Melva Gifford

I hope this lesson can be of use to youth ministries, family devotionals or family home evenings. Today’s topic is taking advantage of a house of order when accomplishing goals.

With the busy lives we have today, we never seem to have enough time to accomplish the things we would like to achieve. That is why it is a good reason to prioritize our goals so we can get the most bang for our buck. This can be in the realm of finances, education, health, our relationships with others and increasing our spirituality. If we are coming to realize that we can accomplish ALL that we want to do than we’ll want to see what is most important in our lives and prioritize the most important items first. Or we might want to follow a goal that will provide the widest impact for our lives.

Here are some examples in my own life. In the financial realm I recently paid off a big debt. It feels wonderful and because of that, I now have the finances that had been used for that goal to be moved over to another area of concern. I listen to financial advisors who suggest that I should first pay off items that charges the highest interest. As an alternative, I might pay the lowest outstanding bill so that I can see the success more quickly. When the second item is paid off I could use both monies of the past two bills to devote to a third and so on. Paying off a debt and working to be completely debt free would be more desirable than buying a toy and still be in debt and hassling with additional debts related to the new toy. Devoting attention to paying off a bill as quickly as possible is one good way of a house of order.

An alternative might be in education. If I have an opportunity to take a class, that my company would pay for then I get two benefits, I increase my skills for my employee and I am learning new things. Once I learn this new skill, I will have the foundation to learn something new on top of that and thus my house of order in education begins to take shape and benefits myself, my self-esteem and my employer.

For health, in order for me to be able to walk on my tread-mill for an hour, I need to first be able to do it for 15 min, than 30 min. if I get bored then I have something to entertain me while I exercise. Ohhh multi-tasking, what a concept. I gradually build my tolerance by increasing my capability.

Have each family member or student share with the rest of the group a specific goal. Then everyone brainstorm of what would be the small steps and the big steps to accomplish that goal. Some of these goals may touch upon increased spirituality and improving a relationship with a loved one.

OL: All Boxed up:
Items needed: An empty box such as one that held reams of paper and a penny. Then collect all kinds of objects from around the house such as balls, plastic dishes, clothes, smaller boxes, towels, shoes etc. Then collect some materials that are out of date or are no longer used such as old magazines, books, clothes that no longer fit or one shoe.

Next drop all the items into the box until it is over flowing. Do not try to organize things just let them go in as they do. Toss in the penny. With all the things in as they are, it might be hard to find that penny easily unless you have to empty out the entire box.
Next take everything out and start putting things in, in an organized manner. Things that are long and squared might go together to take maximum use of a block of space. One object might fit into another object such as clothes or shoes being put into a smaller box and that way two items in a sense occupy the same space. Books and papers might be lined up together. Clothes might be rolled up to be more compressed to fit. Like items might be stored together for easy access.

An evaluation might be done to see what items in your life are no longer necessary. If you only have one shoe than it might need to be thrown away. If you have old clothes, they might be taken to charity, DI, or goodwill.

So the same can be done with our lives. We might be able to combine goals. If I exercise but also want to listen to audio books, then I might do both at the same time. If I no longer have an interest in a certain hobby I might give those hobby related tools to someone who is interested. If I want to learn a new language such as Spanish, than maybe I’d want to get involved in English as a second language program. The object is that if we plan it out, we can often link similar goals to strengthen them by their association. We can increase our capabilities by line upon line precept upon precept.

Have the group brainstorm on how they could combine different goals in their lives for maximum efficiency.

Notes on: Words that Work

I attended monthly Timp Teller’s story telling meeting at the library. This month we had a presentation on writing.
Enclosed are my notes: The workshop title is “Words that Work” taught by Janeal Freeman.

Verbs and nouns are the strongest words in the sentence.
Adverbs and Adjectives support verbs and nouns.
Look at all LY words in the sentence and try to avoid them.
The more specific the nouns the clearer the picture you pain.
Find a theme in a story and use imagery that supports the theme.
Anything that uses any of the 5 senses will create a stronger image.
Every story has a rhythm.
A fun way to build a theme is by metaphor and simile.
If you want to review various tenses look at picture books.

First: brainstorm your characters, props, places etc. then adding Poetic Devices:
Images: Sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch

Word music:
(alliteration- repetition of consonants
Assonance- repetition of vowel sounds
Repetition of words and phrases and even dissonance

Rhythm: meter

Likenesses – metaphors and similes

Word Play:
Inventing new words, puns, onomatopoeia, word surprises.

