HOW IMPORTANT IS YOUR CONSCIENCE TODAY?

Voting Your Conscience - The Right Answer?

I've been pondering this concept of "voting your conscience" for a long time now. I am one who has been completely disgusted with the results of our national political process for many years now. As a nation we are allowing ourselves to be "hi-jacked" by an entire generation of political corruption masquerading as "progress" and "change". This progress and change are actually destroying our nation and the freedoms that we supposedly hold so dear.

Why is it happening?

Because very few of us are actually willing to study and learn the true principles that govern obtaining and maintaining true liberty and freedom in this world. This world and in fact our entire universe is governed by unchangeable principles or laws of nature that say, if you take this action, then this will always be the result. Those things are real. We cannot change them. The concept that there is no such thing as absolute truth, is one of the biggest falsehoods that has ever been perpetrated upon mankind. It is so misguided that it holds within itself the obvious truths of its own foolishness!

We can either learn to live in harmony with these true principles and bring great results upon ourselves or we can play with fire and loudly proclaim that they do not exist and that we can act any way that we want to and still get the results that we think will happen just because we say so. The only possible outcome of the second choice is a loss of our freedoms and our liberty.

So why this discussion on the eve of this election? Because I am still hearing so many of my friends loudly proclaiming that they are going to "vote their conscience" rather than vote for either of the two major candidates. Is that a legitimate, principle-based position to take? Many, many people think so. I happen to disagree.

Here's why.

At my age, I have had the distinct misfortune of living through two of the worst presidencies in the history of this country. Why were they so bad? Because they have managed to do more damage to the principles that this nation was founded on, which have produced an absolutely unprecedented amount of freedom at every level of society than ever before in the history of the earth. In their combined years in office they have introduced measures and violated powers that have set in motion forces that will ultimately destroy our nation and wipe true freedom from the face of the earth.

All of their misguided actions have been tolerated because they were done in the name of greater freedoms for one specific group or another or to protect us from ourselves. Both of these concepts are in direct violation of the true principles that govern real liberty.

Again, back to why I am so opposed to "voting your conscience"... Both of these presidents were handed the office because we had a major chunk of our voting population who were philosophically opposed to that candidate and would never vote for them. However they also didn't like the other major party opposing candidate either and couldn't "morally" bring themselves to vote for that one either.

Unfortunately both of these races were close enough that  when a large enough block of the potential supporters of the "lesser of two evils" candidate were distracted by the misguided notion of "voting their conscience" for a third party candidate who may have been a "morally" stronger person but who had no statistical chance of winning,...we effectively handed the most powerful office in the world to the worst possible person we could have put there.

I see that exact scenario developing again today.

Now anybody that knows me knows that morals are deeply important to me. What we must never fail to understand is that we must carefully watch ourselves to see that our "morals" are actually built upon a foundation of true principles and that they (our morals) actually bring about a correct result when we apply them. If when we follow our beliefs (morals) and they bring about a result that we really didn't want, then we must question whether we really acted upon a true principle or just upon our own personal belief system which, by its very nature, has the inherent potential to be flawed because we may not have taken the time to evaluate it properly.

If our "morals" lead us by default to place the person who is most dangerous to our freedoms into office because we pulled our vote away from the one candidate who had any chance of defeating them, then our "morals" and our "conscience" failed us!

The sad reality is that one of the two major party candidates WILL BE our next president, period...end of story. Like you, and almost everyone else I talk with, I am deeply disgusted with our choices.

In my never to be too humble opinion, one of them has a distinct agenda that will destroy this nation and the freedoms and liberties that its principles have created. The other, no matter how misguided and morally bankrupt they may be, at least believes that they are going to strengthen our nation.

That is a fundamental, philosophical difference that matters a tremendous amount to our future. 

The race is close enough that you can put the worst possible choice of the two into the most powerful office in the world by either voting directly for them or by "voting your conscience" for somebody who has no possible chance of winning and thereby drawing away your vote from the only person who could defeat them. It is as simple as that...period.

Now, I've got to address two critical arguments here.

First, the "lesser of two evils" - Many of my friends are attributing this comment to a certain person whom we all have a great deal of respect for. From everything I have been able to ascertain, this is a misquote. Besides that, I think I have made a reasonable argument to support that it is a principally flawed concept in the first place. Voting for the lesser of two evils still being a vote for evil, doesn't really hold water in the first place because many, many of our political choices boil down to that same scenario whether we know it or not.

The bigger answer lies in the real truth behind "voting your conscience".

The real place for exercising our "conscience" is in what we do in the next four years leading up to the next election. We as a nation should be working together to prepare a candidate who would be worthy of our vote because they actually understand the principles that govern true freedom and liberty. We also, if we truly have a conscience, should be doing everything that we can to educate ourselves, our friends and neighbors more on the true foundational principles of freedom and liberty.

Our founding fathers clearly stated that the freedoms and liberties that they put into motion for us could never be maintained by an ignorant people. Why? Because ignorance leads to selfishness, and selfishness opens you up to being manipulated by a more powerful group of people with an agenda that could destroy everyone's freedoms by deciet and false promises.

I hope you will ponder this thoughtfully and that it has an impact on what you do at the polls.

Besides that, I hope that you have an awesome day!

