Tag Archives: Spring Leadership 2010

New Book – Communicating and Connecting

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While down in Spring Leadership I picked up the new book by John Maxwell “Everyone Communicates, Few Connect”.  A lot of John’s talk at Spring Leadership was connecting with people.  To many people really do not connect with people which is why communication frankly sucks between people.  We don’t really engaged into good conversation with people anymore.  The thing I really like about this book after reading the preface is there is a lot of input from people who read John’s blog when he posted the manuscript for the book.  Which is why there are pictures of people on the cover of the book.  These people all contributed to this book.  Neat idea for sure.

I was pretty excited listening to John talk about this topic over the weekend in Spokane and i’m even more excited to get into this book. 

Check out the book here – Everyone Communicates, Few Connect

Being Double Minded

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double-minded1 During Spring Leadership there were a few people who talked about being double minded.  I’ve had some time to reflect on that as well as a ton of other things that I heard during the function. 

Being double minded is simply someone who is divided in his or her interest or loyalties, uncertain, wavering or half-hearted.  Being double minded can apply to anything you do in life and it’s something that will either hold you back or prevent you from achieving whatever it is your set out to do.

Building our business while working full time is a pure example of being double minded however it’s a fact and something we have to push through so that at some point we can be single minded in what we are doing.  This really applies to anything we do in life and not just our business.  If you are going to succeed in anything you do, you need to be single minded so that you can focus on that desired goal, vision or achievement.

I guess a simple example would be that I am single minded about my relationship with my wife.  I don’t think about being with other women, or having a mistress on the side.  I’m fully committed to my wife and single minded about our relationship.  If I were double minded I’d be one of those douchbag/douchbagette’s who cheat on their wives/husbands wanting to have their cake and eat it too.  Their loyalty isn’t to their significant other, they are wavering and half-hearted about the relationship they have. 

It’s this being double minded that holds a lot of people back in the things they set out to do.  It’s funny though because these same people will complain that they are not moving ahead in life and have yet to take a step back and really evaluated their situation.  If they were to do that they may see they were actually being double minded and it was that which was causing them to fail or not move ahead.  I’m not saying it’s the only reason, but it could be one of the reasons.

Take a look at your life and if your not moving forward or stuck in a rut and don’t know why,

maybe your double minded instead of being single minded.

Spring Leadership Day 3 – Final Day

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Well we are on the bus ride home after a nice little stop at Jack in The Box…Hey we don’t have that in Canada and we all needed a good fix.  So the bus ride home will probably be interesting and a bit smelly.  That’s okay Brad Ducan said we don’t judge people, even people who fart :) haha.

ANYWAY… What an amazing weekend.  Full of great teachings by John Maxwell on connecting with people as I’ve written about before. Some great motivation by all the leaders in this business from Double Eagle Ruby up to Crown.  Lastly some great association time with some of our up line being able to answer questions or just to say hi.  Something I have not really written about yet this weekend is that association.  One of the best parts of these functions is getting around my up line leaders and asking them whatever questions I have or sharing with them what’s on my heart especially with Mike and Brandie.

Mike and Brandie spoke today on stage as new Emeralds and have spoken at all four Spring Leadership locations. However today was their “home town” site in Spokane.  The amount of people that are being impacted by Mike and Brandie in this organization is off the charts.  They are building a huge business but not only a huge business but a business of leaders.  This is something unseen in any other market within World Wide Dreambuilders and probably in Amway Global.  The reason?  They actually care about the people in their business and actually want to impact people in a huge way.  They want to help people build amazing friendships and relationship and help people achieve greatness.  They are not about the money, or about the flashy things in life.  Its impacting families, impacting parents, impacting the people they meet.  It’s really hard to explain, but when you see them talk compared to other emeralds you really get a sense of who they are.

Canada, specifically Alberta is building a huge huge new brand of leaders.  People have criticized there are no new diamonds or leaders in this business and there is nothing wrong with that.  Growth is not always on the rise.  A healthy business always has its ups and downs and World Wide Dreambuilders is on the rise again.  Mark my words there will be people from our area and other areas going into Diamond Qualification.  The people on the outside who are no longer building this business have no idea.

