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Life Is Shaped by the Language We Use

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In this note, we will discuss how what we say and how we say it can have a major impact on our lives. Our time of discovery for today will focus on…

The Subtlety of Language

I have found that sometimes the subtle difference in our attitude, which of course makes a major difference in our future, can be as simple as the language we use. The difference is even in how you talk to yourself or others. Consciously making a decision to quit saying what you don’t want and to start saying what you do want. In some aspects, I call that faith or confidence – believing the best, hoping for the best, and moving toward the best.

A few examples could be instead of saying “What if somebody doesn’t respond to me?” start saying, “What if they do respond?”

Instead of saying “What if someone says no?” say, “What if they say yes?” Instead of “What if they start and quit?” say, “What if they start and stay?” Or instead of “What if it doesn’t work out?” you say, “What if it does work out?” And the list goes on and on.

I found that when you start thinking and saying what you really want, then your mind automatically shifts and pulls you in that direction. And, sometimes it can be that simple, just a little twist in vocabulary that illustrates your attitude and philosophy.

Our language can also affect how others perform and behave around us. As an example, a teenager says to a parent, “I need $50.” And if the parent learns to say, “No comprendo. That kind of language doesn’t work here. We have the money to give, but that’s not how you get $50,” then he teaches the teenager to ask, “How can I earn $50?”

That is the magic of words. There is money available here. There is money for everybody, but you just have to learn the magic words to get them. If you just learn the philosophy of asking “How can I earn $50?” you can get everything you’d possibly want.

You can’t go to the soil and say, “Give me a harvest.” You know the soil smiles and says, “Who is this clown that brings me his need and brings me no seed?” Instead, if you said to the soil, “I’ve got this seed and if I planted it, would you work while I sleep?” Then the soil says, “No problem. Give me the seed. Go to sleep, and I’ll be working while you’re sleeping.”

If you just understand these simple principles, teaching them to a teenager (or adult) is sometimes just a matter of language. It’s like an investment account instead of a savings account. It’s simple language, but it’s so important. It is easy to stumble through almost a lifetime and not learn some of these simplicities.

If you don’t learn them, though, then you have to put up with the lack and the challenges that don’t work out simply from not reading the proper books, not listening to the proper training like this podcast, not sitting in the class, and not studying the principles that will change your life. Does your language limit you so that you are not willing to search for the information and find the resources you require?

In order to obtain resources, information, or relationships, you must take continual action. You cannot obtain without putting forth the effort. It is the principle of planting and harvesting. A farmer cannot go to the land and say, “I planted last year, so produce for me a crop again this year.” That is not how life works. Luke 11:9-10 gives us the pattern, “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” Results follow actions.

If you don’t like where you are in life today or if you desire changes in your life, here is the great news. You can start this change process anytime. For me, I started to put the principles for success into practice early in my adult life. We have had our share of steep uphill climbs, times of trials where we lost nearly everything, as well as times of bounty as we continued to apply the principles for success.

In my experience, it takes about seven years to go from a place of desperation to complete freedom. I call this my “Seven-Year Price.” It may be a different timeline for you, but it will take time. There is no elevator to the top. It is one step at a time, and the stairs are usually very steep.

You might say, “What kind of revolution, what kind of change, what kind of thinking, what kind of magic had to happen? Was it you?” And I say, “No. Any person of any age and any status in life has the capability to succeed.” Any seven years – 25 to 32, 50 to 57, 65-72 will work. The starting point is not the issue if you truly desire to change in your life. Whether it is seven years, a few more, or a few less, the number of years depends on you. You must be willing and embark on an intensive, accelerated personal development curve, learning curve, and application curve to learn the disciplines and principles.

Now, it might not take the same amount of time, but the changes and the rewards in some fashion are available for those who are willing to pay that “Seven-Year Price.” You will find in addition to the time and effort that you invest, your language can have a great impact on your attitude, actions, and results. The subtlety of language is so crucial. Self-talk will program your brain to achieve what you tell yourself you are capable of. That can be very little, or it can be much. The choice is yours.

As we talk to ourselves we need to understand that life is shaped by the language we use. Let’s speak carefully and encouraging.

