by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com
Words that Work (by Dr. Frank Luntz) affects us all.
Some words work as intended, others don't. They change and shift with our society as we continually merge into one mind but with vastly divergent components. The problem--words mean different things to different people.The theme: "It's not what you say, it's what people hear."
We create meaning to words. What each of us see as a meaning is what it means to us. Old words have new meanings. We are constantly making up new meanings. What we think something means, and what others think it means may be vastly different.
Luntz has Ten Rules of Effective Communication.
Rule 1: Simplicity. Use small words. Long words raise suspicion when not necessary.
Rule 2: Brevity. Use short sentences. Small beats large, short beats long, plain beats complex.
Rule 3. Credibility is as important as philosophy. Without sincerity, belief in your words lack impact. "Mean what you say."
Rule 4. Consistency matters. Repetition of theme phrases helps them to lock into minds.
Rule 5. Novelty. Offers something new. Creative use of words as phrases strike interest.
Rule 6. Sound and texture matter. A string of words starting with the same letter or ending with the same sound create memorability.
Rule 7. Speak aspirationally. Personalize and humanize the message to trigger an emotional remembrance.
Rule 8. Visualize. Paint a vivid picture. Use slogans that create pictures in other minds.
Rule 9. Ask a question. It's not what you say, but what you ask that really matters.
Rule 10. Provide context and explain relevance. Explain why a particular message matters.
George Orwell has a series of language rules.
1. Never use figures of speech you are used to seeing, hearing all the time.
2. Never use a long word when a short one will do.
3. Cut out as many words as possible.
4. Use active instead of passive in statements.
5. Never use foreign, scientific jargon when you can use an everyday English equivalent.
"Good communication requires conviction and authenticity."
Be the Message.
What we really care about... this communicates.
Words connect ideas, emotions, hopes and fears. What matters is how we really feel and what really matters. This includes:
Principles. If your principles match their values, the details don't matter.
Opportunity… more than fairness and more than ownership. We want to be treated fairly and have a stake in what we do.
Community. The desires to associate, affiliate, and belong.
Common Sense. It's self-evident, it makes sense.
Getting Value... what we get for what we pay for is more important than how much we pay for it.
Convenience. Today's catch word is "hassle-free." ... that's personal and based on individual interest.
Main street not Wall Street. The small guy over corporate America is still favored.
Family Values.
The Future. Where will this take us.
Positive messages. Limitless dreams, unending possibilities, promise of a wonderful future.
Accountability, respect, and solutions round out what people care about.
Great words for the 21st Century.
Imagine... hassle-free... lifestyle... accountability...
results and can-do spirit... innovation...
renew, revitalize, rejuvenate, restore, rekindle, reinvent...
efficient and efficiency... the right to... patient-centered...
investment... casual elegance... independent...
peace of mind... all-American... certified...
prosperity... spirituality... financial security...
a balanced approach... a culture of... .
Language is functional, it's a tool.
Acceptable language varies and changes, so you must know your audience, challenge them but don't offend them. "It's not what you say, it's what people hear."
Here's a more extensive summary:
http://dropabull.com/myopic/summary/Words%2520That%2520Work.pdf
Plus Luntz's site:
http://www.luntz.com/
Jesus talked about hearing.
He quoted the prophet Isaiah…
"You will hear my words
But you will not understand
You will see what I do,
But you will not perceive its meaning.
(Why?)
For the hearts of these people are hardened.”
(Matthew 13:14,15, NLT)
Some don't get what you are talking about because they don't want to. It goes against who they are and they don't want to change. They aren't open to Spirit and they can't hear when Spirit speaks.
People have core beliefs of some kind. When something challenges someone's core beliefs they immediately reject what is said. Jesus knew people's core beliefs, or hearts. He knew so much, that He also knew what would be rejected. He knew His audience. Jesus demonstrated the importance of knowing people and dealing with what people believed and the way they were.
Jesus creates an analogy of how this works.
When talking about hearing, He said there are these levels of hearing.
1. Some hear but don't understand. They have no clue to what you are talking about. Their hearts and minds are hardened, very removed from where you are. They are just not open to anything outside what they already know and live.
2. Some hear, but the deceptions of this world and cunning evil powers wile it away. It coerces them to stop believing.
3. Others hear, receive it immediately, even excitedly. But when they get back into the routine of their lives, it loses its flavor, the taste it once had for them.
It just doesn't take root and ceases to be relative to their life. It is soon dismissed.
4. Then there are those who readily accept and begin putting to work what they heard. When facing the cares, challenges, or the pleasures of this life, it loses its place of relevance or importance to them. They just busy it away.
5. Finally, when honest people true to themselves of a good-heart (that's those who respect God's ways and insights) hear an idea, they will cling to it. They hold tightly to it. They make it a working part of their lives and produce results many times over and over again.
(Note: Luke 8:10–16)
Their abilities to hear, understand increase and they grasp more and more beyond what they learn. They develop an never-ending ability to see and put into practice in a productive way what they are learning. They accomplish more and more with what they heard and learned. And it continues to increase their abilities to learn, grow and accomplish greater and greater things. And their desire to learn keeps expanding at constantly increasing proportions.
Jesus said "my sheep," those with a heart toward Him, "recognize my voice" and respond. They follow exactly where He goes and tells them to go.
It all boils down to a desire to hear His voice, to respond to it joyfully and when challenges come, to not give up on it and know Jesus has a better way and miracles along the way He leads. He says those who recognize, respond to His voice, He will give them abundant life. More and more will be added to you.
(Note: John 10)
He speaks constantly and to be tuned-in to His voice will intricately guide your steps day-by-day, hour-by-hour. You will be led through the most challenging circumstances as well as the most delightful events in your life and mind. Joy abounds, continually, as we tune in and follow moment by moment His speaking to us.
He promises to speak to us and wants us to listen to His voice, to hear and understand what He means by it. But most of all, when we know we have heard His voice, do not stop what He directs us to do until victory is won.
He will speak to us again and again to guide us with penetrating precision to decisive, stunning victories!
Through constant practice and recognizing "His voice", allowing it to touch our hearts and speaking to our minds, we grow in His guiding Spirit. Great insights will come to mind, and remarkable High Levels of power will follow.
As Jesus said "He walks ahead of them" and we follow a very Strategic, Spiritually Supernatural path when we do.
Hear Him, listen and understand… follow Him with a refined accuracy and let His guiding voice give you life. Spirit will grant it to you abundantly, immeasurable…in all areas of your life and Spirit.
And He will, without limit, when you listen to His voice.
It's all about your relationship with Jesus and the Spirit of God. The closer you are to Jesus in a daily interacting relationship the more clearly you hear His voice and understand what He is saying.
Get close,
know His voice,
and live in a constant rejuvenating power.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
Our Iceberg is Melting... staying adventurous
by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com
Our Iceberg is Melting by John Kotter features the 8-step process to successful change...
told in a fable about a Penguin Colony.
America is on the cusp of the biggest sociological, philosophical, and economic change ever. It may be the most dramatic and revolutionary of all time. From lifestyle perspective to economic prowess, the psychology, cultural and relational framework is shifting. Like an iceberg taking on water in its middle but not discovered until winter comes, it can be too late to make adjustments.
New trends in how we live and do things and philosophies on how we live and do things, will soon have dramatic impact on our culture.
So how do we manage change constructively?
Our Iceberg is Melting gives us a course outline to follow.
More and more biz books are written for communication and educational effectiveness today. Our Iceberg is Melting hallows this style. It teaches and helps you apply to real life the principles for change as you read.
Using a fable along with key principles outlined helps your mind to put this in to real world perspective.
First the principles, then a summary of the fable.
The Eight Step process of Successful Change.
Set the Stage
1. Create a sense of urgency.
Help others see the need for change and the importance of immediate action.
2. Pull together the guiding team... with varied skills for the task to convince all minds and handle uniquely different situations.
Decide What to Do
3. Develop the change vision and strategy.
Clarify how the future will be different, be better, and how you can make it into a reality.
Make it Happen
4. Communicate for understanding and buy in.
Make sure as many as possible understand and accept the vision.
5. Empower others to act.
Remove as many barriers and obstacles as you can so those who want to make the vision a reality can do so.
6. Produce short-term wins.
Create some visible, unambiguous successes as soon as you can.
7. Don't let up.
Press harder and faster after the first successes.
Be relentless with initiating change after change until the vision is reality.
Make it Stick
8. Create a new culture.
Hold on to the new ways of behaving, and make sure they succeed, until they become strong enough to replace old traditions.
The importance of thinking and feeling differently.
Thinking differently can help change behavior and lead to better results.
--collect data, analyze.
--present information logically to change people's thinking.
--change thinking, in turn, can change behavior
Feeling differently can change behavior MORE and lead to even better results.
--create surprising, compelling, and, if possible, visual experience.
--the experiences change how people feel about a situation.
--a change in feeling can lead to significant change in behavior.
The Fable
Once upon a time, there was a Penguin Colony on an iceberg in Antarctica, near Cape Washington. They lived there many years and they all were a happy, astute bunch. Their natural elegance of appearance as penguins made them look like they walked proudly in tuxedos all the time. Out of the 268 penguins, Fred was somewhat of a loner. He liked to hang out looking across the sea and seem to also be observing and noting things. A little different bird in the colony but his curiosity and observations skills led him to draw up some interesting conclusions. He carried a briefcase of all his notes of his observations.
But Fred was getting more and more concerned... or, frankly, very worried and troubled. So much so that one day he decided to meet with one of the colony council birds, Alice. She was well respected by most, and Fred felt he could talk to her.
He told Alice he was very worried about the nature of the iceberg they were on. Alice saw it as a great place to live and they had been there for a long time. But Fred said its melting... and we can't see it. Where was it melting?... in the center. He took Alice for a swim under the iceberg to show her. She saw what Fred was seeing. There were many channels of water underneath and a large body of water in the middle. When Fred got back he pointed out... that when winter comes the channels will freeze first, trap the water inside and it will expand when it freezes causing the iceberg to break up into many sections. It would cause havoc for the community and many young and old could die.
Alice saw Fred's point and suggested they get a key few of the council together to share his observations. Well, some in the council bought into Fred's story and some didn't. Fred then used a bottle that floated up one day to demonstrate what happens when a sealed bottle full of water freezes. The council members came to inspect the bottle the next day. Like Fred suggested, it broke into numerous fragments. The Council decided we must do something about it. They decided to have a meeting with the whole community. Some felt it could cause fear and panic break out. Although, it was necessary.
They presented their observations and set out a challenge to the group to come up with ideas to solve this problem. Many ideas came up, maybe not the best ones, so they agreed to continue to walk around the iceberg and dream up more ideas.
Then Fred had an unusual observation, as usual for Fred, when looking up in the air. He saw a Seagull. What is a Seagull doing here? He suggested they interview the Seagull. They did and found out he was a scout for other Seagulls and they were constantly looking for places that had food. This gave them the idea. Why not become nomadic penguins and find a better iceberg with great fish. They lived off of fish and needed good fish inhabited areas. The scouting idea was scary for some (mostly moms of the excited young wanting to be scouts) as the young adventurous scouts could get lost and or eaten by whales.
They began preparing the community for a potential new lifestyle and living on new icebergs... even better than the one they live on and love and adore. After the first scout mission, the scouts said they found several possibilities. So they began to narrow them down.
They had some naysayers causing trouble and saying all this was foolishness and we would all die. The young penguins were starting to have nightmares. The core team had a variety of personalities, so each one was strategically assigned to a key person causing the problems to change their way of thinking. It worked. They dispelled the fear factors emerging.
Being nomadic penguins was something no one was used to, but it seemed like a better solution than to try to fix the iceberg by neutralizing the problem by drilling holes so the water could escape the caverns( a lot of penguins pecking to make the holes), or the idea of using whale glue to glue the cracks back together. Moving to a possible better iceberg and keep looking for a better icebergs was looked on the best way to go. It meant having scouts at work continually, and keeping them fed... most penguins fed for themselves and weren't used to feeding others outside their own family. But the scouts needed to scout and so food needed to be provided for them. Again, innovation played a part in finding a solution for this too.
The fable cleverly outlines examples of the change process and things you run into and how to handle them. The story re-enacted urgency,
getting authority figures behind it,
pulling together and creating a balanced core team
(carefully selecting this guiding group),
forming a new vision
and communicating the new vision successfully,
making everyone feel empowered,
removing obstacles as they came up,
creating short-term wins to keep everyone encouraged,
and not letting up.
They never moved around before. It became a tradition of lifestyle. So they had to strategically execute the change effort so it would not be impeded by stubborn, hard-to-die traditionalists. They broke tradition and became nomadic. But each move was one to a better iceberg with better fish opportunities. Change was not for change sake, but for constantly getting better, improving their position in life.
The moral of the story...
In a constantly changing world, we should constantly be moving into the benefits of what is changing around us.
