Tools

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama!

This morning I want to put some tools in our toolboxes by sharing a few things I have come across that I thought we might all find useful.

The first thing I want to share is How Winners Win. I found it on Facebook. I do not know who developed this excellent piece however it does have @mindsets at the bottom of the page.

“How Winners Win:

1.      Keep Stacking Days

Winners show up every day. It’s not about going all out once in a while but consistency. Small, daily actions compound over time. Whether in the gym, the classroom, or your mindset, showing up every day beats sporadic intensity.

2.     Focus On The Process, Not Just The Results

Winners don’t obsess over outcomes – they focus on the steps that get them there. The journey is where growth happens. By locking in on the process, they make success inevitable by constantly improving what they control.

3.     Embrace The Struggle

Winners don’t shy away from challenges or discomfort. They know that growth happens in the tough moments. When others quit or back down, winners lean in. They understand that pain and struggle are part of the path to greatness.

4.     Adapt And Adjust

Winners are flexible. They don’t stick to a rigid plan when things change – they adapt. Whether it’s a new strategy, an unexpected challenge, or setbacks, winners adjust and keep moving forward.

5.     Stay Humble And Hungry

No matter how much success they’ve had, winners never think they’ve “arrived.” They remain humble, knowing there’s always room to improve. And they stay hungry – constantly pushing themselves to improve, no matter how much they’ve already achieved.

6.     Mental Toughness

Winners build mental resilience. They don’t let failures define them or allow external pressures to control their mindset. They train their minds as much as their bodies, learning to stay focused, calm, and confident in any situation.”

Next, I want to share a list I found on Twitter. It was on the Coach the Coaches feed and it stated via @DrewMaddux

1.      Compliment three people every day.

2.     Watch a sunrise at least once a year.

3.     Be the first to say, “Hello.”

4.     Live beneath your means.

5.     Treat everyone like you want to be treated.

6.     Never give up on anybody. Miracles happen.

7.     Forget the Joneses.

8.     Never deprive someone of hope. It may be all he has.

9.     Pray not for things, but for wisdom and courage.

10.  Be tough-minded but tenderhearted.

11.   Be kinder than necessary.

12.  Don’t forget, a person’s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.

13.  Keep your promises.

14.  Learn to show cheerfulness, even when you don’t feel like it.

15.  Remember that overnight success usually takes about 15 years.

16.  Leave everything better than you found it.

17.  Remember that winners do what losers don’t want to do.

18.  When you arrive at your job in the morning, let the first thing you say brighten everyone’s day.

19.  Don’t rain on other people’s parades.

20. Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.

Now I want to share another list I found on Twitter. At the bottom of the page is @readswithravi.

19 powerful sentences by Carl Jung that will change how you view the world:

1.      I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.

2.     Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.

3.     If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.

4.     You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.

5.     Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.

6.     Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.

7.     No tree, it is aid, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell.

8.     The world will ask you who you are, and if you don’t know, the world will tell you.

9.     People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls.

10.  The first half of life is devoted to forming a healthy ego, the second half is going inward and letting go of it.

11.   Where your fear is, there your task is.

12.  One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.

13.  If a man knows more than others, he becomes lonely.

14.  Where wisdom reigns, there is no conflict between thinking and feeling.

15.  No matter how isolated and how lonely you feel, if you do your work truly and conscientiously, unknown friends will come and seek you.

16.  Thinking is difficult, that’s why most people judge.

17.  Know all the theories, master all the techniques, but as you touch a human soul be just another human soul.

18.  Solitude is for me a fount of healing which makes my life worth living. Talking is often torment for men, and I need many days of silence to recover from the futility of words.

19.  The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.

Finally, I am going to share another list I found on Facebook. It was originally posted on February 18, 2020, and the page was listed as “Lonestar Hunter is with Tristi Weston.”

“Ten things I want my kids to know:

1.      Happiness is a lot of work. You can’t be lazy or entitled to achieve it.

2.     You will make mistakes, and they will only define you if you give it that kind of power. If the lesson is learned, the mistake is worth it. It’s your choice whether or not it wins. You are not a prisoner to your past and you are allowed to grow.