Life Is About Giving and Gratitude

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Regardless of how difficult our life trails may be at times, we have so much to be thankful for. Our first discovery for today is…

Learn To Be Thankful For What You Already Have

I want to start out this trek with a question. Is thankfulness a survival skill? Perhaps most of you would respond with, “No, Guthrie, thankfulness is not key to survival,” and I would tend to agree with you. Most of us have probably already solved the necessary problems of survival, gone beyond that, and are now working to achieve our desires. But let me give you this key phrase, “Learn to be thankful for what you already have while you pursue all that you want.” I believe one of the greatest and perhaps one of the simplest lessons in life we can learn is to be thankful for what we have already received and accomplished.

Both the years and the experiences have brought me to where I am today, sharing with you daily on our Wisdom-Trek and in our weekly Wisdom Notes as we pursue creating a living legacy.  We have not arrived to this place on our trek together by accident. It was by divine design. It is the attribute of thankfulness that opened the windows of opportunities, blessings, and unique experiences to flow my way. My gratitude started with my parents who raised me and gave me an incredible foundation that has lasted me all of these years, and it continues with the mentors that I’ve met along the way who have absolutely changed and revolutionized my life, my income, my resources, and my future. I am also very thankful for the people, the associations, the ideas, the chance to work and labor, and the opportunity to produce results that I have. All of that has brought me to this place on my trek of life. I’m grateful for it all.

What a unique opportunity each one of us has, with so many of us representing different countries, nations, and cultures, to appreciate the uniqueness of our own experiences that has brought us all here together each day as we gain new wisdom, insight, and understanding and also reinforce what we have learned in the past. We know that each day of our trek represents countries all over the world, and we have the freedom and liberty to come together on this trek we call life.These are extraordinary times. There is more freedom across the world than at any time in history. Although our modern news media on both the right and left would try to convince us otherwise, the facts tell a different story. We as a country and as a world have so much to be thankful for. Always start with thanksgiving. Be thankful for what you already have, and see the miracles that come from this one simple act.

Now thankfulness is just the beginning. Next, you have to challenge yourself to produce. Produce more ideas than you need for yourself so you can share and give your ideas away. That is called fruitfulness and abundance. I think fruitfulness and abundance mean to go to work on producing more than you need for yourself so you can begin blessing others, blessing your nation, and blessing your own piece of the world that you have the privilege to impact.

Once abundance starts to come and once someone becomes incredibly productive, it’s amazing what the impact can be. But, to begin this incredible process of blessing, it often starts with the act of thanksgiving and gratitude – being thankful for what you already have and for what you’ve already done. Begin the act of thanksgiving today, and watch the miracles flow your way.

Thankfulness comes from your heart, which is controlled by what you allow into your mind. Nearly 50 times the Bible reminds us to give thanks, such as in Ephesians 5:20, “And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The second discovery of wisdom we want to explore today is…

The Best Gift to Give Yourself and Others

I often hear the question, “How can I best help my children, spouse, family member, staff member, friend, etc. improve/change?” In fact, it the most frequent question that is asked by those that want to make an impact on the lives of others is “How can I help change someone else?”

My answer may come as a surprise…The key to helping others is to help yourself first. In other words, the best contribution you can make to someone else is your own personal development. If you become 10 times wiser or 10 times stronger, think of what that will do for your adventure as a parent, as a grandparent, or as a business colleague.

The best gift you can give to others, really, is your ongoing personal development – getting better, getting stronger, becoming wiser…I think parents should pick this valuable philosophy up. If the parents are okay, the kids have an excellent chance of being okay. Work on your personal development as parents, as grandparents, as friends, and as colleagues. This is the best gift you can give to anyone that you impact.

As we discussed previously, if you have ever ridden in an airplane, then you might have noticed the oxygen compartment located above every seat. There are explicit instructions that say “In case of an emergency, first secure your own oxygen mask and then if you have children with you secure their masks.” Take care of yourself first. Then assist your children or others that are dependent on you. If we use that same philosophy throughout our whole lives, it would be so valuable.

