Category Archives: Personal Development

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10 Commandments For Emotional Health – Post COVID

  1. SHOW GRACE TO MYSELF & OTHERS 

“God loves to give us more grace. He opposes the prideful, but he gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6 

2. START & END EACH DAY REFUELING MY SOUL 

“. . . Humbly accept God’s Word planted in your heart. It is able to save your souls.” James1:21 

“Every morning thank God for his love and every evening thank him for his faithfulness.” Psalm 92:2 

3. SET & STICK WITH A SIMPLE ROUTINE 

“Carefully consider how you live. Live wisely, not foolishly. Make the most of your time because these are difficult, evil days.” Ephesians 5:15-16 

4. STOP WATCHING SO MUCH NEWS 

Jesus: “Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your vision is good, your whole being will be full of light. But if you’re focused on the bad, your life will be full of darkness!” Matthew 6:22-23 

“Keep me from paying attention to what is worthless.” Psalm 119:37 (TEV) 

5. SCHEDULE A DAILY CONNECTION WITH PEOPLE I LOVE 

“Speak encouraging words to each another. Build up hope so you’ll all be together in this, with no one left out, and no one left behind. I know you’re already doing this; just keep on doing it!” 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (The Message) 

6. SHARE YOUR FEELINGS INSTEAD OF STUFFING THEM 

“Share each other’s troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2 (NLT) 

“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, so that you may be healed.” James 5:16 (KJV)

7. SEEK ADVICE BEFORE MAKING MAJOR DECISIONS 

“Our plans often fail because we don’t seek advice. But listening to good counsel will bring success.” Proverbs 15:22 

“There is safety in seeking multiple counsel.” Proverbs 11:14 

8. SPACE RENEWAL BREAKS THROUGHOUT MY DAY 

“Even young people become exhausted and give up too soon. But those who
wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar like eagles. They’ll
keep running and NOT grow weary. They’ll walk and not grow weak.” Isaiah 40:30-31 

9. SERVE SOMEONE SUFFERING MORE THAN ME 

“The religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to care for orphans or widows who need help in their distress and to keep yourself uncorrupted by the world.” James 1:27 

“The generous prosper and are satisfied; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.” Proverbs 11:25 (NLT) 

10. CONTROL THE CONTROLLABLE & TRUST GOD FOR THE REST 

(From Abraham’s example) “We see that his faith and his actions worked together. His faith was made complete by what he did.” James 2:22 

[1] https://dailyhope.s3.amazonaws.com/files/2020-05-03_A_Faith_That_Develops_Emotional_Health.pdf ACCESSED 4 April, 2021

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Growth Doesn’t Just Happen

Key Questions

What is the difference between Goals and Growth?

Where do you want to go in life?

What direction do you want to go?

What is the farthest you can imagine going?

How long will it take?

Shepherds Advantage provides Servant Leadership that helps people close the gap between where they are and where they want to be. Shepherds Advantage closes that gap by providing Leadership Development, Keynote Speaking, and Executive Coaching. 

Shepherdsadvantage@gmail.com

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The Cost of Addiction

We are continuing our Blog series on Digital Addiction. In this blog article I specifically want to draw attention to the cost of digital addiction. You may be lured into thinking there is no real cost for using this amazing technology. Think about this – If you simply used your technology devices only 25 minutes per day you have give two (2) years of your life. The truth of the matter as a society we spend on average three (3) hours per day on our phones and that equates to eleven (11) years of our life attached to a digital device. It has been said that a wealth of information leads to a poverty of attention!

We all are paying the digital cashier with the currency of our Attention, Time, Production, Meaningful Connections, Energy, and Happiness. On average it takes only 6 seconds for a new email to be opened in the office environment. If that interruption stops your “DEEP WORK” flow, it will take you 25 minutes to return to that level of deep work. QUESTION: How many interruptions occur in your daily routine? NOTE: It is possible to get nothing done on any given day because of digital interruptions.