3.     The world owes you nothing. It does not care who you are, where you come from or what you think you deserve. Everything you achieve will have to come from your own dedication to what you love. It will not be handed to you easily.

4.     People do not get to tell you who you are. Make peace with your own soul and give no one the power to tell you that you’re something you’re not. Know who you are and be okay when others do not understand you.

5.     Work hard. Never go into anything with half your heart. Respect is earned by how you did the job and not the title by your name.

6.     Show up for your people. No matter what has happened, show up. That’s what people will remember about you in the end of all of this.

7.     Choose grace for others and for yourself. No one gets it right. You won’t either. Bitterness is the anchor to the soul but grace sets you free.

8.     Have fun. Be adventurous. None of us are getting out of this alive so make the time you have count with the people who actually matter.

9.     Laugh in the good times and the bad. Your sense of humor and your ability to take a punch will set a strong foundation of stability.

10.  Love God. He’s the most consistent thing you’ll ever have. 

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 weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well!

Kev

Above All Else, Guard Your Heart

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! I can’t wait to live this day…so much hope, opportunity, and promise within it! With a grateful heart, I fully intend to create a masterpiece!

 

A few weeks ago, I had a work trip. I got up early in the morning at my hotel, went down to the gym and hit a good, long, workout. As I was working out, after my prayer time, I was listening to a podcast. As I was listening to it another guy came into the gym to workout. He didn’t have headphones or earbuds and instead chose to listen to his music with the volume turned up loud. When I say loud, I mean so loud that I could not hear the podcast I was listening to on my air pods. Immediately I was frustrated. Thoughts of “How rude?!” and “Are you kidding me?!” raced through my mind. And then, suddenly, my spirit convicted me. “Let’s handle this differently.” I said a short prayer for the gentlemen, put my air pods in my pocket and listened to his music as I worked out. Later, his kids came to workout with him, and I genuinely enjoyed interacting with them and his interactions with them.

 

Later that night I was at an event, and I had a gentleman get very hostile with me. He was yelling at me, pointing his finger at me, making disparaging comments, etc. And the darndest thing happened; my spirit was at complete peace. I never raised my voice, got confrontational, or felt the need to respond in a less than kind manner. I simply listened politely, responded appropriately, and heard the gentleman out.

 

Have you ever been in a moment when you could feel the spirit leading you? Like, you are in the moment, you realize that the way you are reacting is not the way that you would react if you were basing it on who you are, and you can feel the presence of God? Yes, that was what I felt that night with the hostile gentleman.

 

Here is the crazy thing I would offer to you on this Friday morning; that event happened about 4 weeks ago. It wasn’t until last week that I realized the connection between the two events. I wonder how different my reaction would have been that night had I gone down the rabbit trail of anger, frustration, bitterness, etc. with the gentleman at the gym in the morning. Do you think my spirit would have remained at peace and my countenance would have been calm, had I unloaded on the gentleman at the gym that morning or, if in frustration, I had just grabbed my stuff and left the gym? I don’t either.

 

Luke 6:45 says, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” and Proverbs 4:23 tells us, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (my emphasis). Thankfully, I chose to listen to the conviction of the Holy Spirit that morning. I prayed for that man and, instead of harboring bitterness and evil in my heart, I chose to see good. It changed everything in that moment, it prepared my heart for the day, and it then enabled me to respond in a God-honoring way that evening.

 

For me, examples like this one are far too few. I can give you a long list of times that I said what was on my mind, I got angry, or I stormed off in frustration. I can tell you that none of those interactions ended in a God-honoring way and I don’t even want to think about what the rest of my day looked like. Have you ever come home, grumpy at your family, and say something like, “It was a bad day!” I have used that excuse far too often. I should shut up, realize that my heart is not in the right place, and strive to become the Godly man God created me to become!

 

So, Friends, I want to challenge all of us; the next time we find ourselves in situations where we can share our mind, get mad, angry, or frustrated, I want to encourage us to take a different path. It will not only change that interaction, but it just might also get our hearts in the right posture to honor God throughout the rest of your day.

