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Today’s Generosity Gives Me Significance

Why Generosity Matters

Giving Turns Our Focus Outward – No one enjoys being around people who think they are the only people in the room. When you give to others it will naturally change a person’s focus. Generosity is described as simply changing ones focus from self to others. Seneca the Roman poet stated “No man can live happily who regards himself alone, who turns everything to his own advantage. You must live for others if you wish to live for yourself.”

Giving Adds Value To Others – President Woodrow Wilson stated “You are not here to merely make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of home and achievement. You are here to enrich the world and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”

Giving Helps The Giver – Ruth Smeltzer declared that you have not lived a perfect day, even though you earned your money, unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you. King Solomon of scripture suggests that “The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped.” [Proverbs 11:24-25 MSG]. Simply stated you cannot help another see their path until you cast light on your own path.

How do you manage the discipline of generosity?

It begins with this statement – Every day I will add value to others! Practically this means…

• VALUE PEOPLE – Treat people with respect
• KNOW WHAT PEOPLE VALUE – Listen and seek to understand others
• MAKE MYSELF VALUABLE – I must grow in order to give because I cannot give what I do not possess
• DO THINGS THAT GOD VALUES – Since God unconditionally loves people, so must I

Here are three (3) practical keys…

1.Do not wait for prosperity to become generous. A person’s level of income and their desire to give have nothing to do with one another. There are generous people with precious little material possessions. Henry Ward Beecher stated that prosperity could in fact destroy generosity. If you desire to become a generous person, do not wait for your income to change. Change your heart!

2.Find a reason to give every day. Go out of your way to find reasons to give and help others daily. Look for a compelling cause to support. Find an urgent need. Seek out leaders and causes that you believe in.

3.Find people to receive every day. D. L. Moody once stated “Do all the good you can, to all of the people you, in all of the ways that you can, as long as you can.” There are people that are in need all around. Martin Luther King Jr. stated once that life’s most urgent question is ,“What are we doing for others?”

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

The Today Matters by John Maxwell

The complete show notes and slides are found on our YouTube Channel

FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

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Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

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Today’s Relationships Give Me Fulfillment

Why do relationships matter?

• Some of life’s greatest experience involve other people. In John Maxwell’s book The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork he writes about the Law of Significance and states that “one is too small to achieve greatness.” Leadership is not built upon the LONE RANGER or RAMBO mentality.
• You will enjoy life of you like people. The Scrooges of the world do not enjoy much of anything. When you love people you will always have a friend and have a barrel of fun.
• You will go further in life if people like you. Talent and education are not enough to succeed. You must have a sensitivity for people’s needs and a willingness to assist them in their achievements. Show yourself to be a likable person!
• People are any organizations most appreciable Asset. Any organization that succeeds does so because of the people. You live and die with the your people. The corporate motto of Fed-Ex says that we will put people first, then service, then profits!

There comes a time when we must INITIATE and make an INVESTMENT into relationship with others. There are four (4) facets to this:

1.Start placing a high value on people. Let’s get real – if you do not care for people you are unlikely to make building good relationships a priority in your life. Le Giblin stated that you cannot make other people feel important in your presence if you sincerely feel that he is a nobody!

2.Learn to understand people. In the book A Passion for Excellence, the authors state that the number one managerial productivity problem in America is that managers are out of touch with their people and their customers. If you want to build lasting relationships with people keep in mind these truths…

• People are insecure…give them confidence
• People want to feel special…compliment them
• People desire a better tomorrow…give them hope
• People need to be understood…listen to them
• People are selfish…speak to their needs
• People get emotionally low…encourage them
• People want to be associated with success…help them win

3.Give respect freely but expect to earn it from others. My father taught me to respect people because they in fact have value that should be respected. If we learned to treat others with respect, the world would in fact be a better place to live.

4.Commit yourself to adding value to others. Charles Spurgeon once stated that we should our name on people’s hearts and not on marble. John Maxwell suggests that the best way to do this is to…(1) look for ability in others (2) help others discover their ability and (3) help others develop their ability.

Every day I make the conscious effort to deposit goodwill into my relationships with others!

