3 Ways You Can Overdeliver

Posted on May 22, 2013 by ryanadams23

Most people overpromise, few people overdeliver.

Yesterday, I went into a local store in Costa Mesa. I had placed an order on Saturday, letting the attendant know I would be in to pick up the order on Monday at 10am. I told her at that point, that “no matter what, the order needs to be ready by 10am.” I showed up Monday with little doubt that I would be walking out the store at 10:05am with my order payed for. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I eventually had to cancel my order because they were going to complete it too late, and I left a very unhappy customer.

How many of you have had this happen to you? You had certain expectations from someone or a company, and you ended up being dissapointed. This happens all the time. Most people don’t really mean to do this either. However, the question we must ask ourselves is “how do we in ministry, business, or just with those we are in relationships with, NOT do this.” Not only “how do we not”, but “how can we overdeliver?”

There’s nothing better than expected something to be a certain way, and then getting MORE than you expected. This leaves those with the expectations “wow-ed, amazed, and excited” about you or your company. Here’s a perfect example. At week long Young Life camp, we never tell kids the schedule all week long. Why do we do this? Not because we are control freaks, but because it creates the “element of surprise.” When people are suprised by something they weren’t expecting, it’s easier to “wow” them. One week at a Young Life camp, I made a small suggestion to one of the property staff about the idea of having bubbles start coming down from the sky in the middle of a dance party. I know its sounds crazy, but this simple addition, I believed, was going to produce a “wow.” It was going to be a little difficult to figure out, but of course, our property staff made no promises, but in the end, overdelivered. When it came time for bubbles to fall from the sky, no one expected it at all! As you can see by the picture, it looked amazing, and kids were “wowed.”

What if we had told all the kids, that at the end of the dance party, bubbles would be floating from the sky. The entire dance they would have been waiting for this really awesome thing, and if something went wrong, they would have left dissapointed.

I think any successful company have learned the “art of overdelivering.” To name of few: Apple, Chick-Fil-A, In-N-Out, Disneyland. These companies have all “wow-ed” customers for years. They have all figured out how to give something to their customers that they weren’t expecting, that “wow-ed” them.

So, in your minsitry, business, or just with the people you know, how can you “overdeliver”. Here’s 3 simple ways:

1. Don’t overpromise.
Don’t ever tell someone that you can do something that you can’t do. You may be excited about something that will be really awesome, but if you’re not 100% sure that you can make it happen, then don’t promise them. It always leaves a bitter taste in someones mouth, if they didn’t get what was promised.

2. Dream of ways to “WOW” people.
We do this in Young Life Camping so well. We are always dreaming of ways, that when a kid walks off a bus to a Young Life camp, their is nothing left to say, but “Wow!” How can you do that with your family, friends, ministry, or company. How can you leave the people you come in contact with a “Wow” after leaving you.

3. It’s all in the details.
Look at Apple. They “wow” customers with the details. When Steve Jobs got up and explained the iPhone for the first time, it wasn’t the look that really “wow-ed” people, it was the details of the phone. When you are planning your “wow”, think throught the details of your “wow”, and get all your basis covered so that when you finally get to present the “wow”, everthing will come together.

I hope this helps. I hope you become a person that is not know for overpromising but for overdelivering.

Moving Jesus From Responsibility to Relational

Posted on May 16, 2013 by ryanadams23

I was sitting with a Young Life Leader last week, and as any cliche Young Life staffer, I asked him how was his “walk with Jesus” going. And as most people do, he began to share with me a list and the time he was doing and giving to “be with Jesus.” Things such as, “reading his Bible, going to church, praying, journaling, grabbing coffee at Starbucks and reading a good Christian book.” I shared with him that all these things are great, but it is very possible to do all these things and never be with Jesus. In fact when most people describe their relationship with Jesus, they begin listing their weekly responsibilities.

When meeting with my spiritual mentor, he always ask me a question that is unlike any other question I’m ever asked about my time with Jesus. He always ask me, “How was Jesus?” He asks this question as if I just left a dinner with Jesus and I would be able to describe his mood, what He talked about, His emotional state, His high’s and low’s and so on. The question always seems weird, because I can’t physically see Jesus. However, the question is spot on.

