My Three Words for 2012 – Basics, Focus, Strength

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Several years ago I ran across an article that spoke about the end of the year and the setting of “new year resolutions.” The author of the article was someone who I have followed every since (Chris Brogan). Chris’ blog is a business oriented blog, but his idea about the new year is to find three words that best describe your intentions in the new year and then focus some portion of everyday to those three areas.

I like that much better than some resolution that is going to be set by the wayside within just a few weeks of beginning (as has always been my habit). This year my three words are: Basics, Focus, and Strength. My plan is to accomplish something everyday that will move me forward in those areas. My end will be a life better lived for directing my attention to these three words. Thanks again to @ChrisBrogan! (His twitter handle.)

What does your new year hold for you? Are you going to make, and then break, a great sounding but meaningless set of new year’s resolutions? Maybe instead you could take a lesson from this great business mind and find your three words?

I would love it if you would share your three with me here! What do you think?

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I have made a choice. I am going to change my world. I am going to build organic friendships and an organic business. I don’t know how things are going to work, but I have faith that they will.

I believe that my faith is the most powerful gift that God has made available to me and I have chosen to live that faith with reckless abandon. This blog will be the platform for the life that God has told me to live. It will include every aspect of life and will hopefully encourage others to make a similar choice.

I will talk about life in general, relationships, business, health and how all these fit into a life of faith. I hope to be a blessing to everyone who reads while challenging people to think in new and fresh ways.

This declaration is a promise that I am making first to God and then to you. It is not a “pat on the back” or a “look at me” declaration, rather it is about walking worthy of the vocation to which I have been called. May God bless you as you read. Please comment, please challenge me, please step up to change your world.

May God bless you as we change our world ….

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I have been blogging here for nearly ten months. I have seen my interests change a couple times in the process and have seen site views rise and fall with those changes of direction. What I have also learned is that some posts “ring the bell” and some bury it so deep that even if it was making noise, no one would hear it.

The thing that I have learned in these first months of the life of this project is simply this: You must find a direction that moves you and then build on it. There are way too many people writing about what everyone else is writing about. I follow about 50 blogs these days and many are saying the same thing over and over. I guess that’s good if making money is the only thing you are interested in, but of those 50 blogs there are about 10 where the writers speak their minds and bring fresh ideas to the table all the time.

It is my intent to introduce you to these blogs that make up my top ten. I won’t do it all in one post. Each of them deserves their own review. I don’t want you to think that because I count them in my top ten that I believe all they say. I disagree with them often, but I enjoy the free thinking which drives them.

These bloggers have taught me a great deal about blogging and it is my hope that I will continue to take clues from them and become successful at this myself. I also hope you will see the value of these folks as I reveal them to you and will grow in your skill-set as well.

Being successful in this whole “online world” is about always being in a state of learning, never resting on what success you may have had in the past, and always being true to your place in it all. If you want to impact your world, keep learning and most of all keep writing!

Talk more later ….

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I have been engaged in a lot of thinking over the past few weeks. My thoughts about thinking as a basic element of life has changed and I would like to share them with you today.

1. Thinking does not have to be “heavy” or “introspective” or some other psychologically meaningful event. Thinking may take the form of watching a bug crawl across a table on your deck and wonder to yourself about what must be going through the bug’s mind. What I mean is that you can think “in character” being yourself while you consider life’s important (or maybe not so important) mysteries.

2. Thinking should bring about changes in your external life/self. It doesn’t seem to be terribly productive to me to spend time in thought if that thought doesn’t help you become a more visibly better you. Considering the meaning of life is only really important if you let what you discover bring about appropriate change. Being the best you can be in every aspect of life should come from thoughtful consideration of your options.

3. The change that occurs from thinking should bring about the necessity to think more and more often. Opening any door in life will bring you into a new place of discovery and decisions. This “new room” experience will, by nature, encourage more thought. All of life is about learning and all real learning begins as thought.

I have come to one major conclusion as I have spent these past weeks in thought about thinking. That conclusion is this: More people need to think about more things that spur personal and professional growth so that they will become overcome by thought and think more!

Talk more later ….