 

A scripture and quote to end this Happy Friday:

 

Philippians 4:8

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

 

“You cannot wish for both strong character and easy life, the price of each is the other.” - Unknown

 

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 weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well!

 

Kev

Are You Alive or Just Living?

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! This is such a great gift – today! Let’s choose to seize this opportunity and live it fully!

This week's Happy Friday was inspired by the sermon our Pastor, Steve Huskey, preached last Sunday. We are in a sermon series titled, RE: Pete, where we are looking at the life of Peter. The series is based on the principle of looking to people who have accomplished what we wish to accomplish and repeating their steps to repeat their success.

In his sermon, Pastor Steve focused on the word “Live” - at some point you actually have to live out what you learn. You can listen to Pastor Steves message from Sunday, September 8, 2024, by clicking on this link https://www.igotofaith.com/sermons

I am going to tackle this one in two different ways…

Last week's Happy Friday was about how we live – are we living our lives based on virtues and principles or are we living our lives based on opinions and fads. This week's Happy Friday is more foundational; Are you alive or just living? I want to share two great quotes with you:

“It is a shameful thing for the soul to faint while the body still lives.” – Marcus Aurelius 

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Maya Angelou

Are you alive or just living?

There are millions of people walking this earth who have a heartbeat and are breathing. However, they are not actually living this life – they are simply alive. Perhaps it was a failing moment that was only supposed to be a lesson they learn so they could become all that they were created to become but instead they turned it into a life sentence. Fearful of ever having another failing moment, they are alive, but they are not living a life of purpose or striving to pursue their potential. Or perhaps they were told that they, and their hopes, goals, and dreams, were worthless…and they believed these horrific lies. The result is the same; they shrink back from anything other than simply trying to get through each day without any challenge or struggle. The ironic thing is we learn, grow, and become all that we are created to become by going through challenges, struggles, and problems. The failing moments were simply opportunities to learn, grow, and become stronger so that we can fulfill our purposes.

Are you alive or just living?

Please Friend, don’t let your soul faint or bear an untold story inside you. Come alive! Your life has great value, meaning, and purpose! You are not a mistake, and your hopes, goals, and dreams matter…greatly! I am truly sorry if someone has belittled you or your dreams, however I want to remind you, it is your choice as to whether or not you believe them. My Bible tells me that you were created on purpose for a great purpose which God prepared for you before you were ever born. Who will you believe – a person or God? The choice is critical, and the consequences will literally reverberate into eternity. I pray today that every precious soul reading this Happy Friday will choose to come alive and become all they were created to become, fulfilling the purposes that God has for them!

I now want to pivot to the point of Pastor Steve's message – at some point we have to live out what the Bible tells us. Though not a part of Pastor Steve's message, James 2:19 comes to mind right now: 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! Believing in God does not make us different, even the demons believe that. Satan knows God is real. Saying we are Christians – I prefer Disciple – or that we believe in the Bible does not make us different, it is how we live that does.

In the secular realm we would say it this way…

“Knowledge without application is simply knowledge. Knowledge with application is wisdom.” It’s not what we know that makes a difference. It is the things that we do that makes the difference.

Now let me share a few scriptures that Pastor Steve shared on Sunday…

James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

James 1:25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Luke 11:28 He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

What would our lives, and the world we live in, look like if we lived what the Bible tells us? What if we didn’t pick and choose the parts of the Bible we wanted to live but rather we sought Jesus daily, asked Him to renew our minds and transform our hearts, and to give us the wisdom, discernment, strength, and courage to live what we know? What if we lived our faith instead of simply professing it? (That one was me speaking to myself!) What if we lived Mark 12:30-31, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”? Let’s find out! Let’s live what we know and, in the process, transform the worlds we live in!

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 weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well!

Kev

How Are You Living?

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! A beautiful new opportunity is before us…lets seize it!!!

 

I have a rhetorical question for you; how are you living?

 

I want to share a few excerpts with you all from Think This, Not That: 12 Mindshifts to Breakthrough Limiting Beliefs and Become Who You Were Born to Be by Dr. Josh Axe. The excerpts I am going to share come from Mindshift 9: Turn Off Opinions and Turn On Principles.