STOP HONORING YOUR FEARS!

Stop Honoring Your Fears!

What?

What do you mean HONORING my fears?

Yep! It's a real problem in our society. We have taught ourselves to honor our fears and put them on a pedestal to allow them to control our lives instead of doing everything in our power to rip them off of that pedestal and crush them under our feet!

I was reminded of this again last night as I was talking to some new friends and experienced an oft repeated scenario in my career of trying to inspire people to chase after excellence and their passions in their lives.

So often when I talk with someone about chasing after some great desire or dream in their life, I find them reluctant to do so. While the object of their desire, be it a thing or a purpose, is something that they really want to obtain or accomplish, they allow themselves to be held back from its attainment by some type of a fear.

These fears don't always manifest themselves as some big scarey obstacle that could easily be identified as a fearful thing or consequence. Sometimes it is a weakness, a lack of talent or skills, a lack of financial means or some other thing that impedes or holds us back from attempting to do something great or wonderful.

Still deep down at the heart of the matter, the solution to each of these problems is for us to push ourselves out of our comfort zone to develop a new skill. Or maybe to simply do the hard thing long enough so that we develop the ability to do it well enough and without fear and trepidation so that it finally becomes second nature to us and eventually becomes a new habit that begins to produce the desired results.

So often when I talk with someone about overcoming a challenge with their finances, I hear things like, "I just don't have time", or "I'm not a salesman", or "I don't like to talk to people".

Sometimes it's someone who really has a passion to serve the world or share some message, but they will bow to a "fear" of public speaking or a lack of money.

Other times it's someone with health or weight issues who says, "I'm just not the type who likes to exercise", or "I don't want someone to see me out trying to walk, run or ride my bike looking like this."

All of these things and many other excuses that we give ourselves and willingly accept from ourselves are literally fears or are based on things that we are choosing to say are more important to us than our desires or dreams.

We are literally sacrificing some of these these deepest desires at the altar that we have built to our fears.

We are giving those fears so much power in our lives that we allow them to become more important and powerful to us than the things which  are our hearts deepest desires. We are literally giving more honor or value to the obstacle than to our desired outcomes.

I challenge each of us to look around our lives right now and ask ourselves, "What are the things that are holding me back from accomplishing something great in my life?" "What fears or obstacles in my life have I given more honor to than what I am giving to my deepest dreams, goals and desires?" "Am I bowing at the feet of a fear or obstacle in my life rather than standing up and smacking it in the teeth and taking control of my destiny?"

Why do I ask these crazy questions? Because I am facing them just like you and every other human being is too. Our world today has truly unlimited potential and yet our society has taught us to cower before fear instead of standing up and confronting it head on until it gives up and goes away!

Smash the idol of your fear and the pedestal that it rests on! Stop honoring the unimportant things in your life and begin to give honor and allegiance to the dreams, desires and purposes that were placed within your heart by the Divine Hand that created you! Live your life the way you were designed to and never stop believing in your Divine Destiny!

LIVE A GREAT LIFE!

WHAT IS YOUR FAMILY'S LEGACY?

Within the last year I have attended the funerals of two of my Dad's brothers. Both of these have been wonderful men who, with their wives, have raised great families. Because we have lived several states away for nearly 30 years, our contact with the family has been rather sporadic. However, every time I get the opportunity to be with my cousins, (there are 24 of us) I am deeply impressed with the caliber of people who God has sent to this family!

All of us can trace our roots back to Edmund and Lucille Tapp and their ranch out north of Boise City, Oklahoma. Our memories of those times spent together as kids getting to know each other and forming lifelong friendships almost always go back to "The Ranch".  It is such a powerful memory that it seems like anytime we gather in Boise City, it almost always involves a trip back out to the ranch. It's like a time machine for us.

Why?

 Many of us, especially the older ones can remember many Christmases, Thanksgivings and summers spent there with Grandad, Grandma and each other. We rode horses, hiked the hills, and went on "cattle inspection" tours with Grandad in his trusty Scout to see the sights on this wonderful corner of our little world.

What was it about our experiences there that had such a lasting impact on so many of us?

While Grandad and Grandma might have had a few minor flaws, they were special people who did everything they could to create the foundations of something wonderful, and I believe potentially, very powerful there. They raised a family of 8 sons who have each turned out to be truly amazing men in their own rights. They also inspired in their 24 grandchildren a love for the land we live in and a driving sense of character that has created some truly amazing people as a personal legacy.

 Over the years, as I have visited with these cousins at various family functions, I never leave without feeling a deep sense of connection with them. In the last several years, this has grown within me to the point that I frequently ask myself the question, what amazing things could this family accomplish if we could all come together in a common purpose? The more I ponder that question, the more incredible that potential becomes!

That thinking process has inspired me to try to lead my own family in such a way so that we might build upon the foundation of the legacy that was handed to us and create something even greater with our generation. I have heard it described as having been born on third base and all that is left for us to do is to run home to accomplish something great!

All too often I see people who place no value on the legacy that they have been given. They live their lives without any real sense of purpose and when their lives are done they have either camped out on third base or even slipped backwards to second, first or even all the way back to the dugout!  They ultimately waste the legacy that was passed to them.

