She lays the foundation of the nest with hard sticks and smaller twigs. She then fills in the gaps with grass to make it cushiony. And if she can find it, she’ll use feathers and pieces of moss to create a final layer of comfort for her chicks. But once the chicks are old enough to fly, she begins to take away the comfort of the nest. She’ll start by removing the feathers and the moss, and if that doesn’t motivate them to jump, she’ll take away the grass. She might take away some of the smaller twigs as one final motivation to get them to jump on their own. But finally, if the chicks still will not jump, she will push them out of the nest. She will let them fall almost to the ground, but right before they crash, she’ll swoop under them to catch them in the air.

If the eagle is going to soar, it has to experience discomfort.

Isn’t the same true for us?

If our organizations are going to thrive, we have to get comfortable being uncomfortable. And as individuals, we have to get out of our comfort zone in order to flourish.

If our organizations are going to thrive, we have to get comfortable being uncomfortable.

When this global pandemic dissipates, things aren't just going to return to normal. The way we do things will forever be changed by this crisis. Will you be ready?

The way we do business will change. Now, we know what can be accomplished virtually, so more people may push to work remotely. And our customers’ expectations will change. Now that your restaurant is offering delivery, it’s going to be difficult (and possibly harmful to your business) to withdraw that service. Churches will change. Some churches who have never offered online streaming are now live-streaming services. Once this is over, some people might push to keep the online option to allow homebound members to participate in the service each Sunday. Your life at home will change. You’re establishing rhythms of spending intentional time with your family on a daily basis. If you suddenly try to swing back into your packed weekly schedule, there will be push-back, and you’ll have to figure out a new balance between being at home and being away.

Here’s the bottom line:

There is no flipping a switch back to normal after these days.

Difficult conversations, plans, and adjustments lie ahead of us. It’s OK to not have all of the answers right now. However, if we are going to thrive in the season that follows this one, we have to take that first step of getting comfortable being uncomfortable.

While there are a lot of strategies for communication, one of the most important—but least utilized—is the practice of being concise.

Author Earnest Hemingway is famous for his direct prose, and here are his four helpful rules for writing:

1. Use short sentences:

Don’t overstate what could be said simply.

2. Use short paragraphs:

Don’t bog your audience down with unnecessary details.

3. Use vigorous English:

This means no word is wasted. Each one is focused passionately on the topic at hand.

4. Be positive, not negative:

State what something is rather than what it’s not. For example, instead of saying something is inexpensive, say it’s affordable.

Though Hemingway died almost 60 years ago, his rules are more helpful now than ever.

In a world where we’re bombarded by 100 emails a day, being the shortest in the inbox can really work to your advantage.

Management guru Peter Drucker once insisted that any organization’s or person’s vision statement should fit on the front of a t-shirt. Drucker’s reasoning rested on a belief that a vision statement should be clear, concise, and memorable.

Think about how you can make your written or verbal communication a little more brief. You’ll find in most cases that less really is more.

When I was a junior, I remember trying to raise money for a charity I was involved in. And as the uninhibited dreamer of the group, I hatched a crazy plan. I decided that I was going to call Coach Dooley and ask him if our organization could host a fundraiser at his house. Now, for those of you who don’t know who I’m talking about, Vince Dooley is a living legend at UGA. He is a Hall of Fame football coach who led the Georgia Bulldogs to win six SEC Championships and one National Championship in his career.

Long story short, he was the most famous person living in Athens at the time, and I was about to call him to make a HUGE ask. Not only was I asking him to give us his time by appearing at this event, but I was also asking him if we could host this event at his home—a place usually reserved for much more important university events than a fundraiser organized by college students seeking to raise money from other college students (obviously not an ideal group of donors).

Want to know the craziest part of this plan?

It worked. Coach Dooley said, “Yes,” and I’ve been blessed to have a special relationship with Vince and Barbara Dooley ever since. Isn’t it funny how little children have no fear of asking for whatever they want? When your child says something to you, they aren’t worried about how you’re going to feel about it. Yes, they certainly need to grow in empathy and restraint, but for the most part, their honesty and confidence is refreshing and even helpful.

Unfortunately, something happens to us as we get older. Our fear of rejection grows exponentially. Maybe this is a result of our personal experiences, or maybe we’re too concerned about the way we appear to others. Either way, we become less willing to have important, uncomfortable conversations—to make the big asks or to say the crucial things that are not easy to say.

Now before we go any further, I want to make something clear: This blog is not promoting a lack of social awareness or sensitivity. It’s about this principle that author and entrepreneur Tim Ferriss communicates so perfectly: “A person’s success in life can often be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have in a day.”

