I hope & trust this post finds you having a great day as a beautiful new day begins to dawn!
This week I took a business trip. For my trip I took along The Carpenter: A Story About the Greatest Success Strategies of All by Jon Gordon and re-read it. It is funny how one can re-read something and words can come alive in a way they did not the first time. This morning I want to share several nuggets that had my spirit soaring.
Before sharing the excerpts, I want to share a few thoughts that struck me when thinking about this Happy Friday.
1. What do you believe? I am not trying to get over-personal and the question, at this point, it is meant to be rhetorical. You see, what you & I believe is the pathway if you will to what we receive. We all function that way. We look for things, for words of affirmation and for things that line up with what we believe. With this, it is a good idea to take an inventory of what we believe...really believe to the depths of our soul. It prepares our hearts for what we are willing to receive.
2. What do you, or will you, receive? You see Friends, every time we hear or read a word, there is a decision that is made, either consciously or subconsciously, to receive it or not. This is the gardening of the heart. It is critically important that we intentionally spend time considering the words that we will allow into our minds and to settle in the deepest recesses of our hearts. The words we receive shape our thoughts, our thoughts shape our attitude and countenance, our attitude and countenance shape our actions and our actions shape our lives. Yes Friends, what we receive really is that big of a deal!
3. Finally, what will you & I act on? Wisdom gained without action taken is of no real value. Think about it. Have you ever hear of the Hot Stove Principal? It holds that once you have touched a hot stove you will never touch a hot or cold stove again because you don't want to get burned. Wouldn't it be stupid to touch a hot stove, get burned and then touch a hot stove again? This would be gaining knowledge without putting what we have learned into action. While this is a silly example, how is it different than gaining wisdom and not putting what we learn into action? The truth is the difference is the immediate physical pain we receive, or not. If we got the immediate physical pain from a failure to put into action things we learn intellectually that we did from touching a hot stove a whole lot of us would be walking around making better decisions! :)
Believe, receive, act... The process that orders & ordains the lives we live. Please thoughtfully, prayerfully, consider these things. Your life is to valuable, to precious and to great a cost has been paid for it for you & I to be unintentional.
Alright Friends, let me share several excerpts now from The Carpenter. I hope & trust you will find value & meaning in them and please, consider getting the book...it is excellent!
"The way to success is the way of the craftsman, where you work really hard for years. You show up every day. You do the work. You see yourself as an artist dedicated to your craft with a desire to get better every day. You put your heart and soul into your work as you strive for excellence. You desire to create perfection, knowing you'll never truly achieve it but hoping to get close to it. You try new things. You fail. You improve. You grow. You face countless challenges and tons of rejection that make you doubt yourself and cause you to want to quit. But you don't. You keep working hard, stay positive, and persevere through it all with resilience, determination, and a lot of hope and faith."
"Anyone who attempts to build great things will face challenges. It's part of the building process. Without struggle there's no reward. Without obstacles there's no growth. Without setbacks there's no triumph. Without failure and defeat along the way there's no ultimate victory and feeling of accomplishment. As a builder of lives and people and teams, you must expect challenges, adversity, rejection and negativity but have an even greater expectation that you will overcome them."
"When you believe, the impossible becomes possible. What you believe will become what is true. Your optimism today will determine your level of success tomorrow. Don't look at your challenges; look up and look out into the future. Don't focus on your circumstances. Focus on the right beliefs that will help you build your success."
"If you say these words each morning when you wake up and throughout the day, you will create an amazing life and know boundless success:
I expect great things to happen today.
I trust in God's plan for my life.
I accept all of the love, joy, abundance, and success in my life.
I accept all the people who want to work with me and benefit from my gifts and love.
Every day I am getting stronger, healthier, and better."
"I vow to stay positive in the face of negativity.
When I am surrounded by pessimism, I will choose optimism.
When I feel fear, I will choose faith.
When I want to hate, I will choose love.
When I want to be bitter, I will choose to get better.
When I experience a challenge, I will look for an opportunity to learn and grow.
When faced with adversity, I will find strength.
When I experience a setback, I will be resilient.
When I meet failure, I will fail forward, toward future success.
With vision, hope and faith, I will never give up and will always move forward toward my destiny.
I believe my best days are ahead of me, not behind me.
I believe I'm here for a reason and my purpose is greater than my challenges.
I believe that being positive not only makes me better, it makes everyone around me better.
So today and every day I will be positive and strive to make a positive impact on the world."
"Do not fear failing. Do not fear losing clients. Do not fear that you won't be successful. Do not fear that things won't go your way. Instead do everything with love and you will cast out fear, you will flow instead of stress, and you will create more success than you could ever imagine."
"...true success isn't about money or possessions. It's about people, commitment, loyalty, and relationships. In the end we won't be measured by our bank accounts, sales numbers, wins and losses, or the size of the company that we built, but by the difference we made in people's lives - and we make a difference through relationships."
"When you love, you serve, and when you serve, you sacrifice. Service requires a sacrifice of something. Whether it's time, energy, money, love, effort, or focus, serving others always costs you something, but with service and sacrifice, you gain so much more."
"Always remember that your greatness as a leader will not be determined by how much power you accumulate. It will be determined by how much you serve and sacrifice for others to help them become great. Great leaders don't succeed because they are great. They succeed because they bring out the greatness in others."
"Anything worthwhile take time to build. We all want success now, but that's not how success works. After all, if we had immediate success, we wouldn't build the character we need to sustain true success. The struggle, adversity, triumphs, and victories are all part of the building process and we must embrace all of it."
"Whatever path failure guides you toward, it is always meant to give you a big serving of humble pie that builds your character, gives you perspective, grows your faith, and makes you appreciate your success later on. If you didn't fail, you wouldn't become the kind of person who ultimately succeeds."
"You will have moments when the last thing you want to do is to love, serve, and care. It is during these times that you need to remember your purpose. When you know your why, you will know the way and you'll find a way. Your purpose will inspire you to love those who are hard to love, serve when you don't feel like serving, and care more when you don't feel like caring."
Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.
Have a great day, a wonderful week and please cherish your precious families.
Kev
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