Wisdom-Trek ©

Creating a Legacy ™

4 Truths on the Trail of Hardship

by Leave a Comment

In our previous Wisdom Note, we explored 10 Principles for Success. These bits of wisdom help us to live a rich and satisfying life while creating a living legacy. If you miss any of our Wisdom Notes please go to the blog to read previous installments.

We’ve all had days (and maybe even years) when life just doesn’t seem to be going our way! Paula and I have certainly had our seasons of life where we have had to go through stormy nights and deep valleys. This hasn’t been in our relationship with each other but usually focused on our businesses. During the past 40 years as entrepreneurs, we have personally sacrificed and worked very hard to build our businesses.

We have seen success, but there have been downturns also. We have endured storms that have rushed in where within a short period of time years of labor and sacrifice have been washed away. A couple of times this was because of decisions that we made, which at the time seemed okay, but later proved not to be wise. At other times, though, economic situations completely out of our control were the factor. This has certainly given us the insight to make sure we do not judge others that may be struggling, as you never really know what someone else may be going through.

Have you ever been on the trail of hardship where there have been long seasons of life when you felt like nothing was working and everything was out of whack? How about those frustrating days when you just can’t seem to get anything accomplished and for every step up the trail you take, you slip back two steps?

In the grand scheme of things, a stressful day doesn’t impact life or eternity all that much, but in those longer seasons of joblessness, sickness, financial stress, marital strain, and other ongoing life events, the stress and frustration can seem overwhelming. I think we can all relate to this in some form or fashion. So the question today is, how do we handle those trails of hardship?

On the trail today, we have four rest stops where we can reflect on those challenging seasons of life. Struggles in life are inevitable, but destruction is optional. As a Christ-follower, I gain my strength through the promises in God’s Word.

1. Remember that your character should always be stronger than your circumstances.

We can’t always control what happens to us, but we can always control how we choose to respond. In those moments when I choose to stop complaining and instead give thanks to God for the good in my life, the parts that seem bad start to seem much less significant. Choose to keep a positive attitude and a thankful heart regardless of what you’re going through. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”

2. Remember that your struggles always lead to strength.

Every difficulty in your life, whether big or small, is something God will use to produce more strength, faith, and perseverance in you if you let Him! All your pain has a purpose. Romans 8:26-28 reminds, “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

3. Remember that God’s timing is always perfect.

God’s plans are almost always different from our plans, but His plans are always perfect! Have the patience to wait on His timing instead of forcing your own agenda. Jeremiah 29:11-13 says, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.'”

4. Remember that God will never leave your side.

You may feel like you’re going through this struggle all alone, but from the moment you ask Jesus to bring you into God’s family, He will be by your side to the end. So, never lose hope! Deuteronomy 31:6, “So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

Sometimes our trail of hardship is actually our unmet expectations, especially financially. Let us make sure we keep focused on what is eternally important. Regardless of the struggle, we can draw strength from the words written in Hebrews 13:5-6, “Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, ‘I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.’ So we can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?’”

Along this trek, we found four resting spots to give us strength and encouragement when we do find ourselves on the Trail of Hardship. On our next two treks, we will search for the ten painfully obvious truths that are soon forgotten. In addition to our weekly Wisdom Notes, encourage your friends and family to also join us on our daily podcast – Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

6 Essential Waypoints to Live a Better Life

by Leave a Comment

In our previous Wisdom Note, we explored seven steps to destroy bad habits. These bits of wisdom help us to live a rich and satisfying life while creating a living legacy. If you miss any of our Wisdom Notes please go to the blog to catch up on previous installments.

As we head out on our trek for this week, we will be on the lookout for…

6 Essential Waypoints to Live a Better Life

I’m living a good life, but I can still do better. We all can. Every day is a series of choices. Today is the culmination of all the choices we’ve made up to this point. It is funny when we act surprised by how life has turned out when we ultimately made the choices that have led to this place. Like I heard an older person once say, “I would have made better choices if I had known I was going to live this long.” Here are the 6 essential waypoints that we can learn from to live a better life.

1. Rest

The Roman poet Ovid once said, “Take a rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.”