Other writing Tools:
Three voices
First person (I walked down the street)
Second person. (you run up the street)
Third person (he jumped over the ditch)

Point of view:
Omniscient voice: narrator knows all
Multiple view: A story, scene is displayed form the perspective of various characters.
Limited: main character point of view. He/she has to be present in every scene

Recommended books:
The creative habit by Twyla Tharp
Writing down the bones: Freeing the writer with Within by Natalie Goldberg
self-editing for fiction writers by Renni Browne.

I finished up another online corse at my job and took notes:
Here they are:

Delegation to employees:
Evaluate work involved.
see if volunteer has the necessary skills and monitor her progress.
maybe be a lead but give employees new experience as they gain experience

Warning signs that you’re delegation skills may need improvement:
1. Your inbox is always full.
2. Regularly you are working overtime on tasks only you can do.
3. You are frequently interrupted
4. You frequently intervene staff’s projects
5. Direct reports seem inadequately done.
6. Redo staff assignments.
7. Staff is not taking responsibility of their tasks
8. Morale is low and staff turnover is high.

Establish the right environment:
1. Encourage staff to share interests and time availability for new projects.
2. Build senses of shared responsibility
3. Delegate projects that match staff interest
4. Delegate projects that help provide visibility with your manager and high level manager in another organization.
5. Delegate tasks to people you trust
6. Recognize that a task is a learning experience for you and your staff and offer coaching as needed.
7. For inexperienced staff, give structured tasks and provided support for the person to gain competence.
8. When possible, delegate an entire project not just a small piece and this will likely increase motivation and commitment.
9. Provide clear guidelines, follow-up, monitoring and feedback.
10. Maintain open lines of communication
11. Clearly define goals, outcome and measures of success.

Approaches to Delegation:
1. Delegate to one responsible person. If there are multiple people to do the task assign one person who is ultimately responsible for the outcome.
2. Delegate a task as it involves a specific task or subtasks to staff members. ie. wriiting a report, plan a meeting etc.
3. Delegate a project (is a group of tasks related to a specific objective. This increases person to employ a wider range of skills and responsibilities.
4. Delegate by function: function requests to group of tasks and project that are all related to one outgoing activity such as sales or training. Get regular updates.

Decide why to delegate:
-decrease workload
have staff develop new skills
launch a new project or function
Provide staff members with visibility and recognition
You need to match the assignment with the most appropriate staff members.

Decide what to delegate:
-analyze your workload to see what can be assigned.
-Tasks can add variety to work load
-Staff members develop new skills
-maybe subdivide or share a task with someone where you do parts together

Items managers may not want to delegate:
-direction and motivating your team
-employee evaluations
-complex customer negotiations
-tasks requiring your specific set of technical skills
-hiring, firing and career development

Identify skills required for the assignment:
– What kind of thinking jobs are required for the job
Problem solving
Logical thinking
Planning
Decision making
Creative design
– What are the activities that need to be performed and what systems’ or equipment will be needed
New database, training, developing, organizing
– What people skills
Speaking with suppliers, negotiating for resources, consulting with experts)

Match the person to the task:
– See which people who have asked for more work
– Be careful to not pull a person away from another important project
– Try to give all your people different opportunities
– Determine how much help you’ll need to provide.
– Avoid overloading new employees with new assignments.
– Divided tasks between two or more people to use each of their skills

Setup the discussion:
– Present that task/project clearly and responsibilities being delegated.
– Secure the employee’s commitment.
– Review performance standards, criteria for success and deadline for completion.
– A survey of resources, training or coaching
– A plan to follow-up and feedback to monitor progress.

Track delegated Assignments:
– Need to maintain an adequate level of control by providing completion dates and regular monitoring.
– To keep track try referral folders for each project
– An assignment log to track projects and functions
– Staff meetings
– Written status reports
– Project management/tracking software

Provide support:
– Let others know what authority you’ve given to the employee
– Review resource needs and make sure they are available
– Provide reference material
– Make clear when you want to be involved. (like when a deadline may not be met or if there are problems).
– Provide suggestions only when asked.
– Point out difficulties that are ahead based on your experience.

