Keep Your Rolodex Well Tended

     I had the privilege of introducing Mr. Earl Leonard to my leadership class a few days ago. Upon receiving his biography, I knew that we were in for a special treat. Mr. Leonard is a UGA grad, has founded and held leadership positions in many organizations, and worked at Coca-Cola for 35 years, 16 of which he headed the Corporate Affairs Division. Not too shabby, huh? The coolest part of his bio was that he is the original benefactor for the leadership certificate program that I am a part of. He gave us do's and don'ts of life and leadership. I took a whole page of notes, but here are the most important things that I took away from his time with my class. I had to share, because the list below is full of great reminders and insights for life. Enjoy!

• God is in the details of all you do, so focus on the details first.
• Nothing is worth doing if it's not done with integrity.
• Never miss an opportunity to tell people how important they are.
• People will forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.
• Listen more. You can never learn is you're doing all the talking.
• Life is a one act play. There are no encores. 
• Never center your life around a job. Who will you be when that job is gone?
• Don't be a workaholic. Have fun in life.
• It's nice to be important, but it's far more important to be nice.
• Ask yourself, "Am I happy? Or am I just pretending like I am?"
• Make a list of the things you want to do in life and remember to actually do them.
• Ask yourself, "What is my responsibility to the less fortunate?"
• Remember that it's not what you take from life... It's what you give.
• Know a little about a lot of things (language, religion, etc.)
• Consciously create a different, special, and better persona. Be interesting! 
• Ingredients of success: ability, having people who want you to succeed, and luck.
• Your boss already knows your abilities/successes. It's the other people you should get to know.
• Add 2-3 contacts to your rolodex every day. Keep in touch and really care about every contact you've made. Send them cards, call them, etc. 
• Never underestimate someone.
• Dedication and determination are important to succeed, but you have to have some fun too.
• Things that should endure have a way of enduring.

Radiating Joy

     In one of my classes today, my professor posed the question: Can any of you really think of a time that you felt purely happy? She continued to say that we usually feel complete happiness when we get our way or accomplish some huge personal obstacle. Of course, I had to raise my hand and share my opinion on the subject. I said something along the lines of "there is so much pressure put on us to achieve out-of-this-world, lofty, sometimes unattainable goals that it's almost impossible for us to feel happy unless we are the one in a million that discovers the cure to cancer or solves a controversial business/national/world problem. We're taught that if we're wrong, do something incorrectly, or, to put it plainly, fail, then we can't be happy. It's just a social norm and cultural idea that we learn at a young age."
    In the class after that one, my professor asked everyone to write down a conflict or problem that we were facing in each of our lives. We needed to write down a problem so that we could evaluate, work through, and uncover the causes of the problem. I promise, I did try, but I could not come up with a problem. I ended up choosing a small, trivial issue that I have just come to accept as part of life. I know that I am a compromiser and an accommodating person when it comes to conflict. I want other people to be happy and prefer to accept someone else's idea than fight for my own in order to keep the peace. Yes, if it is an important issue or will have serious consequences for me or someone else, I'll fight for what is right, but otherwise, I'm a people pleaser.
     So back to the first question, Can any of you really think of a time that you felt purely happy? Yes, I can. In fact, I have many instances every day where I feel completely happy and content. Just today I felt completely happy when I turned in my OL application, talked to my dear friend for awhile, leisurely went grocery shopping, and took some photos. It's not a matter of if you ever feel happy, but whether or not you appreciate that moments throughout your days that make you smile. Everything in your life doesn't have to be perfect for you to be happy. It's the little things in life that make the difference and learning to embrace and celebrate those have made all the difference in my life. It's amazing how striving to find the positive in every situation can make you so happy that your enthusiasm for life becomes contagious. Who doesn't want to be the joyous person that people want to be around constantly?