Here are five (5) practical steps…

• Put others FIRST – The Golden Rule comes to mind. It is so simple and yet profound to this day on how it impacts other people; “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!”
• Do not carry emotional baggage – there are few things that can weigh a person down as mush as emotional baggage from life’s hurts. Stop keeping score. Deal immediately with the hurts of life by getting it on the table quickly.
• Give time to your most valuable relationships – do not be a person that gives away your emotional energy on a first-come-first-served-basis. Keep your relationships prioritized.
• Serve other people gladly – Helen Keller declared that life is an exciting business and most exciting when lived with others. Adding value to others is the most rewarding thing that you can do in life.
• Express love and appreciation often – John Maxwell suggests the 101% principle. Find one thing in a person that you admire and give 100% encouragement for it.

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

The Today Matters by John Maxwell

The complete show notes and slides are found on our YouTube Channel

FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

Executive Coaching Premier Service – Private message me for details on this customizable service

Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

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Today Matters – Today’s Faith Gives Me Peace

People respond in all sorts of ways when FAITH is introduced into any conversation. Notice some of the responses that can be offered…

• IGNORE – If people feel that something does not really apply to them they generally ignore the issue all together. People do not see the relevance!
• MISUNDERSTAND IT – John Maxwell stated that some people view faith like trying to get your hands around smoke. If that is the case perhaps faith is too mystical for them.
• DISCOUNT IT – Some people may feel that faith is for others and not me. Why bother?
• FIGHT IT – Because faith is not valued people may tend to argue the matter so that it devalues the subject in their eyes.
• DELAY IT – There are people who genuinely believe that faith is important but some other time. It seems that the someday/maybe’s rules the debate in this case.

There are four aspects about what FAITH does for each of us in everyday.

1. Faith gives us a divine perspective on each day – Everyday holds difficult things that is quite hard to grasp. Faith allows the soul to see beyond what the eyes are looking at.

• Philip Yancey stated “Faith is trusting in advance what will only make sense in reverse.” (p.200)
• Have you ever heard someone or perhaps even you have said it; “I cannot fully explain it, but you have to trust me on this!” That is faith working at the soul level of life.
• When you look at life from a “heavenly” perspective, life becomes more simplified.

2. Faith gives me health today – There have been a number of medical studies that demonstrate that people who live life from a faith perspective tend to have fewer medical issues. Stress decreases and people’s overall sense of well being increases. Simply stated, your physical health, mental health and not needing medical services so often seem to have a connection to FAITH.

3. Faith gives me strength for today – S.G. Holland former Prime Minister of New Zealand stated “Faith draws poison from every grief, takes away the sting fro every loss, and quenches the fire of every pain…” (p.202)

• Where there is no faith in the future there is no power in the present.
• Faithlessness is de-energizing

4. Faith gives me resilience today – Mother Teresa stated that faith keeps the person who keeps faith.

A faith that has not been tested cannot be trusted. Victor Frankl the Viennese psychiatrist that survived Auschwitz and Dachau wrote “A weak faith is weakened by predicaments and catastrophes whereas a strong faith is strengthened by them.”

Four Simply Steps

1.Embrace the value of faith

2.Put God in the picture

3.Associate with people of faith

4.Explore and deepen your faith

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

The Today Matters by John Maxwell

The complete show notes and slides are found on our YouTube Channel

FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

Executive Coaching Premier Service – Private message me for details on this customizable service

Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

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Today Matters – Today’s Finances Give Me Options

3 Truths  About Finances

1. Money will not make you happy. Henry Ford stated that money does not change change men, it merely unmasks them – if a man is naturally selfish, arrogant, and greedy, money will bring that out in a person.
2. Debt will make you unhappy. Solomon of ancient Israel stated the case precisely, The rich rules over the poor and the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.
3. Having financial margins give you options. Gun Denhart once stated that money is like manure, if you let it pile up, it just smells. But if you spread it around, you can encourage things to grow.

Make the decision to earn and properly manage your finances daily.

Here is a simple financial formula:

10% – Church, become a “Biblical Giver”

10% – Investments, as you make a return, role it forward

80% – Living Expenses, learn to stay within your means

Keep the value of things in perspective. Evaluate this issue with the following 5 questions:

1. Am I preoccupied with things?

2. Am I envious of others?

3. Do I find personal value in possessions?

4. Do I believe that money will make me happy?

5. Do I continually want more?

Learn the phases of life and know which one you are in.

• Learn Phase – Understand there is a phase when learning is the primary objective and that there are no short cuts to future earning if you sacrifice now.
• Earn – If you have stayed on track with your purpose, you have prepared yourself well, practice excellence, you will have a reasonable hope of earning a good living.
• Return – We should always be generous no matter what age of life we find ourselves. As you get older you may enjoy the fruits of giving back in abundance.