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Let’s see …. so far I have questioned whether many people really understand the whole concept of living a quiet and peaceable life. I then said that if you are going to get to the point that you can live this awesome kind of life, you have to be able to come to the end of every day thinking the right thoughts. Finally, I gave you a short little plan for clearing your head so that you can maintain this quiet and peaceable life.

Today I want to conclude this mini-series by trying to add the element that is the “secret ingredient” that I have not yet spoken of. This ingredient is the simple act of prayer. Yet, it is not just asking God for all the selfish things that you want him to give to you. It is, rather your prayer for “… all men, for Kings and and for all that are in authority …”

Think about this for a minute. If you were praying for “all men (this word means mankind)” and especially for those who are in authority in our lives (yes, even those we don’t like or agree with!) we would be free from the struggles these relationships naturally bring, and in doing so we would have the power to live the quiet and peaceable life.

The quiet and peaceable life is a fragile thing and is most often destroyed by the naturally occurring conflicts in our lives. Now praying for all the people in our lives may not relieve all conflict (I am certain that it won’t) but it will keep your eyes focused on the best interests of even your enemies, thus allowing for you to be at peace with them, with yourself, and with God.

This peace will lead you into a quiet life filled with godliness and honesty. What a great place to live!

Take some time this week and put this simple plan into practice and see whether or not you find more quietness and peace in your every day.

Talk more later ….

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What do you find yourself thinking about at the end of a typical day? These “end of day thoughts” are a clue as to the quietness and peaceable nature of your life.

If those end of day thoughts are about “who did what to you” or “the battle that awaits you tomorrow” or “how can I close this deal or that”, you may not be living either quiet or peaceable. I understand that there are exceptions to every rule. I know that there are those occasions when things like this take over our end of day thinking in an otherwise quiet and peaceable life.

This being said, what do you think about at the end of the day? Are your thoughts about your family, your kids, the blessings of your life, the “Blessor” of your life, etc. Or, on the other hand, is your mind captivated by all that is wrong and worrisome? Everything that has pain and discord?

If the goal of your life is to find balance and to live to your greatest capacity, you must bring these end of day thoughts into harmony with who you really are. You cannot let the struggles of the day just linger in your thinking. They will create a sense of imbalance in your life and if left unchecked will destroy your quiet and peaceable life and open the door to many forms of sorrow and regret.

Tomorrow I will share with you a simple process to clear your head at the end of the day and help you to recognize what God has given you to rejoice in each day.

Talk more later ….

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Have you ever sat in your office looking at all the work in front of you wondering if this was really what life was supposed to be about? Now, I’m not talking about chucking everything and living the life of a starving artist on some exotic beach somewhere (wait a minute – that does sound good today!) No, really, I believe in the thought that if a man won’t work, he shouldn’t eat, but shouldn’t the work you do make you happy and allow you to make a difference in people’s lives?

I have been thinking a lot about this lately (maybe that’s why the beach sounds so good). As my thoughts have drifted from what I must have to what I want to have and how all of that mixes with my unquenchable desire to be a blessing to my world, I have come to several conclusions that I would like to share:

1. I want to live my life for something other than things. If all life is about is the collecting of things, then there are way better ways of doing that than honest, ethical, integrity filled work (most of then are illegal however).
2. My business is not my life. It is merely a means to an end and while I should have a passion for what I do, I don’t create identity by my business.
3. My business needs to work around my life, not the other way round. Enough said!
4. My business should serve the greater good of my team, my clients, and my world. My greatest joy in business should be “raving fans” who join me in business and in positive life goals.
5. I need to stop listening to people who only want “in my pocket.” I respect people who have gone before me and met the challenges of the business world, but I don’t want to pay them for everything they know. I am going to give more away than I ever charge for, not because  I should but because I want to.

I would love to work with and around a whole “Tribe” (thanks Seth for the word) of like-minded people. It would make life way more exciting and much simpler. If you are like me and would like to know more or know someone like who might like to know more, I would love to talk.

Then, one day soon, maybe we can all be on that beach, enjoying the sun, the sand, and the surf while working hard to make our worlds better and our lives more meaningful.

As always, your comments are appreciated!

Talk more later ….

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