Reverse Delegation:
– Happens when staff member want to return to job to you or expect you to solve problems or make decisions.
– Resist the temptation to step in. build trust and confidence in your employee.
– Provide positive reinforcement for work done before
– Help employees assess the situation
– Encourage employees to come up with a solution
– Provide coaching as needed to help employees refine his or her new skills

When the delegation is in trouble:
– Occasionally you may need to reassess an employee’s skills
– Complete selected parts of assignment to lighten the load.
– Help0 solve the problem without placing blame on difficulties
– Creating an agreed upon plan of action and timetable for addressing problems
– Don’t take back task unless deadline will be missed or failure to meet established goals that will cause a negative impact on other projects.

Step back and reflect:
– Set up an evaluation and discuss with employee after the project.
– Ask the employee opinion about how this delegation worked for them
– Recognize the employee’s achievements
– Compare results achieved with expected standards.
– Avoid criticism and blame for any problems and discuss possible improvements for future projects.
– Create a plan on action to continue to support employees growth through ongoing coaching/training.

Surround yourself with the best:
– Don’t be afraid of appointing people who are better than you.
Frequently Asked Questions:
– How to avoid staff feeling things are being dumped on them
mix tedious or difficulty with tasks that spark staff interest can be enjoyable and gain others recognition
Split mundane tasks among members and yourself to promote sense of shared responsibility
Seek input from staff on assignments they find interesting and challenging
Communicate benefits and opportunities from their point of view.
– Is it okay to use delegation to test an employee’s skills B4 promotion? Yes.
It gives you a chance to evaluate skills
Check the match of skill to new job.
Provide additional training if required.
– Can find employee with needed skills
Train or coach someone in the skills you need
Look outside your group or organization for the expertise ou need. Maybe borrow a staff member or hire a temp employee for a short or fixed duration
Review a task that might be divided into subtasks that match skills your employees have
– How do I handle delegating upward?

I find this word to be very difficult to spell. With the way I pronounce many words trying to spell something phonetically is not normally a successful solution for me. So I’ll try a silly phrase instead.

It’s A sure BEt that DIet and Exercise TESts our will power
DI-A-BE-TES

Still doesn’t work as well as I’d like, so I’ll have to see if I can come up with something better later.

When I attended the Story@Home2012 conference in February I learned some valuable information especially in regards how to make a business successful and blogging your passion. For today’s Tasks, Errands and Projects Oh My, I would like to share more of my typed notes from one of the presentations. Hopefully you’ll find some useful information on what to think about when you want to do something big such as starting a business.. This was the first panel I attended and found the information to be quite useful. I hope it will be of interest to you as well. (I’m sorry I didn’t write the presenter’s name down)

Notes on: Starting anything or Starting A business

– The ability to recognize opportunity. Situations may look like problems. Might look like a social injustice. But can be changed to your advantage.
– Embrace randomness. The more random the opportunity the more chance of success. To build randomness go to events that provide different lifestyles. This can teach you how to do different things in a new way.
– Fire the nay-Sayers. Let go of people who discourage you.
– Be willing to be uncomfortable. Look for ways to be out of your comfort zone. Trying new things means you’re growing.
– Focus on the right idea. Blogfrog does less than what it did originally as the site narrowed its focus. Chose an idea that is the best and build on it.
– Build your tolerance for risk. In advance. Ask what is the worst thing that could possible happen? After you note that possibility it can be liberating. Be willing to embrace risk.
– Be willing to be wrong. When people fail you learn.
– Be willing to change your course. The pivot is the point you can change direction. You keep one foot centered of where you at and then do an abrupt change
– Build a board of directors. People that are not friends but have the knowledge are willing to meet for coffee.
– Be willingness to sacrifice. What are you willing to give up for your goal. Example no sports so you can concentrate more fully on your company. What can you cut out on your life? Check out book Both sides of the table. Check out instant gram.
– Be the author of your story
– Ask yourself: Why it is important of being heard.
– Ask yourself: Who is your audience
– Ask yourself: what is important bout your life?
– Ask yourself: What lenses’ are you looking through?
– Ask yourself: who is your audience?
– What makes a good story? It’s all about experience when they visit a site. They will take that experience with them.
– Bout the experience in emotion. People connect to emotion. Tell stories that make people feel.
– You have the opportunity to rewrite your story.

Developing A Skill

This lesson could be useful for youth ministries, family devotionals or family home evenings. Today we discuss developing our skills.

It takes a long time to become good at something. You only have to attend a concert and talk to the musicians or singers on stage to find out that they have practiced for hours and hours before they performed on stage. Many musicians have practiced a song so much that they might have it memorized.

