My bedtime routine during this trip to Uganda: 1. Plug my converter into the outlet and charge my camera battery to be ready for the next day’s photos. 2. Turn on the water heater in my bathroom so there’d be enough hot water for washing up in the morning. 3. Brush my teeth, using bottled water for rinsing my mouth and toothbrush. 4. Pull the mosquito netting down and tuck it in around my bed, leaving an opening big enough for me to crawl through. [...]
I’ve just returned from my fourth trip to Uganda in the past three years. I’ve gotten to the point where landing at Entebbe Airport makes me feel as though I’m coming home. So much about each trip is different from the others, with different teams, schedules, plans and programs. But so much about each trip is comfortable and familiar. I know that after I retrieve my luggage, I will be greeted and warmly welcomed by people I’ve come to know as family. After hugs and [...]
I arranged for my columns to get posted on my blog automatically while I was in Uganda, but this one somehow slipped off the schedule. It should have been posted on August 8. I hope you will still find it timely and relevant. I was sitting outside on the steps of our deck one morning last week, notebook and pen in hand. I was doing the morning ritual I refer to as my Prayer Exercise, which is a combination of praying, journaling, and asking God [...]
I am currently in Uganda. While I am gone, the Villager is rerunning some of my early favorites. The following column was first published on December 2, 2004. People can really be a puzzle. By that I don’t mean they’re confusing, although they can be that, too – especially if they’re teenagers or members of the opposite sex. What I’m talking about is more like a jigsaw puzzle, where every piece is a little different from every other one, even though they all have the same basic structure. [...]
I am currently in Uganda. While I'm gone, the Villager is rerunning some of my early favorites. The following column was first published on February 6, 2003. Someone called me “Tiny” the other day. Which was a whole lot nicer than Sleepy, Sneezy, Grumpy or Dopey. We were at Curves, and were right next to each other on the exercise equipment. She looked at me the way you look at someone you recognize, but can’t quite place. “Do you work for the city of Chanhassen?” she finally [...]
A few months ago, I attended a speech contest in which one of the contestants spoke about dreaming small. She said early on that that’s what her parents always encouraged her to do. At first I thought it was a set-up for a punch line, or that she’d be talking about how she had to overcome a “think small” mindset in order to dream big and achieve great things. And since I teach, preach, and coach people about dreaming big and achieving their dreams, this [...]
“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” That line is from the 1967 movie, Cool Hand Luke, and is one of the top movie quotes of all time. And even though it’s almost 50 years old, I think it’s even more true and relevant today than it was back then. It’s ironic that today we have more ways to communicate than ever before. In addition to the really old-fashioned ways like talking face to face in person, or voice to voice on the phone, [...]
“Betty, I’m ready to get out of my own way.” The words were music to my ears, even though I got them by way of a Facebook post. They were from a former coaching client of mine, and she’s someone I’ve been urging for a long time now to visit Toastmasters. She’s written two children’s books, started her own company, and is eager to get out in the world to do readings and presentations, and to promote her books and her business. Anyone who is [...]
Sometimes, a plan that seemed like a great idea at the time turns out to be not so great after all. Often, though, it just needs a little tweaking. I think that was the case with my New Year’s Resolution this year. I decided that I was going to complete a new project every week throughout 2014. My first project was to compile a list of 50 projects and goals I wanted to complete, and I’m happy to report I was able to check that [...]
They’re a lovely family. A young couple with a little boy and another baby on the way. I met them last weekend while my sisters and I were cleaning out my dad’s house and preparing for the estate sale on Saturday. I’ve always found the term “estate sale” to be misleading. It sounds like the sale of precious and valuable furniture and antiques from wealthy patrons who lived in grand houses. And I’m sure that in some cases, that’s exactly what it is. But it’s [...]