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A Sure Thing

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Everyone wants a “sure thing”.  You know what I mean; it’s that investment or strategy that is guaranteed to provide you with a significant return on your investment of time and money.  We’re not interested in wasting our resources on something that won’t yield a decent return.  So where should we invest our resources that has the greatest potential for the highest return?  Is there even a “sure thing” out there?  If so, what and where is it?  I’m glad you asked.

I’ll give you a hint.  In fact, I’ll do even better.  I’ll show you exactly where to find this guaranteed, sure thing investment.  Ready?  Here it is:  Go find the closest mirror and stand facing it.  You see that person looking back at you?  That’s your sure thing!

We tend to think of investments as deposits of dollars we make in a bank account, a 401k, or some other retirement or savings plan.  While it’s true that those are indeed important investments, have you ever thought of yourself as a worthy investment?  Have you ever thought of yourself as someplace worthy of investing your time and money, with the expectation of a significant return?  You should, because you ARE.

So what does investing in yourself look like?  Does that mean putting an extra sum of money in your wallet or pocket every month?  Not quite.  Investing in ourselves involves committing our time and resources into materials, activities, experiences, and relationships that cause positive growth in our lives.  This is growth that enables us to be better prepared to pursue our goals and dreams and to take advantages of opportunities that align with our goals and dreams when they arise.

Some examples of investing in yourself may include:

  • Purchasing (and reading!) books in an area of interest, vocation, or career.
  • Signing up for a relevant seminar or conference in an area where you are attempting to grow.
  • Enrolling in a class or pursuing a degree.
  • Purchasing training or coaching from a professional that will increase your skills and knowledge in order to help you go to the next level.
  • Finding and fostering a mentoring relationship with someone who has done, or is currently doing, what you’d like to do now or in the future.
  • Traveling to a new destination to learn about a different culture.
  • Creating a growth experience that stretches your understanding, knowledge, and/or comfort zone.

This is certainly not an extensive list, and only offers a small glimpse of the possibilities for investing in one’s self.  Anything you can do that requires effort, resources, or both, which increases your knowledge and understanding in your area of interest is a worthy investment in yourself.

Take advantage of the opportunity you have to invest in a sure thing.  See yourself as the worthy investment that you are and cause something to happen by being committed to regularly investing in yourself.  You will be delighted with the return on your investment!

Cause Something to Happen… For Others

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I’m currently co-leading Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University (FPU) course at church with my friend Steve.  This is the second FPU course we’ve taught together.  I am a huge fan of Dave Ramsey and solid personal finance principles and am passionate about sharing them with others.

There are 2 things I really love about teaching this course.  The first is the openness and transparency that develops within each class.  I’m always amazed at how willing people are to open up and share what’s really going on in their lives when given a safe environment with caring, supportive people.  The second, is listening to people tell me about the progress they have made, or are making, with their finances and in their marriages as a result of the courses Steve and I have taught.  Every time I hear one of these stories I’m so honored that I’ve had the opportunity to play a small role in adding value to their lives.

Throughout this blog, I’ve talked about causing something to happen that will move us toward our goals and the “ideal life” we desire for ourselves.  I truly believe we have the power to direct and change our lives if we continuously take the initiative to cause something to happen.

As I was thinking about the people in the current FPU class that Steve and I are teaching, and the successes they’ve been sharing with us, I thought about my favorite quote, “Cause something to happen”.  I was thinking how that quote is not only relevant for our own lives, but it’s also relevant for the lives of the people around us.  As we’re causing something to happen for ourselves, we should be mindful of opportunities to do so for others as well.

Steve was the one that caused the latest FPU class to happen at our church.  Through his action, he gave people in church the opportunity to sign up for the course and learn personal finance principles that can change their life.  Steve’s initiative created opportunity for others.  Whether he knew it or not, Steve caused something to happen that is benefiting everyone in the class.  Way to go, Steve!