Debt Reduction

You cannot discuss the subject of finances without discussing debt reduction. The burden of debt is a major cause of stress, depression and even divorce. Kidwell and Rhode in their book Get Out of Debt” gives 5 suggestions:

1.Stop incurring debt

2.Track your cash – Dave Ramsey suggests using the envelop method to track every penny.

3.Plan for the future

4.Do not expect instant miracles

5.Seek professional help

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

The Today Matters by John Maxwell

The complete show notes and slides are found on our YouTube Channel

FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

Executive Coaching Premier Service – Private message me for details on this customizable service

Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

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Today Matters – Today’s Commitment Gives Me Tenacity!

Why Commitment Matters Today

• Commitment Can Change your Life – Author Frederic Flach wrote, “Most people can look back over the years and identify a time and place at which their lives changed significantly. Whether by accident or design, these are the moments when a readiness within us and a collaboration with events occurring around us, we are forced to to seriously reappraise ourselves and the conditions which we live and to make certain choices that will affect the rest of our lives.” (Choices: Coping Creatively With Personal Change. New York: J.P. Lippincott, 1997)
• Commitment Helps You Overcome Many of Life’s Obstacles – We all have problems! The challenge is in dealing with them. Author and Clergyman suggests that one of the most costliest mistakes is to think that success is due to some genius that we do not possess. Mickey Mantle when faced with the death of his father chose alcohol instead of committing to face the situation of lose. This started him on the road to ruin!
• Your commitment will be tested Every Day – It would appear that people seem to think that commitment is done within a moment. Commitment does not end with a decision – it is just the beginning of a long process. Being tested will occur in a variety of ways.

5 Steps In Managing The Discipline of Commitment

1. Expect Commitment To Be A Struggle – anything worth having will be a struggle. Commitment does not come easy, but when you are fighting for something you believe in, the struggle is worth it.

2. Do Not Rely On Talent Alone – It is possible to have too much talent that can work against you. (I.e. Mickey Mantle). A hard working ethic should be added to your talent. If you want something out of your day, then you must put something into it.

3. Focus on Choices, Not Conditions – Generally speaking people either focus on the internal or outward. Your choices is the only thing that you truly control. You cannot control your circumstances, nor can you control other people.

4. Be Single Minded – The problem many times is that we are putting something into everything instead of everything into something. English minister William Carey could read the Bible in six languages by his teen years with only an elementary education. In his early 30’s he was appointed as a missionary to India where he founded Scrampore mission. This mission printed Bibles in 40 dialects for more than 300 million people.

5. Do What Is Right Even When You Don’t Feel Like It – Thomas Buckner once stated that bringing yourself to a frame of mind and to proper energy to accomplish things that require continuous hard work is a battle that every person faces.

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

The Today Matters by John Maxwell

The complete show notes and slides are found on our YouTube Channel

FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

Executive Coaching Premier Service – Private message me for details on this customizable service

Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

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TODAY MATTERS – Today’s FAMILY Gives Me Strength!

Why Does Family Matter? While you cannot do much about your ancestors, you certainly can do something about you descendants! Consider…

Family can be a safe haven in the storms of life.

The family should be a place where great memories are made.

The family is where character is forged.

The family is the place where truth is revealed.

The family is a place where our most treasured relationships are forged.

A Family Philosophy – Here are 5 suggestions.

1.Commitment To God – Our faith should come first in our life. There is nothing of value beyond your faith.

2.Continual Growth – Reach your personal potential and assist your family in doing the same.

3.Common Experiences – Do life as a family and build as many positive memories as possible.

4.Confidence in God, Ourselves, and Others – Your belief determines the outcome of every thing you do in life. Manage wisely the correct relationships

5.Contributions in Life – Leave the world a better place than how you found it

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

The Today Matters by John Maxwell

The complete show notes and slides are found on our YouTube Channel

FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

Executive Coaching Premier Service – Private message me for details on this customizable service

Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

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TODAY MATTERS – Today’s Health Gives Me Strength!

Making the right decisions early in life, then managing those decisions the rest of your life is the key to success!

Before we get to far into this discussion let’s take a brief time-out and have a heart-to-heart conversation. Health is a big subject that demands some honest answers.

• Are you one of the thousands of Americans who ingest television 4 hours/day with your hand in a bag of potato chips while finishing off the Rocky-Road ice-cream?
• When is the last time you thought about eating a healthy diet?
• Are you presently doing anything to get your body in motion?
• What limiting belief is hindering forward progress?

