrap the first pep rally and they just about killed me- no way were they going to not have a first pep rally. Okay, well, alright.

Then this afternoon, a transfer student from Pennsylvania finally made contact with me and commited to this season. Not long after that another girl who'd cheered in junior high was hanging out in my room and I asked her (half in jest) if she'd come out and she committed right there!

Just goes to show, there's never a good reason to complain or give up hope. You never know what the next day holds. Other adults have their concerns about all 5 of these kids as far as attitudes or behavior goes. You never know. I've taken a chance on some kids and really been burned in the past. On the other hand, I've had kids who other adults would write-off and complain about and judge up one side and down the other who have turned out to be absolute assets, hard-working and spirited athletes who I wouldn't trade.

I really love these first three, I don't think anyone around here has known the fourth long enough to label her or put her in a box, and I've always had good interactions and great work from the fifth, so I'm actually looking forward to the season. Now between parents, transportation and jobs, who knows how often we'll actually be able to have all 5 work together- but I've resolved not to whine about it.

And we get one last season out of our Senior Mascot, Brett. We talk about theology a lot when he rides shotgun in the van to away games. Those conversations go a long way toward keeping me sane.

EIGHT junior high cheerleaders and a mascot. That rocks too!

Morningside

Christine works in a jumpline.

I was bummin' that only 2 of our Freshmen came to the annual Morningside College Cheer Clinic. 1- no idea what happened, 1-Junior didn't want to be late to softball practice, and of course, regular readers of this blog recognize the complexity of the situation so why whine about it... blah blah blah.

I HOPE that Megan & Christine had a good time and learned a lot. They certainly seemed to bond. That alone was worth the hassle.

Thrown Room

Thrown Room
http://www.metc.net/~bbollman/

This is the site for the christian rock band of a guy who was in my web programming class this week. He teaches at Elk Horn. He did all the graphics on their site- pretty awesome, huh?

They're playing at Christian music festival in Harlan tomorrow- Sat June 17 from 11am-after dark. If you're looking for something to do after baseball/sofball, go chek 'em out.

Future School Newspaper?

Here is the project web-site I'm doing for the xhtml programming class I'm taking this week. If you'd like to see that site, visit http://ted.mallory.googlepages.com/default.htm

Purpose

I've been writing something between class sessions (writing xhtml code- very dry)
It isn't done, but if it works out, I may try submitting it to some magazines. Let me know what you think-

Purpose Driven Cheerleading

A few years ago an upstart pastor from California, Rick Warren wrote a record breaking book called 'A purpose Driven Life.His preface is that everyone's life has meaning and he believes that both individuals and the Church can find mission and direction in Scriptural principles.In much the same way, Cheerleaders can be vitally important and have an enormous impact for the teams they cheer for, their schools, and their communities.Even at a public school, with the separation of church and state, squads and coaches can emphasize 5 simple purposes, even without tying them to any religion.Although, cheerleaders who's personal faith is important to them can certainly integrate these Cheer purposes with Warren's origional 5 Christian purposes.I think that if cheerleaders keep these 5 in mind, they'll be practicing "intentedness" which is one of the bricks in Coach John Wooden's "Pyramid of Success."Intentedness means being goal-oriented, having a target to strive for.

The purposes of cheerleading:

Purpose 1: Spirit

Lets face it, cheerleading was invented to support sports.It may now be a sport in it's own right, but even with all the all-star squads and competitions, we should never lose sight of our primary function-to cheer on the ball teams. "Fan" is short for "Fanatic." This doesn't mean you worship football or the team. It does mean that you support, cheer for, draw attention to, and encourage the team that's playing.
THAT is Cheerleadings #1 role.

Purpose 2: Community (aka: having unity in common)

If there's anything adolescent psychologists think that teenagers are looking for it's identity, in particular- group identity. A mascot and school colors go a long way to do this. Regardless of race, gender, creed, socio-economic status, grades, cliques...whatever usually separates students, they all belong to one group- your school, and cheerleaders need not only to be a symbol of that group, but should constantly be trying to help kids feel included and valued in that community.Inclusion, not exclusion- As the school secretary listed them in Ferris Bueller; "The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, waistoids, dweebies..." they all should feel like they belong, and it's yourjob to help them feel that way.

If you are fullfilling the negative stereotype of the snobby, preppie, popular- basically either supperior or "clique-y," you're being exclusive instead of inclusive. In other words, you're not making people feel a part of something, you're making them feel even more alienated and unvalued. Cheerleaders are supposed to make people feel valued as part of the team, part of the school, part of the team.

The irony is that if you're being what so many people THINK cheerleaders are like, you're being the antithesis of what a cheerleader is SUPPOSED to be.

I think that building community fulfills America's motto; "E Pluribus Unum; from many, one." Baseball may call itself "America's Pastime," football, basketball and NASCAR may all vie for being the most popular sport, but only cheerleading has the deliberate duty to create a sense of oneness. All other sports may do that, but that's just being on the bandwagon. The cheerleaders are the people offering a hand to get you up onto that wagon.

Purpose 3: Discipline

You can't be an athlete without it. It never ceases to amaze me when cheerleaders are frustrated that football, volleyball and basketball "jocks" don't think of cheerleading as a sport or cheerleaders as athletes, but then the cheerleaders don't want to work very hard during practice.Coach Wooden's Pyramid calls this "Conditioning." Although, it certainly requires more of Wooden's bricks, on the first tier, it takes work-ethic or "industriusness.." On the second tier it takes discipline to develop self control, alertness, and initiative. On the third tier, it takes discipline to develop skill. But it takes personal and squad discipline to develop and maintain friendships, loyalty and cooperation- which help make up the foundation of the Pyramid of success. A discipline is either something you study, like Science, History, or Art. A disciplined scientist uses the scientific method, so does a disciplined historian, for that matter. A discipline may also be a regiment you follow, diet, exercise, physical or mental training. Obviously, faith traditions are disciplined. If one is a "disciple" or a follower of a religion, philosophy or a leader, you follow the teachings, principles or precepts of that tradition.Theoretically, Christians abide by Christ's teaching in the Beatitudes, Budists practice Zen, Muslums practice the 5 pillars, etc. etc.Athletes listen to their coach's guidance and the rules or guidelines of their sport and school.Like doctors "practice medicine", practice cheerleading so that you will be qualified to be a practicing cheerleader. It doesn't mean cheerleading is your religion, it means that you're working at being the best cheerleader you can be.

Purpose 4: Service

The legendary King Author had a beautiful motto: "By serving each other we become free."

Purpose 5: Be Contagious

Sounds like a disease, right? I teach my cheerleaders that there is a difference between being just another thermometer and actually being thermostat.

FYI, Warren's original 5: Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Ministry, and Evangelism

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Year's before Warren wrote his devotional, Business and motivational speaker Stephen Covey wrote a block buster best seller called '7 habits of effective people.'

7 Habits has essentially become a classic "must read" for business, civic and education leaders.

Habit 1 Be Proactive: Principles of Personal Vision

Habit 2 Begin with the End in Mind: Principles of Personal Leadership

Habit 3 Put First Things First: Principles of Personal Management

Habit 4 Think Win/Win: Principles of Interpersonal Leadership

Habit 5 Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood

Habit 6 Synergize Principles of Creative Communication

Habit 7 Sharpen the Saw: Principles of Balanced Self-Renewal

Online bubble wrap

You gotta try this:

http://www.urban75.com/Mag/bubble.html