One of the driving, fundamental motivations in my life is to take this foundation that I have been given and to build upon it. I want to get better myself, to raise a great generation of offspring who are prepared to take this legacy to an even higher level, and to influence other people to begin to do the same with themselves and their families. I want to leave this world a better place for my having been here.

Almost our entire world seems to be so caught up in the struggle of just existing, that by far the largest percentage of us, end up settling for mediocrity in most areas of our lives, when, if we could just see it, excellence is actually available to us.

Over the last year I have begun having this discussion with some of my extended family and I am finding that I am not the only one sensing this. I am going to go out on a limb here and suggest that I believe that God put our family together here on this earth, at this time, for a purpose! He has laid a foundation through our ancestors that would raise up a generation of people with the character and faith to go out and have such a positive impact on this world that this legacy will resonate throughout the next several hundred years!

Alone, I see each of us impacting the lives of some of those around us in significant ways. That is why I believe that together, the compounded effects of our efforts could be exponentially greater.

What could be the Tapp Family Legacy of this generation? Could we, together, have an even more profound effect on this world around us? Could we become a powerful force for good by combining our talents, gifts and efforts in a common cause?

 Too often when we try to find companions for our causes we have to go out searching among the community and the world around us. Why not start with this group of people who already share a common foundational bond?

I would like to have this discussion with more members of my family. I believe that we have a mission here. If we would band together around the right principles, and gather the ability to influence more and more people around us, then the power of who we are and what we stand for could begin to radiate out from this core group to influence hundreds and even thousands of people in this world. I believe that we could ultimately reach literally millions! This world could be a much better place with the right influences. Why not us?

Every time I stand on that lonely, windswept hillside in northwestern Oklahoma at the Garrett Cemetery looking out at the amazing group of people gathered there to celebrate another great life, and I ponder the paths of those already laid to rest there, I can't help but ask myself the question...What If...? What could We Together accomplish?

Anybody up for a challenge?

I put that challenge out there to my own family, but what about yours? What legacy have you been given? Are you consciously looking to improve upon it? Maybe the legacy you have been handed is not one that you are proud of. Who's going to break the cycle and start something new and wonderful? Why not you?

Tell me what you think!

LEAD WHERE YOU ARE AT!

On Saturday I had the privilege to attend one of the most powerful leadership seminars I've ever been to! So often you come away from something like this inspired, but Dan Hawkins really shared a vision about why leadership is so important in every area of our lives and how you and I have the power to begin implementing positive change where it matters. I am sharing my notes here in the hopes that they will be a useful starting point for anyone who believes that their results in some area of their life could be much better.

Hope you find this as valuable as I did.

Are you Leading Where You Are At?


Notes: DAN HAWKINS Seminar

LIFE Leadership Talk:

Is there anything more obvious than the lack of leadership throughout our society today?

All you have to do is look at our score board in many different areas to see that principle-based leadership is sorely lacking.

We are seeing too much of a management mindset (trying to manage everything from the top down) instead of a true leadership mindset everywhere.

Empower individuals to lead right where they are at today. (Empowering individuals brings infinitely greater results to the entire organization than just relying on one individual to lead.)

A Leadership mindset is not just working on the top guys in the organization (that's a management mindset), true leadership permeates all the way through the organization to teach every single member of the team to be able to lead right where they are at.

I love the term which best illustrates this concept: Replacement Driven Leadership!

5 Key Steps to build Leadership with in your organization:

1) Build Competence - ("I don't know what to do" becomes a non-issue)
     Teach principles
     Learning requires humility - If you are not hungry to learn...It's because you are too full of yourself!
     True leadership means building leaders in your organization who may be more competent than you.
          That's how your organization can begin to function without you - leaving you free to do other things.

2) Encourage your people to take ownership
     Teach them to think and make decisions based on what you have taught them.
     Allow them the leeway to fail and learn from it.
     Seek feedback and ideas.

3) Inspire confidence
     Put your people into environments and opportunities to learn and grow.
     Create an environment where failure is ok - after all it is the pathway to success if you learn from it.
     Don't repeat the same failure over and over - If you are not learning from it, then you are not on the  path  to success, you are only on the path to more failure.
     Overcoming problems builds confidence and ability.

4) Create a climate and culture of learning -
     Your only competitive advantage is your (entire) organization's ability to out learn the competition.
     Don't pay me $30k to come speak to you for only a small blip on your radar screen - instead, create a     culture of learning within your organization. It will be much more effective and much less expensive.
     How? - Read and listen to the same material and share with your team 3 things you learned. Then share 3 things you can apply it to today
     This creates a culture of discussion, brain storming and positive competition among groups.
     You can't just buy training materials from someone like us and give them to your people. You have to lead out in creating the culture of using them and discussing ways to apply them for the betterment of the organization.

5) Foster mutual responsibility - Everybody acting like a leader within their own stewardship.

Ways To Implement This Culture:

A) Stop Making All The Decisions From The Top
     Avoid a "Chain Of Command" mentality where every decision has to be made or ratified from the top.
     Give your people leeway to make decisions, fail and make mistakes.
     Teach them to act to solve problems - That is what makes them the most valuable to your organization!
     Who is more likely to come up with the right solution to a problem? The guy at the top who is somewhat  removed from the scene of the action or the person who is right there in the middle of it every day?
     In politics, bring the decision making down to the local level where the problems actually exist.