The costs are high. The challenge is to answer the question, “Is it worth it?”

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The Pulse of High Performance

Authors Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz suggest in their book The Power of Full Engagement, suggest that cycles of full throttle training coupled with cycles of rest are important to take your ability to the next level. Notice what they say, “Nature itself has a pulse, a rhythmic, wavelike movement between activity and rest. Think about the ebb and flow of the tides, the movement between seasons, and the daily rising and setting of the sun. Likewise, all organisms follow life-sustaining rhythms—birds migrating, bears hibernating, squirrels gathering nuts, and fish spawning, all of them at predictable intervals. So, too, human beings are guided by rhythms…. The concept of maximizing performance by alternating periods of activity with periods of rest was first advanced by Flavius Philostratus (A.D. 170–245), who wrote training manuals for Greek athletes. Russian sports scientists resurrected the concept in the 1960s and began applying it with stunning success to their Olympic athletes. Today, ‘work-rest’ ratios lie at the heart of periodization, a training method used by elite athletes throughout the world.” 

If increasing your performance is the goal in life – there are no shortcuts in achieving this goal. Simply stated you must balance your sessions of intense work with seasons of rest. I might add that rest is not doing chores (cutting the lawn, washing the car, painting the house, etc.). Rest is defined as a verb – cease work or movement in order to relax, refresh oneself, or recover strength. When the same word is defined as a noun – an instance or period of relaxing or ceasing to engage in strenuous or stressful activity.

What does an exhausted person of faith look like? What is their potential in that condition? If we desire to live our fullest lives then we must align our activity with the rhythms of life. This is a powerful piece of content yet it is simple content. Unfortunately, it is overlooked far too often. STOP – take an inventory right now. Look at the intensity versus rest cycles. What is one thing that you can change today?

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The Winning Habit

Success is uphill all the way

John Maxwell – MIM May 2016

The only way to guarantee losing is to quit right now. There are only three reasons that you should ever quit anything.

  • Quite something you do not do well to start something that you do well.
  • Quit something you are not passionate about to do something fires up the passion within you.
  • Quit something that does not make a difference to pursue something that does make a difference.

Do not just leave a place for the sake of leaving. Rather move toward something else. Keep a forward moving mentality – always moving forward instead of always leaving something.

The winning habit is a persistence in the following four ways.

  • Winners persist through time – Tough times never last. Tough people do! (Robert Schuller)
  • Winners persist through failure – Failure teaches you what does not work
  • Winners persist through criticism – Do not turn a deaf ear to criticism. Discover truths in valid criticism
  • Winners persist through rejection – Rejection stimulates reflection and that will always make you better
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Goals Are for Losers or WINners

Did you know that Scott Adams created Dilbert in 1989. Assuming that he has wrote a comic strip every day since January 1, 1990, he has created 10,000 Dilbert’s. I do not know about you, but that is fascinating to ponder.

How about Charles Schulz, author of Peanuts comics who has wrote over 17,897 comics in a row. How did he and Scott Adams do this? DAILY RITUALS!

Seth Godin has written over 10,000 daily blog articles – DAILY RITUALS.

Scott Adams once stated that Goals are for LOSERS. Obviously, he was being dramatic to make a point. He would go on to write, “…Goal oriented people exist in a state of continuous pre-success failure at best. Systems people succeed every time they apply their system as they intended. Goals oriented people tend to fight discouragement. Systems people feel good every time they apply their system. The key difference is applying your energy in the right direction.”

So that we do not create unnecessary argument between goals people and systems people, let’s turn our focus upon the W.I.N. – What’s Important Now! This is the zone in which you can thrive!

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Leadership Tune Up – Face What Is Not Working

SPRING TUNE UP TIME

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored” – Aldous Huxley

“Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them; but do not let them master you. Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight” – Helen Keller

“Doing more of what does not work will not make it work better” – Charles Givens

Grab your journal and write your response to these ten (10) reflection questions.

