Cheerful Liver

Listen for the five-minute Cheerful Liver audio program from Coach’s Corner.

2 Corinthians 9:7 says:

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

My question of you today is, “Are you a cheerful “liver”?

Fear Part 4: Wrap Up

(This is Part 4 in a series on fear and leadership. If you haven’t already, take a minute to read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.)

Listen to the five-minute Courage and Faith Wrap Up audio program from Coach’s Corner. 

Today’s post in the fourth and final part of my series on Fear. In the first post I wrote about the most prevalent fear I see in people: uncertainty or the unknown. In the second post I wrote about the antidote to that poisonous fear: faith. In my last post I wrote about courage and how that helps us when we lack faith. However, if we have faith, we need no courage. 

Anxiety and Leadership: Part 3

Listen to the five-minute Anxiety and Leadership: Part 3 audio program from Coach’s Corner. 

In my last two posts I’ve written about how we can’t engage our thinking brains when we’re anxious and about how anxiety, when introduced into a living system, spreads like wildfire. Today, I’m going to share what you can do to be proactive in becoming less anxious, to become inflammable, so to speak. The ability to stay calm in anxious situations is a key trait for Christian leaders. It’s so important to learn how to be the best you even in the face of anxiety, even when the system is on fire and looking to use you as fuel to further spread that anxiety.

Anxiety and Leadership: Part 2

Listen to the five minute Anxiety and Leadership: Part 2 audio program from Coach’s Corner. 

In today’s post I’m going to continue with the topic I discussed late time: anxiety and leadership. In the past post I shared with you that “Anxiety makes me stupid.”

I talked about how to manage anxiety. First, learn to recognize it. Second, back away; don’t engage the issue until you’ve managed your anxiety. Third, learn what you can do to best manage your anxiety in the moment. And finally, don’t avoid the issue altogether. Reengage once your emotions have gained control of your emotions.

 Because anxiety makes us stupid, it spreads like a wild fire. One person gets anxious and starts to “vibrate” inside. (Remember that shaken up Coke can from my last post?)  This causes them to vibrate outside, which then causes another person, or more, to vibrate inside, then outside… and on it goes.

Anxiety and Leadership: Part 1

Listen to the five-minute Anxiety and Leadership: Part 1 radio show from Coach’s Corner. 

Trisha Taylor, a counselor to pastors and an author, was standing before the crowd holding a can of Coke she had just briskly shaken. She asked someone in the front row to open it. He backed away as if it were a bomb.

Then Trisha dropped a bomb, an expression I think of often: 

Anxiety makes me stupid.

Emotions and Coaching

Listen to the five-minute Emotions and Coaching audio program from Coach’s Corner.

In my experience, I’ve found that when people are emotional they aren’t able to think clearly. This has recently been affirmed in research about how the brain works.  Our brains aren’t able to be analytical and emotional at the same time. When our emotion rises, our thinking ability declines. Things we know, we forget we know. Things we could normally figure out, we can’t.