More resources on change by Kotter:
http://www.ouricebergismelting.com/
http://www.theheartofchange.com/
http://www.johnkotter.com/
The premier change agent was Jesus.
He came and presented views that every one was fascinated by. The people listened to him and were amazed by him. Why was he so successful?
He narrowed things down to one word... Love.
To love God with all your heart, mind, soul and body.
To love others as much as you love yourself and how you love yourself.
Love is forgiving, forbearing and tolerating. Like the woman caught in sin. The law said to stone her... Jesus forgave her.
In Luke 10 he told His disciples to go to the places where people were. Live with them.
"The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and
sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he
planned to visit. These were his instructions to them:
'The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray
to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to
send more workers into his fields. Now go, and remember
that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.' "
"Don't hesitate to accept hospitality,
because those who work deserve their pay."
"Heal the sick, and tell them,
'The Kingdom of God is near you now.' "
(Luke 10: 1-11, NLT)
The Law of the day said to "come" and bring sacrifices.
He said to "go" and show mercy to the undeserving.
He said to be merciful...
I don't want your sacrifices. He had a plan. He was to be their sacrifice. Man could not live up to the law, so he instituted forgiveness. He knows our nature and we can't and don't do what we say we should. So he said be open and admit your shortcomings and know there is forgiveness and tolerance. For, His sacrifice would cover it all.
A very different way of thinking of the day. Maybe even today. He even demonstrated dramatic change again. He died and left his old body and came back in three days with a completely different body. He said if you die in My Spirit, the Spirit of Me in You will live forever. This new body was so different. Most didn't even recognize Him.
He appeared suddenly and disappeared suddenly with this new body. He said to keep watch because He will again come back suddenly. He left again, and this time, he didn't leave the body he had but went straight up in the air. Like in a cloud of sorts. The disciples waited... and 10 days later, the rush of His Spirit hit the room they were in and they changed... dramatically.
They with ease did all that Jesus showed they could do while on earth. One person who even persecuted Jesus' followers, was dramatically changed. Jesus came to him in such a brilliant light that Saul, the Christian persecutor, was blinded. He changed to be one of His most outstanding followers. Everywhere he went people changed. Everywhere the other disciples went people changed. It was one of the biggest change events ever.
And we have this at our disposal today.
If we seek and and ask for it.
If we wait on it.
Because our body's of today will again be changed, transformed suddenly.
"It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead.
Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die,
but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are
buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength.
They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be
raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.
But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not
all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a
moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown.
For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be
raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.
For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies
that will never die; our mortal bodies must be
transformed into immortal bodies.
Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled
"Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?"
(1 Corinthians 15: 42 - 53, NLT)
This is our great finale of change.
Is it worth focusing our lives around such a reward?
Spiritual life is transformation upon transformation as we follow the life of Jesus until now. This is to continue and we may very well see in our own lives... the old transformed before our very eyes into the new. We have a much better body that will never decay away, become old and despised, unattractive, and useless. (An interesting picture to compare... our old imperfect next to the new perfection.)
"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but
let God Transform you into a new person
by changing the way you think.
Then you will learn to know God's will for you,
which is good and pleasing and perfect."
(Romans 12:2, NLT)
We can honestly accept the truth of our imperfections of our old form, and see us being transformed into a perfect truth, nothing to hide, of our new form.
We are also nomadic in the process. Going here and there to vision upon vision, place on place, and heart to a heavenly heart.
We are compelled to search for this new place,
a better place, and experience never ending adventures
in Spirit life every day.
4spirit@gmail.com
Our Iceberg is Melting by John Kotter features the 8-step process to successful change...
told in a fable about a Penguin Colony.
America is on the cusp of the biggest sociological, philosophical, and economic change ever. It may be the most dramatic and revolutionary of all time. From lifestyle perspective to economic prowess, the psychology, cultural and relational framework is shifting. Like an iceberg taking on water in its middle but not discovered until winter comes, it can be too late to make adjustments.
New trends in how we live and do things and philosophies on how we live and do things, will soon have dramatic impact on our culture.
So how do we manage change constructively?
Our Iceberg is Melting gives us a course outline to follow.
More and more biz books are written for communication and educational effectiveness today. Our Iceberg is Melting hallows this style. It teaches and helps you apply to real life the principles for change as you read.
Using a fable along with key principles outlined helps your mind to put this in to real world perspective.
First the principles, then a summary of the fable.
The Eight Step process of Successful Change.
Set the Stage
1. Create a sense of urgency.
Help others see the need for change and the importance of immediate action.
2. Pull together the guiding team... with varied skills for the task to convince all minds and handle uniquely different situations.
Decide What to Do
3. Develop the change vision and strategy.
Clarify how the future will be different, be better, and how you can make it into a reality.
Make it Happen
4. Communicate for understanding and buy in.
Make sure as many as possible understand and accept the vision.
5. Empower others to act.
Remove as many barriers and obstacles as you can so those who want to make the vision a reality can do so.
6. Produce short-term wins.
Create some visible, unambiguous successes as soon as you can.
7. Don't let up.
Press harder and faster after the first successes.
Be relentless with initiating change after change until the vision is reality.
Make it Stick
8. Create a new culture.
Hold on to the new ways of behaving, and make sure they succeed, until they become strong enough to replace old traditions.
The importance of thinking and feeling differently.
Thinking differently can help change behavior and lead to better results.
--collect data, analyze.
--present information logically to change people's thinking.
--change thinking, in turn, can change behavior
Feeling differently can change behavior MORE and lead to even better results.
--create surprising, compelling, and, if possible, visual experience.
--the experiences change how people feel about a situation.
--a change in feeling can lead to significant change in behavior.
The Fable
Once upon a time, there was a Penguin Colony on an iceberg in Antarctica, near Cape Washington. They lived there many years and they all were a happy, astute bunch. Their natural elegance of appearance as penguins made them look like they walked proudly in tuxedos all the time. Out of the 268 penguins, Fred was somewhat of a loner. He liked to hang out looking across the sea and seem to also be observing and noting things. A little different bird in the colony but his curiosity and observations skills led him to draw up some interesting conclusions. He carried a briefcase of all his notes of his observations.
But Fred was getting more and more concerned... or, frankly, very worried and troubled. So much so that one day he decided to meet with one of the colony council birds, Alice. She was well respected by most, and Fred felt he could talk to her.
He told Alice he was very worried about the nature of the iceberg they were on. Alice saw it as a great place to live and they had been there for a long time. But Fred said its melting... and we can't see it. Where was it melting?... in the center. He took Alice for a swim under the iceberg to show her. She saw what Fred was seeing. There were many channels of water underneath and a large body of water in the middle. When Fred got back he pointed out... that when winter comes the channels will freeze first, trap the water inside and it will expand when it freezes causing the iceberg to break up into many sections. It would cause havoc for the community and many young and old could die.
Alice saw Fred's point and suggested they get a key few of the council together to share his observations. Well, some in the council bought into Fred's story and some didn't. Fred then used a bottle that floated up one day to demonstrate what happens when a sealed bottle full of water freezes. The council members came to inspect the bottle the next day. Like Fred suggested, it broke into numerous fragments. The Council decided we must do something about it. They decided to have a meeting with the whole community. Some felt it could cause fear and panic break out. Although, it was necessary.
They presented their observations and set out a challenge to the group to come up with ideas to solve this problem. Many ideas came up, maybe not the best ones, so they agreed to continue to walk around the iceberg and dream up more ideas.
Then Fred had an unusual observation, as usual for Fred, when looking up in the air. He saw a Seagull. What is a Seagull doing here? He suggested they interview the Seagull. They did and found out he was a scout for other Seagulls and they were constantly looking for places that had food. This gave them the idea. Why not become nomadic penguins and find a better iceberg with great fish. They lived off of fish and needed good fish inhabited areas. The scouting idea was scary for some (mostly moms of the excited young wanting to be scouts) as the young adventurous scouts could get lost and or eaten by whales.
They began preparing the community for a potential new lifestyle and living on new icebergs... even better than the one they live on and love and adore. After the first scout mission, the scouts said they found several possibilities. So they began to narrow them down.
They had some naysayers causing trouble and saying all this was foolishness and we would all die. The young penguins were starting to have nightmares. The core team had a variety of personalities, so each one was strategically assigned to a key person causing the problems to change their way of thinking. It worked. They dispelled the fear factors emerging.
Being nomadic penguins was something no one was used to, but it seemed like a better solution than to try to fix the iceberg by neutralizing the problem by drilling holes so the water could escape the caverns( a lot of penguins pecking to make the holes), or the idea of using whale glue to glue the cracks back together. Moving to a possible better iceberg and keep looking for a better icebergs was looked on the best way to go. It meant having scouts at work continually, and keeping them fed... most penguins fed for themselves and weren't used to feeding others outside their own family. But the scouts needed to scout and so food needed to be provided for them. Again, innovation played a part in finding a solution for this too.
The fable cleverly outlines examples of the change process and things you run into and how to handle them. The story re-enacted urgency,
getting authority figures behind it,
pulling together and creating a balanced core team
(carefully selecting this guiding group),
forming a new vision
and communicating the new vision successfully,
making everyone feel empowered,
removing obstacles as they came up,
creating short-term wins to keep everyone encouraged,
and not letting up.
They never moved around before. It became a tradition of lifestyle. So they had to strategically execute the change effort so it would not be impeded by stubborn, hard-to-die traditionalists. They broke tradition and became nomadic. But each move was one to a better iceberg with better fish opportunities. Change was not for change sake, but for constantly getting better, improving their position in life.
The moral of the story...
In a constantly changing world, we should constantly be moving into the benefits of what is changing around us.
More resources on change by Kotter:
http://www.ouricebergismelting.com/
http://www.theheartofchange.com/
http://www.johnkotter.com/
The premier change agent was Jesus.
He came and presented views that every one was fascinated by. The people listened to him and were amazed by him. Why was he so successful?
He narrowed things down to one word... Love.
To love God with all your heart, mind, soul and body.
To love others as much as you love yourself and how you love yourself.
Love is forgiving, forbearing and tolerating. Like the woman caught in sin. The law said to stone her... Jesus forgave her.
In Luke 10 he told His disciples to go to the places where people were. Live with them.
"The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and
sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he
planned to visit. These were his instructions to them:
'The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray
to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to
send more workers into his fields. Now go, and remember
that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.' "
"Don't hesitate to accept hospitality,
because those who work deserve their pay."
"Heal the sick, and tell them,
'The Kingdom of God is near you now.' "
(Luke 10: 1-11, NLT)
The Law of the day said to "come" and bring sacrifices.
He said to "go" and show mercy to the undeserving.
He said to be merciful...
I don't want your sacrifices. He had a plan. He was to be their sacrifice. Man could not live up to the law, so he instituted forgiveness. He knows our nature and we can't and don't do what we say we should. So he said be open and admit your shortcomings and know there is forgiveness and tolerance. For, His sacrifice would cover it all.
A very different way of thinking of the day. Maybe even today. He even demonstrated dramatic change again. He died and left his old body and came back in three days with a completely different body. He said if you die in My Spirit, the Spirit of Me in You will live forever. This new body was so different. Most didn't even recognize Him.
He appeared suddenly and disappeared suddenly with this new body. He said to keep watch because He will again come back suddenly. He left again, and this time, he didn't leave the body he had but went straight up in the air. Like in a cloud of sorts. The disciples waited... and 10 days later, the rush of His Spirit hit the room they were in and they changed... dramatically.
They with ease did all that Jesus showed they could do while on earth. One person who even persecuted Jesus' followers, was dramatically changed. Jesus came to him in such a brilliant light that Saul, the Christian persecutor, was blinded. He changed to be one of His most outstanding followers. Everywhere he went people changed. Everywhere the other disciples went people changed. It was one of the biggest change events ever.
And we have this at our disposal today.
If we seek and and ask for it.
If we wait on it.
Because our body's of today will again be changed, transformed suddenly.
"It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead.
Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die,
but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are
buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength.
They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be
raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.
But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not
all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a
moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown.
For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be
raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.
For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies
that will never die; our mortal bodies must be
transformed into immortal bodies.
Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled
"Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?"
(1 Corinthians 15: 42 - 53, NLT)
This is our great finale of change.
Is it worth focusing our lives around such a reward?
Spiritual life is transformation upon transformation as we follow the life of Jesus until now. This is to continue and we may very well see in our own lives... the old transformed before our very eyes into the new. We have a much better body that will never decay away, become old and despised, unattractive, and useless. (An interesting picture to compare... our old imperfect next to the new perfection.)
"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but
let God Transform you into a new person
by changing the way you think.
Then you will learn to know God's will for you,
which is good and pleasing and perfect."
(Romans 12:2, NLT)
We can honestly accept the truth of our imperfections of our old form, and see us being transformed into a perfect truth, nothing to hide, of our new form.
