Tree massacre

We have been busy cutting down dead trees that were killed during the great drought of 2007.

Dan and Rich took down 11 trees over the weekend, and they are already burned up and gone! I love it! Richard is looking like a teenager, huh? He learned to use the chainsaw and is quite proud about it.

Get Motivated!

I enjoyed a day at the Get Motivated seminar. It seemed all the speakers were discussing leadership.
Here are some things I walked away with:

Good leaders are

• Self-aware and open to feedback
  
• Active listeners and observers
• Can accept bad news
• Are humble

Good leaders always maintain integrity!

• It matters how you win and how you lose
• Integrity is better than compliance
• Treat people how you want to be treated
  

Good leaders think of the long term

• don't burn bridges
  
• treat others with respect
• have strong ideas; do not simply follow public opinion

Good leaders must be optimists.

• people follow hope and solutions
• no matter how bad things are, confront it and think of a solution

Good leaders build trust within the organization.
Good leaders ask for help.
Good leaders must love people.

Great leaders are ulitmately great teachers and motivators.
Great leaders face reality and are not afraid of change

Thoughts on teamwork:

• surround yourself with great people, then you will have a great team
• your players don't care about how much you know until they know how much you care

How to develop a great team:

• Ask yourself "What are my weaknessess? What do I not do well?
• Go find people who balance your weaknesses
• Be a good communicator

I hope these tidbits motivate you to be the best you can be!

What does it mean to be ethical--honestly?

I have been wondering lately why one person may find
something unethical, when another person does not.
What is it inside of us that governs our conscious?

No piece of paper can guarantee good, ethical behavior.
It seems in this day we are always asked to sign our names to agreements,
as if that will make everything okay should a dispute arise.
Well, it may make everything okay on paper,
but not if the people involved do not behave with integrity
not of there is no clear distinction between black and white, right and wrong.
So we all agree it is wrong to cheat, lie, and steal.
But people in powerful positions do it all the time,
because they feel protected...maybe even above the law--maybe they are just plain greedy.
Is it unethical to be greedy?
Is it dishonest?

Thomas Edison once said, "Who you are will show in what you do."
If you are an unethical person, a greedy person, a gossip, others are going to notice,
because who you are will show in what you do.

Here are a few thoughts about what it means to be honest

There are two dimensions to honesty:

* Honesty in communication
* Honesty in conduct

Honesty in communications requires good faith intent to be truthful, accurate, straightforward and fair in all communications so that persons are not misled or deceived. Honesty in communications requires truthfulness, sincerity, and candor.

Honesty in conduct prohibits stealing, cheating, fraud, deception and other forms of dishonesty or trickery to acquire anything of value (including money, jobs, competitive information or the approval of others).

Moral courage requires us to do what is right even when it is likely to cost us more than we want to pay
and more than we think is fair. It occasionally requires us to stand up and be counted,
to fight for our beliefs, to demonstrate the courage of our convictions.

Moral courage is integrity. Integrity is what governs our ethical behavior,
it requires us to treat our beliefs about right and wrong as ground rules
of behavior and decision making.

Ask yourself- do your actions line up with who you "say" you are?
Are you a person with integrity?

Book review: The Choice

Another love story by Nicolas Sparks. This one is a tear jerker.
If you need a good cry, read this book.
It's about the choice of life or death and the power of love.
A really good book..

Book Review: Twilight

I really enjoyed this book.
It's a love story between a girl and a vampire.
It has me wondering if vampires could really
possibly exist among us and we don't even know it.

Twilight the movie is coming out in November.
Be sure to read the book FIRST!

Sea World trip

Hi everyone. Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Life has been happening to me.
Here are some fun movies and pics from my recent trip to Sea World Orlando.
It was amazing to see how they train the animals. I loved the performance