B) Stop talking at staff meetings (if you're the boss).
     If you are talking, you can't be listening.
     Would you rather have 100% of your own abilities running the organization or a smaller percentage of all of your people's abilities running your organization?

C) Set up coaching opportunities - Opportunities to perform and then be mentored (not criticized)
     Opportunities to teach PDCA (Plan Do Check Adjust)
 
D) Invite your people to assume responsibility -
     If you are "The Guy" you severely limit your potential!

E) Give every person a customer to serve - Or someone to lead

F) Share the Big Picture - Make your actions match your vision statement
     Share it and Live it

G) Use modeling to teach these competencies - Set the example in every area.

Think of your organization's effectiveness and even profits in terms of a score board.

Let's say you are leading an organization of 100 people; yourself, 4 "managers", and 95 other employees. If you naturally produce let's say 50 points yourself, your managers naturally produce 25 points, and your employees naturally produce 10 points.Your total score would be...1100 points.

If you could maximize yourself and your leadership abilities, giving it everything you've got, let's give you a score of 100 points. That means that you raised your total score to 1150 points. But you were working your fanny off! How long can you maintain that pace and what happens when you back off a little?

Now lets say that you work really hard with your 4 managers and get them to double their effectiveness along with your full effort. So you at 100, them at 50 points average. How does that look? Total score... 1250!

Third scenerio: Let's say you work at implementing the principles Dan was teaching above. You develop a culture of learning and growth and teach everyone of your employees how to lead where they are at. Let's say that you help every individual in your organization including yourself and your managers to only improve themselves an average of 10 points. Now what happens? Total score... 2200 points! You doubled your original score!

Plus you are developing a natural culture of leadership and growth that doesn't require your constant attention and oversight. Your organization becomes a well spring of ideas, innovation and progress.

Then what happens if 10 of your people actually catch the vision and add another 30 points to their own performance? That's another 300 points.

Do you see how this culture of teaching people to lead where they are at can produce far better results than just trying to maximize the effectiveness of a very few people in the organization?

WHAT IF WE TAKE ONE MILLION PEOPLE AND GET THEM TO START LEADING RIGHT WHERE THEY ARE AT RIGHT NOW?

COULD THAT BEGIN TO CHANGE OUR COUNTRY?



Obviously these are just my notes, but if the general gist of what he was teaching resonates with you, contact me so I can get you more of the details.

Have an awesome week!

THE INSTITUTE FOR FAMILY LEADERSHIP

DO I NEED TO BE A LEADER IN MY FAMILY?

Most of us have invested a large portion of our lives and a considerable amount of money in learning how to be effective in a career or business.

Many of us have also spent thousands of dollars and untold hours on our children for sports programs, music training, dance, riding lessons, etc.

But, how much have we invested in learning the tried and proven principles that build successful marriages and family relationships? Are we hungry to learn what makes a great relationship work or are we just living by the seat of our pants?

Did you know that there are specific principles that you can apply that will make any relationship work more smoothly? It doesn't matter whether it is already good or bordering on disastrous, learning what makes each other tick and acting accordingly can change everything!

Remember the familiar saying; No other success can compensate for failure in the home.

Here is a timeless formula that governs every aspect of our lives:

Information -> Thinking -> Actions -> Results

Look at any area of your life.  Are you satisfied? If not the answer lies in working backwards through this formula and finding which piece is missing! Most of the time the answer is correct information.

Shouldn’t leadership in our families involve making sure that we learn, practice and pass on to our posterity a legacy of the solid principles required to have a great marriage and lead a family of their own?

Why does our society not do this? The answer is that while the principles are out there and have been for ages, very few people have taken the time to learn them and teach them to others.

We believe that just teaching correct principles could literally cut the divorce rate in half in our country as well as greatly improve most parent's  ability to interact with their children effectively. We do not have to find ourselves stuck in dysfunctional family situations. 

We were not meant to fail! But just like in a career or any other endeavor, we cannot succeed in ignorance! We need to know the rules of the game!

I invite you to come learn and apply the timeless principles that will build the foundation for a strong and successful family that you can pass on to generations yet to come.

 These principles are like having the correct set of tools to work on a project. 

Wrong Tools - Poor Results! Right Tools - Successful Outcome!

Invest in that which matters most in life, the people closest to you, your family!

Need some direction? Just ask!

The Power of a Self Directed Education

Whether in the business world, leading a family or serving in a great cause, if you don't commit yourself to an ongoing program of personal education, you are leaving a giant gaping hole in the fabric of your potential!

When I am speaking of a self directed education, I'm not talking about continuing on towards another college degree. While that is admirable and sometimes even of great value, it is also very costly and time intensive.

No, I am talking about the power of developing the habit of reading from a great book for a certain amount of time each day and looking for other sources of relevant teaching such as audio recordings to incorporate into your daily routine.

Why?

Because if we are not having a constant input of new ideas and principles into our minds, how can we expect to ever have an improvement in our level of creativity, problem solving, or results of any sort?

Leadership Guru Orrin Woodward puts it this way, When you have worked for thirty years, will you have 30 years of accumulated experience and expertise or will you have one years experience repeated 30 times?