We are also nomadic in the process. Going here and there to vision upon vision, place on place, and heart to a heavenly heart.
We are compelled to search for this new place,
a better place, and experience never ending adventures
in Spirit life every day.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Zero Limits ...in His Presence
by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com
Zero Limits by Joe Vitale and Dr. Hew Len was somewhat of a surprise to see on the business book lists. His discovery of Dr. Hew Len's (PhD) methods in the theory of Ho'oponopono caught Vitale's earnest attention, curiosity with some skepticism.
How can someone heal others they cannot see? Dr. Hew Len was doing this in a mental hospital known for having incurable violent patients. He had an unbelievable track record and success rate. Joe Vitale had to find this person and find out his secret. Vitale is developing a following on how to use Spiritual principles in marketing and attracting business based on these principles. He found Dr. Hew Len a cutting edge practitioner of a new level for him.
How did Dr. Hew Len do it? Dr. Hew Len uses an ancient Hawaiian treatment called Ho'oponopono. It means to cause perfection. So errors in life arise from thoughts that are tainted by tainted memories of the past. We must remove these from our conscious and more important those we don't know about which are in our subconscious minds. When Dr. Hew Len looked at the client files, he didn't work on his patients, instead he worked on himself. He never met them in person to evaluate or try to treat.
As he worked on himself, they began to improve and heal.
Here's his thoughts on this approach.
"Take total responsibility for your life. It is your life... everything in your life is your responsibility. You participate in the entire world's creation."
"100% responsibility.. accepting it all, even people who enter your life and their problems. Because their problems are your problems. They are in your life, and if you take full responsibility for your life, you then take full responsibility for what they are experiencing."
You don't fix them by trying to fix them.
You focus on continually fixing yourself.
"So transform yourself, so the rest of the world changes too." Using Ho'oponopono, energy is released to these painful thoughts or errors which cause imbalance or disease. As you heal, those around you heal too.To heal you, clean yourself. As you clean yourself, those in contact with you are healed as well.
His method is so simple, we may find it hard to really believe in it. But he used it to literally clean out one of the toughest mentally ill facilities in Hawaii. Therapists there lasted maybe six months. The violent nature of its patients was extreme and not treatable by anyone. During 3 years, Dr. Hew Len spent most of his time reading the patient files and cleansing himself, it eventually became a very normal functional facility.
As he reviewed each case, he addressed each problem as his own and accepted that person's problem as one of his too. So he simply said time after time while in meditation:
"I Love You."
"I'm sorry."
"Please forgive me."
"Thank you."
He calls this cleaning. By constantly cleaning our self, our environment improves, and others are healed that we know of. We invite the Divine who takes us to "zero" ... zero is totally the Divine. When in "zero", transformation happens all around us.
Still sounds a little simplistic and a little short of real. But his track record in using his method dramatically proves otherwise... it works outstandingly. Ho'oponopono is a process for repentance (I'm sorry) and forgiveness (please forgive me), when we love the Divine, accept ourselves and love ourselves and others. This puts the healing process in motion for us and others we know.
Dr. Hew Len states that it has to be constant. You clean, clean, clean and do it continuously. Cleaning is thinking, reflecting, meditating all the time on "I love you, I'm sorry, please forgive me, and thank you."
"What affects us, affects others is memory, especially that which is embedded in our subconscious. Love, repentance and forgiveness is the only way to clean these out of our system. It cleans what we don't see, but is there. When we clean, we clean these memories which limit us.
"You are always working from memory or inspiration. Memory is thinking; inspiration is allowing." Going to "Zero" into the Divine "allows" healing to us and others. It creates the energy that heals us and all around us. When memory is converted to Zero by Divinity in one subconscious mind, it is converted to zero in all subconscious minds...in ALL of them. "You can appeal to your creator to cancel these memories to zero in your subconscious"... thus others.
The concept of Ceeport emerges. Clean, erase, erase, return to port(zero). It's a non-stop cleaning process with all you meet... "I love you, I'm sorry, please forgive me, thank you." Each phrase has relevance to the subconscious mind when directed by the conscious mind. That drives it to "zero" where Divine takes over. The Divine does this, not self, not ego, not thinking.
We must take memories, guilt out of the picture.
This method does that and heals us to deeper levels while Divine heals others. This method does not require planning or strategically figuring things out. Divine, when in the Divine or Zero, handles all things for us. Vitale says using this greatly increased his moving from being homeless to becoming a best-selling author, Internet marketing guru, and a multi-millionaire with no plan at all to get there. http://www.mrfire.com/
Vitale goes on to summarize the process at the conclusion of Zero Limits. I must admit at first I spent a lot of time scratching my head as I read the book. But then what sounded too simple, I began seeing the depth of what was happening. Practicing this at the minimum affects your heart and attitude around others. In business, this would cure a lot of management, negotiating, marketing, customer service, teamwork problems, we face every day. Actually, it would revolutionize the processes we use.
If you "take responsibility for yourself first, and clean, clean, clean" amazingly others around you will be released from their problems... which may affect you.
Here's the key points from Vitale's summaries in the appendix (which may be good to read first, then read the rest of the book). Just saying "I love you" over and over is not some magical formula to this "awakening." You progress through three stages: "You're a victim," "You're in control," to "You're awakening." It's about coming to the point that your ego or emotions give way to "surrender to a greater power. You're not able to control anything."
Appendix A: Zero Limits Basic Principles
1. You don't have a clue what's going on.
"It is impossible, consciously and subconsciously to be aware of everything going on around you."
2. You don't have control over everything."
You can't control it all and it's an ego to think you can make the world into your bidding."
3. You can heal whatever comes your way."
What's in your radar you can heal."
4. You are 100% responsible for all you experience."
All you can do is take responsibility for it, which means accept it, own it, and love it."
5. Your ticket to Zero Limits is saying the phrase "I love you."
"Saying it to the Divine cleans memories in the subconscious and moves you into the miracle zone of Zero Limits."
6. Inspiration is more important than intention. "Intention is a toy of the mind; inspiration is a directive of the Divine."
Appendix B: How to Heal Yourself (or anyone else) and Discover Health, Wealth, and Happiness.
First say "I'm Sorry" and "Please forgive me." By this you acknowledge something has gotten in your body/mind system. From then, say "Thank you" and "I love you." You express gratitude and "I Love you" reconnects you to the Divine.
Ho'oponopono has a modern version called Self I-Dentity.
More at http://www.zerolimits.info/
Go to Zero... interesting use of terms.
The Hebrew writer in the Bible speaks of the privilege we now have of entering the very Presence of God.
The Most Holy place He calls it. Think of this. We can go right into the very core, the epicenter, of Who God is, all He is, and everything about Him.
"We can boldly enter heaven's Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God's house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water."
(Hebrews 10:19,20, NLT)
"Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you."
(Ezekiel 36:25,26, NLT)
It is here where we go through perfect cleansing. The Spirit cleans, cleans, cleans, as we enter the Most Holy Place. To enter the most Holy Place, the actual presence of God, we have to be perfectly clean. Jesus Blood does that, so we have the perfection necessary for this. This progression of thought of
I Love you,
I'm Sorry,
Forgive me,
and Thank you...
is so much of what Jesus was expressing. There is value in repentance and seeking forgiveness. Jesus said that the person He listens to is the one who is humble and merciful. "But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, 'O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner."
(Luke 18:13, NLT)
In this state of complete humility He is close to us. He said to Love Him with all your heart.
"'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment."
(Matthew 22:37,38, NLT)
And to forgive those around you, including yourself, and all his forgiveness will be there for you."If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you."
(Matthew 6:14, NLT)
This includes forgiving yourself and the subconscious guilt the subconscious mind wants to hold you to. Let the Spirit release this from you and let Him set you free.
The Hebrew writer says to enter His rest.
"For only we who believe can enter his rest.
So God's rest is there for people to enter.
So let us do our best to enter that rest.
But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.
(Hebrews 4:3,6,11, NLT)
When in His rest, He does all things. If we don't, all we do will fail. In His strength, miracles happen. In our strength very little can happen compared to His Great Power. Our dependence is totally on Him.
The writers of Zero Limits express the same. He does all the healing and when we rest totally in Him, God, His Spirit, He does it all.
We simply Rest in the Spirit.
The Scriptures say we are all one and that The Spirit of God penetrates all people.
"For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all."
(Ephesians 4: 4-6, NLT)
Being connected to everyone, we affect everyone in our Spirit. In our Spirit is where the Power is... beyond what we can even think and imagine. We must just enter into the Most Holy Place, His eternally, universe affecting Presence.
So what we do in Spirit, in His Rest, In His Presence, is the hub of where all the power is. And it affects everyone.
So go on within His Power, based on His Promises. He does not remember your sins, your failures, shortcomings, but gives you His Spirit of Power, Love, endurance and tolerance. So if He can forget your shortcomings, we need to allow Him to erase them from our minds and subconscious too.
In His Presence He will do that. We should not deliberately do wrong... Read, reflect on all of Hebrews 8-10.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%208-10;&version=51
He elaborates on that. Don't refuse to ignore the Spirit as He prompts you on the right path each day. Live in the Spirit and let Him guide you, and work on your behalf.
The Spirit, is powerful, does all things and works for you. He loves you, you love others as He loves you ...say to Him... I am sorry, forgive me and then, thank Him. Take responsibility for yourself. If each of us would do this all would go well for everyone, and in all of our interactions.
The more you Love others from your heart, and work on yourself, in His Presence, the more in tune in Spirit you will become and walk more and more in His power. You will see your prayers for others answered miraculously.
Go to Zero... enter His Presence which has been made your right! Give up to Spirit, fall back into His arms of the Spirit's core. Let go of worry or how things will work out. They just will as His Spirit will see to it, personally, that they will.
Relax, rest your soul in His. All we must do is Enter His Presence. His Spirit is beyond what our minds can comprehend. So we don't use our minds to See Spirit Work. We must simply enter His presence.
Say... I Love You...Rest in Loving Him.
Ask Him to forgive.
Tell Him we are sorry where we know we have not done things His way.
And then be grateful... as the Bible says to Praise Him.
Let Him Do the rest.
Love Him and rest in Him.
4spirit@gmail.com
Zero Limits by Joe Vitale and Dr. Hew Len was somewhat of a surprise to see on the business book lists. His discovery of Dr. Hew Len's (PhD) methods in the theory of Ho'oponopono caught Vitale's earnest attention, curiosity with some skepticism.
How can someone heal others they cannot see? Dr. Hew Len was doing this in a mental hospital known for having incurable violent patients. He had an unbelievable track record and success rate. Joe Vitale had to find this person and find out his secret. Vitale is developing a following on how to use Spiritual principles in marketing and attracting business based on these principles. He found Dr. Hew Len a cutting edge practitioner of a new level for him.
How did Dr. Hew Len do it? Dr. Hew Len uses an ancient Hawaiian treatment called Ho'oponopono. It means to cause perfection. So errors in life arise from thoughts that are tainted by tainted memories of the past. We must remove these from our conscious and more important those we don't know about which are in our subconscious minds. When Dr. Hew Len looked at the client files, he didn't work on his patients, instead he worked on himself. He never met them in person to evaluate or try to treat.
As he worked on himself, they began to improve and heal.
Here's his thoughts on this approach.
"Take total responsibility for your life. It is your life... everything in your life is your responsibility. You participate in the entire world's creation."
"100% responsibility.. accepting it all, even people who enter your life and their problems. Because their problems are your problems. They are in your life, and if you take full responsibility for your life, you then take full responsibility for what they are experiencing."
You don't fix them by trying to fix them.
You focus on continually fixing yourself.
"So transform yourself, so the rest of the world changes too." Using Ho'oponopono, energy is released to these painful thoughts or errors which cause imbalance or disease. As you heal, those around you heal too.To heal you, clean yourself. As you clean yourself, those in contact with you are healed as well.
His method is so simple, we may find it hard to really believe in it. But he used it to literally clean out one of the toughest mentally ill facilities in Hawaii. Therapists there lasted maybe six months. The violent nature of its patients was extreme and not treatable by anyone. During 3 years, Dr. Hew Len spent most of his time reading the patient files and cleansing himself, it eventually became a very normal functional facility.
As he reviewed each case, he addressed each problem as his own and accepted that person's problem as one of his too. So he simply said time after time while in meditation:
"I Love You."
"I'm sorry."
"Please forgive me."
"Thank you."
He calls this cleaning. By constantly cleaning our self, our environment improves, and others are healed that we know of. We invite the Divine who takes us to "zero" ... zero is totally the Divine. When in "zero", transformation happens all around us.
Still sounds a little simplistic and a little short of real. But his track record in using his method dramatically proves otherwise... it works outstandingly. Ho'oponopono is a process for repentance (I'm sorry) and forgiveness (please forgive me), when we love the Divine, accept ourselves and love ourselves and others. This puts the healing process in motion for us and others we know.