A person’s success in life can often be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have in a day.” – Tim Ferriss

Tim would argue that these people are successful because they are willing to get out of their comfort zones and gain an opportunity to experience the extraordinary. I think he’s right. Said another way, they are willing to exchange stability for significance.

So here’s my challenge to you and to me today: have the uncomfortable conversation.

Pick up the phone, call the client, and make the hard ask.

Own your mistake, call your friend, and tell them you can’t come to their event because you’ve overcommitted yourself.

Schedule the meeting, sit down with your teammate, and give the constructive criticism he or she needs to do better work and to grow professionally.

Fine-tune your resume, gather your references, and call your contact at the company where you really want a job.

I’m not promising it will always work, but if you never initiate the conversation, you’ll never know. And even if you are rejected, you’ll realize it doesn’t hurt nearly as badly as you thought it might.

What uncomfortable conversation do you need to have? Click out of this email, minimize your browser, pick up the phone, make the call, and initiate it. You never know the amount of good that could come from it.

Paulus is a pastor who labors to help orphans, to free victims of human trafficking, and to share the gospel with millions of people in Indonesia—the fourth most populous country in the world.  I had the pleasure of writing The Lepers’ Lessons with Paulus and spending intentional time learning from this incredible leader. So today, I want to share with you one of the most important lessons Paulus has taught me over the years:

"Compassion means you’re willing to be disturbed." – Paulus Wiratno

Newsflash: You can serve people without being compassionate. You can even give your time and resources without being compassionate. Because if you’re doing these things out of duty, obligation, or a desire to be recognized, you’re not exercising compassion. True compassion means you’re willing for your life to be disturbed for the good of another person.

So what does this look like practically? Compassion will disturb your life in three areas: your schedule, your wallet, and your emotions.

Compassion disturbs your schedule.

Twice a year, our ADDO team leaves the office for a day of service. This is a valuable time for all of us, and we believe it leaves an impact. But these days don’t require me to be compassionate. They are scheduled into our work calendar. True compassion interrupts my routine, my calendar, and my comfort zone. It’s stopping to help the person pulled over on the side of the road, even though you have somewhere to be. It’s engaging the person who needs to talk for a few minutes, even though you’re late to your next meeting. I’m not saying this is feasible or practical all the time, but compassion will definitely disturb your schedule.

Compassion disturbs your wallet.

Being compassionate means getting involved financially. Sometimes, it requires giving real dollars. It could be giving money away that you had been saving for your next vacation or shifting your budget to intentionally give to a specific person or cause. But other times, compassion is simply doing something less “valuable” with your time (in the business world, we call this opportunity cost).

Instead of doing work that results in a paycheck, compassion propels you to work without expecting anything in return.

Compassion disturbs your emotions.

Have you ever heard someone say, “You’ve been cursed with a good heart”? The idea is that because you care, you do more and give more than the average person. There is a song called “Hosanna” that has a line illustrating this sentiment: “Break my heart for what breaks yours.” The song is written as an appeal to God, asking Him to make you care about the things He cares about. Taken out of a faith context, compassion is being willing to have a broken heart; it’s being willing to have your emotional state disturbed.

So, here’s today’s question: Are you willing to be disturbed? Most of us would say we want to be compassionate. But I don’t think many of us would honestly say we want to be disturbed. I know I don’t like to be disturbed, but in order to be genuinely compassionate, we have to be willing to let our schedules, our wallets, and our emotions be disrupted.

Today, I hope we have the courage to choose compassion for others over comfort for ourselves.

Think about what you want to do today,

And realize you still can’t leave your house.

Settle in for another day at home.

Open up Facebook:

The first post tells you that COVID-19 is an overblown government hoax, and we should be back at work;

The next post implores you to stay inside, frustrated that more cities aren’t shutdown to slow the spread;

Followed by a post from the friend from church who’s in the hospital and has just received the diagnosis.

Log out of Facebook and turn on the news:

A task force update;

An interview from the medical perspective;

An analysis from the economic perspective;

And you find yourself completely inundated with information—maybe even before you get out of bed.

I’m beginning to realize just how much information I have consumed about COVID-19 in the last few weeks. Don’t get me wrong—it’s good to be informed. And I’m thankful to have access to this information. But at some point, it’s too much. Here are two questions for me and for you in this season. What should we think, and what should we do?

First, what should we think?

In a previous blog, I shared this quote, “What you meditate on, you magnify, and what you magnify controls you.” This statement has stuck with me, and in times like this, I understand why. What we’re constantly thinking about becomes bigger in our minds—so much so that it can cloud our vision and dramatically affect our actions. We need to think about the pandemic. We need to be wise, adhere to CDC guidelines, and work together to protect one another from infection. But constantly consuming information and meditating on this present crisis can also make us anxious, paranoid, and self-centered.

