Need Some Help With That?

(photo by sean dreilinger)

My answer to this, most of the time, is “No, I’m fine.”

Last week, my son broke his leg playing soccer, and ended up needing pins and a frame on his leg to straighten the bone. When we were headed out of the hospital on Tuesday, I was pushing him in his wheelchair and carrying two pillows, crutches and a heavy duffel bag. Along the way to the entrance to meet up with my wife, three people had offered to help me: his nurse, another random hospital employee, and someone from our church who saw me walking down the hallway. My answer to all three? “No, I’m fine.”

This morning as I looked at my daunting to-do list (June is CRAZY!), I was hit with what I did in the hospital… There were people all around me who were offering to help, and I declined because “I’m fine.” I realized that is my mantra: “I’m fine… I can do it… It’s OK… I don’t really need help…” Isn’t that the mantra of every leader, though? We wouldn’t have gotten to where we are without that self-sufficiency and work ethic.

What I think many of us get stuck on, though, is that as a leader it is our job to empower people around us. Yes, we all know this. I know this! But, still I say, “No, I’m fine.” I need to start forcing myself to say, “Yes, thank you for the help.” I need to make my knee-jerk reaction when asked if I need help to say, “Yes” rather than, “No” unless I have a really good reason to say, “No.”

Even if “I am fine” I still need to allow others to help and empower others to help.

This is going to be hard…

Barenaked Ladies now has a Kids’ Album “Snacktime”

The other day I was listening to a CBC radio program called Q. The host was interviewing the Barnaked Ladies about their new kids’ album. I was excited because I like the fun and whimsical style of Barenaked Ladies. On my trip south of the border (that’s to the United States for those of us who live in Canada), I picked up the CD at Best Buy. My friend and I listened to it on the way home and loved it.

It is full of fun tunes and lyrics that kid and adults can enjoy.

Here are some of my favourites and why:

• 789 - It’s a song about that fun joke “Why is 6 afraid of 7? Because 789!” Oh, so much fun!
• The Ninjas - It’s about ninjas who speak Japanese and are “unspeakably violent.” What else is there to say?
• Eraser - Gotta love a song about the great uses of an eraser!
• Food Party - I never knew foods had personalities.
• Snacktime - My favourite part of this song is they had some celebreties from Canada call in to share their favourite snacks like Weird Al Yankovic, Jeanine Garofalo, Geddy Lee…
• Allergies - an ode to the paranoia around allergies
• Bad Day - I was having a bad morning today, played this song, and I felt better
• Things - a touching song for dads… “There are things that make me dad… You seem to be all of them.”
• Crazy ABCs - one of the funniest and most creative ABC songs I’ve heard in a while (other than They Might Be Giants version called Alphabet of Nations)

This is an album well worth checking out and purchasing!