As our culture in the western world, we live at a breakneck speed. We’re going so fast we can’t stop until we crash. The statistical evidence of the negative impact stress is having on us is alarming. Stress is literally killing us:

  • Stress is the cause of 60% of all human illnesses and diseases.
  • 3 out of 4 doctor visits are for stress-related issues.
  • Stress increases the risk of heart disease (40%), heart attack (25%), and stroke (50%).
  • 40% of stressed people overeat or eat unhealthy foods.
  • 44% of stressed people lose sleep every night.

I could go on, but it’s too depressing. The reality is, none of this is new news. So why do we continue? We need to stop.

You absolutely must rest from your work. Schedule downtime into your day where you completely unplug from electronics and all the inputs that bombard you every day. Take time to just be still.

Get enough sleep. Well-rested people have better memories and learning ability, better metabolism and weight control, better moods and better cardiovascular systems just to name a few. Sleeping is like hitting the reset button each day. We start fresh every day after a good night’s sleep.

2. Reflect

Management Guru Peter Drucker said, “Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come more effective action.”

Few of us know ourselves the way we should. We are with ourselves all day long, yet we often can’t answer the question of why we do what we do. Or other basic questions like our true purpose and passions in life. Many times we continue doing the same things day in and day out, not getting the results we want, but for the life of us can’t figure out why.

It’s only through reflection that you can ascribe meaning to your experiences. Through reflection, you can better predict what will make you successful in the future. Without it, you continue blindly on your way repeating mistakes, scratching your head, and asking why, yet not taking the time to give a real answer. You can’t live better if you don’t know yourself better.

3. Build stronger, deeper, richer relationships

As Mother Teresa said, “Intense love does not measure, it just gives.”

We were created as God’s image-bearers to be relational people. Relationships are critical to our well-being. Relationships are the key to living longer, dealing with stress, being healthier, and feeling richer. They also help guard against decreased immune systems, depression, and high blood pressure. With all those advantages, why wouldn’t we want stronger, deeper, richer relationships?

Connect with others on a deeper, more meaningful level. It’s not without risk because to do so you must put yourself out there in an authentic way. However, authenticity breeds authenticity in relationships that are worth cultivating. To live better, invite someone to lunch, dinner, or coffee, somewhere, anywhere to connect. People are worth the investment of time and energy.

4. Forgive

Bernard Meltzer said, “When you forgive, you in no way change the past – but you sure do change the future.”

This one can be hard to do. But you remain in a prison of your own making, drinking a poisoned cocktail of bitterness when you live in un-forgiveness. Forgiveness releases you to move on. It doesn’t make the other person right, it just sets you free. Choosing to continue on in un-forgiveness shortens your lifespan and limits your opportunities to have an abundant life.

1 Corinthians 13:4 tells us, “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.” So, choose forgiveness.

5. Gratitude

Henry Ward Beecher said, “Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.”

Do you know what all people have in common that are able to endure seemingly impossible hardships? They’re grateful. Not for their circumstances, but for the good in their lives that they see more clearly against the backdrop of tough times and less than ideal circumstances.

Gratitude is a character trait that must be developed, not just a temporary state of mind. It has many benefits including building your immune system and guarding against the ill-effects of stress. Other side benefits of a grateful attitude are increased happiness and life satisfaction. There really is no downside to it.

Build grateful habits into your life. Each day, begin or end your day writing what you’re thankful for. This sets the stage for a positive day.

6. Get outside yourself

Matthew 6:3-4 tells us, “But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”

When you serve and give generously, without expectation of return or profit, your world is enlarged. You become better, live better, and fulfill one of your purposes for being on this earth because this life isn’t about you. It’s about your impact on your people, your community, and the world. It is living your legacy daily.

Along our trek for this week, we visited the six essential waypoints to live a better life. Next week we will explore the 3 Crucial Trails to Survive Major Transitions on Life’s Trek. In addition to our weekly Wisdom Notes, encourage your friends and family to also join us on our daily podcast – Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

Study to Show Yourself Approved

by Leave a Comment

There are so many benefits to our lives if we are willing to invest time into ourselves and the studies it requires for improving in all areas of life. It is unfortunate that a high percentage of people  never read or study a book the remainder of their lives upon graduation from high school or college. With the rapid changes in technology and global growth, if you are not willing to invest in yourself, you will soon be left behind with limited skills and abilities. In this Wisdom Note, let us explore the many benefits of continual study and improvement.