I want to follow Steve’s example by causing something to happen for others.  How much more satisfying would life be, knowing that as we’ve not only caused something to happen in our own lives, but we’ve also sparked opportunity for others to do the same?

Where can you cause something to happen in someone else’s life, today?

Get Out of the Zone

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We all have one.  For some, it’s pretty big.  For others it can be rather small.  Regardless of its size, the fact is everyone has a comfort zone.  However, what each person’s comfort zone represents to them, and how they view their comfort zone can be quite different.  I believe how we view our comfort zone has a lot to do with how we view life’s opportunities and challenges.

What I especially like about our comfort zones is that they are flexible and can be stretched and made to grow, becoming ever-larger as we gain new skills and experience and seek new opportunities.  My comfort zone also makes me aware of boundaries, either real or perceived, that are holding me back.  Its boarder represents opportunities to try new things, travel to new destinations, to meet new people, to learn and to grow.  Just beyond its boarder represents endless possibilities for a more enriched and fulfilling life.

The best part is that when we continually venture beyond its borders, our comfort zone expands, providing us with additional opportunities just beyond its newly expanded border.  What a great way to live!  I’m excited by the thought of having a comfort zone that grows larger with each year.

Unfortunately, the opposite is also true.  Where some see a comfort zone a something to be stretched and grown, others see it as the walls of a mighty fortress, never to be breached or crossed.  To this mindset, the comfort zone represents the entirety of whom they are and who they will remain.  Anything beyond its boundaries is for other people, is impossible to attain, or is too far out of reach.  Anything outside of their comfort zone is of no interest.

But there’s one thing even worse than a comfort zone that never expands.  That is a comfort zone that has begun to contract.  This can occur when, for whatever reason, a person gives up trying to stretch and actively pulls back from activities that cause growth and development.  In this scenario, the comfort zone becomes the walls of a prison, within which our growth and potential serve a life sentence.

This is not how our comforts zones should be.  As we continually seek to cause something to happen that betters our life and the lives of others, we can be assured that our comfort zones will be stretched as part of the process.

John Maxwell gave a similar illustration with a rubber band in one of his Maximum Impact lessons.  His question was, “When is a rubber band the most useful?”  The answer:  when it is being stretched.  How true of our comfort zones as well!

Commit to regularly stretching your comfort zone just beyond its borders.  Be mindful of daily opportunities to do so and take advantage of them.  Perhaps begin journaling each opportunity you take to expand your comfort zone.  Do this and, in the future, look back and see how much you and your comfort zone have grown as a result.

We Get to Choose

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Some things are so small that we don’t even recognize them in our daily lives.  Take the untold number of cells that make up our physical being.  So tiny, yet they have a huge impact on our very existence.  The time it takes to blink our eyes is also tiny, yet each blink is necessary for our eyes to function properly.

Another thing that is tiny is the amount of time between a stimulus and a response.  Think about how many times each day we are presented with a stimulus that we then respond to.  In most cases, the time between the stimulus and our response is extremely small.  Sometimes it feels instantaneous, but no matter how small this time is, it is always present.  For example, you hit your thumb with a hammer (stimulus) and then scream out in pain (response).  The response happens almost instantly, however, there is still a measure of time between these 2 events.

Here’s the part that I think is empowering:  in that sliver of time between stimulus and response we get to choose how we respond.  We can’t always control the stimulus, but we can control our response.

Take the scenario of being cut off in traffic.  When this occurs, we have a choice of how to respond.  We can lay on the horn, blurt out some expletive, or offer any number of obscene hand gestures.  Sometimes these responses feel automatic, but we always have a choice.  Instead, we could choose not to become angry and lash out, or we could also choose not to get worked up by it and overlook it all together.  We can choose a better response.