If you learn to create happiness for yourself, your children, your grandchildren and everyone else in your world, they now have an excellent chance to be happy. If you create a unique lifestyle for yourself and your spouse, that will be a great example to serve your children, your grandchildren, and your world.
Self-development enables you to serve and to be more valuable to those around you – your child, your business, your colleague, your community, your church…

That’s why I explore these wisdom nuggets and share them with you. If you keep refining all the parts of yourself, your character, your health, etc. so that you become an attractive person to your world, you’ll attract opportunity. Opportunity will then begin to seek you out. Your reputation will begin to precede you, and people will want to be with you and/or do business with you. All of that possibility is created by working on the philosophy that success is something you attract by continually working on your own personal development.

Even if you feel you know a great deal, there is always room for improvement. Proverbs 9:9 tells us, “Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser. Teach the righteous, and they will learn even more.”

The two wisdom nuggets that we explored today were to be continually thankful for everything and to understand that the best way to help others is to continually improve and help yourself.  As we digest these concepts and incorporate them into our lives, commit to joining us each week.

Life Is About Creating Your Opportunity

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In today’s Wisdom Note, let us consider that as we travel through life, we need the keen sense of ability and shrewdness to take ordinary or even sub-par situations and create opportunities from them. It is important to our overall success. We need to seize the day and the opportunities while they are available. As the Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the church in Ephesus in chapter 5 verses 15-17, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”

So let’s first look at the wisdom nugget of…

Creating Your Opportunity

An enterprising person is one who comes across a pile of scrap metal and sees the making of a wonderful sculpture. An innovative person is one who drives through an old decrepit part of town and sees a new housing development. An ingenious person is one who sees opportunity in all areas of life.

To be resourceful is to keep your eyes open and your mind active. It’s to be skilled enough, confident enough, creative enough, and disciplined enough to seize opportunities that present themselves, regardless of the economy or other external situations.

A person with an enterprising attitude says, “Find out what you can before action is taken.” Do your homework. Do the research. Be prepared. Be resourceful. Do all you can in preparation for what is yet to come.

Enterprising people always see the future in the present. Enterprising people always find a way to take advantage of a situation, not be burdened by it. Enterprising people aren’t lazy. They don’t wait for opportunities to come to them. They create opportunities. Enterprise means always finding a way to keep yourself actively working toward your ambition.

Enterprise is two things. The first is creativity. You need creativity to see what’s out there and to shape it to your advantage. You need creativity to look at the world a little differently. You need creativity to take a different approach and to be different.

What goes hand-in-hand with the creativity of enterprise? The courage to be creative is the second requirement. You need courage to see things differently, courage to go against the crowd, courage to take a different approach, courage to stand alone if you have to, and courage to choose activity over inactivity.

And lastly, being enterprising doesn’t just relate to the ability to make money. Being enterprising also means feeling good enough about yourself, having enough self-worth to want to seek advantages and opportunities that will make a difference in your future and the future of others. By doing so, you will increase your confidence, your courage, your creativity, and your self-worth, as well as your enterprising nature.

The next nugget of wisdom we want to explore today is…

Success IS Everything

Someone once said to me that success isn’t everything, and I think I know what they really meant. I believe they really meant that money wasn’t everything, and I certainly agree with that. But, I do believe that success IS everything.

First, you need to succeed to survive. We must take the seasons and learn how to use them with the seed, the soil, and the rain of opportunity to learn how to sustain ourselves and our family. But, second is to then succeed to flourish in every part of your life. A good question to ask mature people is “If you could do better, should you?” And, I think almost everybody would answer the question in the positive.

If you could improve your health, shouldn’t you do that? If you could learn more, shouldn’t you do that? If you could earn more and share more, shouldn’t you do that? If you could improve your relationships and spirituality, shouldn’t you do that? I think that is what success is really all about. It is not just a destination that is set for everybody to try and go for. It is like Zig Ziglar said, “Improving in every area of your life to see if you can’t with satisfaction at the end of the day, week, month and year and say ‘I have made excellent progress this year, for myself, for my family, for my business, my career, and my health.’” I think everybody recognizes that kind of success is legitimate and something we should all strive for.

The concept of success and reward is woven throughout the scriptures. It is usually tied to working hard and obeying God. Both of these attributes are attributes that we have control over, so the ability for success is within our control. Joshua 1:8 says, “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

Proverbs 2:6-8 reminds, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.”

Ecclesiastes 10:10 states, “If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success.”

While we will never be completely successful in all areas of life, we can strive toward being more successful. It is in the striving to be a little bit better today than yesterday, in our speech, our language, our health, and in everything we can possibly think of that we find success.