So what was the biggest thing I took away from…(oh I have to share what I took away from this business to everyone on the bus…) Okay so that was a bit longer than a few minutes.  Everyone on the bus just shared what they thought of the function and what they took away from it.  So So impactful.  I think we just shared for 4-5 hours.  Where else on this planet do people talk about their dreams, goals and deep heartfelt thoughts on their life and where they want to go?? That does not happen normally.  It’s so impactful.

Going back to the original thing I was saying about what I took away.  I took away leadership and connecting with people as my main points.  I will be a leader in this business alongside Clay and Mike.  I will be helping build strong leaders in our organization and it’s these leaders that will be impacting other people in such positive ways.  It will also be these leaders that keep me inspired to carry on and continue to personally grow.  What a feeling that is, to know that you will be able to impact people in a great way.  I’m sorry but I don’t know any other business out there that can do this.

So what’s next?  Well “Moving Up” is next and Family Reunion where we will be Double Eagles.  OH YEAH!  Time to catch some Zzzz’s on this bus before going back to the J.O.B. later this morning. BOOooooOOOO!

Spring Leadership Day 2

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Today was a pretty jam packed day.  Saturday always is and there is usually at least a speaker or two that people can relate to.  That’s the great thing about this conference, there is always someone that you’ll relate to or something that you’ll get out of.  You’ve got people like Greg & Laurie Duncan, Samir & Theresa Attalah, David & Debbie Shores, Tracey & Kimberly Eaton, Bob & Shelly Kummer, Dave & Jan Severn, Ron & Georgia Lee Puryear, and last but not least Brad and Julie Duncan.  In between all hose Diamonds, Double Diamonds and Crowns you’ve got Double Eagle Rubies speaking too.

There was pin crossings so we got to stand up as 1000 pins, however we’ve already surpassed that pin (this pin crossing is from the last Spring Leadership).  Then Canada just rocked it with a ton of Platinum, Platinum Plus and Platinum Elite’s crossing stage.  Some people say there is no growth in World Wide? I think if you were actually in World Wide you’d know there is a huge wave of growth happening right now.  Not an explosion yet, but it’s coming.  You want to see new Diamonds soon?  Mike and Brandie Wagner will soon be new diamonds, just wait and see.  There are at least a handful of new Diamonds that will break in the next few years.  It’s going to be pretty awesome. 

Canada represented well today and really “owned” the pin crossings, so much in fact that Tracey Eaton had to say are there any Americans here?  Laying down the healthy competition gauntlet so our friends south of the boarder :)

John Maxwell talked again tonight and continued on his Connection series.  Just more great teaching from an amazing leader.  The way John delivers his message with humor, heart, hope and help is amazing.  He really captivates the audience and allows his teaching to sink in. 

I’ll be honest about some things today.  I did not relate to everyone and in some instances I left the room and went to talk to the XS guys or some of the other vendors that showed up.  Specifically some of the Double Eagle Rubies that have really been there for many years without movement.  Even though I know we will move on and past that, I don’t want subconscious thoughts that camping out at Double Eagle Ruby is okay or whatever.  Don’t get me wrong that may be okay for them, they may have some goals I don’t know about or some life challenges that may stall them, I just choose not to listen and take that in.  That’s perfectly okay.  Nobody said you HAVE to sit there all day and listen to everyone speak.  There is a ton of flexibility with these functions which I love.

Anyway it was a very long day and I’m back in the hotel room.  There is a night owl going on for our team but i’m hacking up a lung trying to fight off a cold that is getting worse so I’m missing out.  I know my wife will represent “The Guthrie’s” well as I think our upline wanted us to talk about our vision.  I cannot wait to hear what she talks about.  We are still working on what our vision is going to be however we do have some great fundamentals for how we want to move our life forward and how we want to impact people.   Once we do solidify that vision I’ll be sure to make a posting.

P.S. The new XS Classic flavour is pretty good. Tastes JUST like Red Bull.  Perfect for the people that actually say they “like” the taste of Red Bull.. *cough* yeah right.