This is one of a number of scenarios we face daily where we can choose to respond in a positive manner instead of defaulting to a negative response.  We can choose to be offended by an inconsiderate comment, or we can choose to overlook it.  We can choose to respond harshly to a spouse or loved one, or we can choose to extend grace, compassion, and understanding.

Be mindful of these moments where we can decide how to respond to a stimulus.  Use them as opportunities to cause something to happen that is positive, instead of automatically responding negatively and see if it doesn’t begin to have a positive effect on your outlook and attitude.

Quiet Courage

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I’m currently reading a great book titled, “Work the System” by Sam Carpenter.  Today I read a section where he talks about quiet courage.  Sam defines quiet courage as, “…unadorned action and it is the opposite of procrastination.  Quiet courage resides deep inside and causes one to buck up and do what needs to be done whether one wants to or not.”

As I read that today it made me think that as we’re out causing something to happen, there are often days where we may not feel like doing what needs to be done.  For example, in the pursuit of good health, there may be days where we just don’t feel like going to the gym.  While striving for a strong healthy marriage, we may not feel like engaging in tough conversations that we need to have.  The list is endless, but the truth is that during the pursuit of whatever we are striving for, we will face times when we just don’t want to do what we know we need to.

I’m curious as to how we can develop quiet courage in our own lives.  What can we do to develop the persistence to push through feelings of “not wanting to”, instead of seeing them as insurmountable obstacles that thwart all efforts at forward progress?  I think one of the best things we can do to build quiet courage in our own lives is to recognize when the feelings of procrastination and lack of motivation are beginning to take hold.  At this point we have a crucial decision.  We can give in to the “I don’t want to” feelings or we can do what needs to be done, in spite of how we feel.

Regardless of the choice we make, we reinforce or build a habit.  If we procrastinate every time these feelings arise, we reinforce the response of procrastination.  On the contrary, if we do what we need to, even when we don’t feel like it, we begin building the muscle of quiet courage.  The more we choose to take positive action regardless of feelings, the stronger this muscle grows.

Commit today to being mindful of the “I-don’t-feel-like-it” feelings when they crop up in life.  When they arise, attack them with the positive, forward-moving action.  Responding in this fashion long term will rapidly build a quiet courage within you.  And when that happens, the “I-don’t-feel-like-it” feelings you encounter will be short lived.

Unwilling to Settle

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Expectations, motivation, excitement, and confidence are high.  You have a plan and are ready to cause something to happen.  Don’t you just love the beginning stages of a new undertaking?

But what happens when the planning stage is over and it’s time to start executing he plan?  This is where challenges start to arise and where the excitement and confidence can begin to wane, as we face uncertainty, doubt, fear, and our own negative self-talk.  Left unchecked, these feelings can begin to cause us to re-evaluate the goals and dreams we have for ourselves, and adjust them down to a level that doesn’t seem as scary and challenging.  The worst case would be that we abandon our dreams completely, and return to our lives as they were, being ever-haunted by regret and the thoughts of…”what if…” or “I wonder if I could have done it”.  Personally, those are thoughts I don’t want to saddle my future self with the burden of carrying.

I’m currently in the process of learning how to do voice overs and will soon begin doing that professionally.  As I look at some of the things I need to do, I can easily get overwhelmed.  Along with that come the familiar feelings of fear, doubt, and the negative self-talk saying that perhaps I should consider backing down, and just go back to doing what I’ve been doing.  When these thoughts come, I immediately remind myself what I don’t want to just settle for what comes along in life, but I choose to chart the course that I want for myself.  I also remind myself that everything I need to do does not have to be completed that day, or even that week.  The goal I’ve set for myself is steady progress on a daily and weekly basis.

The main thing I’ve been doing is visualizing what success looks like.  Doing so causes me to get a feeling of what it would be like to achieve this goal, making it more difficult for me to decide to give up before I even get started.

