Work Hard and Rest!

“But you might as well bid a man struggling in the water, rest within arm's length of the shore! I must reach it first, and then I'll rest.” 
― Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

We are almost there, a couple of days of rest are just ahead of us. It has been a great year and I know you, like the rest of us, have been working hard. We are all within an arms reach of some much needed rest.

But, the holidays can be busy. They can fill your days with parties, presents, and places to go. Here are some tips to get some true rest over this Christmas Season.

1. Set aside 24 hours
Schedule a 24 hour period in your calendar over this Christmas and new years season in which you have nothing to do. Guard that time like a kid over a bowl of Ice Cream. That day should be used for rest. Do not do anything that remotely resembles work.

2. Turn the Gadgets Off
Though time in front of the TV, computer, or tablet may feel like rest. Science has actually proven that it takes a large amount of brain activity to decode all the information that these gadgets put out. In fact your brain continues to process hours after you stop looking at these devices. Every once in a while, turn them off.

3. Spend time with people that energize you
There are people in our lives that take energy and those that give energy. I would recommend scheduling some time with those people that refresh you. Extended family and parties can be draining, find some time to spend with people that lift you up.

4. Find Peace
As Dave Ramsey says "True peace can only be found in the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ." If you are a believer enjoy this Christmas season and thank God for the gifts he has given you. If you have not thought much about faith or God lately I would encourage you to explore Christ in Christmas, maybe you will find a peace beyond what you have experienced in the past.

Enjoy this Christmas Season, and Get some Rest

- Chris Reinhard

Don't React, Respond!

Life is full of surprises, that is one thing that should not surprise us. So how do you deal when surprises hit. I was sitting at the hospital the other morning with the family of a long time friend. He was headed into surgery. As I was talking with his father, former president of a major utility contractor, he let me in on one of his business secrets. Don't React, Respond.

There are days where it feels like all I am doing is reacting to the things that come up. So what is the difference? Reacting is emotional, rushed, and many times leaves us worse off than we were before. Responding is taking a step back, getting a new perspective, and thinking a few moves ahead in the game. Our natural reaction is to react, we need to recognize it, take a step back and learn to respond.

Do you spend your day reacting to your business and customers or responding to your business and customers?

-Chris Reinhard

It's Just Like Golf

Mistakes! Mistakes are going to happen, and it hurts when they do. As business owners it costs us money, as managers it slows down production, as employees it makes us feel incompetent. But we need to learn to treat mistakes in business just like we treat them on the Golf course.

Mistakes in business are just like mistakes in Golf.  I make bad shots and I don’t like making bad shots. When golfing, all it takes is one bad shot to ruin a hole, one bad hole to ruin a round and a bad round to ruin the day, etc.... How do you stop that, treat a bad shot for what it is, one bad shot. After a bad shot that puts me in a bad position, I get frustrated and always want to make the hero shot to make up for it. Normally it puts me in a worse position, which causes me to get more frustrated, which leads to another bad shot.

My grandfather on the other hand, will take out his pitching wedge and chip the ball out of the hazard and back into the center of fairway, continuing on like nothing happened. He is 83 years old and still beats me most days on the course.

When we make a mistake in business, don’t try to take the hero shot. Take out your pitching wedge, chip the ball back into the center of fairway and continue the game. Don’t let one bad shot, turn into a bad hole and ruin a great game.

-Chris Reinhard