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Try It For 30 Days

Real change is doable. Too often we choose not to change or attempt something new because it seems too daunting, too big, too impossible. But the reality is, you can make major shifts in your life if you would simply make a 30 commitment and take action. What you try may not be earth-shaking, but you will definitely be better for having stepped out and attempted something new. The following Ted talk is a great example and inspiration to simply try something new for 30 days, check it out.

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Don’t Wait For UPS To Deliver Your Life!

UPS truck

There is a big difference between dreamers and doers. I have been both of these at different times. The world needs dreamers. Men and women who see what could be, not just what is. Dreamers remind us that imagination and creativity flow from God the master artist. Since humanity is made in the divine image, the interior sense to create and dream should never be squeezed from our souls like water from a wet cloth. Remember when you were little? You had a sense of wonder, creativity and dreaming which was as natural as breathing. As we age, it seems to slowly dissipate and is replaced by things like “rationalism” or “survivalism.”

We also need doers too. Very often the doers around us don’t take time to dream, they just want to get the job done in a timely and efficient manner. This “Get er’ done” mindset also comes from the divine design embedded in each one of us. God is a God of order, not chaos. I appreciate the doers in my life. I also love being a person who enjoys doing, creating, activation and moving. Hands to the task, knees to the earth. Doers experience a tangible result and the feelings of accomplishment. None of the things that IO have accomplished in my life would have happened if I was only a dreamer…we must become dreamer that do.

When the dreamer in you blends with the doer in you, magic happens! The best doers in history were also dreamers. The best dreamers were also doers.

1. Don’t Wait For UPS To Deliver Your Life!

Can you imagine approaching life this way. You might say, “Well I prayed and told God that I needed a wife and so now I’m just waiting for the UPS driver to deliver her to me!” That will only work if you are looking at illegal mail-order brides which I really don’t recommend! One problem with this outlook is that it can easily be spiritualized as “waiting prayer.” I encourage you PRAY AS YOU GO! God is not going to deliver you your life and dreams if you are waiting for Him to do it all. An active life with God is a life of action. God is a dreamer and a doer, and if you desire to see your life expand, you too must unleash the dreamer-doer duo with in you. So stop waiting for the UPS truck and start moving towards whatever it is you are dreaming about.

2. Do Set a Plan of Action To Accomplish Your Dream.

The dreamers who translated what they envisioned into reality did so by writing down actionable steps. Then they to took those steps in order to move closer and closer towards their goal. The best way to set up a plan of action is to ask yourself some clarifying questions.

  1. Who can help me with this dream/goal? Who do I know that has success in this area?
  2. What is it exactly that I want to see happen, or what is it that I am trying to accomplish?
  3. Where can I get information about this, or where can I get more help/advice?
  4. When do I want this to be accomplished? Set a definite date to work towards.
  5. How will this become a reality? What steps do I need to take to see this come to fruition?

There are many more questions that you can craft based upon the goal you have. Look at those questions and begin to write your own. Each question will help you move closer to achieving your dream.

3. Don’t Determine Your Future From A Fear Mindset.

If you start with a negative mindset, dreams quickly vanish. Fear attacks your dreams with questions like, “What if I fail?”, “What if I’m not good enough to do this?”, “What if people don’t like my dream?”, “What if I lose money trying this?”…and the list goes on. If this is the way your thinking tends to go you need to reboot your mindset from a negative fear-based one towards a positive faith-filled one… and this happens by replacing your mind-data. Here are a few ways to reboot your brain:

  1. Input some positive faith-based, inspiring material. Read the Gospels, inspiring authors, movies with a redemptive element. You see, you become like what you fill your mind with. Entertainment today is highly sarcastic  negative and defeating. Spend some time finding resources that inspire you and build your faith!
  2. Change your internal questions. Instead of asking questions like, “What if I fail?”, change it around to. “What if I succeed beyond my dream? Do I have a success plan?” You can look at all the fear-based negative questions and see a positive alternative and then ask those questions instead. This is a major reboot as well.
  3. Commit to ongoing positive, faith-based input. Also, continue to change your mindset by asking positive question when fear starts to raise negative ones.

I hope you choose to be the person who welds together the dreamer and the doer inside of you. When you do you’ll no longer wait for the UPS driver to deliver the life that God has already created for you and is waiting for you to step out and grab it!

Monty

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10 Questions To Assess, Align and Launch You into 2013

2013

The ability to convert ideas to things is the secret to outward success.
~Henry Ward Beecher

If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.
~Yogi Berra

Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.  ~Seneca

Goals are dreams with deadlines.  ~Diana Scharf Hunt

Guess what? January is just a breath away. As the calendar turn us yet again into another year, there is a natural sense, hard-wired into us, to reset our souls, realign our priorities and establish goals to accomplish our dreams.

I have looked over many different lists of questions that others have asked themselves in order to move forward, and here I have selected the top 10. These questions are powerful, I would recommend that you schedule some time to be alone where you can pray, read through the questions, and then write out answers to the questions.

After you have answered the questions, the next step will be to prioritize them and set some short term and long term goals in order to measure progress and see movement toward the direction you are going.

1. What area of your life is most in need a change this year?

2. What is one thing you can do to dramatically improve your relationship with God this year?

3. What would happen if your best dream came true? What is your best dream?

4.  What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?

5.  What positive habit would you most like to establish this year?

6. Where will you commit and invest your time and talent this year?

7. What book(s) will you read this year (outside of the Bible) to enrich your life?

8. What area of doctrine/theology/spirituality do you want to study for better understanding this year?

9. What one thing can you do this year that will leave a positive and lasting legacy for your family and community?

10. What one thing do you most regret about last year, and what will you do about it this year?

After you have finished answering these questions, it is critical that you create a “next step” of what you will do to make your answer become a reality. Dreams and goals are great, but if they are absent an action plan they generally never see lift-off. As you create actionable steps employ someone you can share your list with and ask them to keep you accountable to doing what you know you need to do.

The choices and decisions you make today -will- determine your life experience and outcome in the next 5-10 years. So carefully answer the questions and establish a plan to accomplish the goals you have made.

Bonus Questions for those who dare!

1. Ask your spouse,

  • What is it like having me as a husband/wife?
  • What can I do differently this year to improve our marriage?”

2. Ask your kids, “What is it like having me for a mom/dad?

  • What is it like having me for a mom/dad?
  • What can I do this year to be a better parent?

3. Ask your co-workers,

  • What one thing can I do differently this year that will make the most positive impact for our company?
  • What is it like to work with me?

4. Ask your pastor,

  • What is the greatest need our church has that I can help with?
  • Where should I be plugging in at church to become the person God created me to be?

Here’s a final thought on persistence from Zig Ziglar:

“Persistence is the ability to maintain actions regardless of your feelings. You press on even when you feel like quitting. When you work on any big goal your motivation will wax and wane like the waves hitting the shore. Sometimes you’ll feel motivated, sometimes you won’t. But it’s not your motivation that creates results – it’s your action.

Persistence allows you to keep taking action even when you don’t feel motivated to do so, and therefore you keep accumulating results. Persistence will ultimately provide its own motivation. If you simply keep taking action, you’ll eventually get results, and results can be very motivating.”