I’m convinced that the biggest barrier to greatness people face is their willingness to settle for the easy route versus persevering through initial struggles on the road to achieving personal success.  We’re too unwilling to endure struggle, too unwilling to stretch out of our comfort zones for an extended period of time.  I want to flip that thinking around.  Instead of being too unwilling to stretch out of my comfort zone, I choose instead to be unwilling to settle for taking the easy route and whatever happens to come along.

Where have you been settling?  What are you unwilling to settle for any longer?

You’ll See More

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So you’re ready to cause something to happen, but you don’t know if you’ve all the obstacles you’ll face along the way?  Let me assure you… you haven’t.

I recently heard an illustration on John Dumas’s Entrepreneur on Fire podcast where the guest stated that waiting to identify all obstacles before starting a new venture would be like planning a trip from New York City to Los Angeles , but waiting for all lights along you route to be green before you started.  That scenario will never happen, and as a result the trip will never begin.

Sometimes in life, although not very often, we know all the steps and obstacles before we begin a new venture.  For example, an educational pursuit where we know before we start all the courses and cost required before we earn a certificate, degree, or professional credential.  Everything has been laid out.  We must simply follow it.

There will always be objection and challenges in anything we pursue that is worthwhile.  Before beginning a new challenge the goal is not to determine and solve every objective before starting.  That will NEVER happen.  If you attempt to do this, you’ll never begin.  Earlier this week I received a “Tip of the Day” email from Matt “the Do Over Guy” Theriault of the “Your Do Over” podcast that contained a though on this topic that really resonated with me.  It said,

“Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome. Travel as far as you can see, and when you get there… you’ll see more.”

This is so encouraging, and so TRUE!  What the message screams to me is that if you know the direction you want to go, with your destination fully in mind, then take the first step!  Begin with the knowledge you have.  As you advance further in the direction of your goal, you’ll learn more.  You’ll see more of what you need to do as you simply begin “doing”.

Be encouraged!  Instead of being immobilized by fear and worry over what you don’t know, begin advancing with what you do know.  After you’ve been doing this for a while, be sure to take a moment to look back and reflect on what you started with, where you are currently, and the knowledge you’ve gained along the way.  Then set your gaze ahead and let the journey continue.

Be excited by what more you’re about to see!

 

Your Word of the Year

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We all have our favorite quotes, phrases, and sayings that we recall when situations warrant.  These can range from words our parents used to utter when we were growing up, to familiar quotes from famous people, or even words of Scripture.  They offer comfort, encouragement, and familiarity in our busy, ever-changing lives.

Instead of a quote, have you ever considered being motivated by a single word?  At the end of 2011 I was looking back on the passing year, as well as subsequent years, in order to gain perspective as I considered how I wanted 2012 to take shape.  My reflections on 2011 revealed that I was often going through my days on auto pilot.  The majority of my responses to events and people were automatic and required little thought on my part.  That’s no way to live an exciting, fulfilling life.  I knew I wanted to do better in 2012.  I wanted to live more intentional than automatic.

As I was thinking about this, the word “mindful” sprang into my thoughts.  I my decision making, planning, and interactions with people I want to be mindful of my actions and responses.  Being on autopilot was no longer good enough.  I needed to mindfully decide how I would live my life in 2012.  That meant giving thought out answers to questions for others instead of knee-jerk, cliché responses.  It also means taking an active role in building existing relationships with family and friends, instead of waiting for others to take the initiative to do so.

Being mindful also reminded me to “be there” no matter what I was involved in.  Be present in the current situation whether it’s a meeting at work, a conversation with a friend, reading the Bible or praying, or just doing life with my wife Mickey.  Value the present moment, and be there.

I enjoyed the focus and positive attitude the word “mindful” created in my life in 2012 that I decided to make it my word for 2013 too.

So what’s your word for the year?  What’s that one word that will remind you how you want to live life as you continually cause something to happen this year?  Spend some time thinking about what your word will be and then apply that word to all facets of your life as you live out this year.