  1. Am I willing to admit my limitations, deficiencies, and opportunities?
  2. What is the value of understanding my strengths, as well as my shortcomings?
  3. Have I been ignoring the facts lately? What are the current outcomes of this behavior?
  4. Am I regularly tempted to take short-cuts? Being a world-class influencer, can I afford to take short-cuts?
  5. List the consequences of taking shortcuts?
  6. What is it important to do the right things the first time and avoid shortcuts?
  7. What is the value in viewing my daily activities as an investment in the Bank of Real Life Experiences?
  8. In becoming an expert, what is the value in not skipping the most useful and satisfying part – the learning and the growing?
  9. Am I willing to go through the failures to get to the success?
  10. What is the value of failing fast, regrouping and taking another shot at my goal?
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Willpower

Authors Roy Baumeister and John Tierney

“Religious meditations often involve explicit and effortful regulation of attention…The mind wanders quite naturally, so bringing it back to focus narrowly on one’s breathing builds mental discipline. When neuroscientists observe people praying or meditating, they see strong brain activity in two parts of the brain that are also important for self-regulation and control of attention. Psychologists see an effect when they expose people to religious words subliminally, meaning that the words are flashed on a screen so quickly that the people aren’t consciously aware of what they’ve seen. People who are subliminally exposed to words like God or Bible become slower to recognize words associated with temptations like drugs or premarital sex. It looks as if people come to associate religion with tamping down these temptations says McCullough, who suggests that prayers and meditation rituals are a kind of anaerobic workout for self-control.”

I love this quote and the image that prayer can be an anaerobic workout for self control. The faith community has known this for years. We go to the gym to exercise our body and we sit in silence and solitude to meditate to build our mental and spiritual muscles.

Meditation and prayer is not just about communication and the Creator. One study found that three hours of meditation practice leads to improved focus and self-control in your daily life.

I have discovered these benefits years ago in my life personally. I start each day with a plan block of time that includes reading, prayer, and meditation. The focus and calmness of each day is noticeably improved.

TODAY is a good day to begin the discipline of prayer and meditation!

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6 Ways To Evaluate Your Life

As we approach the end of another year it always helpful to set aside some time to reflect upon the pathway we have traveled. What were our goals to start a new year? What were the mistakes that we made in this year? What were the happiest moments of this year? What event caused us to reflect upon the preciousness of our life?

In the upcoming blog articles I will speak to the our need to establish goals, micro-wins, life plans and other thoughts. In this blog article I want to offer some ways in which you can evaluate your life on a daily basis. These suggestions will cause us to stay grounded in the moment-by-moment steps of our daily living.

  1. At the end of every day ask this question; “Did Today Matter?” This question is not concerned with your to-do-list or the hundreds of emails, text messages, phones calls, and interruptions. This question causes us to rethink our day and respond with either today mattered because…… or I missed opportunities that would have…. Take inventory of those things caused the day to become significant in your life of another’s life. Repeat those things.
  2. Define success for the day at the beginning of the day. Before you hit the ground running, take a few moments in meditation or thoughtfulness to decide what you’d like to see happen by the end of the day. Again, be sure to prioritize: it would be great to make a ton of progress on everything, but you probably won’t. What’s most important? What is realistic to achieve?
  3. What are the 2-3 top priorities that you absolutely need to cover today. Schedule those first and fill in the rest of the day after the fact. Unless there is a compelling emergency that interrupts you make sure that you stay on task.
  4. Do the thing that you have been delaying. Whatever that one thing is – DO IT NOW!! This is a sure way to accomplishing what needs to be done. Stop procrastinating!
  5. Create new metrics to measure your accomplishments. What is the standard you use to measure how you are progressing? At times you need to change the metrics of what you are measuring.
  6. Answer these two questions daily; How are you feeling? What do you want? Literally write down your response. Your answer will give clarity to your life purpose. So, how do you feel and what do you want?

These simple steps will assist you in the micro-wins that are so important. It has been said that a marathon is a series of smaller races that help comprise a larger race. Win daily and win often.