When I refer to books in today’s notes I am referring to physical, electronic, and audiobooks as well as any other types of online or offline articles and courses. All of the books that you will ever need to make you as rich, as healthy, as happy, as powerful, as sophisticated, and as successful as you want to be have already been written. They will provide you with the rich and satisfying life that is written of in John 10:10. Always keep in mind that when Scripture refers to a rich and satisfying life, it has little to do with material wealth although that could be a facet of it if we keep it in proper perspective.

People from all walks of life, people with some of the most incredible life experiences, and people who have gone from pennies to fortune and from failure to success have taken the time to write down their experiences so that you might share in their wealth of knowledge. They have offered their wisdom and experience so that you can be inspired and instructed by it and allow it to amend your philosophy. Their contributions enable you to change the trails of life that you hike based upon their experiences. They have handed you the gift of their insights so that you can change your plans, if need be, in order to avoid their errors. You can rearrange your lives based on their wise advice.

All of the insights that you might ever need have already been captured by others in books. The important question is this: In the last ninety days, with this treasure of information that could change your lives, your fortunes, your relationships, your health, your children, and your careers for the better, how many books have you read? With a plethora of information at your finger tips at little or no cost, there are no excuses.

Why do we neglect to read the books that can change our lives? Why do we complain but remain the same? Why do so many of us curse the effect but nourish the cause? How do we explain the fact that only a small percent of our entire world population that have access to libraries or the internet actually spend the time improving themselves through self-study? The opportunity is there for us to access all of the answers to success, happiness, and knowledge we could ever want. Those who wish for a better life cannot permit themselves to miss the books and other materials that could have a major impact on how their lives turn out. The books you don’t study will not help you!

The issue is not that books and study materials are too expensive! If you conclude that the price of buying the book is too great, wait until you must pay the price for not buying it. Wait until you receive the bill for continued and prolonged ignorance.

There is very little difference between someone who cannot read and someone who will not read. The result of either is ignorance. Those who are serious seekers of personal development must remove the self-imposed limitations they have placed on their reading/studying skills and their reading/studying habits. There is a multitude of offline and online classes being taught continually on many topics, including how to be a good reader. There are thousands of books online or on the shelves of the public libraries just waiting to be read. Most will not cost you anything, except an investment of time. Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary. You must not permit anything to stand between you and the books and study materials that could change your life.

A little reading or studying each day will result in a wealth of valuable information in a very short period of time. But if you fail to set aside the time, if you fail to read or listen to the books, if you fail to exercise the discipline, then ignorance will quickly move in to fill the void. Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is just ignorant. There is an enormous cost in remaining ignorant – a cost much higher than we will ever pay for wisdom and knowledge. There are no excuses.

If you seek a better life, you must first become a better person. You must continually seek after self-mastery for the purpose of developing a balanced philosophy of life, and then live in accordance with the dictates of that philosophy. The habit of reading/studying is a major stepping-stone in the development of a sound spiritual, emotional, physical, and philosophical foundation. And in my opinion, it is one of the fundamentals required for the attainment of success and happiness.

As a Christ follower, I firmly believe that the foundation of wisdom and knowledge comes from the Bible, and it will serve you very well to include it in your study time. As is written in Joshua 1:8, “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.”

How to Achieve Greater Results

by Leave a Comment

In today’s Wisdom Note, I will ask you, “Why do some people seem to have the ability to get things done — to get results — while others seem to continually spin their wheels?” This is an interesting point to ponder. Clearly, we all have the same amount of time each day. We all have skills and abilities in certain areas. We all have the potential to achieve in our lives in some area.

As we study individuals who seem to achieve more than an average person, there are some common traits that reveal themselves. So, the question arises, “How can you become a high-achiever?” If we desire to be high-achievers, then we need to emulate, not duplicate, those individuals who are. The result-getters have three common qualities or traits: great self-talk, great alliances, and great ability. The complexity of these three traits is part of the mix.