We need to learn to be informed in a healthy way while also thinking about good things.

Paul gives us this encouragement in the Bible: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8, ESV).

Now that we’re thinking about the right things, what should we do?

The writer of Hebrews tells us to “...encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘today’” (Hebrews 3:13, NIV).

What should we do? Encourage one another.

How often should we encourage one another? Daily.

So every day, but for how long? As long as it is called ‘today.’

Encouragement may look different in this season than it does in others. You may not be able to provide your physical presence. The acts of service may be less tangible than in the past. But we have more ways to contact people at our fingertips than we ever have in history.

In fact, I hope you’ll make the decision to encourage someone right now when you click out of this email. Set your thoughts on good things, pick up the phone, and encourage somebody right where they are.

Set your thoughts on good things, pick up the phone, and encourage somebody right where they are.

Maybe they’re sick.

Maybe they’ve lost their job.

Maybe they’re battling loneliness.

Maybe they’re in a uniquely tough situation, and you don’t really know what to say. It doesn’t matter. Pick up the phone anyway. You have no idea how simply reaching out to a person could lift their spirits during this difficult time.

I believe that the more we lean into our strengths, the better we are. Individuals, organizations, and societies that have unique strengths should leverage them.

But here’s the downside: When we take our strengths too far, they can turn sour and become weaknesses. Take these examples:

Strength: You’re dedicated to your work. Overplayed: You have a tendency to be a workaholic.

Strength: You move fast. Overplayed: You’re impatient when things aren’t moving at your preferred pace.

Strength: You’re good at considering all options before you move forward. Overplayed: When there are a lot of options, you get analysis paralysis.

You get the point.

One of America’s strengths is our rugged individualism. But in this season of dealing with COVID-19, this strength overplayed can become a costly weakness. We must stand together behind decisions that are better for all—not just the individual—to keep us moving forward and out of this crisis.

We must stand together behind decisions that are better for all—not just the individual—to keep us moving forward and out of this crisis.

Is it wise to stock up on paper products? Yes. Do you need to buy every last roll of toilet paper in the store, so there’s nothing left for anyone else? No.

Is it wise to make sure you have hand soap in your home? Absolutely. Do you need enough for seven years? Nope.

Is it a good idea to grab groceries to last you a week or two, so you’re limiting contact with people? Yes. Do you need enough non-perishable food items to get you to summer? No.

I’m proud to be an American and firmly believe our individualism is a unique strength. But let’s not overplay it in this season.

Let’s stand together, care for one another, and walk out of this Coronavirus chaos together.

One final note: In this season, as work looks different, our team at ADDO has outlined a few things that are important for us and our clients. I hope you’ll find it helpful as well.

We are in a season of incredible uncertainty. Daily briefings, social media rumors, and the latest closures have us all trying to navigate the coming days and weeks. We should all pray for wisdom during this time.

As we look toward the future, we need vision now more than ever. We need vision from leaders in government, in business, in organizations, and in communities across the country—which takes us back to the quote above by Helen Keller.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Helen Keller, this American hero was deaf and blind; yet, she defied all odds by learning to communicate, earning a bachelor’s degree, and advocating for individuals with special needs all over the world. Her story is what makes her statement above so powerful. She was blind. She knew the daily struggle of not being able to see. Yet, she believed there was a greater problem—sight without vision.

When I think of “vision,” my mind naturally goes to the corporate statement written on the wall, the one printed in the book, or the one repeated week after week at the team meeting. These can certainly be examples of vision.

But the vision Helen Keller is talking about is more than this. It’s a dream, a goal, a purpose, or a place that you’re headed.

Proverbs 29 is one of my favorite passages of Scripture: “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Prov. 29:18, KJV). The word perish is blunt and weighty. In other words, without vision, the people will die.

The New American Standard version presents a different perspective: “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained,” and it goes on, “but happy is he who keeps the law.” So without vision, people have no guardrails, no structure, and nothing to work toward. But people are happy when they have boundaries and direction.

Not only does Proverbs 29:18 reinforce Keller’s statement, but it takes it one step further. Without vision, people can’t be happy. We need to have a purpose to live a satisfying life.

Without vision, people can’t be happy. We need to have a purpose to live a satisfying life.

This week, ask yourself this question: Do I know where I’m going?

As I’ve gotten older and passed certain milestones in life, it’s harder to have a clear vision of where I want to go. When I was in high school, I wanted to graduate. When I was in college, my goal was to get a job. Sometimes vision comes more naturally when we are less content with our present circumstances.