Sobering thought?

Einstein said (paraphrasing), That we can not solve the significant problems in our lives at the same level of thinking with which we created them! Meaning that if we don't actively pursue more and more new knowledge, we will constantly be stuck trying to solve problems with the same limited knowledge base for our entire lives!

Why would we want to willingly limit ourselves that way?

Way too many people get locked into the flawed mindset that when they finished their formal education, there would never be a need to do any more reading, studying or learning. How sad when you realize that we are living in a world today with
an inexhaustible supply of knowledge to be had by simply applying some effort.

Some of us are prone to be the deep-thinking types. But are we stuck with utilizing only the limited supply of knowledge that was input into our brains during our school years like floating around in our tiny glass bubble surrounded by a literal untapped ocean of new knowledge? Or are we instead, constantly sending our feelers out into that vast ocean looking for the next valuable piece of information that could change our limited paradigm forever?

I love the principle of "The Slight Edge"as taught in the book of that same name by author Jeff Olson. It is that there are so many important and valuable things in our lives that are actually easy to do. The flip side of the coin is that they are also very easy not to do! Are we going to discipline ourselves to do them so that we can gain the prize we seek?

Also, that the cumulative difference that can be made by doing one simple little action repeatedly day after day, may not seem like much in the short term. But multiplied out over 5 or 10 years will be enormous! Not because of the simple multiplication of the small act but because of the compounding effect it has combined with other positive actions in our lives!

So what is important to you right now? More profit, a better paying job, a more successful company or organization, a successful family, a stronger more productive relationship? All of these things can be greatly enhanced by seeking for new knowledge and principles to apply.

Interestingly, very often multiple problems in different areas of our lives can actually be solved by learning one new principle! All too often one missing piece of information is causing us problems in several different areas of our lives at the same time!

So what do we do? Get hungry!

Discipline yourself to develop the habit of reading from a book recommended by someone you trust for 15 - 30 minutes a day. If you do that simple little thing, you will end up averaging 1 - 2 books a month and put yourself in the upper echelons of our society!

Don't think you can find the time? Start using your "Cracks of Time". Keep a book in your purse or brief case, your desk, the car, the bathroom, etc. There's nothing wrong with having several different ones going at the same time, one in each of these places. In fact, if you do, you are more likely to have a thought in one book stir a deeper understanding of what you are reading in another!

Not sure where to start? Contact me for some of my favorite recommendations!

Have an awesome day everyone!

Personality Styles - A Foundational Principle

As I read and listen to people teach about how to learn the skills of dealing with people in an optimum manner, I always end up coming back around to how foundational it is to understand that there are different personality styles.

Why is that so important?

Because no matter what other principle you are teaching or attempting to apply, if you don't understand that different personality styles react differently to different inputs, then you are constantly stuck in the mode of trying to fit round pegs into square holes!

Your new principle works great sometimes. At other times it seems to work fairly well, and at yet other times it doesn't seem to work at all. Why? I thought principles worked all of the time.

They do! But often the application of the principle requires a tweak here and there to apply it properly to the individual's personality.

I have a situation going on in my life right now where I am working on a project with a friend who doesn't understand this concept. I know his heart is in the right place and that he is a great person, but there is a lot of friction going on because this principle is being violated each time we sit down to work together.

If we want to get optimum results in anything that involves dealing with other people, we absolutely must understand that there are core, fundamental differences in the ways people think, act and perceive the world around them.

As I speak with many different people about this concept of personality styles, I find that probably 75% of them have been exposed to the idea in one form or another. However, the more I learn about it and watch people try to apply it in their interactions, the more I become aware how important it is to delve into it more deeply.

Probably the most common mistake that I see is that we tend to view all of the other personalities from the perspective of our own style instead of trying to understand them from a more neutral perspective. That might sound complicated, but it is really at the core of applying this principle.

So where do we start? I always begin by recommending the book, "Personality Plus" by Florence Littauer. However this is such a deep subject that I believe it is important to dig into 2 or 3 other books to be able to learn more from different perspectives. Robert Rohm has another great one called "Positive Personality Profiles" that I really like.

Another great way to learn about it is to listen to as many audio recordings of people teaching about it as you can. They allow you to learn from yet another perspective of someone who is trying to apply the principle in their everyday life.

Dig into this concept and you will begin to see your interactions with other people in your life make a lot more sense!

Good luck and have an awesome day!

Book Recommendation: Confidence and Power...

I just finished re-reading a truly great book. It was so timely to me that I decided that I would go through it again this week even one more time!

What is amazing to me is that, often with a really good book, even though you may have read it multiple times, it all seems like fresh material again. I know that I have read this one at least twice before within the last several years, and yet so many things that he was teaching really struck me as though they were completely new this time around!

The book is titled: How To Have Confidence And Power In Dealing With People by Les Giblin.

When you have a group of widely read multi-millionaires like the Policy Council at TEAM/LIFE who recommend a book like this as one of their Top 5 books of all time for you to read and reread, I think that speaks volumes for the caliber of what it contains! That's how I came to be curious about it several years ago.