You can interview a talented artist and they might show you’re their sketches or early drafts of a painting or illustration. If you are able to spend time with an actor, he or she might take the time to tell you how they performed in different plays. How they were rejected for some auditions and how they finally stated getting accepted for varous parts. In the beginning they only had small parts in those plays; but, as they got better they got bigger parts until they started getting the lead roles. Those playing sports can talk about the hours upon hours they practiced alone or with team members until they too refined their skills.

There are several shared traits between all the people mentioned above: Ambition, hard work and practice. Prior to this lesson find some books that talk about several famous people’s lives. See if you can find photos of when they were young. Find quotes from the books of these famous people that touch upon the various challenges they faced as they pursued their career. They might give examples of the practice sessions at an early age. They might talk about various failures they experienced before they eventually began to have success.

Now have the family members or class members’ brain storm of the different dreams they might have. As a group discuss what might be required to achieve success in some of those goals. Discuss some of the barriers they might face that might discourage them and how they can combat those challenges. The class can discuss how achieving really small goals can add up to working to bigger goals.

Parents and teachers might touch upon a personal experience where you overcame challenges to achieve a goal. Talks about your failures and eventual success and what had to be done for the success.

Have everyone set a small goal for the week and work on their goal throughout the week until you meet next time where they will give a progress report of that goal.

When I attended the Story@Home2012 conference in February I learned some valuable information especially in regards to blogs. For today’s Goulash I would like to share more of my typed notes from one of the presentations. Hopefully you’ll find some useful information on blogging.

Monetizing your web site:
Presentations by Tauni Everett and Alison Moore Smith
– Affiliate Marketing = use a lot of income methods.
– Sponsored Post = paid to put products / links in Blog. Make sure those ads match with the subject of your blog.
– Swag = term to identify article that have branding on them balls, pens, hats mouse pads etc.
– Continuity programs = newsletters or memberships that can sell services for a fee.
– Freelancing = write b log and become known as an expert. Then pay to blog or write a book
– Bartered Promotion = give free products on site. Did subcontracts requests and blog about their work. Did same for a wedding. Subcontracts liked the idea of free advertising. Contractors were told about the blog in advance.
Before Monetizing:
– Define your band. Don’t mess with your brand. Check that advertisers match with your brand.
– See if ads match with your community. Otherwise will often lose a lot of readers.
– Having advertising takes a lot of time. Be prepared for that. Determine cost/benefit analysis.
– Consider the legal considerations. FCC rules may have restrictions. Google FFC guidelines. Bad product resulted in Blogger getting caught up in the lawsuit.
– What is your sellout point to see a web site you have built up?
– Making a request to earn something by ‘like me on face book’ is illegal
– If you repin on pichurinst – it’s illegal
– Attend blogging conferences.
– Look up texts links in Google (I think this is when I do a search for a phrase it will show common search words to find something.
– Askmet is a free application that will turn off spam on a blog/ web site.

These are the notes I took from one of the courses I took from training at my work:

Coaching or mentoring employees:
It’s important to observe employees to see their strengths and weakness. Its important to not form premature judgments.
As you try to define what is the cause of an employee’s problem you need to avoid as you form theories, ask yourself if you’ve done anything to contribute to the behavior your observing.
-unrealistic expectations
-Inferred feelings
-failing to praise
-failing to model desirable behavior
*Ask another employee to describe their obser4vations and it will give you an additions perspective.
Listen for signals for example if an employee says they can’t finish a project on time they may need help with time management.
There is no use whatever trying to help people who do not help themselves. You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he be willing to climb himself. – Andrew Carnegie.
Is the person willing and able to be helped.
Is the performance problem solvable?
Make sure that the sessions as a coach and evaluating employees is two separate sessions
Create an atmosphere of trust by showing an interest in employee’s long term development, show empathy for their situation, fulfill promises and respect confidentiality.
Express accountability in measurable terms whenever possible
Avoid common coaching mistakes.
1. Talking too much (focus on probing questions to generate needed info),
2. Failing to listen actively (take notes on key comments or concerns),
3. Losing control of emotions (If you’re having a bad day wait on the coaching,
4. Failing to prepare the coachee emotionally for new challenges..
During coaching a manger wants to build a shared agreement with a direct report about a desired outcome.
Steps for coaching:
1. Prepare (test hypotheses, estimate probability of improvements, ask employee to prepare for coaching.
2. Discuss skills and performance (listen to responses
3. Coach: obtain agreement on goals, customize approach, blend inquiry ad support, give feedback and create action plans.
4. Follow-up: regularly discuss what’s working well or not.