At other times in life, when things seem to be going well, we need to work harder to uncover a vision for the future. If you’re a leader, it’s not just for you but for the people in your care. It’s your responsibility to provide and reinforce a vision for your family, your team, and your community, so that others can experience the same kind of peace and freedom that comes with purpose.

So how can you respond? Not everyone is in a position to cast a vision, but all of us need to be able to articulate it, reinforce it, and remind the people around us of what we’re working toward.

We stood and caught up for a few minutes when the president of Hobby Lobby, Steve Green, and his wife Jackie recognized my friend and came by to say hello. At this point, I was no longer a part of this conversation, but I wanted to be. So I stuck around (somewhat awkwardly) and listened in. As they were talking, Evan recounted his recent experience of visiting the Hobby Lobby headquarters and said that one of the things that struck him most was a huge sign in the facility that reads:

“Close Counts.”

Happy to elaborate more on the meaning of the message, Steve said that his dad, David Green, originally made this sign when he heard about an internal plan to implement a point of sale system. (Side note: This is crazy that they didn’t already have one in place!) Steve’s dad, David—the founder of Hobby Lobby—quickly stopped the campaign and worked to emphasize his philosophy of going with your gut. David believes that important business decisions can often be made by trusting your instincts. Apparently, David still roams Hobby Lobby’s “store 101” with an assistant and simply looks at the different displays and indicates where items should go on each shelf. He uses his eye and makes these decisions all by gut!

It’s not that David Green believes point-of-sale systems are inherently bad, but he believes that too much data is bad for business.

Too much data is bad for business.

Make sure you read this clearly:

Data itself is not bad for business. Data helps us make good decisions, follow trends, and anticipate needs for our companies. But too much data is bad for business.

So think about it like this:

Data tells you what’s selling. Your gut tells you how to sell it more effectively.

Data exposes market trends. Your gut tells you how to respond to these trends.

Data reveals who is walking in the door. Your gut tells you how to serve them best.

With advancements in technology, data is more accessible than ever before.

But an over-reliance on data can cripple your ability to differentiate and innovate.

This concept of close counts reminds me of a blog I wrote a couple of years ago on insights vs. instincts. On their own, both insights and instincts can be helpful, but it’s insights coupled with instincts that lead to innovation that can change the world.

In the same way, data coupled with gut-feeling will help you most effectively serve your customers, engage your employees, and make wise decisions for your organization.

According to Forbes, 40% of people are planning to switch jobs in the next year and 69% say they are already passively looking. Another study shows 47% of people seeking a new job say that culture is the main reason they want to leave.

I’m passionate about helping organizations improve their culture, so they can have a more engaged, energized, and effective work life.

This is why I often talk about culture at speaking engagements and why ADDO's resources equip leaders to foster and grow healthy cultures. Today, I want to unpack a core component of culture that could change your organization—celebration. Before you start organizing a party planning committee, here are three ways to think about creating a culture of celebration.

1. What’s celebrated is repeated:

Andy Stanley In other words, be careful about what you choose to celebrate. If you only celebrate people showing up to work every day—essentially, you celebrate attendance—this might be all that’s repeated. So identify what’s important in your organization. Is it closing sales? Is it creating a remarkable customer experience? Is it making sure your environment is safe? You’ll probably find that multiple things are important, but you must prioritize what you choose to celebrate. And once you’ve identified what you’re celebrating, lead the charge and encourage your team.

2. Your celebration should be relative to the size of the accomplishment:

‍It’s important to celebrate both the small things and the big things. But the big things merit a big celebration. For example, closing one sale definitely earns a shoutout at our team meeting. But exceeding our year-end sales goal earns a full-blown party (or in ADDO’s case, a company-wide trip to Cuba)!

3. Genuine celebration trumps contrived celebration:

‍Last month, it was announced that Jimmy Johnson, former head coach of the Dallas Cowboys and the Miami Dolphins, would be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And the first time he heard the news was captured on live television.

Watch the video below: http://www.facebook.com/ESPN/videos/493061994923836/

My favorite part of this video is the reactions of the people around him. These are all former football players and coaches, and they understand better than anyone the weight of this achievement. And they celebrate Johnson with genuine excitement! I think it’s important for all of us to learn from this.

We should strive to be the kind of colleague and peer that’s eager to celebrate the wins of the people around us.

My charge to you this week is an easy one: celebrate. But remember, the kind of celebration that fosters a healthy culture is one that’s in response to what’s important to your organization, is appropriate for the size of the win, and is full of genuine excitement.