In my opinion, this is probably one of the most comprehensive books on how develop human relationships that I have ever read! It only lacks one key principle as far as I'm concerned. That is that I believe that a serious study of Personality Styles is a critical prerequisite to anyone who wants to learn how to be more effective with people.

Other than that concept you could literally spend a whole year in a serious study of the concepts in this book. Each chapter addresses a specific topic and is broken down into several different ideas and illustrations of how to apply it.

One of the key things that makes a truly great book is its readability. This one has it over the top! He has a simple writing style. He avoids using big, hard to understand words and illustrates his principles with stories and anecdotes instead of facts and figures.

One of the key principles that stood out to me this time was the concept of Accept, Approve, Appreciate. Learning to give away these gifts to other people is one of the most powerful and empowering skills that you can learn in your lifetime!

Go pick up a copy at your local bookstore, Amazon or contact me!

Have an awesome day!

Knowledge and Wisdom

Knowledge and insight that leads to wisdom accumulates over time!

We do not learn anything of value "all at once" but rather one piece at a time, a little bit here and another nugget there. Till after time we find that all of our accumulated learning and experiences begins to add up to wisdom in our lives.

A mentor of mine once told me that if I wasn't reading in the quest for new insights on a daily basis, that after a week or two, I wouldn't have anything of real value to contribute to a conversation.

That really caused me to think!

Hmmm... But what about all that stuff that I learned before?

The problem with not seeking new understanding daily is that we begin to rely on ourselves as our ultimate source of wisdom. The weakness in that approach is that we can never see above the level that we're at without someone else lifting us up to where we have a better "view".

Without the constant input from other sources not only can we not see any higher up the mountain, but we can't help but slide backwards. When we are not seeking wisdom and truth all the time, we begin to make judgements based on our emotions which are a very flimsy foundation to build on.

I believe that one of the reasons that so many screwy things come out of politics is that our politicians have stopped seeking wisdom and truth and are making their decisions based on the emotions of the moment.

If we're not constantly seeking wisdom and truth we just naturally fall victim to "Chicken Little Syndrome"!

The sky is always falling and we have to do something drastic about it now or something catastrophic will surely happen!

Look up! The sky is where it has always been!

What are the principles and truths that govern that constantness? Let's learn to live by them!

There is wisdom within you just waiting to be exposed to the great ideas of the ages! Start letting it in!

Have a great day!

Ideas

I was reminded of an idea yesterday that I need to keep at the front of my mind. Might help you too.

"Small people talk about other people.

 Average people talk about things.

Leaders (which is what I want to be) talk about ideas!!!"

I think most of us realize this in the back of our minds, but if you're like me, you need to be reminded every so often.

Where do the greatest ideas come from?

They are a combination of the books we read, the people we associate with and the inspiration that comes from pondering on the previous two!

The other piece of the equation is that we need to speak positively about ideas instead of always talking negatively about them.

Interestingly enough, whose ideas do we usually speak negatively about, other peoples ideas right? When was the last time you were negative and critical about your own great idea?

I'll bet that this is related to the "small people talking about other people" idea!

We can only change the part of the world that we have influence over by talking about positive ideas instead of criticizing someone else's idea!

I'll never forget something Mother Teresa said when asked to join an anti-abortion group, (paraphrasing) I'm not interested in being "anti-" anything, only in being "Pro-" something".

What's your great idea?

Have an awesome day!

Great road trip!

30 hrs each way to Columbus, OH and back for a Leadership Conference with 3 friends!

Just for fun, I thought I'd share some of the highlights of what I learned. Some of my favorite thoughts.

When most people think of conventions, they think of a lot of rah-rah and hoopla. The reality is that there are some people out there who are combining some real, useful and practical wisdom with their fun too! Check out some of these neat thoughts!

First of all, why does studying leadership appeal to me so much? Well here's a definition that I really like that is really why I choose to pursue it myself.

"True leadership is the search for and application of truth in every area of your life. It's learning to live a principle driven life and influencing others to do the same."

I want to learn to be the most effective that I can at doing that. I still have a long way to go but hey that's what this life allows me to do.

Favorite thoughts:

Our cause is to lead people to truth!

Dreams come a size too big so that there's room to grow into them!

Change your label!

The fruits of the current starvation of our souls and minds from spiritual and mental nourishment are the social problems we are dealing with today!

All of the pundit's solutions we're hearing today are merely hacking at the leaves of the problem instead of digging out the roots!

God will put the right people in your path, but if you're not on the path yourself, you'll never run into them!

Until now there has not been an education system that teaches people how to recognize problems and solve them effectively. new ideas equip you to solve the problems in your life and help others to also!

This team will take responsibility for solving the problems of the world rather than passsing the buck to someone else!

Issues don't solve themselves, leaders do!

The more I read, the more I realized how messed up my thinking was. It was liberating!

The ability to fail and not quit is what creates lasting success!

I would rather be a player on a winning team, than the quarterback of a losing one!

An improved you is our product!

We're in a media war!

You're a champion the minute you leave it all on the field!

Let go of the "good" and grab the "great"!

Leadership is about standing in the gap!

A leader goes into battle when he knows a principle is in danger!

"Not on our watch!"

If you think your marriage is "OK", be sure to ask yourself if it's possible that Satan is blinding you to the whole truth!