So yes, in my opinion, it is good to succeed!

In this Wisdom Note, we consumed wisdom nuggets that taught us that we are responsible for creating our opportunities by being enterprising, resourceful, creative, and courageous. We also learned that when we have the proper concept of success, we should pursue it in everything that we do.

Life Is About Taking Action

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Today let’s continue on our trail and search for some more nuggets of wisdom. Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us, “For everything, there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.”

The rally cry for this week is…

A Time to Take Action

Engaging in genuine discipline requires that you develop the ability to take action. You don’t need to be hasty if it isn’t required, but you don’t want to lose much time either. The time to act is when the idea is hot and the emotion is strong.

Let’s say you would like to build your personal library of books, either physically or electronically. If that is a strong desire for you, what you’ve got to do is get the first book. Then get the second book. Take action as soon as possible before the feeling passes and the idea dies. If you don’t, you fall prey to the Law of Diminishing Intent.

We intend to take action when the idea strikes us. We intend to do something when the emotion is high. But, if we don’t translate that intention into action fairly soon, the urgency starts to diminish. A month from now the passion is cold. A year from now it can’t be found. If nothing changes in your life, then your life will not change.

So take action. Set up a discipline or habit when the emotions are high and the idea is strong, clear, and powerful. If somebody talks about good health and you’re motivated by it, you need to get a book on nutrition. Get the book before the idea passes and the emotion gets cold. Begin the process. Fall on the floor and do some push-ups.

You’ve got to take action; otherwise, the wisdom is wasted. The emotion soon passes unless you apply it to a disciplined activity. Discipline enables you to capture the emotion and the wisdom and translate them into action. The key is to increase your motivation by quickly setting up the disciplines. By doing so, you’ve started a whole new life process.

The greatest value of discipline is self-worth, also known as self-esteem. Many people who are teaching self-esteem these days don’t connect it to discipline. But, once we sense the least lack of discipline within ourselves, it starts to erode our psyche. One of the greatest temptations is to just ease up a little bit. Instead of doing your best, you allow yourself to do just a little less than your best. Sure enough, you’ve started in the slightest way to decrease your sense of self-worth.

There is a problem with even a little bit of neglect. Neglect starts as an infection. If you don’t take care of it, it becomes a disease. And one neglect leads to another. Worst of all, when neglect starts, it diminishes our self-worth.

Once this has happened, how can you regain your self-respect? All you have to do is act now! Start with the smallest discipline that corresponds to your own philosophy. Make this commitment, “I will discipline myself to set and then achieve my goals today so that in the years ahead I can celebrate my successes.”

A Time to Be Fruitful

Over the years I’ve learned to challenge myself and those that I impact to turn their response to the ideas and information they receive into results. According to the Biblical story in Genesis 1:28, the first couple, Adam and Eve, were instructed to be fruitful or produce some results. “Then God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.’”

If you study Chapter 1 closely, you’ll see that God instructed all His creation to be fruitful. He repeated these commands after the flood to Noah, his family, and all creation also.

Fruitful is kind of an interesting word. It denotes abundance to fill the earth. In our daily lives today, I think fruitful, abundance, and productivity mean to go to work on producing more than you need for yourself. I think we fulfill that command given to us so long ago to be productive and to produce far more than we need for ourselves by blessing our family and others, blessing our workplace, and blessing our nation regardless of where we live or what conditions we are living in.

Challenge yourself to produce more ideas than you need for yourself so you can share and give your ideas away. Produce more in terms of substance and money and treasure and all things valuable to human beings, far more than you need for yourself.

I am reminded of R.G. LeTourneau’s story, the man who built the big earth moving machines. It was his goal to someday give away 90% of his income. Giving away far more than anyone could possibly imagine. 90% is an awful lot to give away, but you should have seen the 10% that was left. Once abundance starts to come and once someone becomes incredibly productive, it’s amazing what the numbers turn out to be. It’s amazing what it finally totals. So make sure when you are given the opportunity that you turn your response into results and capitalize on the chance to be more fruitful and more giving.