Dr. Hew Len states that it has to be constant. You clean, clean, clean and do it continuously. Cleaning is thinking, reflecting, meditating all the time on "I love you, I'm sorry, please forgive me, and thank you."
"What affects us, affects others is memory, especially that which is embedded in our subconscious. Love, repentance and forgiveness is the only way to clean these out of our system. It cleans what we don't see, but is there. When we clean, we clean these memories which limit us.
"You are always working from memory or inspiration. Memory is thinking; inspiration is allowing." Going to "Zero" into the Divine "allows" healing to us and others. It creates the energy that heals us and all around us. When memory is converted to Zero by Divinity in one subconscious mind, it is converted to zero in all subconscious minds...in ALL of them. "You can appeal to your creator to cancel these memories to zero in your subconscious"... thus others.
The concept of Ceeport emerges. Clean, erase, erase, return to port(zero). It's a non-stop cleaning process with all you meet... "I love you, I'm sorry, please forgive me, thank you." Each phrase has relevance to the subconscious mind when directed by the conscious mind. That drives it to "zero" where Divine takes over. The Divine does this, not self, not ego, not thinking.
We must take memories, guilt out of the picture.
This method does that and heals us to deeper levels while Divine heals others. This method does not require planning or strategically figuring things out. Divine, when in the Divine or Zero, handles all things for us. Vitale says using this greatly increased his moving from being homeless to becoming a best-selling author, Internet marketing guru, and a multi-millionaire with no plan at all to get there. http://www.mrfire.com/
Vitale goes on to summarize the process at the conclusion of Zero Limits. I must admit at first I spent a lot of time scratching my head as I read the book. But then what sounded too simple, I began seeing the depth of what was happening. Practicing this at the minimum affects your heart and attitude around others. In business, this would cure a lot of management, negotiating, marketing, customer service, teamwork problems, we face every day. Actually, it would revolutionize the processes we use.
If you "take responsibility for yourself first, and clean, clean, clean" amazingly others around you will be released from their problems... which may affect you.
Here's the key points from Vitale's summaries in the appendix (which may be good to read first, then read the rest of the book). Just saying "I love you" over and over is not some magical formula to this "awakening." You progress through three stages: "You're a victim," "You're in control," to "You're awakening." It's about coming to the point that your ego or emotions give way to "surrender to a greater power. You're not able to control anything."
Appendix A: Zero Limits Basic Principles
1. You don't have a clue what's going on.
"It is impossible, consciously and subconsciously to be aware of everything going on around you."
2. You don't have control over everything."
You can't control it all and it's an ego to think you can make the world into your bidding."
3. You can heal whatever comes your way."
What's in your radar you can heal."
4. You are 100% responsible for all you experience."
All you can do is take responsibility for it, which means accept it, own it, and love it."
5. Your ticket to Zero Limits is saying the phrase "I love you."
"Saying it to the Divine cleans memories in the subconscious and moves you into the miracle zone of Zero Limits."
6. Inspiration is more important than intention. "Intention is a toy of the mind; inspiration is a directive of the Divine."
Appendix B: How to Heal Yourself (or anyone else) and Discover Health, Wealth, and Happiness.
First say "I'm Sorry" and "Please forgive me." By this you acknowledge something has gotten in your body/mind system. From then, say "Thank you" and "I love you." You express gratitude and "I Love you" reconnects you to the Divine.
Ho'oponopono has a modern version called Self I-Dentity.
More at http://www.zerolimits.info/
Go to Zero... interesting use of terms.
The Hebrew writer in the Bible speaks of the privilege we now have of entering the very Presence of God.
The Most Holy place He calls it. Think of this. We can go right into the very core, the epicenter, of Who God is, all He is, and everything about Him.
"We can boldly enter heaven's Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God's house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water."
(Hebrews 10:19,20, NLT)
"Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you."
(Ezekiel 36:25,26, NLT)
It is here where we go through perfect cleansing. The Spirit cleans, cleans, cleans, as we enter the Most Holy Place. To enter the most Holy Place, the actual presence of God, we have to be perfectly clean. Jesus Blood does that, so we have the perfection necessary for this. This progression of thought of
I Love you,
I'm Sorry,
Forgive me,
and Thank you...
is so much of what Jesus was expressing. There is value in repentance and seeking forgiveness. Jesus said that the person He listens to is the one who is humble and merciful. "But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, 'O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner."
(Luke 18:13, NLT)
In this state of complete humility He is close to us. He said to Love Him with all your heart.
"'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment."
(Matthew 22:37,38, NLT)
And to forgive those around you, including yourself, and all his forgiveness will be there for you."If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you."
(Matthew 6:14, NLT)
This includes forgiving yourself and the subconscious guilt the subconscious mind wants to hold you to. Let the Spirit release this from you and let Him set you free.
The Hebrew writer says to enter His rest.
"For only we who believe can enter his rest.
So God's rest is there for people to enter.
So let us do our best to enter that rest.
But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.
(Hebrews 4:3,6,11, NLT)
When in His rest, He does all things. If we don't, all we do will fail. In His strength, miracles happen. In our strength very little can happen compared to His Great Power. Our dependence is totally on Him.
The writers of Zero Limits express the same. He does all the healing and when we rest totally in Him, God, His Spirit, He does it all.
We simply Rest in the Spirit.
The Scriptures say we are all one and that The Spirit of God penetrates all people.
"For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all."
(Ephesians 4: 4-6, NLT)
Being connected to everyone, we affect everyone in our Spirit. In our Spirit is where the Power is... beyond what we can even think and imagine. We must just enter into the Most Holy Place, His eternally, universe affecting Presence.
So what we do in Spirit, in His Rest, In His Presence, is the hub of where all the power is. And it affects everyone.
So go on within His Power, based on His Promises. He does not remember your sins, your failures, shortcomings, but gives you His Spirit of Power, Love, endurance and tolerance. So if He can forget your shortcomings, we need to allow Him to erase them from our minds and subconscious too.
In His Presence He will do that. We should not deliberately do wrong... Read, reflect on all of Hebrews 8-10.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%208-10;&version=51
He elaborates on that. Don't refuse to ignore the Spirit as He prompts you on the right path each day. Live in the Spirit and let Him guide you, and work on your behalf.
The Spirit, is powerful, does all things and works for you. He loves you, you love others as He loves you ...say to Him... I am sorry, forgive me and then, thank Him. Take responsibility for yourself. If each of us would do this all would go well for everyone, and in all of our interactions.
The more you Love others from your heart, and work on yourself, in His Presence, the more in tune in Spirit you will become and walk more and more in His power. You will see your prayers for others answered miraculously.
Go to Zero... enter His Presence which has been made your right! Give up to Spirit, fall back into His arms of the Spirit's core. Let go of worry or how things will work out. They just will as His Spirit will see to it, personally, that they will.
Relax, rest your soul in His. All we must do is Enter His Presence. His Spirit is beyond what our minds can comprehend. So we don't use our minds to See Spirit Work. We must simply enter His presence.
Say... I Love You...Rest in Loving Him.
Ask Him to forgive.
Tell Him we are sorry where we know we have not done things His way.
And then be grateful... as the Bible says to Praise Him.
Let Him Do the rest.
Love Him and rest in Him.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Where Have All The Leaders Gone? ...shaking things up
by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com
Where Have All The Leaders Gone? by Lee Iacocca.
Lee Iacocca made history when he persuaded congress to support American Free Enterprise by bailing out Chrysler. His abilities of influence and business ingenuity are unquestionable. In Where Have All The Leaders Gone?, Iacocca shows a lot of his business leadership toughness.
When things aren't right you don't stay the course, he proclaims. He covers many issues that need dwelt with in the United States that aren't being dwelt with. Iacocca challenges what Leadership should be. Here's his take on qualities of leadership.
Iacocca's "nine Cs of Leadership" which he also uses as a gauge to test the strengths and weaknesses of the leaders we have now.
Curiosity
You need to be curious, listen to people and consider what all people are saying... not just your inner circle. Great leaders are voracious readers and consider many ideas. They are constantly exploring new information and its potential merit.
Creative
Go out on the limb, try something different and think outside the box. Leadership is about managing change. Things change and you got to be creative.
Communicate
Face reality and tell the truth. Don't always be selling something to convince others, but let people know the reality of what it is. Tell the truth even if it is painful.
Character
Know the difference between right and wrong. Have the guts to do the right thing. "If you want to test a man's character, give him power," said Abraham Lincoln.
Courage
Courage is not posturing and bravado. It's courage to sit down at the table and talk. Courage takes a position even when it can cost you.
Conviction
A fire in your belly, having passion wanting to really get something done... that's conviction. Do you vote yourself a raise when you have done nothing for it? That's not leadership.
Charisma
It's the quality that makes people want to follow you. It's the ability to inspire. It's following a leader because you trust him.
Competent
You got to know what you're doing and surround yourself with people who know what they're doing. A leader is a problem solver, who is good at it.
Common Sense
In Iacocca's early career his regional manager once told him,"The only thing you got going for you as a human being is your ability to reason and your common sense."
"Here's what management is about:
Pick good people and set right priorities. It's that simple."
Iacocca speaks his voice about the way our country works now and what he sees as solutions. He takes time to compare his leadership principles to today's political candidates.The way to solve problems and differences is to sit down and talk about them... not be reclusive with your own little group and yell put downs to those who see it differently.
Pay for performance is missing in top-level pay. Stacking your deck by just having hand picked board members around you is another problem. What's missing in leadership... they should be asking the hard questions, making others accountable, instead of having directors selling the CEO's ideas for him and not representing the stockholders.
Innovation can be much more important than size. Big companies get sluggish. It takes constant infusion of ideas and leadership to prevent that.
Leadership to Rebuild (Iacocca's signature ability)
Create a sense of urgency. It takes everyone. Communication is the lubricant that makes things run.
Assemble a team. The quality of the team will make or break you... top talent in key positions.
Share the sacrifice. You must demonstrate equality of sacrifice. Iacocca when rebuilding Chrysler, asked everyone to pitch in and help. He took a salary of $1 (was paid based on stock performance).
Simplify! Make your products simple and distinctive enough so others see their value and distinguishing differences. You can have too many models.
Shuck the losers. What you poured tons of money in, you may have to give up. If it's not right (when it may have been at one time) shuck it.
Follow the market. Who are they. What will suit them. Build what they want.
Lighten up. The gas prices are dictating for smaller cars. Detroit is slow on hybrid development. If we don't come up with some real creativity here, Toyota and Honda will take this market.
Lock the big three in a room... companies, the union, and the government. There must be across-the-board collaboration to make this comeback work.
Changes are needed in America. Iacocca takes a look at what he sees as major areas... the war, oil, free trade, cars, the middle class, blame game and no one taking responsible to change it. We are too fat for our own good. All must sacrifice to save and rebuild America. We are lagging on math and science skills.The countries of South Korea, Japan, Singapore own this scholarship.
Teachers should be more valued in America, and developed more. They have too many other things distracting them from the teaching skill.
Be a reader. We all need to grow, begin learning more by reading more. It is an informational based world. Stay reading to keep up. It takes brain power by many to lead well. It takes reading a lot to fuel our brain power.
In summary, Iacocca identifies three skills. "You need someone to teach you how to walk and talk and be one. You need a mentor." Iacocca's mentor taught him...
Optimism. No matter how bad things get find the silver lining.
"I never knew the meaning of the word impossible."
Common Sense. Good ideas are also common sense ideas. This is the test of great ideas.
Discipline. Got an idea, put it in writing. His motto is "put it in writing, put it in writing."
Love and courage. Women are the best teachers of this. Now get off the golf course, do something. Give back what you've gained and know-how to rebuild what can be so much greater. All hands on deck are needed now.
Iacocca is calling for re-building America. We need to shake a few things up, straighten a few things up. "It's a mess," he says. But he says we all need to sacrifice to do this. We need courage, optimism and to be disciplined in our actions... we can do it.
The Spirit of this is faith, hope, courage and love. As God told Haggai, we need to walk in His courage:
"Does anyone remember this house—this Temple—in its former splendor? How, in comparison, does it look to you now? It must seem like nothing at all! 4 But now the Lord says: Be strong, Zerubbabel. Be strong, Jeshua son of Jehozadak,the high priest. Be strong, all you people still left in the land. And now get to work, for I am with you, says the Lord of Heaven's Armies. 5 My Spirit remains among you, just as I promised when you came out of Egypt. So do not be afraid."
(Haggai 2: 3-5, NLT)
The Temple of God is in ruins. The Temple is the Body of Christ Today and our Spiritual Relationship as One in Spirit. As A. W. Tozer points out in The Pursuit of God, we have left out the important parts of Spirit in our lives and hold on to things. We worship the gifts God gives us more than Him and the Sacred nature of His Spirit in us (personally and as a group). His temple is in ruins because we are focusing, desiring Him for the wrong things. So He will shake things up until we come around.
"Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins? 5 This is what the Lord of Heaven's Armies says: Look at what's happening to you! 6 You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes!"
(Haggai 1: 4-6, NLT)
We have left His House, the Temple, as the Scriptures point out we are His Temple, in ruins. We seek the good life of this world and not the Profound life of inner Spirit of God who desires to walk with us like Adam originally. And He sent Jesus to reinstate that blessing, the greatest blessing we can have.
Look at our society... we are rich but feel so dissatisfied with our lives, have a high depression level as a country. We are wealthy but think we have so little. We never seem to get satisfaction from anything we do. And we spend more than we make, regardless how much we make. It has been reported that many making over $100,000 a year live paycheck to paycheck. We just can't get enough and spend more.
The whole time our Temple is going into ruins as
we run after the "things" around us (as Tozer points out)
and not the inner Presence of God's Spirit in us.
Iacocca says it will take a major shake up... God through Haggai said that too...
"For this is what the Lord of Heaven's Armies says: In just a little while I will again shake the heavens and the earth, the oceans and the dry land. 7 I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will be brought to this Temple. I will fill this place with glory, says theLord of Heaven's Armies. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of Heaven's Armies. 9 The future glory of this Temple will be greater than its past glory, says the L ord of Heaven's Armies. And in this place I will bring peace. I, the Lord of Heaven's Armies, have spoken!"
(Haggai 2: 6-9, NLT)
The good news is after the shaking we can expect something so much better. Tozer continues to note that Abraham was asked to give up Isaac. But why? He worshiped his son more than God. He worshipped the blessing more than God who blessed him. So God again tested Abraham. He asked him to give up his son. Abrabram who had unmovable faith in God, trusted God, even in bringing Isaac back to life if needed. But what happened after He gave up all on earth for all of God... God fulfilled His promise with Abraham and made him father of many nations. Abraham still had all the cattle and land, but it was not his prize possession. Having the Spirit of God was his Prize possession.
God wants this of us too.
We don't sacrifice and give up what is not important. Building the Temple of God in us and Us as a group is what is important. These other things are there but we don't worship them, we may still have them, and God may give us many more. What we fear losing, we won't. When our heart's change in what we love and are connected to, we have the Spirit that guides us in the walk in Spirit.
With Him, with courage, we do what is right, because he guides the circumstance; faith walks with us and we love freely all around us. His peace permeates our whole being and we live genuinely fulfilled in true Righteousness. "I am with you, says the Lord!"
"So the Lord sparked the enthusiasm, and the enthusiasm of the whole remnant of God's people.They began to work on the house of their God, the Lord of Heaven's Armies."
(Haggai 1:13,14, NLT)
Here's our mission as business people. We are to get on to rebuilding the Temple. It's exciting and noteworthy. It's possible because The Spirit of God is with us. He is calling us to make it right again, for His Spirit and all His Glory to inhabit it.
That's us. That's our businesses. That's our homes. This is the Temple God is calling out for His Glory. Give up your stuff and the not so important things we hold on to... for His Glory. His Spirit wants to inhabit us gloriously, like never before. Get on to the work of Building the Kingdom of God in the Marketplace.
Jesus is with us... and it will be Done !
4spirit@gmail.com
Where Have All The Leaders Gone? by Lee Iacocca.
Lee Iacocca made history when he persuaded congress to support American Free Enterprise by bailing out Chrysler. His abilities of influence and business ingenuity are unquestionable. In Where Have All The Leaders Gone?, Iacocca shows a lot of his business leadership toughness.
When things aren't right you don't stay the course, he proclaims. He covers many issues that need dwelt with in the United States that aren't being dwelt with. Iacocca challenges what Leadership should be. Here's his take on qualities of leadership.
Iacocca's "nine Cs of Leadership" which he also uses as a gauge to test the strengths and weaknesses of the leaders we have now.
Curiosity
You need to be curious, listen to people and consider what all people are saying... not just your inner circle. Great leaders are voracious readers and consider many ideas. They are constantly exploring new information and its potential merit.
Creative
Go out on the limb, try something different and think outside the box. Leadership is about managing change. Things change and you got to be creative.
Communicate
Face reality and tell the truth. Don't always be selling something to convince others, but let people know the reality of what it is. Tell the truth even if it is painful.
Character
Know the difference between right and wrong. Have the guts to do the right thing. "If you want to test a man's character, give him power," said Abraham Lincoln.
Courage
Courage is not posturing and bravado. It's courage to sit down at the table and talk. Courage takes a position even when it can cost you.
Conviction
A fire in your belly, having passion wanting to really get something done... that's conviction. Do you vote yourself a raise when you have done nothing for it? That's not leadership.
Charisma
It's the quality that makes people want to follow you. It's the ability to inspire. It's following a leader because you trust him.
Competent
You got to know what you're doing and surround yourself with people who know what they're doing. A leader is a problem solver, who is good at it.
Common Sense
In Iacocca's early career his regional manager once told him,"The only thing you got going for you as a human being is your ability to reason and your common sense."
"Here's what management is about:
Pick good people and set right priorities. It's that simple."
Iacocca speaks his voice about the way our country works now and what he sees as solutions. He takes time to compare his leadership principles to today's political candidates.The way to solve problems and differences is to sit down and talk about them... not be reclusive with your own little group and yell put downs to those who see it differently.
Pay for performance is missing in top-level pay. Stacking your deck by just having hand picked board members around you is another problem. What's missing in leadership... they should be asking the hard questions, making others accountable, instead of having directors selling the CEO's ideas for him and not representing the stockholders.
Innovation can be much more important than size. Big companies get sluggish. It takes constant infusion of ideas and leadership to prevent that.
Leadership to Rebuild (Iacocca's signature ability)
Create a sense of urgency. It takes everyone. Communication is the lubricant that makes things run.
Assemble a team. The quality of the team will make or break you... top talent in key positions.
Share the sacrifice. You must demonstrate equality of sacrifice. Iacocca when rebuilding Chrysler, asked everyone to pitch in and help. He took a salary of $1 (was paid based on stock performance).
Simplify! Make your products simple and distinctive enough so others see their value and distinguishing differences. You can have too many models.
Shuck the losers. What you poured tons of money in, you may have to give up. If it's not right (when it may have been at one time) shuck it.
Follow the market. Who are they. What will suit them. Build what they want.
Lighten up. The gas prices are dictating for smaller cars. Detroit is slow on hybrid development. If we don't come up with some real creativity here, Toyota and Honda will take this market.
Lock the big three in a room... companies, the union, and the government. There must be across-the-board collaboration to make this comeback work.
Changes are needed in America. Iacocca takes a look at what he sees as major areas... the war, oil, free trade, cars, the middle class, blame game and no one taking responsible to change it. We are too fat for our own good. All must sacrifice to save and rebuild America. We are lagging on math and science skills.The countries of South Korea, Japan, Singapore own this scholarship.
Teachers should be more valued in America, and developed more. They have too many other things distracting them from the teaching skill.
Be a reader. We all need to grow, begin learning more by reading more. It is an informational based world. Stay reading to keep up. It takes brain power by many to lead well. It takes reading a lot to fuel our brain power.
In summary, Iacocca identifies three skills. "You need someone to teach you how to walk and talk and be one. You need a mentor." Iacocca's mentor taught him...
Optimism. No matter how bad things get find the silver lining.
"I never knew the meaning of the word impossible."
Common Sense. Good ideas are also common sense ideas. This is the test of great ideas.
Discipline. Got an idea, put it in writing. His motto is "put it in writing, put it in writing."
Love and courage. Women are the best teachers of this. Now get off the golf course, do something. Give back what you've gained and know-how to rebuild what can be so much greater. All hands on deck are needed now.
Iacocca is calling for re-building America. We need to shake a few things up, straighten a few things up. "It's a mess," he says. But he says we all need to sacrifice to do this. We need courage, optimism and to be disciplined in our actions... we can do it.
The Spirit of this is faith, hope, courage and love. As God told Haggai, we need to walk in His courage:
"Does anyone remember this house—this Temple—in its former splendor? How, in comparison, does it look to you now? It must seem like nothing at all! 4 But now the Lord says: Be strong, Zerubbabel. Be strong, Jeshua son of Jehozadak,the high priest. Be strong, all you people still left in the land. And now get to work, for I am with you, says the Lord of Heaven's Armies. 5 My Spirit remains among you, just as I promised when you came out of Egypt. So do not be afraid."
(Haggai 2: 3-5, NLT)
The Temple of God is in ruins. The Temple is the Body of Christ Today and our Spiritual Relationship as One in Spirit. As A. W. Tozer points out in The Pursuit of God, we have left out the important parts of Spirit in our lives and hold on to things. We worship the gifts God gives us more than Him and the Sacred nature of His Spirit in us (personally and as a group). His temple is in ruins because we are focusing, desiring Him for the wrong things. So He will shake things up until we come around.
"Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins? 5 This is what the Lord of Heaven's Armies says: Look at what's happening to you! 6 You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes!"
(Haggai 1: 4-6, NLT)
We have left His House, the Temple, as the Scriptures point out we are His Temple, in ruins. We seek the good life of this world and not the Profound life of inner Spirit of God who desires to walk with us like Adam originally. And He sent Jesus to reinstate that blessing, the greatest blessing we can have.
Look at our society... we are rich but feel so dissatisfied with our lives, have a high depression level as a country. We are wealthy but think we have so little. We never seem to get satisfaction from anything we do. And we spend more than we make, regardless how much we make. It has been reported that many making over $100,000 a year live paycheck to paycheck. We just can't get enough and spend more.
The whole time our Temple is going into ruins as
we run after the "things" around us (as Tozer points out)
and not the inner Presence of God's Spirit in us.
Iacocca says it will take a major shake up... God through Haggai said that too...
"For this is what the Lord of Heaven's Armies says: In just a little while I will again shake the heavens and the earth, the oceans and the dry land. 7 I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will be brought to this Temple. I will fill this place with glory, says theLord of Heaven's Armies. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of Heaven's Armies. 9 The future glory of this Temple will be greater than its past glory, says the L ord of Heaven's Armies. And in this place I will bring peace. I, the Lord of Heaven's Armies, have spoken!"
(Haggai 2: 6-9, NLT)
The good news is after the shaking we can expect something so much better. Tozer continues to note that Abraham was asked to give up Isaac. But why? He worshiped his son more than God. He worshipped the blessing more than God who blessed him. So God again tested Abraham. He asked him to give up his son. Abrabram who had unmovable faith in God, trusted God, even in bringing Isaac back to life if needed. But what happened after He gave up all on earth for all of God... God fulfilled His promise with Abraham and made him father of many nations. Abraham still had all the cattle and land, but it was not his prize possession. Having the Spirit of God was his Prize possession.
God wants this of us too.
We don't sacrifice and give up what is not important. Building the Temple of God in us and Us as a group is what is important. These other things are there but we don't worship them, we may still have them, and God may give us many more. What we fear losing, we won't. When our heart's change in what we love and are connected to, we have the Spirit that guides us in the walk in Spirit.
With Him, with courage, we do what is right, because he guides the circumstance; faith walks with us and we love freely all around us. His peace permeates our whole being and we live genuinely fulfilled in true Righteousness. "I am with you, says the Lord!"
"So the Lord sparked the enthusiasm, and the enthusiasm of the whole remnant of God's people.They began to work on the house of their God, the Lord of Heaven's Armies."
(Haggai 1:13,14, NLT)
Here's our mission as business people. We are to get on to rebuilding the Temple. It's exciting and noteworthy. It's possible because The Spirit of God is with us. He is calling us to make it right again, for His Spirit and all His Glory to inhabit it.
That's us. That's our businesses. That's our homes. This is the Temple God is calling out for His Glory. Give up your stuff and the not so important things we hold on to... for His Glory. His Spirit wants to inhabit us gloriously, like never before. Get on to the work of Building the Kingdom of God in the Marketplace.
Jesus is with us... and it will be Done !
Monday, July 09, 2007
Creating A Cash Machine... and more
by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com
The Millionaire Maker's Guide to Creating a Cash Machine for Life by Loral Langemeier is an action and learning as you go strategy.
Real wealth she says is made in business. You can learn how. Done right, learning as you go, you can create a cash machine for life. Loral's concept features using your skills, finding an idea compatible with those skills, finding another business model you can adapt as yours. In 120 days, the goal is to have the cash machine in place.
In the first seven weeks develop these areas:
Week:
1. Discover skills you already have
2. Generate ideas based on your skills
3. Model a similar business
4. Test sale the idea through revenue modeling from the business model
5. Design a strategic plan for your cash machine (very important step)
6. Create a team of those who can do what needs to be done where your skills are lacking
7. Develop a marketing and sales strategy.
The concept evolves around getting started and learning more of what you need to know as you go.
