Change

We talked about how to motivate people to change, or to make a change, or to help make a change this week.

The speaker was really great, and she got me thinking about what I want to change and how I want to change what I want to change... that was an awkward sentence...

Anyways, we are suppose to take our leadership role and determine what we want to change about the organization and how we want to change it. I honestly think that Adaptive Aquatics and Gym Buddies are run great, and I don't see any reason why I should try to change them. But I'll keep digging.

Until I find something out, I'll just write about what I want to change about myself and how I'm going to change it.

I'd like to say my morning prayers more often and just better. I often find myself saying my morning prayers in the shower when I've really woken up, with the hot stream of water hitting my back. I guess at least I'm saying them, but I'd like to really work on saying my prayers when I wake up.

How do I plan on doing that? Well, baby steps of course! hahaha, I figure if I can do it one morning then I'll be able to do it the next. Saying my prayers is pretty basic, so I think its not a matter of setting up steps to achieve the change, but rather just deciding to do it, and going for it. So thats what I'll do.

Also! I'd like to write in my journal more often! I used to write in it aaaaalll the time, but now it's very seldom. And I really want to remember my freshmen year here. I can do that by setting my journal in an easily accessible place. So I need to figure out how to get it close to my bed. Also, I can try to have it out in the open more, so I think about it a little bit. And last, I'm gonna try to get a cool pen that will make me want to write more... as silly as that sounds, a good pen can make a huge difference.

Anyways, it's been real!

PEACE!

Goals

So, I wasn't in lecture last week, but I heard they talked about the importance of goals.

Whenever I think about goals, I automatically think about my swim team back in high school and my swim coach there. Mr. Olson, my high school swim coach, is a very goal orientated guy. At the first practice we would always swim for 10 minutes at whatever pace we wanted with the instruction to think about the goals we'd achieved in past years and the goals we wanted to achieve in the new year. I always enjoyed this because it seemed to start me off on the right foot. I would figure out where I was at that time, and would determine where I would be by the end of the season.

After formulating my goals Mr. Olson would have us write them down and turn them into him. This solidified what I had put my mind to do and I received the moral support and direction from my coach to help me get there.

Even though at the beginning of the season the goals I had set up for myself seemed near impossible and would only come from a perfect season, I always achieved them! There was just something about having an idea of where I wanted to be that would drive me during practices and urged me to work harder and harder. Achieving those goals was always the best feeling in the world, knowing that I had worked really hard and had achieved something that I had once thought would be nearly impossible.

Having learned this, I imagine the same goal setting strategies that I used in swimming are the same strategies I should use in setting goals for myself throughout life. I need to know where I am and where I want to go in order to help me achieve the impossible. I think that it's also important to have big visionary goals, but inside of those goals, smaller ones that help you feel like your on the right track when you accomplish them and help you reach your big goals.

My leadership role doesn't seem to be one that is too goal oriented, but in my leadership roles in the future, in church, on my mission, in other leadership positions in my future, I know its important to always start off with a goal. What do I want to do? and then have little goals, How do I get there? and go from there!

THE SKY'S THE LIMIT!

Teamwork

TEAMWORK!

This week in leadership we talked about teamwork and how crucial it is. The Athletic Director came and spoke to us about his experiences on the different teams he's played for. He was in the NFL for I think 7 seasons with the 49ers and he won something like 4 superbowls! Anyways, He was a great speaker and taught us a lot about what teamwork is and what it should look like, but what stood out to me most was his theory on Firelighters and Firefighters.

A Firelighter is a person in your life that inspires you and lights that fire of passion inside you. A Firefighter is a person who seeks to put out those fires, these are the nay sayers, those who don't believe in you and tell you your dreams are too big.

What does this have to do with teamwork?

Well, how can a team function well together when there are Firefighters? I mean sure, its reasonable to be realistic, but when you have a team that wants to accomplish anything, its as important as anything that there be a goal and the passion to achieve that goal. In order for a team to be productive and to do work, the team must have Firelighters.

In my leadership role, I want to try to be more of a Firelighter. I want to be a person that others can look to when they need a pick-me-up. I want to be a light that seeks to light the flame of passion in the hearts of those around me. And I want to surround myself with Firelighters so I can always have a productive team that always works together and wastes no energy on a resolving conflict within a the team.

Ethical Leadership

We talked about Ethical Leadership this week in class. Ethical Leadership to me is the moral stance a leader has in their position. Whether they have good morals or bad morals will make or break their reputation and/or their success. You would think, and hope, that a person with good morals would always be more successful than a person with bad, but that usually isn't the case. In this day and age, greed and deceit are often the things that catapult people to the top of corporations. It is refreshing however, to hear of people with good ethical leadership every once in a while on top.

I wish that everyone just chose that route. I'm sure in the millennium things will be different, but for now you just gotta decide whats more important, good moral ethical leadership, with strong character and integrity, or bad moral ethical leadership, that might get you places, but you're reputation would be like moldy swiss cheese, full of holes and bad nasty rotten pieces.

In my leadership role, there is really not very much room to apply this principle, but I think that just going to gym kids and adaptive aquatics when I say I am going to go and being fully engaged and active the entire time will help me develop good ethical leadership. I will develop my integrity which will create good ethics in my leadership by going to volunteer when I say I will volunteer. And like I said before, part of being of service is being fully engaged during the time with the kids, so I will spend my time there wisely.

Anyways, thats what I plan on doing and I'm excited to practice good ethical leadership!

Conflict Resolution

What is conflict resolution?

Well, according to freedictionary.com conflict resolution is:

Conflict resolution is a range of methods of eliminating sources of conflict. The term "conflict resolution" is sometimes used interchangeably with the term dispute resolution or alternative dispute resolution. Processes of conflict resolution generally include negotiation, mediation, and diplomacy. The processes of arbitration, litigation, and formal complaint processes such as ombudsman processes, are usually described with the term dispute resolution, although some refer to them as "conflict resolution." Processes of mediation and arbitration are often referred to as alternative dispute resolution.

Well, after that rather lengthy definition, hahahaha, I think we kind of get what it is.

There are five different styles we prefer in different situations that help us resolve conflict. These styles are:

Competitive

Collaborative

Compromising

Accommodating

and Avoiding

I personally use the collaborative style more.

In my leadership role, I will use these different styles to adapt to situations and resolve whatever conflicts arise. This way, I can become a professional conflict resolutioner! Hurray!

Love,

Christian

Service

Service is totally number one.

Service Leadership is also number one.

The lecture Brother Cox gave about Service Leadership was number one!

He gave a bunch of stories about service and notable people in history who did work while doing service.

In my leadership role, well, its more of a service role anyways, but a leadership role nonetheless. I plan on contributing more of my time serving the kids I chill with by going twice a week instead of just once.

That will be way fun, and I'm suuuper excited! Ksweet... I love service and I love service leadership!

Manana!

Love,

Christian

aka. Service Leader extraordinare

Book Report and Public Speaking

I read a book this past week called 17 Essential Qualities of an Effective Teammate.

The book was great! I learned a bunch about these different qualities and learned more about being a good teammate/leader.

I was then asked to give a presentation on the book! Woohooo! That was great. I focused on three qualities I liked in the book; Commitment, Encouragement, and Relationality.

My head is killing me, sooo, I think I'm gonna end this blog early, but!

I really really had a good time learning about public speaking and giving my presentation.

From my book, I learned that it's important to have Commitment, be encouraging, and focus on relations to be a good team member, and in my leadership position, I plan on improving in all three qualities to help become a better team member.