If we are really meant to be in a relationship with Jesus, what does that look like, since we can’t physically grab a cup of coffee with him life any other person? I put together a few things that have been passed down to me, to help me move Jesus from a responsibility into being relational.

1. The Passenger Seat.
We all spend a lot of time driving. Whether it be a 20 minute drive to work, or a 2 hour drive on the weekend, much time is spent in your vehicle. Instead of turning on the radio, podcast, music, or texting, why not have a conversation with Jesus? Just share what’s going on in your day. Your struggles. Your frustrations. Talk as if He is sitting right there in the passenger seat. Because…He is.

2. Texting
When you normally send a text, you are usually sending one to two sentences. You take the time to send mutiple text to a multitude of different people through out the day. Add Jesus to your list. Whether you want to do it in your journal by writing your text out, or by putting it in your “Notes” on your phone, send Him a text. Ask a question. Share with Him a joke. A prayer requests (He’s got good connections by the way). A praise.

3. Listen to Him.
What would a relationship be like, if YOU only talked. You never allowed the other person to speak, not even once. Sometimes that’s what our relationship with Jesus looks like. At Young Life Camp’s across the country, we usually reserve some time after one of our clubs for what we call, “20 Mintues of Quiet.” What’s the point of doing this? In a world full of distractions, taking a few minutes to just stop and listen, might result in actually being able to hear from God.

So my encouragement to you is to try this. Find a place that is really quiet and don’t speak for 20 minutes. As you go into the time of quiet, ask Jesus to share some wisdom and thoughts with you. Maybe, you may not hear anything on the first go around, but maybe as you become consistent, your ears will begin to hear something.

4. The Empty Chair
Most of the time when you are going to meet with someone, you are sitting down. Whether that be a coffee shop, restaurant, or a movie, sitting is a normal position for a relationship. So here’s what you do: Grab two chairs. You sit in one, allow the other chair to be empty, but visualize Jesus sitting right there with you, because….He is. Treat it like a normal time when you would be sitting with a friend. Talk. Listen. Eat. Be silent. Talk again.

5. Go on a Walk.
My best conversations with my wife always happen on a good walk. Not sure why, but they do. Something powerful happens when we walk. So for this one, It’s pretty simple, just go on a walk. Visualize Jesus walking with you. Talk, share, listen, laugh, cry, whatever your heart needs on the walk. Be there. Luke 24 gives a great example of this:

“That same day two of Jesus’ followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them.”

He will do the same for you. They started walking and He “suddenly” came.

There they are. Just five simple ways you can move Jesus from responsibility to relational. I know some of these may seem a bit “odd” to you. Let’s face it, if someone walks in on you talking to an empty chair, it may be a hard one to explain. These are just simple things that I have done to enhance my visibility of seeing Jesus as relational not a responsibility.

Some of you may have some other great ideas, and I’d love to hear them. Please let me know your comments.

5 Ways You Can Build Up Your Team

Posted on May 8, 2013 by ryanadams23

Yesterday, I got off the phone with one of my good friends who was discouraged. Here was his statement: “My boss is great at pumping me up, but not at building me up.” What exactly does that mean? What my friend was trying to share with me, was that his boss is always telling him how great he is, but really feels as if his boss doesn’t really know him, and therefore, doesn’t know how to really build him up.

Because of this, I wanted to make a list of 5 simple ways you can “build up” those around you, those you lead, or someone who simply needs it.

1. **Be a great question-asker.**

When you are having a meeting, it doesn’t always have to be about your minsitry or company. It can simply be to ask questions to get to know your team. Maybe start with simply asking 10 questions when you meet, and let that be it.

What’s a happy in your life? What’s a crappy?

What do you love about your job?

One of the best questions that I ever get asked is, “What can I do to help you?” There is so much power and “building up” in questions. How can you get to know your team the best…by asking them.

