Welcome to Nolan's World

No More Vacation

Late nights and lazy mornings are not usually part of my "normal" routine, but then again, I suppose that is what makes a vacation a vacation!  Alison, Maddie, and I have been able to have eight special days together.  They just left for school and I have one day left before jumping back into work.  I feel a little guilty about having one more day off, but that's just the way it is!  

In some ways, I feel incredibly refreshed and recharged and ready to go back to work.  In other ways, I really wish I were independently wealthy and that I didn't have to go back.  

I have lots to blog about, but for now, I am going to put together a couple of new iTunes playlists, finish reading a great book, drink my last cup of vacation coffee, and enjoy a little more stillness.

It's Almost Here...

In less than 24 hours, my family will officially be on vacation!  The girls will have spring break and I am officially taking my first full week off at Starbucks (have never been gone from the store more than 4 days in a row in almost two years working there).  In fact, I will actually be away at least eight days, and possibly nine depending on how the schedule gets worked out on Sunday night.  

Tomorrow afternoon, we will be travelling to Decatur, Alabama where I will finally be able to meet my friend Dave Anderson, aka The MoviePastor, face to face and we will be worshipping at Crosspoint on Sunday.  Here is a picture from their set for their series "Heroes" that started last week:

 

Sunday afternoon, we will drive to Odenville to hang out with Mike, Amy, and Noah for a few days.  

Will blog if I can find internet, but it may be a little quiet here until Thursday if not.

Hope you have a great weekend and a fantastic new week!!!

Tribes Has Spoken (Part Five of Five)

One of the best books that I read last year was Seth Godin's Tribes and it is a treasure chest full of great jewels on the subject of leadership.

I have over four pages of quotations in a word document.  Drop me an email if you'd like me to send you a copy.

Here are Friday's Final Fifteen Thoughts from Tribes:

• When you hire amazing people and give them freedom, they do amazing stuff.
• “Isn’t it sad that we have a job where we spend two weeks a year spending two weeks a year avoiding the stuff we have to do fifty weeks a year?”
• The secret of being wrong isn’t to avoid being wrong!  The secret is being willing to be wrong.  The secret of realizing that wrong isn’t fatal.
• The desire to fail on the way to reaching a bigger goal is the untold secret of success.
• The secret of leadership is simple: Do what you believe in.  Paint a picture of the future.  Go there.  People will follow.
• If you insist on playing today’s games with yesterday’s rules, you’re stuck.  Stuck with a stupid strategy. 
• The largest enemy of change and leadership isn’t a “no.”  It’s a “not yet.”  “Not yet” is the safest, easiest way to forestall change.  “Not yet” gives the status quo a chance to regroup and put off the inevitable for just a little while longer.
• Change almost never fails because it’s too early.  It almost always fails because it’s too late.
• People won’t follow you if they don’t believe you can get to where you say you’re going.
• Leadership is the art of giving people a platform for spreading ideas that work.
• Credit isn’t important.  Change is.
• Leaders create things that didn’t exist before.
• You can’t manage without knowledge.  You can’t lead without imagination.
• Perfect is an illusion, one created to maintain the status quo.
• The very nature of leadership is that you’re not doing what’s been done before.  If you were, you’d be following, not leading.

Favorite Thought From Unleash 2009

One of the things that I love about technology is that in spite of the fact that I had to work today in Collerville, TN, I could still be part of a conference that was taking place at NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC called Unleash.  I had the privilege to enjoy the teaching of Perry Noble via a live webcastt this afternoonand was greatly challenged and encouraged.  Perry will speak the truth and rock your world and that is one of the reasons that I believe that God is so greatly using this man and his ministry.  

Here is one of my favorite thoughts he shared today:

"Pastors, some of you may need to quit working for the church so that you can re-enter the ministry!"

Hard-hitting truth for some of us.

Check out both main sessions from Unleash here (click on the "On Demand" button).

Tribes Has Spoken (Part Four of Five)

One of the best books that I read last year was Seth Godin's Tribes and it is a treasure chest full of great jewels on the subject of leadership.

I have over four pages of quotations in a word document.  Drop me an email if you'd like me to send you a copy.

Here are Ten Trementous Thursday Thoughts from Tribes:

• A curious person embraces the tension between his religion and something new, wrestles with it and through it, and then decides whether to embrace the new idea or reject it. 
• Great leaders don’t water down their message in order to make the tribe a bit bigger.  Instead, they realize that a motivated, connected tribe in the midst of a movement is far more powerful than a larger group could ever be. 
• The art of leadership is understanding what you can’t compromise on.
• Faith is critical to all innovation.  Without faith, it’s suicidal to be a leader, to act like a heretic.
• Faith is the cornerstone of humanity; we can’t live without it.  But religion is very different than faith.  Religion is just a set of rules to live by (for now).  Heretics challenge a given religion, but do it from a very strong foundation of faith.  In order to lead, you must challenge the status quo of the religion you’re living under.
• When you fall in love with the system, you lose your ability to grow.
• The easiest thing to do is to react.  The second easiest thing to do is to respond.  But the hardest thing to do is to initiate.
• The best time to change your business model is while you still have momentum.
• I define sheepwalking as the outcome of hiring people who have been raised to be obedient and giving them brain-dead jobs and enough fear to keep them in line. 

Meet My New Best Friend...

Perfect shots, velvety foam, self-adjusting grind...

my new bff...

I love my new Mastrena at work...

come let me make a drink for you on this wonderful machine in the morning!!!

Tribes Has Spoken (Part Three of Five)

One of the best books that I read last year was Seth Godin's Tribes and it is a treasure chest full of great jewels on the subject of leadership.