Rediscovery

     I will be the first to admit that my faith has faltered over the past few months. I felt so close to the Lord at the end of last year and over the summer, but now, as I fill out applications for jobs where I would serve and help others, I feel lost. I reach for God's word and feel distracted and disconnected. Yet, even with this feeling of detachment, I still believe with my whole heart that the Lord has a plan for my life and he is watching over me. We all go through these times of unrest and confusion; we feel more distant from the Lord, but somehow we always find a way back.
     For me, I am strengthening my relationship with the Lord by rereading A Voice In The Wind. Call me crazy that a book can help me rediscover my immense faith, but I truly believe that it can. The book is set about 40 years after Christ died and rose from the dead, so Christianity is still very much in its infancy. Hadassah, the main character, watches as her family dies, suffers as she is enslaved, and serves diligently to Romans who believe in stone gods. She prays for the people that threw her into slavery and truly believes that she was put in the lives of these Romans to serve them and bring Christ to their lives. In the book, she just visited the Apostle John, who walked with Christ and knew him as he was in the flesh. She asked John who she could make her masters understand and come to Christ. John said that even with Jesus standing right in from of him, he still didn't understand who he was or what he said. He struggled in grasping the mightiness and unfaltering love that Jesus extended to him.
     I know that it is just a book, but these passages give me understanding and conviction in the Lord's presence in my life. We all, even John, stumble, fall, and don't understand the plans that God has for us.  When I think of my life thus far, I am humbled. I have had a life of abundant blessings and I am so thankful for the Lord walking with me even when I don't realize He's holding my hand. I am in the process of completing applications for many positions that call me to nurture and serve my university. I feel such a strong pull to these positions that it is almost unnatural. I took me until this morning to realize that my desire to help others isn't to satisfy my own needs, but to serve the Lord by serving others. God wants to touch these people and I have the opportunity to be that link. It's a humbling feeling. I don't know how I became so blessed, but I won't let these opportunities pass. I am so excited to serve others to thus serve God. I will forever be amazed by His plans for my life. "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God and trust also in me." (John 14:1)

My Calling

     We often hear highly successful people talk about finding their "calling" early in life. It could be a student using a camera for the first time and feeling this instant draw towards photography. It could be a child watching his mother fight cancer and he discovers his passion for science/human research. Any moment, something inside of us can be triggered and our lives can be transformed. We can instantly feel a calling so strong that our lives readjust and focus on this one interest to the point of complete submersion. How and when we discover this desire and hope for our lives looks, feels, and develops differently for every person.
     My question is: how do we know if we've discovered our calling? I have felt many strong desires to intern with a company, apply for different leadership positions, and take risks to understand who I am and what I want out of life. Are one of those instances, organizations, or causes my lifelong calling?
     I was nominated for positions in my sorority of high honor. I had to decide whether to take one of those positions and dedicate the next year to my sorority, or to take a lesser position so that I could pursue my interests elsewhere. I called my dad (aka the voice of reason) and he asked me to describe the sorority positions that I was considering. Without realizing it, I deviated from the actual question and ended up talking my passion to give back and help others. I spoke about my desire to be an Orientation Leader (OL) to help and guide incoming freshmen. I spoke for a solid few minutes about how important the OL opportunity was to me--which would prevent me from pursuing a larger sorority position--and when I stopped for a moment to breathe I realized that I had already made up my mind... I was going to forgo a position of higher rank, so that I could pursue my passion to help others. My chances of becoming an OL are 1 in 1,000  (although I hope that I receive the position), but I have to try and I can feel in my heart that this is my calling.
     My calling is to help others, in any way that I can. I have been given so many opportunities, some that I have taken and some that I've passed up, but all of them have led me to this point. I am here for a reason and I can somehow feel that I can make a difference. Even if this calling lasts for just a few months or a year, my calling to help others will always be there. For me, that seems "right" enough.

Just Ask

I reread one of my favorite books, The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, last week and it has so many good points about life and how to live fully. One piece of advice that Pausch gives in the book is that it never hurts to ask. He explains that asking questions is the only way to understand things fully; you will never know an answer if you don't ask.

I never thought too much about this piece of advice, instead focusing in on his ideas on how to overcome life's obstacles and channel your inner kid. However, going through the drive-thru at McDonald's yesterday, it hit me how important this piece of advice is and how much I actually do it. I was just getting a Diet Coke, which I've done many times before since McDonald's has the $1 any size drink special. I spoke into the speaker, was told to drive around to the first window, and saw $1.89 as my final bill. I had already pulled $1.07 (darn tax) out of my wallet, expecting that to be my total. I pulled around to the first window and when the clerk asked me for $1.89, I decided to ask, "Is the $1 drink deal no longer going on?" She kind of looked at me for a minute--I could see her brain processing my question--then she turned to the register and said that she would fix my total. I was confused, "Wait,  the $1 drink special isn't over?" She said, "No, we just got a new computer system; so, when I type in a large drink it doesn't come up as $1. We still have the signs up though, so we honor it." (aka, if you wouldn't have asked, I would have just charged you more).

