Feeling Like a Dull Pencil? 
It’s mid-January. Christmas decorations are put away. New Year’s resolutions have lost their shine. Days are short, and folks are weary. For most of us, winter has settled in with its incessant cold and colorless days. Life can begin to feel a little dull during this time of year if we allow it. This is how I define DULL: - Doing little
- Underutilizing our strengths
- Letting things go (like those resolutions)
- Losing momentum
Now while doing very little may sound restful for a day or a weekend, it is not a good long-term plan. We get lazy and stop progressing toward our goals. If we don’t use our strengths – don’t challenge ourselves – we very quickly begin to weaken. And, besides, let’s face it: DULL is boring. We human beings need challenges to keep life interesting. The opposite of DULL is SHARP, which I would define as: - Staying on course
- Having a plan
- Achieving goals
- Requiring more of ourselves
- Pursuing excellence
I guarantee if you are doing these things to stay SHARP, you will not be boringly DULL. So if you sense DULL creeping into your psyche or your family or your office, challenge yourself and your team to push through the obstacles we talked about last week, and pursue excellence. You’ll be glad you did. We’ll be talking about sharpening our skills on the next Monday, January 21 Round up all the dull pencils you can find, and bring them to class. We’ll bring the pencil sharpener! ——————————————————– 
We’re starting our next Inner Circle Series Leadership Gold on January 22. today. Here Are A Few Of Our Upcoming Weekly Topics: > The Key Leadership Ingredient – If It’s Lonely At The Top You’re Not Doing Something Right. > Leading Your Most Difficult Follower…YOU > How To Rise To The Occasion of Defining Moments (I wish Lance Armstrong would be in this one!) > How To Handle Criticism > The Best Leaders Are Listeners, Here Is How To Do It Right > How To Move Into Your Strengths Zone And Stay > How To Maintain Your Focus For Results > What To Do When You’ve Made A BIG Mistake Register Here | 
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