1. Great Self-Talk

Great self-talk is driven by a number of factors including:

  • Your personal experiences – positive and negative
  • Your environment
  • Your personal goals
  • The price that you are willing to pay for your success
  • Your personal desire to continually improve
  • Your minimal concern for what others say about you
  • The love that you have for yourself

Together these factors will create in you something that most of us would identify as passion.

The question is, though, “Can passion or drive be taught or acquired, or does it have to be innate?” Many believe that you have to be born with passion. I, on the contrary, do not believe this. There are too many examples today of people who are fanatical and passionate after they have become involved in an organization or movement.

Even the conversion experience within a religious organization shows that one can become passionate about his or her cause. This is proof to me that passion can be taught or learned. If you are not enjoying the results you need or desire, positive self-talk is the first step toward results. What the mind dwells on, the body acts on. Positive self-talk will lead to positivity in your life. Negative self-talk will lead to negativity. Keep in mind, what the mind dwells on, the body acts on.

2. Great Alliances

Great alliances appear in many forms: camaraderie, friendship, partnership, networks, collaborative activities, mastermind groups, and mentorships, depending on the situation. The relationships you enjoy will affect your self-talk and also your abilities. Great alliance relationships are the glue between the first and third steps to results.

Building great relationships comes naturally to some people; however, it is a skill that can also be taught and learned. Some individuals are more naturally shy, so building great relationships may be more difficult, but not impossible. In fact, if you are shy, you will probably build stronger relationships, but maybe with fewer people. You must develop the skills to seek out and establish positive, mutually beneficial relationships.

3. Great Ability

Great ability is more than the sum of one’s God-given talents. Ability is the collective body of your knowledge, skills, experiences, and talent synthesized through your self-talk. The relationships you build greatly affect your ability.

Your abilities come from your practical knowledge and experiences. No one ever knew how to drive a car upon leaving the womb. Similarly, few people knew how to effectively achieve abundant and positive results when they were in third grade. These skills were taught to them. Ability comes from gained knowledge, and skills are achieved as you teach yourself, talk positively to yourself, and form positive relationships with others — paid or reciprocal or through trial and error. Trial and error is costly and time-consuming. It is better to prepare ahead of time.

You can be a person of influence, a person of results. As a Christ follower, I know that if I do what I am capable of, then God will provide me with what I am not capable of.

Psalm 37:3, “Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.”

Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

Now that we have briefly looked at some common traits of individuals that consistently achieve high-performance results, let’s look at five practical tips that will have positive results instead of excuses for our daily trek.

· Right Things

Be accountable for doing the right things. This means the ethical execution of the activities that will actually support the goals you have chosen for yourself. For instance, if you are managing a team or leading a group or your family, you must model this skill by doing the right things yourself. You must then empower each person you are impacting to identify his or her own right things, and you must be willing to communicate about what’s working and what isn’t in an open, transparent way at all times.

· New Opportunities

Be accountable for managing your new opportunities. This means being willing to step away from things that are comfortable for you to make room for something that may be better. Yes, this is a risk, but it’s one that successful, results-driven people take because the return can be positive overall. Managing your opportunities takes time and practice. Sticking with old habits causes you to repeat many behaviors and initiatives that aren’t what you really want.

· Process

Be accountable for yourself when you hit an obstacle. It is inevitable that you will encounter adversity and setbacks when you pursue your goals. The question is “How will the adversities and setbacks affect you?” Will they keep you from making creative new approaches to attain your goal?

· Expectations

Be accountable for establishing the right expectations. The targets you set for yourself will have a huge impact on your actual achievement. How will you set the targets for yourself and those you impact? Will you set them based on old habits or what is possible? Will you set them too high, too low, or in the ideal zone where the goal is a healthy stretch?

· Relationships

Be accountable for your relationships and your contributions to them. The human touch in any relationship is the “lubricant” that makes communication possible and empowers individuals, groups, and organizations to accomplish great things. Without accountability for supporting and contributing to the relationship, there can be no true leadership, no effective implementation, and no result unless you are accountable for results.

So you need to “keep on keeping on,” as is referred to in Hebrews 10:35-36, “So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.”