2. **Pray for them.**

Part of leading a team, or being a good friend, is knowing them. By knowing them, you know how you can pray for them. It’s amazing how many employees work together everyday, yet really don’t know each other. It’s sad, really. If someone just called you and said “I want to pray for you right now if that would be ok”, and knew exactly what to pray for, wouldn’t that be a blessing? Do it for your team.

If you don’t feel comfortable calling and praying for them, just pray for them privately. Let your team know you prayed for them, and how you prayed for them.

3. **Give them 3 things that they could go out and do tomorrow.**

Have you ever had a meeting and left after 2 hours and wondered, “What did we just talk about?” That is the worst feeling, and honestly a waste of time. One of the best ways you can “build up” your team is to give them ideas. The person I know who does the best job at this is Eric Scofield (www.ericscofield.com). I know plenty of Young Life staff who love meeting with Eric, because they walk away with ideas they can do tomorrow. Eric will always say: “Here’s 3 things I would do if I were you. Don’t feel like you have to do it, but give it a try.” Just in that, I always walk away feeling as if I could conquer the world. Give your team ideas. One step at a time.

4. **Focus on what can be done, not what’s not done.**

Let’s face it. We mess up. People mess up. Everything we aim to do as leaders, doesn’t always happen. I was watching an interview of Tyler Perry just yesterday. Tyler spent $12,000 a year in his attempts to get noticed in the acting world, by writing and directing for a production at the “14th Street Playhouse.” He had 30 people show up for 7 straight years, when he was expecting 1,200 each time. What did he do with all these failures? He kept going. He never focused on the past, he kept pushing forward. And now…well he’s had to many successful movies to name them all. (Here’s the video of him explaining)

If you’re having a meeting discussing a particular part of your ministry, company, or area of life, spend 10 minutes talking about what’s happened that hasn’t worked out so well, and 50 minutes on the next steps.

5. **Empower Them.**

Empower simply means: “Enabling someone to do something.” What can your team not do? Is it because of finances? Find the money, and give it to them. Is it because of time? Help them find the time by releasing them from something else or taking something off their plate.

One of our great committee members in Young Life, Ken, made a decision last year, that he did not want one Young Life leader to go without being able to hang out with kids, because they couldn’t afford a meal, a coffee, or a movie ticket. So, he got ALL of our leaders gift cards that ENABLED them to be with their kids more. The level of our contact with kids doubled. How can you enable your team? Buy a gift card. Arrange a babysitter. Take something over for them.

Nothing too extravagant. Just some simple ways I’ve seen others “Build Up” their team. You can do this too. Make it happen. You’ll be happy you did, and more importantly, your team will know you are for them.

You Own 500 Books, But Haven’t Finished 1

Posted on May 2, 2013 by ryanadams23

How many of you read that blog title and completely related to that statement?

I have had person after person give me “The Best Book they’ve ever read” and encourage me that it is a “must read” for me. I quickly get excited and order it on Amazon, have it shipped to my house in two days (thanks Amazon Prime), and then it sits on my nightstand for 3 months.

I’ve also bought many books, started reading them immediately and then within one week, I’m done. The book never gets read, and the publisher and author get $15 in their pockets for my inefficiency.

Yesterday, I was meeting a friend of mine, who is also a national political radio host (www.hughhewitt.com) and when I asked him what was the last, good book he read, he mentioned about 5 books he had read in the last month. My jaw immediately dropped, and I began asking him a million questions on how he does it. Does he watch TV? (He loves Games of Thrones) Does he enjoy sports? Is he still married? (In fact, a great marriage) So this blog is devoted to the advise he gave me, and now I am passing it on to you.

Here’s Hugh’s advice on how to actually get through reading books:

1. Read books that are good. If you don’t like the first 3 or 4 chapters, don’t read the rest. I love this one. You have to enjoy what you are reading. Not every book is for every person. Everyone will suggest great books for you, and it may be great for them, but not for you. Be picky with your books.

