Another year has FLOWN by.  What a year it has been.  I was looking through some of my photos from the year and, of course, realize I don’t take enough of them!!  But, it has been an eventful year and one that compels me to be grateful for so many things:

1) Medical advances – It seemed like the year of surgeries for the Gallagher’s and close friends.  Mom had knee replacement. Our friend, Stan Buck had major brain surgery to remove a cancerous tumor.  My brother had major heart surgery to basically rebuild his heart, and we finished out the year with Brendan having wisdom teeth pulled.  All of them are recovering well. 25 years ago, these stories likely would have been quite different.

2) People who inspire me – There are many who do inspire me.  This year, the ‘top’ inspirer would be Adam Ward, a friend and co-worker who inspired me to run my first 5K and subsequently, 3 more after that! 

3) Work that I love - I really do enjoy the work that I do.  Too often in today’s economy folks may be doing things that they just don’t love. 

4) Safe air travel – I had to log over 160 flight segments in 2011 and each of them landed the same way they took off!

5) Family  – Saving the best for last…Frankly, my wife, Chris and boys sacrificed this year as a result of #3 above.  They have been very gracious in affording my the opportunity to fulfill my purpose. 

There are many more things like time spent with friends (see photo above from WVU homecoming game! – Let’s Go Mountaineers!!) that I need to be grateful for all the time.  

So, what are you grateful for in 2011?  Take some time to reflect on this.  You will find it rewarding.

Then, I got a call from a great friend whose wife was going in for surgery due to the onset of breast cancer.  Her life was changed forever due to this daggum ‘c’-word.  I wondered what I could do.  Certainly, I could pray…and I did.  Then, I was reminded of the upcoming race just days away…”Fired Up for a Cure”…a cure for breast cancer that is!  Suddenly, my cold didn’t seem so limiting anymore.

In the past 6 months, the ‘c’ word has popped up with no fewer than 4 close family friends. 

Each time I find myself complaining while training/exercising by running (which I hate!), I am reminded of the pain these friends are enduring in their race to beat cancer.  30 minutes of heavy breathing is NOTHING.  I should be honoring them. 

A personal best is not about me…it’s about me honoring those friends.  Thank you for being an inspiration to me.

So, what is that small item that you want to regularly complain about that, if you really think about, you could honor someone by completing that task with excellence?!

1) The first Monday morning - Are you kidding?  Isn’t a great feeling to wake up on a Monday morning of a vacation week and exclaim with joy:  “No work today or this week. Back to sleep!”

2) Time with family - My current job requires me to do a significant amount of travel.  Prior to this week, I was on the road at least part of 11 straight weeks.  It is great to get to spend focused time with family.  Here is a shot of us enjoying lunch one day:

3) The Food!!! - I just love to eat well when I am on vacation.  Down at Myrtle Beach, there are ALL KINDS of great spots we hit each time we are here.  Here is a shot of a dozen oysters I dusted off and washed her down with an ice cold beer.

4) Early morning quiet time - Aside from Monday mornings, I like to get up early each day.  It is time for me to do some reading, work on my blog, or simply sit out on the porch with a cup of coffee and listen to the uh-uh birds while my family is still sleeping.

5) Afternoon naps - Oh, how I LOVE that afternoon nap while on vacation.  They should be a requirement of the work week, too!

What are some favorite things YOU like to do to re-charge during a week’s vacation?

Now, I don’t know that books will really ‘save’ us, but I do find books to be therapeutic, thus, I believe they have a way of extending our lives.  So, here was what I expressed to Mark, and now to you, about books:

1) I envy personal libraries  with the wood paneling to the ceiling and the walls of books, including out of print, first editions, and favorites that have been read.  While I stop short of making this type of personal library a ‘goal’, it would definitely be nice to have.  I would want it to be interactive, though.  When friends come over, I want them to pull the books off the shelf, read through my notes, and generate discussion/fellowship for the content as well as the aesthetics!

2) I think that books can be ’attractive’.  When I finish reading a book, I remove the fancy cover and see how attractive the book’s binding is.  Then, it goes on my ‘shelf’.

3) Touring of bookstores is something I often do.  I wish I had the time to read all of the wonderful books that are there.

4) Life is too short to read a bad book(or drink a bad wine).  I will stop reading a book part of the way through. I don’t do this often as most of the books I read are suggestions from trusted sources.

These are a couple ways that books are therapeutic to me.  What about you?

Just 36 hours later on Friday morning, it looked like THIS:

Hard to believe that things could change that rapidly.

This reminded me of the importance as a leader of being consistent and approachable.  When your team or your colleagues approach you, can they expect you to be consistent, or are they concerned that your ‘mood’ is going to change like the weather?

As a leader, approachability is such an important characteristic.  When you are consistently approachable, the following results occur:

1) Your colleagues are more likely to bring you issues with confidence

2) Your colleagues will share bad news with you sooner and thus, you will be able to identify and solve problems before they turn into a storm!

3) Mutual respect is built, thus increasing your effectiveness, and subsequently results.

So, are you approachable consistently…or do you change like the weather?