How can we expect our wife to feel like a queen if we are treating her like a serf?

If our kids think they are the center of the universe, we're setting them up for massive failure later in life!

Guys, you are the quarterback in your homes. You are responsible , win or lose! You call the plays!

You can't correct your spouse to a successful marriage!

Marriage is something that you DO instead of something that you HAVE!

I'm grateful to be part of an organization dedicated to helping us get better in every area of our lives!

The Know-It-All

What's your reaction when you run into a "Know-It-All" or a so-called "Intellectual"?

I would hope that it's a mixture of amusement and pity rather than anger or something like that. I am amused and somewhat saddened when I run into someone who is such an "expert" in some field that they think it makes them an authority on everything!

The learned who THINK they are wise or who are ever learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the TRUTH present an interesting oxymoron of sorts.

One of the ancient Greek philosophers, I think it was Socrates, when asked if he was really the wisest man in all of Greece, gave an interesting reply. (paraphrasing)

"The more I learn, the more I realize how little I actually know!"

The more we seek for and find true knowledge, the more we see how much more is really out there for us to learn!

For instance, how often do we see someone reject religious truth on the grounds of some scientific theory or discovery? If God really did create this world, then every bit of scientific fact that we find has to fit in somewhere! If we don't see how it does, does that make God wrong? Or does it really reveal how little we really understand about absolute truth?

If your "Line of reasoning" leads you to a faulty conclusion, what happened? Somewhere back along that line, one of the "facts" or premises that it was built upon will prove to be faulty on closer examination.

Hopefully we are all wise enough to remain hungry students in pursuit of knowledge that will lead us to more wisdom. Then when our eyes are opened to a wonderful newpiece of knowledge that we will use it as a more powerful telescope to see even further out into the realm of possibilities!

I don't know about you, but the more I learn, instead of feeling like an expert, I am humbled by how much broader the truth is than what I would have ever imagined!

Are You Leading Yourself?

Here's a great thought that I heard recently. Guys, it applies particularly to us!

"Normally when a wife doesn't follow her husband, it's because she doesn't see him leading himself."

Ouch! Anybody else feel slapped upside the head by that one? OK so what does it mean to lead yourself?

The way I see it we have to be continually growing, progressing and going somewhere. It's way too easy to get settled into our rut of just living for the weekend. Why not be chasing a vision of something big in our lives?

All we have to do is look at the world around to realize that there is no such thing as staying where we are at. We are either growing or declining. Those are our only two choices. Declining and going backwards is not an option for me! What about you?

I'm learning more and more the value of living life with a purpose and a goal. There's always something worthwhile out there to pursue.

I've heard the idea before that it's not so much what you achieve in the pursuit of a goal as it is what you become in the pursuit of that goal!

Until recently my response was always yeah, yeah that sounds nice but I want the goal. I finally realized what they meant when they told me that.

If I focus on becoming the kind of person that it takes to accomplish my goal, then I will have taken myself to a whole new level where, if I had to, I could accomplish the same thing again much more easily!

It's called "Becoming".

Living your life on purpose. Growing!

So no more living for the weekend guys! Lets start leading ourselves and see who gets into line behind us!

If what we're doing all week isn't rewarding enough, hmmm...maybe it's time to give ourselves a checkup!

Learners Inherit the Future!

Heard a quote that has great application today!

Wish I knew who originally said it. "In a time of drastic change, it's the learners who inherit the future!"

I think today would qualify as a time of drastic change! How many of us are being impacted by things that we feel like are out of our control?
I believe that whoever said this has a pretty good grip on the solution for us individually! How many of us are making learning a priority in our lives?

I'm not talking about just going back to school. All of the greatest wisdom of the ages is written down somewhere in books. Some of it can be tremendously dull and boring but there is a huge amount of interesting knowledge out there for the person who wants to better themselves!

All too often we look at economic change out there that threatens our current livelyhood as a real negative thing. I've learned that most of the time it is a great opportunity in disguise!

The only problem is that we have to be willing to learn new things and embrace change! With the incredible rate of technological advance that we have today, there are huge opportunities open to us that didn't exist even 6 months ago let alone when we got our original training!

Come along and join me in becoming one of those learners he was talking about!
Life is a great gift! Don't waste a minute of it!

Secret to Happiness

I've been reading a book lately on people skills, something I think we can all use some help with!

It's called, "How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing With People" by Les Giblin.

I found one of the most profound statements I've ever read! It was so simple that I almost passed right over it, but the more I thought about it the more I understood what it said.

It's from Ralph Waldo Emerson.

"The measure of mental health is the disposition to find a good everywhere!"

The book calls it a "simple formula" for happiness!

"This deliberate looking for the good things in others has a miraculous effect upon ourselves. It takes our minds off ourselves. Makes us less self-conscious. Less self-righteous. More tolerant and understanding."

He Quotes a doctor who says, "That this simple technique has literally worked miracles in curing his readers of all sorts of worry, fears, and the depression."

"Several years ago a number of psychologists got together to see whether they could come up with some one simple rule that would help people live happier lives, with more peace of mind. They came up with a formula called SFF, which seemed to work miracles.

The letters stand for Stop Finding Fault."