I have over four pages of quotations in a word document.  Drop me an email if you'd like me to send you a copy.

Here are Nine Nuggets of Wisdom on Wednesday from Tribes:   

• Defending mediocrity is exhausting.    
• True leaders have figured out that the real win is in turning a casual fan into a true one.
• Organizations that destroy the status quo win.
• In a battle between two ideas, the best one doesn’t always win.  No, the idea that wins is the one with the most fearless heretic behind it. 
• What people are afraid of isn’t failure.  It’s blame.  Criticism.  We choose not to be remarkable because we’re worried about criticism.
• Heretics must believe.  More than anyone else in an organization, it’s the person who’s challenging the status quo, the one who is daring to be great, who is truly present and not just punching a clock who must have confidence in her beliefs.
• Great leaders are able to reflect the light onto their teams, their tribes.
• Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead.  This scarcity makes leadership valuable.
• Evangelism requires leadership.  Leading someone toward giving up one world-view and embracing yours isn’t easy and it’s not always comfortable.
• The one path that never works is the most common one: doing nothing at all.

Tribes Has Spoken (Part Two of Five)

One of the best books that I read last year was Seth Godin's Tribes and it is a treasure chest full of great jewels on the subject of leadership.

I have over four pages of quotations in a word document.  Drop me an email if you'd like me to send you a copy.

Here are Ten Tuesday Thoughts from Tribes:

• Generous and authentic leadership will always defeat the selfish efforts of someone doing it just because she can.
• Fear of change is built into most organisms, because change is the first sign of risk.
• Heretics are the new leaders.  The ones who challenge the status quo, who get out in front of their tribes, who create movements.
• The marketplace now rewards (and embraces) the heretics.  It’s clearly more fun to make the rules than to follow them, and for the first time, it’s also profitable, powerful, and productive to do just that. 
•  Leaders have followers.  Managers have employees.  Managers make widgets. Leaders make change.
• Leaders make a ruckus. 
• Leaders become aware of how an organization works, because this awareness allows them to change it.
• Great leaders create movements by empowering the tribe to communicate.  They establish the foundation for people to make connections, as opposed to commanding people to follow them.
• The most important tribes are bored with yesterday and demand tomorrow.

And the most important thought for the day (number 10 or 1 depending on how you view it):

• Good enough stopped being good enough a long time ago.  So why not be great?

Tribes Has Spoken (Part One of Five)

Those of you who know me well know that I like to talk alot.  One of the subjects that I could talk about and listen to you talk about all day long is the subject of leadership.  I love reading books written by and about great leaders, hearing them talk, implementing their ideas, analyzing their approaches, etc.

One of the best books that I read last year was Seth Godin's Tribes and it is a treasure chest full of great jewels on the subject of leadership.

Over the next five days, I will share a few quotations that really spoke to me.  I have over four pages of quotations in a word document.  Drop me an email if you'd like me to send you a copy.

"Leaders challenge the status quo.
Leaders create a culture around their goal and involve others in that culture.
Leaders have an extraordinary amount of curiosity about the world they’re trying to change.
Leaders use charisma (in a variety of forms) to attract and motivate leaders.
Leaders communicate their vision for the future.
Leaders commit to a vision and make decisions based on that commitment.
Leaders connect their followers to one another."

"People don’t believe what you tell them.
They rarely believe what you show them.
They often believe what their friends tell them.
They always believe what they tell themselves.
What leaders do: they give people stories they can tell themselves.  Stories about the future and about change."

"Leaders have nothing in common.
They don’t share gender or income level or geography.  There’s no gene, no schooling, no parentage, no profession.  In other words, leaders aren’t born.  I’m sure of it.
Actually, they do have one thing in common.  Every tribe leader I’ve ever met shares one thing: the decision to lead."

Quick Hits

• Most posts have been serious lately, so I thought I would throw out some a few fun things to catch you up on our lives!
• Work has been rolling along, in fact, we had our big cleanliness audit today on my shift and we improved seven points over the last visit!  Rock on, Starbucks 8362. 
• America, I have to hand it to you, you have put the right 9 people on Idol this season so far...here's hoping the judges don't screw it up on tonight's wildcard show!
• 24 gets better every week...LOVE the bad guys this season! 
• I have given up trying to understand Lost and am just enjoying the ride...great show! 
• I am really enjoying U2's newest CD 
• I turn 39 on Sunday...one more year left before turning 40...want to make it one of my best years ever! 
• Had a great talk with a friend yesterday talking ministry and dreams for the future...thanks Eric! 
• Top Chef, another great season, you will be missed until your next installment! 
• T.O. got cut today...too bad! 
• Spring break is just a few short days away 
• I am taking a full week of vacation while Alison and Maddie are out of school  
• We will be in Odenville for half of the break and just chilling in Memphis for the other half 
• We are hitting Decatur next weekend to meet this guy in person and visit his church finally! 
• After almost two years working for Starbucks, I still love coffee every morning 
• And yes, after almost two years working for Starbucks, nothing irritates me more than rude customers who behave like tools, especially when on their cell phones 
• We get our new Mastrena espresso machines installed Sunday night  
• I am gonna load up on some Pibb Zero on our trip to Bama  
• Speaking of Bama, Roll Tide! 
• I wonder where Vince Young will play football next year?  My guess is that it won't be with the Titans!
• Loved this quote on a friends' facebook status: "Stop telling God about how big your storm is, and start telling your storm how big your God is." --Doug Pierce 
• Hope you have a great day!