2. Setup a time each day to spend it reading. What’s the old saying? Do something everyday for 21 days and it becomes a habit. This saying may or may not be true, but it works. If you really want to become an avid reader, be disciplined. Thirty minutes a day, for thirty days, will get you in the habit of reading. It takes discipline.

3. Don’t read in bed. How many times have you fell asleep in bed trying to read a book. It’s happened to me at least 500 times. My friend says he has a “reading chair”. Find your reading chair. Have good posture, and read your book in a good environment.

Three Simple Tips on Reading from Hugh. Not to hard to follow, huh? The problem is I have never really followed these three small tips.

I’ll leave you with a quote: “A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.”
― William Styron

Grace, Grace, Who’s Grace?

Posted on April 24, 2013 by ryanadams23

When we think about the word “grace” in the modern Christian culture, it is a word that some name their churches after. Some name their kids after. We assume that we fully understand the word “grace”, and flaunt it to non-believers as if they have never experienced or have no real conceptual idea of what it is. Grace is not new to the modern Christian evangelical church, or is it?

Take these words from Brennan Manning:

“To put it bluntly, the American church today accepts grace in theory but denies it in practice. We say we believe that the fundamental structure of reality is grace, not works–but our lives refute our faith. By and large, the gospel of grace is neither proclaimed, understood, nor lived. Too many Christians are living in a house of fear and not in the house of love.” – Brennan Manning

I believe Manning is dead on when it comes to this idea. We love to preach about it, but grace is extremely hard to live out. Here’s two ways, why this is hard to live out:

1. It’s hard to give grace. Yes, we know what Jesus’ sacrifice accomplished and how it is THE example of what grace is. Yet, when we find out that someone talked “bad” about us, it is hard to extend a simple offer of grace. Yes, grace is something that we attempt to give when one does not deserve it, but it is awfully difficult to extend that offer when we feel the immediate consequences of that persons choices and actions. That’s what makes grace so amazing.

Not only do we have a hard time offering grace to those who affect us, but we have a hard time offering it to those who’s sin we seem offensive to us. In the Christian world, we label sins with a “urgency level” as compared to other sins. For instance, telling a lie, would maybe equal a 3 on the sin scale, but acting on homosexuality equals a 9 or 10. Gluttony would equal a 2 (who hasn’t wanted that extra piece of chocolate cake), and looking at pornography equals a 8. Yes, I believe every sin has different consequences for the actions, but I truly beleive that God looks at all sin the same. Most of us, would probably agree with that last sentence, but do we really live it out, or at least live it out in our minds. Phillip Yancey, in his book “What’s So Amazing About Grace?” says this, “Christians get very angry toward other Christians who sin differently than they do.”The sins we are struggling with never seem to be “as bad” as our neighbors.

Because of this, we have a hard time offering grace to others.

2. It’s hard to accept grace. I have a friend who continues to pity his life on a daily basis, because of sin he struggled with ten years ago. He views himself probably like most Christians looking at him would. A filthy mess. I have expressed my view on his life, and empowered him to walk in grace. However, it feels sometimes as if he has the inability to accept grace.

I believe a lot of Christians are in this same boat. They preach it to others, but they don’t accept it, or feel it. Romans 3 backs this up. If we are unable to accept grace that is offered, we cheapen and completely discount the value of what was the finished work of Jesus on the cross and through His resurrection. I definitely understand the battle. It’s in our nature to perform, to excel, to “white-knuckle” our way through life. However, if we choose to do this we rely on ourselves, versus learning to walk in the grace that Jesus has done. What is keeping us from accepting this? Is it our pride? Is it the fact, that we believe we can live life better alone, than with Jesus? All I know is that if we believe what we believe (in that Jesus gift to us is grace, and His grace alone, redeems in the sight of God and God’s wrath is taken upon Himself rather than us), then we are called out to live in the shadow of His grace. Jesus gives us protection from the wrath of God.

These are just some random thoughts about grace. I am learning myself to walk in grace in the way I should. I am guilty of both reasons of not accepting grace. I don’t want to have ended my life and not have fully taken up the advantages of what my Savior did on the cross. Otherwise, I am an impostor of the message of the Cross.