As you are going, you'll need to learn the Entrepreneurial Skill Set.
Once you start making money you must keep developing, so your cash machine grows. Loral is not about making just $100,000 a year, but building a business that grows to a perpetual $1 million company.... a cash machine for life.
The Entrepreneur Skill Set:
Management: Business takes vision, vision takes leadership.
Marketing: It's continuous and is more than just advertising.
Sales: Something everyone needs to do well in business for expansive growth
Operations: Systems need built for accounting, database tracking/analysis, tech process, with legal and tax strategies.
Finance: Profit/loss; asset/liability; cash flow analysis/strategies are essential.
Accelerating: When up and running the business needs accelerated, built right with creation of ancillary products and services.
Finding Your Skill Set
Examine everything you've ever done, were good at, and naturally motivated you. Loral has 9 questions to help you find this. What's most important is what you know and are good at. This is the best place to start.
The Gap analysis: where you are now. Where you want to go. The gap between.
That's your first goal. What skills do you have to make money?
After looking at school, all jobs, hobbies, clubs, chores, business, you will find the skills you have, skills you are going to need, skills you will learn.
Qualities of the entrepreneur you'll need to build as you build the business: courage, resourcefulness (creative problem solving), perspective, initiative, persistence, flexibility.
You learn as you earn: organization, energy management (beyond time management), driving outcome, quantitative and qualitative analysis, communication, team building, intuition.
Most important in this process is learning the skill of working on your business instead of working in your business. Plus developing the special skill of Future Pacing. That is looking into the future to what needs to be done and working as you go strategically, systematically toward greater market share of markets that have doors coming open; doing the right thing at the right time.
Idea Generation
From your skill set, what idea revolves around your strengths. The goal, according to Loral, is to get into an on going operation immediately so you can start learning the entrepreneurship skills.
The right idea includes
1. What do you want?
2. What are you committed to?
3. What is possible?
Analysis is important but not over analysis. It doesn't have to be perfect, but thought through enough to start. Business is a lot of figuring a lot out as you go. The 120 day plan gets you beyond the analysis into action.
You create a 120 day schedule with monthly goals, and weekly tasks. Make a plan, detail the plan, commit to the plan and do it in a 120 day schedule. Loral emphasizes emphatically the importance of written schedules... over these 120 days (4 months) in detail.
Look for ideas in market opportunities, trends, whispers, happenings elsewhere you can do there, trade magazines, TV, Internet, biz brokers, yellow pages, ads and eyes and ears open.
Keep it simple, not too original (too new may not be accepted), gaps in the supply and demand.
Loral suggests you can build a business, fix an existing business or buy a business. When buying, it should be one that is doing well.
Modeling--Finding a form to follow
This one feature of Loral's is what gets you going while learning the entrepreneur skills. You find someone, somewhere who is doing what you want to do, is doing it well, and will help you. It may be several hundred miles away, but this will give you a model to follow. Loral guides you step by step on how to approach a person and what to specifically ask. Before you do, check out the Internet, your local library, small biz administration, local college, bookstore.
Ironically, some who have businesses may not know how their business works. If you can't find a direct model, many may be a parallel in how to do it that you can model. Locally, these (not competitive to you) may help you out more in your area.
Revenue Modeling shows how to create financial strategies to meet your goals. Loral says to define what you want, then come up with how you will do it. You may have to revise how you do it several times to get it into a Millionaire making formula. This is part of the process, but critical so you don't settle for less, and find the right one for you.
The Cash Machine Plan
Write it in one day. Outline:
The Concept... based on skills, what you know
Opportunity... unique selling proposition for product/service
Strategy... what will take it into reality
Team and Operations...who will fill them, how to do it.
Financials... break even analysis with profit/loss, cash flow
Future Pacing... other streams of income and when they will enter the picture
Revenue Model and Cash Flow analysis
Outline structures and systems for legal, accounting, tax and liabilities, marketing, database, information.
Build the Team
Find mentors, helpers, and specialized people. Pay equity or hire. Some you hire may come in later in an equity position. This is a good way to see if you work well together, before an equity position. Create ground work so you move from a do-it-all person to hiring support, creating an organization, teams for managing, marketing, sales, operations, finance.
Hiring first or using contract services may serve you well initially.
It is easier to shuffle hired services than to remove or buy out partners. Shuffling will be necessary as growth and new market development occurs.
Sales and Marketing
Target who to market to, your position toward them (how they see you and can differentiate you from others) and what will work best. Marketing is critical even if word of mouth takes off at first. More systematic, strategic marketing will be necessary later. Again, the Loral theme is to learn as you grow so you know how to create growth at more advanced levels.
Loral covers where to market, marketing models, driving traffic to you, customer differences, reach and frequency, becoming the product, and simple steps to getting started in selling.
To make selling work: Enthusiasm, customer service, understanding, narrative, staying focused, igniting interest, putting a proposition on the table, creating reality, creating a feel good environment, drive the outcome, think their thoughts.
Operations/Finance
As you grow the need to do this well increases dramatically. To make your cash machine live throughout your life, work flow and cash strategies are of the utmost importance. Consider location, best equipment/technology, systems flow of information and data, hiring right is critical, and your entity (legal) structure.
Finance requires regular monitoring of income statements, balance sheet, cash flow statement. Have trusted bookkeepers, but you must know what's going on and know what they're doing and why.
Maintain revenue tracking of forecasts and actual. Do this quarterly and break it down monthly. Review quarterly comparison of actual revenues. Make expense budgets for all areas... for the forecast and actual monthly. Know where you are, what you're doing and learn what can make a difference.
Work both sides... saving money and increasing the money in-take stream. The more you increase profits in each area (efficiency), the more you accelerate real income growth with sales volume.
Accelerate the Machine
1. Increase new customers or clients.
2. Increase number of repeat customers.
3. Increase multiple transactions per customer.
4. Team market through joint ventures.
5. Expand channels of distribution.
6. Increase marketing dollars to build marketing strategies.
7. Increase infrastructure (organization, work force).
8. Seed development and support execution.
The Cash Machine starts with your skills, your ideas, modeling someone's business and revenue system. Plan it out, team up for skill balance, market for results and grow by advancing entrepreneur skills. If you are starting a business or want to add another income stream to your business, want to switch from one that's not doing too great, or just got your first job out of school/college and want to begin an extra income stream (this is the best time),
The Millionaire Maker's Guide to Creating a Cash Machine for Life is a excellent resource guide.
Everyone in business and in jobs needs to create perpetual income streams. Loral's goal of doing at least 1 million is the target everyone should set their sights on.
Loral's website:
www.liveoutloud.com
Start small... but start. Start with what you have and what you know. Do not despise small beginnings the prophet Zechariah says. We develop, mature and we constantly exceed everything accomplished before.
We do the same in Spirit. We are destined to exceed the initial explosion of Spirit we first heard about in the Acts in the Bible. These are seeds planted in the mind and heart to grow to what is next. We can expect more, much more.
Everything in our society has matured, progressed to greater levels from Century to Century. For example, transportation in just one hundred years has gone from trains, to cars, to airplanes, to space shuttles.
What we see recorded in history of great Spiritual feats was also just beginning stages of much greater things to come. The intention is that progress moves to more advanced levels. Some say what we see in Spirit now is as good as it gets. Even our natural minds can see this as not true. In Spirit we can expect much more, exponentially much more.
The Spirit is more advanced, sophisticated than anything that exists. The Spirit has unlimited and unimaginable potential. Spirit is the very own power of God... as Paul said that the same Spirit that did the remarkable, raising Jesus from the dead, That Very Same Spirit of God lives in you.
How can we acquire this kind of Power expressed on a regular basis in our own lives? Andrew Murray in The Experience of the Holy Spirit (Whitaker) shares this.
"The first disciples serve us as examples and forerunners on the way to fullness in the Spirit. What do we find in these disciples?"
"They were deeply attached to the Lord Jesus."
He desired to attach them to Himself. He wanted them to identify themselves with Him, as far as this was possible. By knowledge and intercourse, by love and obedience, they became inwardly knit to Him. This was the preparation for participating in the Spirit of His Glorification."
"They had left all for Jesus."
"In order to obtain possession of the kingdom within us, we must sell all that we have."
"He that forsakes not all that He has cannot be my disciple" (Jesus).
"The spirit of this world has penetrated so deeply into us that we do not observe it. We share in its desire for comfort and enjoyment, for self-pleasing and self-exaltation, without our knowing how impossible these things make for us to be filled with the Spirit."
"They had despaired utterly of themselves and all that is of man."
"Man has two great enemies... the world without, the self-life within. It is quite possible for a man to have much progress in forsaking the world while the self-life retains full dominion within him. On the other hand, there is nothing that brings so much blessing as entire despair of ourselves and all that is upon earth, in the way teaching us to turn our hearts only and wholly to heaven and to partake of the heavenly gift which comes thence."
"They received and held fast the promise of the Spirit given by the Lord Jesus."
"Jesus comforted His disciples with one promise... the mission of the Holy Spirit from heaven. This was to be better than His own bodily presence among them. It would be to them the full fruit and power of His redemption."
"He that believes in Me out of his heart shall flow rivers of living waters."
"For us also it is the one thing needful to hold fast that word; to set our whole desire upon the fulfillment of it; to lay aside all else, until we inherit the promise."
"They waited upon the Father until the performance of the promise came and they were filled with the Spirit."
"The gift of the Spirit is the most personal act of the Godhead; it is the gift of Himself into us. We have to revive it in the very closest personal contact with God. Every tree continues always to grow from the root out of which it first sprang. Let us turn back" and continue its growth to a great tree with many branches as Jesus said.
"Attachment to Jesus, the abandonment of everything in the world for Him, despair of self and of all help from man, holding on to the world of promise and then waiting on God, the Living God... this is the sure way of living in the joy and power of the Holy, Mighty, All-Powerful, Spirit."
"Now I will rescue you and make you both a symbol and a source of blessing... I am determined to bless Jerusalem and the people of Judah."
(Zechariah 8:13, 14, NLT)
This is an irrevocable Promise God made to us.
Zechariah also prophesied, "The weakest among them will be stronger than King David, the royal descendants will be like God, like an Angel of the Lord who goes before them."
(Zechariah 12: 8, NLT)
It is a promise. We can expect it.
And there is more than we have ever seen.
Expect and receive it. It will develop in you.
As a seed, it may start small, but nurture it. It will mature to new, outstanding unexpected greatness. Constantly exceeding its last best performance.
There is a greater, more indepth indwelling lifestyle of Spirit.
It is greater than Moses, Elijah, Paul, Peter, and the early Apostles, and even Jesus... He even said so.
The greatest is yet to come.
Come in line with Spirit and it will be part of all of Us.
4spirit@gmail.com
The Millionaire Maker's Guide to Creating a Cash Machine for Life by Loral Langemeier is an action and learning as you go strategy.
Real wealth she says is made in business. You can learn how. Done right, learning as you go, you can create a cash machine for life. Loral's concept features using your skills, finding an idea compatible with those skills, finding another business model you can adapt as yours. In 120 days, the goal is to have the cash machine in place.
In the first seven weeks develop these areas:
Week:
1. Discover skills you already have
2. Generate ideas based on your skills
3. Model a similar business
4. Test sale the idea through revenue modeling from the business model
5. Design a strategic plan for your cash machine (very important step)
6. Create a team of those who can do what needs to be done where your skills are lacking
7. Develop a marketing and sales strategy.
The concept evolves around getting started and learning more of what you need to know as you go.
As you are going, you'll need to learn the Entrepreneurial Skill Set.
Once you start making money you must keep developing, so your cash machine grows. Loral is not about making just $100,000 a year, but building a business that grows to a perpetual $1 million company.... a cash machine for life.
The Entrepreneur Skill Set:
Management: Business takes vision, vision takes leadership.
Marketing: It's continuous and is more than just advertising.
Sales: Something everyone needs to do well in business for expansive growth
Operations: Systems need built for accounting, database tracking/analysis, tech process, with legal and tax strategies.
Finance: Profit/loss; asset/liability; cash flow analysis/strategies are essential.
Accelerating: When up and running the business needs accelerated, built right with creation of ancillary products and services.
Finding Your Skill Set
Examine everything you've ever done, were good at, and naturally motivated you. Loral has 9 questions to help you find this. What's most important is what you know and are good at. This is the best place to start.
The Gap analysis: where you are now. Where you want to go. The gap between.
That's your first goal. What skills do you have to make money?
After looking at school, all jobs, hobbies, clubs, chores, business, you will find the skills you have, skills you are going to need, skills you will learn.
Qualities of the entrepreneur you'll need to build as you build the business: courage, resourcefulness (creative problem solving), perspective, initiative, persistence, flexibility.
You learn as you earn: organization, energy management (beyond time management), driving outcome, quantitative and qualitative analysis, communication, team building, intuition.
