June 2006

The Happiest Day of the Year                                                 June 2006

Earlier this year I informed readers of Everyday Leadership  that January 23rd was the worst day of 2006. Health psychologist Cliff Arnall gave us a scientific formula to determine the worst day of the year. He combined factors like the weather, debt, time since Christmas, and some other stuff that apparently matters to really left-brained people to determine a scientific model. All the time he invested in the model allowed him to share with us that January 23rd was the worst day of the year.

The more positive characters in the world may be asking, “If January 23rd was the worst day of 2006, when is the best day?” Thanks to Mr. Arnall’s unwillingness to leave the world hanging without an answer to that question, he continued his research and created a formula to determine the happiest day of the year. This time he considered outdoor activity, nature, social interaction, looking forward to future activities, and a bunch of other stuff that made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. However, thanks to Mr. Arnall’s considerable intellect, we can rest easy knowing that the happiest day of 2006 is today, June 23rd.

I prefer to not wait so close to the end of the month to send out Everyday Leadership. But I wanted to send it out on June 23rd to see if today was any better than any of the other days. It has been an incredible day. It started out the way I like to start each day --- I woke up. I’m not traveling today, so I got to enjoy coffee with my wife. It’s Friday, so it’s somewhat quiet in the office. We’re going to dinner with friends this evening and will surely enjoy great food and fellowship. All in all, a great day! Do those things make it “the happiest” day of the year?

I don’t know Cliff Arnall personally, but I bet he’s a really nice man. He’s probably very smart, and extremely passionate about what he does. For those who believe that a calculation using weather and debt and outdoor activity are good indicators of the best and worst days of the year, then I would suggest he is probably the best guy to follow. In fact, he may be the only guy to follow. But quite frankly, I’m not much interested in having someone else calculate my happiest and worst day. I’m completely capable of doing that without the help of a scientific formula.

The point is this. A formula will not tell you the best and worst days of your life. You get to decide the happiest day of the year. You get to decide the factors that make the happiest day. You get to create the happiest days of your life.

Today is not over, so it very well may turn out to be the happiest day of the year. But quite frankly, it has some pretty tough competition to be the happiest day of the month because of some pretty spectacular things that have happened in June! Mr. Arnall may be very smart, and I’m sure he’s worked the following factors into his formula somewhere. But I feel pretty certain that none of us needs a scientific calculation to realize the impact we each have in determining the best day of our life:

Cherish time with friends and family

Time flies by so fast that sometimes we forget to enjoy the time we spend with friends. When I use the term “friends”, I don’t mean acquaintances. I mean real friends. I believe we each get a handful of real friends in a lifetime, and sometimes we take them for granted, and end up wondering whatever happened to them somewhere down the line. This past month I had a few days when I got to spend time with family and some of those “real” friends, and if those don’t end up as the happiest days, then I’m missing something really big.

Give back without expecting anything in return

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of serving as the Master of Ceremonies for an annual event for St. Jude’s Ranch for Children. This is a wonderful organization dedicated to enhancing the lives of children who have been abandoned, abused or neglected. I was honored to be asked to be a part of their event, and gladly provided my services without expecting anything in return. You see, the happiest days are not always the days when you get something. Quite often they’re the days you give a part of you in service to others.

Appreciate the small things

Some people struggle to determine the happiest day of their life because they assume something big has to happen. I love it when something big happens, but quite often the things that bring the most joy are the small things that are easily overlooked. If you really want to find the happiest day, look for the day with the small things that really matter.

Enthusiastically, 

Clint Swindall - President & CEO

*Book Review

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, by Patrick Lencioni

Here's what I've been reading lately ...

This month I would like to share with you a book on uniting a team written by Patrick Lencioni. In his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, the author shares with readers his thoughts on the challenges of bringing a team together. He does it through a well-written fable. Not only is the content strong, but it's written in a way that makes you want to stay with the book.

Every organization I've ever worked with as an employee or a consultant faced the ongoing challenge of bringing a team together. The author does a great job of getting into the real reasons teams aren't as effective as they should be. Beyond identifying the challenge, he offers a model and actionable steps to overcome the challenge.

*Quotes

Inspirational thoughts

"The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it."
- John Rushkin

"What gets recognized gets reinforced, and what gets reinforced gets repeated."
- Unknown"Leaders don't force people to follow - they invite them on a journey."
- Charles S. Lauer

*Question to Ponder

Some time to think

As far back as I can remember I’ve wanted to be a leader. Every opportunity I got as a little boy to lead those around me I took with as much passion as I could muster.

When I got to college I jumped into leadership positions head first. By the time I graduated I had been a leader within every organization I was involved in, and had served as the student body president of my university of approximately 22,000 students.

When I first arrived on campus I was ready to take on the world. There was only one small problem. I didn’t know how to do it. Like many student leaders before me, I could have made the typical mistakes and offended the wrong people along the way, and not made it very far. But I was fortunate. A university administrator was willing to take me under his wing and show me the way. Over time, he became my mentor.

Throughout my college career he coached me along and helped develop skills that would make me a better leader. He didn’t have to do it. There was no line in his job description that required him to spend the amount of time developing student leaders that he did. Many students benefited from his guidance, and I was one of the fortunate ones.

Sometimes we benefit from people like this in our life and move on. We wonder whatever happened to them, and wish we hadn’t lost contact. I’m fortunate that I don’t have to wonder whatever happened to one of my mentors, because I’m still in contact with him today. In fact, this past weekend I experienced one of those “happiest” days I referenced in the article above when he and his family came to our house for dinner. You see, he may be my mentor, but over time, he became my friend.

I am who I am because of the love and support of my incredible mother. The direction and discipline she provided formed the character I have today, and the sacrifices she made allowed me to go to college. Although I didn’t grow up living with my father, I always knew he loved me and was proud of my accomplishments. Although parents may be expected to develop their children into young adults, there is no expectation that some university administrator should take on that role. I know one that did. His name is David Hartz.

Did you have someone along the way assume the role of mentor? Did you have someone go out of their way to help develop you into the man or woman you are today? Did you ever take someone under your wing and help them along without having that responsibility?