As we gain wisdom and apply wise principles to our lives, God will multiply our years so that we will have even more opportunities to be fruitful. Proverbs 9:11 puts it this way, “Wisdom will multiply your days and add years to your life.” We should produce abundant results in all of our endeavors as the Apostle Paul in his letter to the church in Ephesus put it in Chapter 6 verse 7, “Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.”

On our trek this week, our wisdom nuggets gave us insight that there is a time to take action and a time to be fruitful. Both are related because if we do take action, we will multiply our results and be more fruitful.

Life Is Like Being a Farmer

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In today’s note, let us venture onto the trail in search of that hidden treasure called wisdom. This treasure is readily available, but few seek for it as if seeking for gold, silver, or precious jewels. If we desire to be joyful, we must seek for wisdom as Proverbs 3:13-15 tells us,

Joyful is the person who finds wisdom,
the one who gains understanding.
For wisdom is more profitable than silver,
and her wages are better than gold.
Wisdom is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.

Come along with me again this week in your mind and visualize our trail. We once again come across an overlook, and down in the valley, we see the farmers busy at the harvest. This scene reminds me of how wise it would be if we all would think like a farmer. The more we increase our ability to observe, learn, and understand, the wiser we will become.

Thinking Like a Farmer

One of the difficulties we face in our industrialized and technology-driven age is the fact we’ve lost our sense of seasons. Unlike the farmer whose priorities change with the seasons, we have become impervious to the natural rhythm of life. As a result, we have our priorities out of balance. Let me illustrate what I mean…

For a farmer, springtime is his most active time. It’s then when he must work around the clock, rising before the sun and still toiling at the stroke of midnight. He must keep his equipment running at full capacity because he has but a small window of time for the planting of his crop. Summer is busy, making sure that the crops are growing properly, but it is also a time of patient waiting. God is ultimately in control of the weather during the crucial growth months, so the farmer has to wait and pray. During the fall, it is once again a frantic time for harvesting within a small window of opportunity, hopefully resulting with an abundant crop. Eventually, winter comes when there is less for him to do to keep him busy.

Every farmer knows that you can’t sow and reap on the same day. There is a timetable for your harvest that requires both working and waiting. Patience is a small price to pay for what you will receive.

There is a lesson here. Learn to use the seasons of life. Decide when to pour it on and when to ease back, when to take advantage and when to let things ride. It’s easy to keep working 10-12 hour days, year in and year out, and lose a natural sense of priorities and cycles. Don’t let one year blend into another in a seemingly endless parade of tasks and responsibilities. Keep your eye on your own seasons, lest you lose sight of value and substance.

Proverbs 23:3-5 encourages us to be careful of the continuous pursuit of wealth.

Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich.
Be wise enough to know when to quit.
In the blink of an eye wealth disappears,
for it will sprout wings
and fly away like an eagle.

As we consider thinking like a farmer, we must realize that most of us will not be farming full time. So let’s continue on our trail and consider another point which is how to overcome a great challenge on our trek of life.

The Great Challenge of Life

Here’s one of the great challenges of life…You can have more than you currently have because you can become more than you currently are.

I have found that income seldom will exceed your own personal development. Once in a while income takes a lucky jump, but unless you personally grow out to where it is, it will go back to where you are. It has been predicted in studies that if you took all the money in the world and divided it among everyone equally, it would soon be back in the same pockets. Regardless of whether that is actually true, on an individual level, you can have more because you can become more. You see, here is how the other side of the coin reads…Unless you change how you are, you will always have what you currently have. Creating a plan won’t work for you. It may be a good plan, but it won’t work without you. You’ve got to work it. It is the human effort that counts. The major thing that makes the difference is what YOU do.

Proverbs 21:5 teaches us to plan, but then to take action, “Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.”

In order to have more, you need to become more. One person may say “If I had a good job, I would really pour it on, but I have this lousy job so I just goof off.” If that is your philosophy, you are destined to stay there.

You may have said, if I had a lot of money, I would be really generous, but I don’t have much so I’m not generous. See, you’ve got to change that philosophy, or you will never have an accumulation of wealth. Unless YOU change, your situation won’t change. Amazingly, however, when you throw out your blame list and start becoming more yourself, the difference is everything else will begin to change around you. An enterprising person is one who sees opportunity in all areas of life. Thinking like a farmer and overcoming great challenges of life are two great nuggets of wisdom to consume for this week.