Most important in this process is learning the skill of working on your business instead of working in your business. Plus developing the special skill of Future Pacing. That is looking into the future to what needs to be done and working as you go strategically, systematically toward greater market share of markets that have doors coming open; doing the right thing at the right time.
Idea Generation
From your skill set, what idea revolves around your strengths. The goal, according to Loral, is to get into an on going operation immediately so you can start learning the entrepreneurship skills.
The right idea includes
1. What do you want?
2. What are you committed to?
3. What is possible?
Analysis is important but not over analysis. It doesn't have to be perfect, but thought through enough to start. Business is a lot of figuring a lot out as you go. The 120 day plan gets you beyond the analysis into action.
You create a 120 day schedule with monthly goals, and weekly tasks. Make a plan, detail the plan, commit to the plan and do it in a 120 day schedule. Loral emphasizes emphatically the importance of written schedules... over these 120 days (4 months) in detail.
Look for ideas in market opportunities, trends, whispers, happenings elsewhere you can do there, trade magazines, TV, Internet, biz brokers, yellow pages, ads and eyes and ears open.
Keep it simple, not too original (too new may not be accepted), gaps in the supply and demand.
Loral suggests you can build a business, fix an existing business or buy a business. When buying, it should be one that is doing well.
Modeling--Finding a form to follow
This one feature of Loral's is what gets you going while learning the entrepreneur skills. You find someone, somewhere who is doing what you want to do, is doing it well, and will help you. It may be several hundred miles away, but this will give you a model to follow. Loral guides you step by step on how to approach a person and what to specifically ask. Before you do, check out the Internet, your local library, small biz administration, local college, bookstore.
Ironically, some who have businesses may not know how their business works. If you can't find a direct model, many may be a parallel in how to do it that you can model. Locally, these (not competitive to you) may help you out more in your area.
Revenue Modeling shows how to create financial strategies to meet your goals. Loral says to define what you want, then come up with how you will do it. You may have to revise how you do it several times to get it into a Millionaire making formula. This is part of the process, but critical so you don't settle for less, and find the right one for you.
The Cash Machine Plan
Write it in one day. Outline:
The Concept... based on skills, what you know
Opportunity... unique selling proposition for product/service
Strategy... what will take it into reality
Team and Operations...who will fill them, how to do it.
Financials... break even analysis with profit/loss, cash flow
Future Pacing... other streams of income and when they will enter the picture
Revenue Model and Cash Flow analysis
Outline structures and systems for legal, accounting, tax and liabilities, marketing, database, information.
Build the Team
Find mentors, helpers, and specialized people. Pay equity or hire. Some you hire may come in later in an equity position. This is a good way to see if you work well together, before an equity position. Create ground work so you move from a do-it-all person to hiring support, creating an organization, teams for managing, marketing, sales, operations, finance.
Hiring first or using contract services may serve you well initially.
It is easier to shuffle hired services than to remove or buy out partners. Shuffling will be necessary as growth and new market development occurs.
Sales and Marketing
Target who to market to, your position toward them (how they see you and can differentiate you from others) and what will work best. Marketing is critical even if word of mouth takes off at first. More systematic, strategic marketing will be necessary later. Again, the Loral theme is to learn as you grow so you know how to create growth at more advanced levels.
Loral covers where to market, marketing models, driving traffic to you, customer differences, reach and frequency, becoming the product, and simple steps to getting started in selling.
To make selling work: Enthusiasm, customer service, understanding, narrative, staying focused, igniting interest, putting a proposition on the table, creating reality, creating a feel good environment, drive the outcome, think their thoughts.
Operations/Finance
As you grow the need to do this well increases dramatically. To make your cash machine live throughout your life, work flow and cash strategies are of the utmost importance. Consider location, best equipment/technology, systems flow of information and data, hiring right is critical, and your entity (legal) structure.
Finance requires regular monitoring of income statements, balance sheet, cash flow statement. Have trusted bookkeepers, but you must know what's going on and know what they're doing and why.
Maintain revenue tracking of forecasts and actual. Do this quarterly and break it down monthly. Review quarterly comparison of actual revenues. Make expense budgets for all areas... for the forecast and actual monthly. Know where you are, what you're doing and learn what can make a difference.
Work both sides... saving money and increasing the money in-take stream. The more you increase profits in each area (efficiency), the more you accelerate real income growth with sales volume.
Accelerate the Machine
1. Increase new customers or clients.
2. Increase number of repeat customers.
3. Increase multiple transactions per customer.
4. Team market through joint ventures.
5. Expand channels of distribution.
6. Increase marketing dollars to build marketing strategies.
7. Increase infrastructure (organization, work force).
8. Seed development and support execution.
The Cash Machine starts with your skills, your ideas, modeling someone's business and revenue system. Plan it out, team up for skill balance, market for results and grow by advancing entrepreneur skills. If you are starting a business or want to add another income stream to your business, want to switch from one that's not doing too great, or just got your first job out of school/college and want to begin an extra income stream (this is the best time),
The Millionaire Maker's Guide to Creating a Cash Machine for Life is a excellent resource guide.
Everyone in business and in jobs needs to create perpetual income streams. Loral's goal of doing at least 1 million is the target everyone should set their sights on.
Loral's website:
www.liveoutloud.com
Start small... but start. Start with what you have and what you know. Do not despise small beginnings the prophet Zechariah says. We develop, mature and we constantly exceed everything accomplished before.
We do the same in Spirit. We are destined to exceed the initial explosion of Spirit we first heard about in the Acts in the Bible. These are seeds planted in the mind and heart to grow to what is next. We can expect more, much more.
Everything in our society has matured, progressed to greater levels from Century to Century. For example, transportation in just one hundred years has gone from trains, to cars, to airplanes, to space shuttles.
What we see recorded in history of great Spiritual feats was also just beginning stages of much greater things to come. The intention is that progress moves to more advanced levels. Some say what we see in Spirit now is as good as it gets. Even our natural minds can see this as not true. In Spirit we can expect much more, exponentially much more.
The Spirit is more advanced, sophisticated than anything that exists. The Spirit has unlimited and unimaginable potential. Spirit is the very own power of God... as Paul said that the same Spirit that did the remarkable, raising Jesus from the dead, That Very Same Spirit of God lives in you.
How can we acquire this kind of Power expressed on a regular basis in our own lives? Andrew Murray in The Experience of the Holy Spirit (Whitaker) shares this.
"The first disciples serve us as examples and forerunners on the way to fullness in the Spirit. What do we find in these disciples?"
"They were deeply attached to the Lord Jesus."
He desired to attach them to Himself. He wanted them to identify themselves with Him, as far as this was possible. By knowledge and intercourse, by love and obedience, they became inwardly knit to Him. This was the preparation for participating in the Spirit of His Glorification."
"They had left all for Jesus."
"In order to obtain possession of the kingdom within us, we must sell all that we have."
"He that forsakes not all that He has cannot be my disciple" (Jesus).
"The spirit of this world has penetrated so deeply into us that we do not observe it. We share in its desire for comfort and enjoyment, for self-pleasing and self-exaltation, without our knowing how impossible these things make for us to be filled with the Spirit."
"They had despaired utterly of themselves and all that is of man."
"Man has two great enemies... the world without, the self-life within. It is quite possible for a man to have much progress in forsaking the world while the self-life retains full dominion within him. On the other hand, there is nothing that brings so much blessing as entire despair of ourselves and all that is upon earth, in the way teaching us to turn our hearts only and wholly to heaven and to partake of the heavenly gift which comes thence."
"They received and held fast the promise of the Spirit given by the Lord Jesus."
"Jesus comforted His disciples with one promise... the mission of the Holy Spirit from heaven. This was to be better than His own bodily presence among them. It would be to them the full fruit and power of His redemption."
"He that believes in Me out of his heart shall flow rivers of living waters."
"For us also it is the one thing needful to hold fast that word; to set our whole desire upon the fulfillment of it; to lay aside all else, until we inherit the promise."
"They waited upon the Father until the performance of the promise came and they were filled with the Spirit."
"The gift of the Spirit is the most personal act of the Godhead; it is the gift of Himself into us. We have to revive it in the very closest personal contact with God. Every tree continues always to grow from the root out of which it first sprang. Let us turn back" and continue its growth to a great tree with many branches as Jesus said.
"Attachment to Jesus, the abandonment of everything in the world for Him, despair of self and of all help from man, holding on to the world of promise and then waiting on God, the Living God... this is the sure way of living in the joy and power of the Holy, Mighty, All-Powerful, Spirit."
"Now I will rescue you and make you both a symbol and a source of blessing... I am determined to bless Jerusalem and the people of Judah."
(Zechariah 8:13, 14, NLT)
This is an irrevocable Promise God made to us.
Zechariah also prophesied, "The weakest among them will be stronger than King David, the royal descendants will be like God, like an Angel of the Lord who goes before them."
(Zechariah 12: 8, NLT)
It is a promise. We can expect it.
And there is more than we have ever seen.
Expect and receive it. It will develop in you.
As a seed, it may start small, but nurture it. It will mature to new, outstanding unexpected greatness. Constantly exceeding its last best performance.
There is a greater, more indepth indwelling lifestyle of Spirit.
It is greater than Moses, Elijah, Paul, Peter, and the early Apostles, and even Jesus... He even said so.
The greatest is yet to come.
Come in line with Spirit and it will be part of all of Us.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Getting Things Done... Divine Direction
by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com
Getting Things Done, the art of stress-free productivity, has been a David Allen classic for the new productive person. In the 21st Century, it has been the go-to book on being a productive, and effective person. His goal is to show you how to get more done with less effort, more of life you want and less stress getting there.
The Goal:
Capturing all things you need to do out of your brain, off your mind. Creating a personal discipline to make decisions and move to the next step. Whatever causes you to under-react or over-react is controlling you.
Managing internal commitments requires clearing your mind of unfinished business
--be clear on commitments and what you must do.
--review your need actions daily and do them daily....
Getting things done!
We all have a conscience. Our minds keep reminding us of what we commit to or feel a commitment to follow through until we do them. When we don't, our conscience brain keeps reminding us we need to do this. When we have several things undone, the brain starts to get cluttered with these messages. This then adds up to that overwhelming feeling. The good news is it happens because you are a conscientious person, the bad news is it creates stress. The good news is you can manage this for less stress and greater fulfillment in life.
Getting Things Done is a book you really should study to get the greatest benefit. Allen is thorough in explaining how to make his personal productivity system work for you. Like exercise, it's not necessarily fun while doing it, but the benefits make it all worthwhile.
The 5 stages of Work flow
1. Collect what demands your attention.
2. Process meaning and value to the immediate, long-term, overall.
3. Organize results so they have value and you can use them.
4. Review options to choose from and consider best value to you.
5. Do what needs to be done, where it's most important.
Relaxed control is having clearly defined projects and actions that move them to closure. Put reminders in a trusted system you can review later.
Getting "In" to empty.
--trash what you don't need.
--hand off to others what can be delegated.
--sort out the reminders that take more than 2 minutes.
--identify larger commitment projects you have.
7 primary types of things you need to track.
1. Project lists
2. Project support materials
3. Calendared actions and information
4. Next Actions list
5. Waiting for the lists
6. Reference materials
7. "Someday/maybe" lists; How to do it?
Define strategic, systematic actions.
1. Send email
2. Write a note
3. Leave a voice mail
4. Add to agenda for next meeting
5. Talk directly either face to face, phone
The David Allen Formula (flow charted in the book)
"Stuff" to
"in" basket
What is it?
Is it actionable?
If No, then,
Trash
Someday/maybe (tickler file, hold for review)
Reference (retrievable, when required)
If Yes, then,
What's the Next Action?
Multi-step projects Projects (planning) or
Project plans (review for actions)
Then what's the next Step.
If "What's the Next Action" will take less than 2 minutes
If Yes,
Do it!
If No,
Delegate it
Waiting for some else to do
Defer it
Calendar(to do it at specific times)
Next Actions (to do it as soon as I can)
It's worth having the book just for the flow chart. Put it in front of you where you work for constant reference.
Allen does a thorough job of helping you develop his key areas.
He also elaborates on the Power of Collection, the Next Action and Outcome Focusing.
He summarizes with these words:
--Get your personal organization hardware set up, work station organized, get in-baskets, create a personal filing system, get a good list management organizer.
--Set aside some time to tackle one area of your work space.
--Share what you gleaned from his principles that would help you.
--Review Getting Things Done every 3-6 months.
--visit his website where there's lots of free stuff.
http://www.davidco.com/
Brian Tracy is a national leader in time management strategies. One key principle he has learned that is highly effective is to constantly ask yourself,
“What is the best use of my time right Now?”
Your subconscious is your slave (a sophisticated system, even more sophisticated than the most advanced computers). It will work a solution for you when you ask. Your subconscious keeps you focused in your purpose, goals, and mission in life. If you pre-plan, constantly program your thinking, it will keep you on a “purposeful” track.