 

“…the importance of principles, which are defined as “a foundation law or truth from which others are derived.” To review, values are personal and changeable and need virtues to prop them up; virtues are unchanging and form the highest level of character; and principles are systems of beliefs and practical ways to live out virtues.”

 

“Listening both to everybody and to nobody will lead you down the wrong path. The secret is to listen and follow wise leaders who have had the best results in their businesses, their finances, and their relationships.”

 

Let me ask you again, how are you living?

 

“Author Napoleon Hill wrote, “Opinions are the cheapest commodities on earth. Everyone has a flock of opinions ready to be wished upon anyone who will accept them. If you are influenced by ‘opinions’ when you reach decisions, you will not succeed in any undertaking.”

 

“An unprincipled person is like a captain trying to steer a ship without navigation, lost at sea. Without any truth or standards to guide them, they lack wisdom. Without wisdom, they make poor choices. Making poor choices reinforces poor character. Consider how you might end up living if you have no code of honor. Without abiding by the principle of the Golden Rule, for instance, what standard would you follow? Would you treat people according to how you feel on any given day? Would this change depending on whether you’ve had your coffee that morning? Unprincipled living results in unpredictable behavior. Unprincipled people are untrustworthy.”

 

“Deep thinking doesn’t come from memorizing formulas or regurgitating facts. It comes from knowing how to think for yourself and applying that knowledge to your life.”

 

How are you living? Are you living a principled life or are you living life based on the opinions of others? Or perhaps it is feelings, not principles, that determine how you will live each day.

 

Dr. Axe offers what he refers to as “the top ten [principles] that have added the most value to my life.” I want to share them, along with a little excerpt from the section on it to help you understand what is meant. And this would be a really good time to recommend that you get this book…it is phenomenal!!!

1.     Recognize the wise by their results.

“Think of people as fruit trees. Good trees produce good fruit. Rotten trees produce rotten fruit.”

2.    Model those who are wise and virtuous.

“Find mentors – in person, in books, and online – who can teach you principled thinking and living in the most important areas of your life. Stick with their direction and ignore the opinions of the unprincipled.”

3.    You reap what you sow.

“Don’t sow into people who aren’t hungry for growth; you’ll just be giving something valuable to someone who is going to waste it. When you sow your seeds (time, talents, and treasure) on good soil (hard working people), you can reap a big harvest in your faith, fitness, family, finances/work, and free time.”

4.    The word is mightier than the sword.

Be mindful of what you say. Consider words a sword of truth. Use your words wisely, and wisely choose which ones you listen to.”

5.    The greatest of all is the servant of all.

“Making success and achievement primarily about yourself is the fastest way to become a failure.”

“Consider this principle activated in marriage. Contrary to popular opinion, the primary goal is not for your spouse to make you happy but for each of you to serve the other.”

6.    Find the truth.

“There are significant differences between my/your truth and the truth. My truth will make you as comfortable as possible. The truth will force you to change. My truth is dependent on what will make me feel good right now. The truth leads to a better outcome in the long run. It takes wisdom and courage to find and fight for the truth. Don’t seek to discover your truth; act with wisdom and courage to uncover the truth, which leads to life.”

7.     Iron sharpens iron.

“The company you keep directly impacts the person you become. Surround yourself with people who make you better, raise your standards, and help you transform into the person you were created to be.”

8.    We are what we repeatedly do; therefore, virtue is a habit.

“You become the virtue that you practice consistently.”

9.    Be the change.

“When we don’t make a difference in our own life, we can’t expect anything to change. Rather than judging others, we need to listen and learn and do things virtuously as we lead our families and teams.”

10.                    Love (agape) wins.

“The principle love wins means that, no matter what the situation, acting with love is the best response. As we discussed earlier, this love (agape) is not a romantic love but a sacrificial love in which you fight for and will the good of another. You do everything in your power to help the person succeed by sacrificing and sowing your effort, time, and resources.”

How are you living? My sincere hope and prayer for each one of us is that we will live principled lives.

 

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 weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well!

 

Kev