I know that it's only like $0.75, which is so minuscule in the scheme of things, but money is money (this is the college kid in me speaking). I could have just gone in my wallet and gotten another dollar and paid $1.89, but just by asking about the drink deal, I got the price reduced. No one likes to hear "No." I think that our society has forgotten this word all together in many situations. I want to relearn the word though. After all, what's the worst that can happen? You ask a question and someone says "no?" You still breathing? Yes? So, what's the harm in asking...? My question exactly!

Something As Simple As An Email

It's no secret that my high school assistant principal, Richie, has had a tremendous influence on my life. He has motivated me to do so much and pushed me to be better. He's inspired me and helped me. I am forever grateful. I don't keep up with him as much as I'd like to; a few emails each year and an occasional visit are our only connection now that I'm three years out of high school. Yet, he is still one of my biggest role models on how to be an effective leader.
Last week though, I reached out to him. I am taking a leadership class this semester and we had to write about a person who we admire as a leader and three traits that make them a good leader. It should be obvious that I wrote about Richie and I decided to email him with my answers and just thank him for all of the time that he spent helping me over the years and how much I still look to him as a mentor. He emailed me back and thanked me profusely for the accolades. We emailed once or twice more and that was it. Tonight however, as I waited in the checkout line at the store (I was quite annoyed that it was taking so long), I heard my phone beep. I pulled it out and saw an email from Richie that read:

I had one of those days today...... I went back to your e-mail and am re-energized. Thanks Megan! You are an incredible young lady.

One thing you should know about Richie is that he's never been good about emailing back promptly. So, seeing an email from him left me stunned in the check-out line. More than that though, I feel that I was able to finally give something back to him. He gave so much of his time and effort to help me in my endeavors in high school and, while I thanked him many times, I never felt like it was enough. Then, this email came. Something so small as an email that I sent to him was able to make his day better and give him energy to keep going tomorrow. It seems so small, yet it means so much.

My goal everyday is to make someone's day brighter. Whether it's a smile to a frowning stranger or a cheerful "How are you doin' today?" to a clerk at the store, I want to make other people smile; I want to make someone else's day. It's my daily goal. I live for people. They energize me without even knowing it and I want to give back to them. This email from my mentor was the ultimate accomplishment for me. It's a reminder that the little things in life (like sending a silly email with 3 simple traits on it) can have the biggest impacts in our lives. 

Missing Out

Sometimes I wonder if I've missed out on the "college experience." You know, the one that you see in the movies and hear about (especially at UGA): going downtown and to parties every week, drinking, and having a fake ID. Even just writing it, I know that these things don't represent who I am so it's a little confusing why I'm even writing this.
We can always play the "What if" game. What if I decided to go to Michigan State instead of Georgia? What if I chose another sorority over the one that I am in? What if I kept my major as Nutritional Sciences? What if I said this instead of that? What if? It can be exhausting and I used to live my life playing that game. I decided a few months/years ago (I can't really remember when I decided this, but anyways) that I was going to live life and not second guess things. Without a doubt, this decision has made me a better person and I have enjoyed every experience and opportunity that I have been afforded.
Yet, it's nights like last night and seeing photos of people downtown that make me second guess my decisions. What if I did go downtown and drink all the time? Would I have more friends? More funny stories? More excitement in my life? Don't get me wrong. I LOVE my friends and I do have hilarious stories from the past 2 years of college, but I can't help but think of these "What if's" when my friends all head downtown for the night and I'm stuck at home watching a movie or doing homework (I'm a nerd, I admit it.). Will I get a fake ID? No. I'm a rule follower by nature and breaking a law like that is not even a question. I won't do it. But does that mean that I'm living too safe of a life and not enjoying my 20s?
Today makes the 6 months until I turn 21. I know that those months will fly by and before I know it I'll be dreading my 22 or 23 birthday. But watching a lot of my friends turn 21 and go downtown and those younger than me go out each weekend makes me wonder if I'm missing good times and not fully living. Kind of depressing to think about and I know that God made me the way that I am for a reason, but I still can't help but wonder.