His insights to time management are revealed in his book, Time Power. Here’s an outline.
Time Power by Brian Tracy…
the Essence of Good Time Management Getting Yourself Organized.
"Before you do anything, you have to do something first."
Plan Everything in Advance
Top 3%… persistent, continuous planners constantly writing and re-writing their goals and priorities
Each minute in "planning"
Saves 10 min. in "execution"
Planning gives 1000% return
Most failures come from "poorly planned" actions
Think through.
Plan out.
Then act.
Personal Organization
1.Make neatness a habit
2.Stand back (look at how you work)
3.Refuse to make excuses
4.Work from a clean desk
Organize Your Workspace
Begin by
1.Clearing your desk
2.Assemble everything you need
Have all you need at your fingertips
3.Handle each piece of paper only once
How to handle paperwork
1.Throw it away. Your waste basket is your best time management tool.
Discard; get out of sight material not relevant.
Practice the 3 D's
Don't dilly-dally around
Decide--make a decision quickly
Do it-- do it now, then move on
2. Delegate
Get info to the right person
Use other people to get things.
3. Personal Action folders done
Keep a folder that requires your personal action.
Put your greatest priority personal action items there.
4. File it for future reference.
Remember 80% of papers filed are never needed.
Most things you throw away you never miss again.
Put things away
When finished, put all related to it away.
Then organize for your next project.
Time Management Tools and Techniques
1. Use a time planner system (Note book system, Outlook, PDA)
(Take the company's course on how to use time better.)
2. Always work from a list
3. Organize your list by priorities
(hint: number high pay off or priority with an "A" beside it.
"Must do soon" with a "B"
"Get to when you can" with a "C".
Then every day "make sure you do all your A's.)
4. Revise list constantly... good time managers are constantly reviewing and revising their lists. Resetting priorities Daily.
Tools for personal organization
1. Prepare the night before and end of work day.
2. Schedule your time....include tasks, returning phone calls, running errands, etc.
3. Get an early start.
Have quiet think time before you begin the day or before you come to work.
4. Use and organized filing system...take time to develop a system for yourself.
5. Do important work at prime time... when you are most productive.
6. Make drive time productive... return phone calls, listen to educational tapes.
http://www.briantracy.com/
How do we plan a day.
God has the perfect plan for each day.
He said He would guide our steps, when we walk with Him and He walks with us. The Spirit tells us exactly what to do. The Bible has several examples of where God gave specific instructions. He guided Elijah specifically.
"Then the Lord said to Elijah, 'Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook, near where it enters the Jordan River. Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food.' So Elijah did as the Lord told him and camped beside Kerith Brook, east of the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank from the brook."
(1 Kings 17: 2-6, NLT)
Then, when he got there, the Lord directed him again.
“Then the LORD said to Elijah, 'Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.'”
(1 Kings 17: 8, 9, NLT)
Joshua was told to follow these instructions carefully.
"Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you.
Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left.
Then you will be successful in everything you do.
Study this Book of Instruction continually.
Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it.
Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do."
(Joshua 1:7-8, NLT)
Jesus gave specific instructions for His disciplines to follow when He sent them out into the marketplace.
"Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions:
'Don't go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, but only to the people of Israel—God's lost sheep.Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!"
(Matthew 10:5-8. NLT)
The results were so outstanding, they were amazed. When they returned, "they joyfully reported to him, "Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!"
(Luke 10:17, NLT)
Peter was given special direction in what to do next, and who to trust.
"Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him,"Three men have come looking for you. Get up, go downstairs, and go with them without hesitation. Don't worry, for I have sent them."
(Acts 10:9, NLT)
When you ask, God Himself tells you His secret plans.
"Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come."
(Jeremiah 33:3, NLT)
He knows everything and can very precisely direct your path.
"Oh, that my people would listen to me!
Oh, that my people would follow me, walking in my paths!
(Psalm 81:13, NLT)
It is important to write them down and follow precisely, in a timely manner and persistently.
"Write down everything God gives you
and make it plain on tablets
so that whoever hears it may run with it.
For these divine instructions wait for just the right time;
it speaks of the end
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, seems to take a while, wait for it;
it will certainly come and so persevere in your pursuit of it."
(Habakkuk 2:2-3)
He ask us to walk in the ways He sets out for us. God spoke in detail. When you follow in detail, Great things will happen. What God has spoken has been recorded in detail, to be reviewed throughout the Centuries.
Detailed instructions, directions are important.
The Spirit gives us details, when we ask. It will many times come in a whisper.
“And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper.”
(1 Kings 19:12, NLT)
We need quiet times to hear,
then write it down.
And respond exactly, precisely as directed.
Ask Him, listen, then follow.
And confidently expect Great Things !
4spirit@gmail.com
Getting Things Done, the art of stress-free productivity, has been a David Allen classic for the new productive person. In the 21st Century, it has been the go-to book on being a productive, and effective person. His goal is to show you how to get more done with less effort, more of life you want and less stress getting there.
The Goal:
Capturing all things you need to do out of your brain, off your mind. Creating a personal discipline to make decisions and move to the next step. Whatever causes you to under-react or over-react is controlling you.
Managing internal commitments requires clearing your mind of unfinished business
--be clear on commitments and what you must do.
--review your need actions daily and do them daily....
Getting things done!
We all have a conscience. Our minds keep reminding us of what we commit to or feel a commitment to follow through until we do them. When we don't, our conscience brain keeps reminding us we need to do this. When we have several things undone, the brain starts to get cluttered with these messages. This then adds up to that overwhelming feeling. The good news is it happens because you are a conscientious person, the bad news is it creates stress. The good news is you can manage this for less stress and greater fulfillment in life.
Getting Things Done is a book you really should study to get the greatest benefit. Allen is thorough in explaining how to make his personal productivity system work for you. Like exercise, it's not necessarily fun while doing it, but the benefits make it all worthwhile.
The 5 stages of Work flow
1. Collect what demands your attention.
2. Process meaning and value to the immediate, long-term, overall.
3. Organize results so they have value and you can use them.
4. Review options to choose from and consider best value to you.
5. Do what needs to be done, where it's most important.
Relaxed control is having clearly defined projects and actions that move them to closure. Put reminders in a trusted system you can review later.
Getting "In" to empty.
--trash what you don't need.
--hand off to others what can be delegated.
--sort out the reminders that take more than 2 minutes.
--identify larger commitment projects you have.
7 primary types of things you need to track.
1. Project lists
2. Project support materials
3. Calendared actions and information
4. Next Actions list
5. Waiting for the lists
6. Reference materials
7. "Someday/maybe" lists; How to do it?
Define strategic, systematic actions.
1. Send email
2. Write a note
3. Leave a voice mail
4. Add to agenda for next meeting
5. Talk directly either face to face, phone
The David Allen Formula (flow charted in the book)
"Stuff" to
"in" basket
What is it?
Is it actionable?
If No, then,
Trash
Someday/maybe (tickler file, hold for review)
Reference (retrievable, when required)
If Yes, then,
What's the Next Action?
Multi-step projects Projects (planning) or
Project plans (review for actions)
Then what's the next Step.
If "What's the Next Action" will take less than 2 minutes
If Yes,
Do it!
If No,
Delegate it
Waiting for some else to do
Defer it
Calendar(to do it at specific times)
Next Actions (to do it as soon as I can)
It's worth having the book just for the flow chart. Put it in front of you where you work for constant reference.
Allen does a thorough job of helping you develop his key areas.
He also elaborates on the Power of Collection, the Next Action and Outcome Focusing.
He summarizes with these words:
--Get your personal organization hardware set up, work station organized, get in-baskets, create a personal filing system, get a good list management organizer.
--Set aside some time to tackle one area of your work space.
--Share what you gleaned from his principles that would help you.
--Review Getting Things Done every 3-6 months.
--visit his website where there's lots of free stuff.
http://www.davidco.com/
Brian Tracy is a national leader in time management strategies. One key principle he has learned that is highly effective is to constantly ask yourself,
“What is the best use of my time right Now?”
Your subconscious is your slave (a sophisticated system, even more sophisticated than the most advanced computers). It will work a solution for you when you ask. Your subconscious keeps you focused in your purpose, goals, and mission in life. If you pre-plan, constantly program your thinking, it will keep you on a “purposeful” track.
His insights to time management are revealed in his book, Time Power. Here’s an outline.
Time Power by Brian Tracy…
the Essence of Good Time Management Getting Yourself Organized.
"Before you do anything, you have to do something first."
Plan Everything in Advance
Top 3%… persistent, continuous planners constantly writing and re-writing their goals and priorities
Each minute in "planning"
Saves 10 min. in "execution"
Planning gives 1000% return
Most failures come from "poorly planned" actions
Think through.
Plan out.
Then act.
Personal Organization
1.Make neatness a habit
2.Stand back (look at how you work)
3.Refuse to make excuses
4.Work from a clean desk
Organize Your Workspace
Begin by
1.Clearing your desk
2.Assemble everything you need
Have all you need at your fingertips
3.Handle each piece of paper only once
How to handle paperwork
1.Throw it away. Your waste basket is your best time management tool.
Discard; get out of sight material not relevant.
Practice the 3 D's
Don't dilly-dally around
Decide--make a decision quickly
Do it-- do it now, then move on
2. Delegate
Get info to the right person
Use other people to get things.
3. Personal Action folders done
Keep a folder that requires your personal action.
Put your greatest priority personal action items there.
4. File it for future reference.
Remember 80% of papers filed are never needed.
Most things you throw away you never miss again.
Put things away
When finished, put all related to it away.
Then organize for your next project.
Time Management Tools and Techniques
1. Use a time planner system (Note book system, Outlook, PDA)
(Take the company's course on how to use time better.)
2. Always work from a list
3. Organize your list by priorities
(hint: number high pay off or priority with an "A" beside it.
"Must do soon" with a "B"
"Get to when you can" with a "C".
Then every day "make sure you do all your A's.)
4. Revise list constantly... good time managers are constantly reviewing and revising their lists. Resetting priorities Daily.
Tools for personal organization
1. Prepare the night before and end of work day.
2. Schedule your time....include tasks, returning phone calls, running errands, etc.
3. Get an early start.
Have quiet think time before you begin the day or before you come to work.
4. Use and organized filing system...take time to develop a system for yourself.
5. Do important work at prime time... when you are most productive.
6. Make drive time productive... return phone calls, listen to educational tapes.
http://www.briantracy.com/
How do we plan a day.
God has the perfect plan for each day.
He said He would guide our steps, when we walk with Him and He walks with us. The Spirit tells us exactly what to do. The Bible has several examples of where God gave specific instructions. He guided Elijah specifically.
"Then the Lord said to Elijah, 'Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook, near where it enters the Jordan River. Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food.' So Elijah did as the Lord told him and camped beside Kerith Brook, east of the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank from the brook."
(1 Kings 17: 2-6, NLT)
Then, when he got there, the Lord directed him again.
“Then the LORD said to Elijah, 'Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.'”
(1 Kings 17: 8, 9, NLT)
Joshua was told to follow these instructions carefully.
"Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you.
Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left.
Then you will be successful in everything you do.
Study this Book of Instruction continually.
Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it.
Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do."
(Joshua 1:7-8, NLT)
Jesus gave specific instructions for His disciplines to follow when He sent them out into the marketplace.
"Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions:
'Don't go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, but only to the people of Israel—God's lost sheep.Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!"
(Matthew 10:5-8. NLT)
The results were so outstanding, they were amazed. When they returned, "they joyfully reported to him, "Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!"
(Luke 10:17, NLT)
Peter was given special direction in what to do next, and who to trust.
"Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him,"Three men have come looking for you. Get up, go downstairs, and go with them without hesitation. Don't worry, for I have sent them."
(Acts 10:9, NLT)
When you ask, God Himself tells you His secret plans.
"Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come."
(Jeremiah 33:3, NLT)
He knows everything and can very precisely direct your path.
"Oh, that my people would listen to me!
Oh, that my people would follow me, walking in my paths!
(Psalm 81:13, NLT)
It is important to write them down and follow precisely, in a timely manner and persistently.
"Write down everything God gives you
and make it plain on tablets
so that whoever hears it may run with it.
For these divine instructions wait for just the right time;
it speaks of the end
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, seems to take a while, wait for it;
it will certainly come and so persevere in your pursuit of it."
(Habakkuk 2:2-3)
He ask us to walk in the ways He sets out for us. God spoke in detail. When you follow in detail, Great things will happen. What God has spoken has been recorded in detail, to be reviewed throughout the Centuries.
Detailed instructions, directions are important.
The Spirit gives us details, when we ask. It will many times come in a whisper.
“And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper.”
(1 Kings 19:12, NLT)
We need quiet times to hear,
then write it down.
And respond exactly, precisely as directed.
Ask Him, listen, then follow.
And confidently expect Great Things !
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