"One of the sure earmarks of virtually all neurotic, unhappy people, they found, was that they were overly critical.

They deliberately looked for things to find fault with.

Yet, when they changed their attitude, and began looking for good things in people around them and in their circumstances, their own happiness greatly increased."

I thought that the author said this so clearly that I'd better just quote him. It's from the book; "How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing With People" by Les Giblin. This book definitely makes my "Recommended Reading List!"

Hope you have a great day! Remember to look for the good in it and your day will be great!

The Power of Self Respect

I've been doing some thinking about self-respect this morning.

In my opinion, there is way too much emphasis on self-esteem these days. Self-esteem ought to be a natural out-growth of self-respect instead of a cheap substitute for it. Self respect is far more valuble than self esteem.

Self esteem is artificial. It is the idea that you should feel confidence in yourself regardless of your behavior. It says you are special simply because you exist. It's a "don't judge me" concept.

Studies have shown that many of the criminals in our prison system have a very high level of self esteem. It's easy to have a high opinion of yourself if you don't see that your actions and level of responsibility are important.

Self-respect is like a fortress you build around your inner self, one block at a time! That fortress gives you strength and protection when the world throws challenges your way!

The building blocks of your fortress come from proving to yourself that you are a person worthy of your own respect!

That only comes from proving to yourself that you can make wise choices and take responsible action.

For instance, there is no way that you can respect yourself for choosing to do something that you know is wrong.

On the other hand, standing up and defending what is right and good even when it's unpopular takes strength and adds more blocks to your fortress quickly!

Your fortress doesn't have to be perfect to have value to you. All of us have weak spots in our character, they are just there to show us what more we need to work on!

Even if your fortress of self-respect is a shambles today, you can start rebuilding it right now one block at a time by starting to make one good decision at a time!

Self-respect comes from hundreds of little good decisions and acts of character and self-discipline all added together!

Have you ever had a hole blown in your fortress wall? I have! When you make a mistake of character in your life, what do you do?

Instead of walking away from your damaged fortress and giving up on it, start building again and focus on making your self-respect even stronger by fixing the problems that created the original weakness.

Think of the power that comes from being able to say, I had the courage to overcome a major obstacle in my life!

If you don't feel much respect for yourself, start today!

Go do something good, preferably for someone else, and lay the first block in your fortress of self-respect.

Figure out how to put another block in that wall every day!

You will find that other people can't take your self-respect from you if you have built it on the right principles.

That's far more valuable than the perceived picture of yourself that is self-esteem. This is real!

So do something today that adds value to the world!

Go make it an awesome day!

Knight in Shining Tinfoil!

Hey friends! While I'm learning the how-to part of this blogging thing, I thought I'd repost one of my old favorites for a practice run!

Sometimes......Yeeaaahh...Sometimes you've just gotta do it!

Instead of being too serious, somebody's thought will get my mind to rolling in a totally off the wall direction!

Today it was this quote stolen from my friend Mike! Are you ready? C'mon now this is serious! Here we go!

"Sometimes your Knight in Shining Armor....Is really just a Retard in Tinfoil!"

Baaa Haaa Ha! I almost fell off my chair laughing! Had to share that one with Penny!

Funny, she didn't laugh quite so hard as I did...Hmmm? Just Kidding!

Could this be what goes through some of our ladies heads on Father's Day?

Sorry ladies!

All too often, our horsey runs off and we find that our beautiful shining armor of bullet-proof stainless steel, actually turns out to be...well, Tinfoil! (or for some of us rednecks...Camo!)

Please...just be grateful it's not PINK!

We're working on it! The problem is, most of us are not Master Metalsmiths and when Ole Nellie bucks us off, we get dents in our armor, wrinkles in our tinfoil, and rips in our camo!

Please...just keep remembering, It's not Pink...or Mauve!!!!

Since most of us aren't master metalsmiths we're either out in the garage trying to beat it back into some semblance of shape, or we're down in the second hand store or army surplus trying to find a replacement!

The problem is that second hand steel shorts don't always fit as well as the nice custom made stuff!

Ever get a steel wedgie? Or even a tinfoil one for that matter?

Please keep remembering, we're working on it...and it's not PINK!

The neat thing is, that if our princesses are patient with us, and will build us up instead of putting us down, mankind has a remarkable faculty for getting better with age!

For some unknown reason, maturity just takes longer with us males!

(But I'm sure you already know that!)

So finally at some distant point you will be able to look out your window and see your Knight in Shining Armor come riding up to your Castle, gallant and fully polished!

We've finally found a Master Metalsmith who could mold us into the kind of man you've been dreaming of all these years! (And believing that we could be)

Please remember, we're working on it, it doesn't come easy, it's not PINK, and the cool thing about Shining Armor...It's great for hiding bald heads, wrinkles, bi-focals, sagging pecs, 6-paks full of jelly, skinny legs, fallen arches, ingrown toenails, Depends, iron wedgies, all of the stuffing required to fill out that shining armor and...the training wheels on Ole Nellie!!!

At least it's not PINK...or Camo...or even Tinfoil anymore!!!

We love our Princesses, just the way you are!

Sorry for the digression! I just had to do that! I thought it was funny!

At least the tinfoil and the iron wedgies part!

Have an awesome day my friends!