I was having lunch yesterday with my wife, my oldest daughter Taylor and her “circus of littles”. We were all having a blast — making fart noises, food was everywhere, and Kohen blew the most epic snot bubble of all time. Despite my secret plan to get kicked out of Chicken Salad Chick, we didn’t even get the attention of a manager.😉 But, Oh my! What a lunch!

Midway through lunch, things had calmed down a bit, I leaned over and asked Taylor… “How are you doing?” (I know when lunch is over, I go back to work but the circus goes with her… and stays with her 24-7) Her response was simple, full of grace and wisdom. “I’m good. It will only be like this for a couple of years, and I can do anything for a little while.”

I could go on and on about perspective, gratitude, faith, perseverance, adversity, etc… but I won’t. Let me leave you with this.

You can do anything for a little while.

REWARDS. In virtually every area of life, from personal satisfaction to financial success, the top 1% reap disproportionate rewards. So, the critical question is: can you become part of that top 1%? The answer is a resounding YES.

Consider your abilities on a scale of 1 to 10. The goal is to excel in a specific area where you can become a “10.”

You possess a talent or skill that naturally places you between a 6 and 7 on this scale.

Discipline+Desire+Training+Time can elevate you by an additional 3 to 4 points.

If you invest your time and energy into an area where you’re only a 3, the highest you can aim for is being “above average.” However, if you concentrate that same level of commitment on an area where you’re already a 7, you could become WORLD CLASS.

Move into the top 1%. Find your focus and get to work.

Hint: Your passion often aligns with your talents. It’s unlikely that God would give you one without the other.

…so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain…
Zechariah 10:1 KJB

This appears to be wrong. We all know, it’s not the bright clouds that bring the rain but the dark ones. Right? Well, it all depends on your perspective. When you’re on the ground looking up, the rain clouds look dark because they’re full of water and block the sun. However, from heaven looking down, they actually appear bright white, as they reflect the sun’s light.

So, is the verse wrong? Not at all. We can hop on a plane and go look at the bright clouds. But I bet the people who translated the King James Bible in the 1600’s were scratching their heads. They could have changed the wording to read “dark clouds” or replaced it with some other word to fit their perspective. Had they done so, we would have lost a piece of THE TRUTH.

When confronted with things outside our normal viewpoint, we have three options: change it, leave it, or believe it. Be fully persuaded in your own mind and act accordingly, but don’t expect others to see it from your unique perspective. By definition, they can’t.

Keep pressing toward the mark!
-T

Every fiber of my being is all about growing, fixing things, and actually doing something. Our culture agrees, and our language is littered with cliches around the same idea.

Talk is cheap.
Actions speak louder than words.
Put your money where your mouth is.
Deeds, not words.
Less talk, more action.
Practice what you preach.
Don’t talk about it, be about it.
All hat, no cattle.
Put up or shut up.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
All bark and no bite.
Talk the talk, walk the walk.

It is so cool how our “American English” was built around the Holy Bible. I’ve not found a cliche yet that does not have its roots in the scripture. Today’s cliches are brought to you by Proverbs 14:23. 😉

“In all labour there is profit: But the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.”

“Be so good they can’t ignore you.” – Steve Martin

“What is your secret to success?” Steve Martin’s reply, “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” Of course that is not what the reporter wanted to hear. He was trying to uncover the “secret sauce” and the “magic” behind Seve Martin’s tidal wave of success.

His reply was timeless and true. Bottom line, there is no secret sauce and the only magic is the magic of compounding. Steve Martin spent 15 years honing his craft and building his audience before he was noticed, and by then he was so good he could not be ignored!

Use the law of compounding to your advantage. Do something today that moves you in the right direction. Your future self will thank you!

PS – If you’re searching for a good place to start, you can find helpful tips from the smartest man who ever lived in the book of Proverbs.

Keep pressing toward the mark!
-T

There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: But the tongue of the wise is health. – Proverbs 12:18

Most of us never grasp its infinite power, yet we see it daily. We often use it to help ourselves, but sometimes we use it to hurt others. The author of “The Four Agreements” calls it magic and black-magic. The Bible calls it health, life and death.

It is the power of the spirit in the physical world.
It is the moment of creation.
It is a gift from God.
It is the word.

What would today be like if everyone spoke with impeccability of the word?

Better question… What would tomorrow be like? 😉

Don’t share your problems with people, 90% don’t care and the other 10% are glad you have them. – Lou Holtz

I have no idea when Lou Holtz coined this phrase. Maybe he was motivating his team for a championship game or maybe he used it to make a point in a keynote speech. Either way, it’s all over the internet, it’s cynical and it’s pretty clever.

Most of us are starring in our own hit movie “The Life and Times of ME”. And now, with social media, we can stream bite size chunks of “My Wonderful Life” to the masses. Maybe someone wants to know what I had for breakfast? NOT! But wait, we are social animals right? Yep, but not social media animals.

A good friend of mine told me “You are lucky to have a handful of friends in your life.” At the time, I thought it a bit over-the-top, but the longer I live the more true it becomes. His statement ties in with Galatians 6 where Paul says to “bear ye one another’s burdens” then a few verses later “every man must bear his own burden”. Lou had it backwards, 90% of our problems are not even real and you can work them out on your own. But the other 10% can take you down if you don’t have a trusted friend to share them with.

You are blessed to have a handful of real friends.

Cherish those relationships.

Continual streams of situations come into our lives, some we call good and some we call bad. Wanted or unwanted they come. If allowed, they sweep everything in their path down the river of life like a boat without a rudder. 

Maybe you don’t want to go that way anymore.
Maybe you have a different calling.

Desire is a rudder and action is an oar.
And… believe it or not… you always have a choice.