There Is No Template

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When we bother to read them, instructions are often very handy.  We can save a lot of time and frustration by reading instructions that come with a new TV, furniture that requires assembly, fixtures, faucets, or a number of other items and gizmos we purchases.  It’s funny how when we have instruction available we tend to ignore them, or use them only as a last resort.  Their simple purpose is to tell us how a specific task should be completed.  They provide a template for how to perform the task for which they were designed.

What about big tasks in life?  Wouldn’t it be nice to have a template to follow during challenging events?  Something we could read that would take us quickly and efficiently from Point A to Point B, with a guarantee that if we just followed the steps, we’d be successful?  The truth is there is no a template for major events or challenges in our life.

There isn’t a template with a guarantee on how to open a business, or make a career change.  Sure there are best practices.  However, there usually aren’t specific instructions for your exact scenario.  Nor is there a template for how to move forward after a divorce, or the death of a loved one. As much as we’d like it, a template does not exist.

So how do we move forward?  How do we make the next step when we don’t know what that next step is?  The best way is to simply make the next step, no matter how small or difficult it may seem.  Research your topic.  Ask the advice of others who have been where you’re currently traveling.  Pray.

No matter what you’re facing, cause something to happen by taking the next step.  And after you’ve done that, take another step.  In doing so, you are creating your own template.  You are literally building your road as you travel it.

What’s your next step?  What “template” do you need to begin creating?

Start today.  You can do it!

Feelings Follow Action

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Don’t you love the feeling you get when a major goal or task has been accomplished?  You’ve repeatedly caused something to happen, and finished something you’ve set out to do.  There’s a certain degree of satisfaction and accomplishment that comes from bringing a task to closure.

What’s probably more familiar, at least for me, is knowing what action I need to take, but just not feeling like it.  Have you been there too?  I find it frustrating because of the internal conflict it creates.  I know I should do “specific tasks, but I don’t feel like it, so I don’t.  The next day, I still don’t feel like taking action because I didn’t do anything the day prior.  If I’m not mindful, this cycle can go on for days, weeks, or even years!  So how do we combat this lack of feeling, this lack of motivation, or lack of a “want to”?  The best solution I have found… is to take action anyway, regardless of how you feel.

When we wait for feelings to arrive before taking action, we put ourselves at a huge disadvantage, because the majority of the time we don’t feel like doing the hard work it takes to be successful.  As a result, we wind up waiting to be motivated by feelings that never show up.

I’ve often heard feelings and actions compared with an engine and a caboose on a train.  The feelings are represented by the caboose and the actions by the engine.  So what does this mean for those of us who are trying to take actions when we don’t feel like it?  Well, it means that we start doing the actions, regardless of how we feel.  Once the actions are started, the feelings will follow.  Feelings follow actions.

One of my favorite authors is John Maxwell.  He’s written several dozen books on leadership, personal development, and growth.  He’s stated that aspiring authors often tell him that they’d like to write a book, to which he always replies, “What have you written so far?”  By far the answer he says he gets most often is, “Well, nothing yet.”  Then they ask him how he got to be a successful writer, to which he replies, “I started writing.”

I love his reply, because it’s so simple and straightforward.  It doesn’t say you have to learn all you can about writing first or that you have to spend years studying.  He doesn’t even say that you need to feel like writing first.  It simply states that you must begin, regardless of feelings.  You just have to take action.

I’m amazed how many authors have confided in pod casts that they don’t necessarily enjoy writing, but they like the outcome (finished books) so they commit disciplined effort to the act of writing.  This thought make me think how easy it can be to get ahead for people who are willing to take the actions necessary to be successful, regardless of how the feel.  This is true for writing as it is for any other endeavor we eagerly want to pursue.

What’s that area in your life where you know you need to take action, but often don’t feel like it?  Challenge yourself this week by committing to take action in this area, regardless of how you feel.  Then note if your feelings haven’t changed as a result.