Taking Notes and Getting Things Done

Posted on April 24, 2013 by ryanadams23

Two great things I love to do in life. I love to take notes and love getting things done. In the past I have used a “Sketchbook” found only at Barnes & Noble with a 5 ½ x 8 size. Loved it. Everytime I got into a meeting, you will find me with this sketchbook (thank you Eric Scofield, for that inspiration).

However, after listening to one of the best podcasts on “Note-Taking”, I have decided to move into Evernote as my method of note taking. I can have Evernote on my Macbook Pro, iPad mini, and iPhone as well, although I use my iPad as more of a note taker, becaue it’s not too big for meetings, and not to small, so that it doesn’t look like I’m playing “Words with Friends” while I’m in a meeting. Here’s a picture of what the notes in Evernote looks like:

There are a lot of ways that you can setup Evernote. Personal journaling (which I still prefer to do by hand), notes you jot down about your home, notes you jot down from meetings, or just simple “to-do’s”.

On to getting things done. My favorite part about this blog post is introducing you (if you didn’t know already, to “Nozbe“. It is by far the best “task manager” out there. Once again, it syncs with your iPad, iPhone, and Macbook devices. Here’s the gist:

1. You create projects that you are working on. (For me, I have lots that are always ongoing. See picture below)

2. Under each project, you create a “New Task”. You can add a “tag” to that task, so that when you search your tasks, that particular task will show up. You can give it a context (which I’ll explain later), a deadline, and how long it will take you to complete the tasks.

3. You also will assign each tasks to a “context”. For me, I have 6 different contexts: Young Life, Photo Booth Southcoast (my photobooth rental company), Errands, Home, MBA, and Computer. Errand = simple errands I have to do everyday, MBA = graduate school, computer = those simple computer tasks you need to get done, and Home = all the projects at home that I need to be done. (you can figure out the other two context). Contexts allow you to see quickly how many tasks you have in each context.

That’s as simple as I can make it.

Here are 5 reasons why you need to download Nozbe today:

1. Who has a really good system for getting things done already?

2. Knowing how many tasks you have left gives you a vision for what you need to get done.

3. The calendar option of this program really allows you to see what your future holds and how you are going to get things done.

4. Syncing = most programs sync, but the fact that this one does, makes keeping track of list altogether amazing.

5. You can “star” those items that you HAVE TO get done with excellence.

Here are some shots of my Nozbe workspace:

Cheers.

Ministry, Management, and Monkeys

Posted on April 24, 2013 by ryanadams23

Twelve years ago, when I graduated from college, I never thought I would be a blogger. Let alone have an Instagram, Facebook, Vine, Twitter, and all the other options for social media. I would much rather be known as a guy who sits across another human being, around a campfire, drinking a good cup of coffee, and having a great conversation into the night. So after some encouragement from friends, collegues, and my wife, I decided to bite the bullet, and embrace technology, rather than run from it. (However, I’d still prefer the campfire and coffee, if you’re up for it).

My goal is to share with you that are interested, some thoughts on:

Ministry = thoughts on Ministry in Young Life, and in ministry as whole. Thoughts on our pursuit to follow Jesus.

Management = thoughts on how to manage people more adequately. Thoughts on how to be a better leader of people. Please feel free to pass on this blog on.

Monkeys – Yes, monkeys are random. This section of the blog will be the part that is random. I may talk about Redskins football, fly fishing, or something completely random. The truth is we all love random.

The goal is to make this blog as practical as possible. Something that adds value to your life. Any thoughts or comments are always welcomed. Enjoy!

Cheers.

RyanWAdams.com

ministry:management:monkeys

3 Ways You Can Overdeliver

Moving Jesus From Responsibility to Relational

5 Ways You Can Build Up Your Team

You Own 500 Books, But Haven’t Finished 1

Grace, Grace, Who’s Grace?

Taking Notes and Getting Things Done

Ministry, Management, and Monkeys

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