Consider these 3 truths…

1.Your health impacts you emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. You can get rid of a lot of things in your life, but you cannot get rid of your body – you are stuck with it. So take care of it!

2.Your health often determines quality as well as quantity of life. Zig Zigler stated once that you would not allow a million dollar race horse to smoke cigarettes, drink whisky, or stay out all night. Isn’t your life worth more than a million dollar race horse?

3.It is easier to maintain good health than to regain it. Stop being arrogant about your health!

Your health matters today not only for yourself but those you dare to love and cherish! Consider these 5 realities…

• Have a purpose worth living for. Your life purpose will help you manage health decisions wisely because your purpose motivates longevity. It is hard to find motivation for the future when there is no hope in the present.
• Do work you enjoy! Lilly Tomlin declared once that even if you win the rat race of life, you are still a rat! Why spend your life on something that makes you miserable and unfulfilled.
• Find your pace and rhythm. Mickey Mantle stated once that if he had realized that he was going to live so long he would have taken better care of himself.
• Accept your personal worth. Your acceptance of your self affects every aspect of human behavior. A positive self image is the best preparation for success.
• LAUGH!

LINKS

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

The Today Matters by John Maxwell

The complete show notes and slides are found on our YouTube Channel

FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

Executive Coaching Premier Service – Private message me for details on this customizable service

Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

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TODAY MATTERS – Today’s Priorities Give Me Focus!

Why Priorities Matter

3 Key Insights:

1.Time is our most precious commodity

• To know the value of one year ask a student who failed the final exam
• To know the value of one month ask a mother of a premature baby
• To know the value of one week ask the editor of a weekly publication
• To know the value of one day ask the wage earner with six children
• To know the value of one hour ask lovers who are waiting to meet
• To know the value of one minute ask the person who missed the plane
• To know the value of one second ask the person who survived an accident
• To know the value of one millisecond ask the Olympic silver medalist

2.We cannot change time – only our priorities. You do not manage time!

• Myers Barnes states that time management has nothing to do with the clock, but everything to do with organizing and controlling your participation in certain events that coordinate with the clock.
• Chinese author Lin Yutang states that the wisdom of life consists of the elimination of nonessentials.
• You can have anything that you want. You just cannot have everything that you want.
• Time cannot be managed, you cannot save time, lose time, turn back the hands of time, or have more time tomorrow than today. Time is unemotional, uncontrolled, and unencumbered.
• Since you cannot change time, you must instead change your approach to it.

3.Priorities help you chose wisely

• The reason that most goals are not met is the we spend our time doing second things first (Robert J. McKain)
• The Pareto Principle states that by focusing your attention on the top 20% of your priorities you would get an 80% return on your effort.
• This should be a eureka moment! That being true, then it makes sense to focus on the top priorities of life and release the rest.
• I read recently that the average American spends 4 hours/day watching the TV. Factor in the digital aspects of modern TV such as pointless emails, unimportant tasks, telemarketers, interruptions, candy crush game requests, and cat humping videos, 4 hours/day is easy.
• If done over the course of life you will have wasted 13 years (that is 24/7/TV). If you take the minimum wage over that 13 years, that is over $800K lost income. If invested in conservative instruments that would amount to over $2 million lost income.
• Get your priorities straightened out!

So the question is how do we do this? Here are three piercing questions that demand an answer.

1.What is required of me? You must begin here. What is required to be great spouse, employee, friend? Start with these requirements.

2.What gives me the greatest return? As you move through live you realize that some activities yield a higher return than others. Focus your time on the high-return activities.

3.What gives me the greatest reward? The reward only comes when you manage the first two questions properly. You do not get your cake ahead of the essentials of life.

Develop your strengths and not your weaknesses. People are not going to pay for average!

LINKS

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

The Today Matters by John Maxwell

The complete show notes and slides are found on our YouTube Channel

FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

Executive Coaching Premier Service – Private message me for details on this customizable service.

Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

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TODAY MATTERS – Why Time Management Is An Oxymoron!

Successful people make the right decisions early in life and manage them daily. That is why that time management is an oxymoron! If I am proactive I am preparing. If I am reactive then I am repairing.

John Cotter stated that people tend to accept their life instead of leading their life!

Today’s Attitude Gives Me Possibilities!

Why My Attitude Matters Today

My ATTITUDE at the outset of any project that I am about to under-take affects the outcome more than anything else.

Sigmund Freud the father of modern psychotherapy was considered to be a genius in his time. Yet he was a pessimist, skeptic, and battled depression. He started using cocaine at 28 years of age with a belief that happiness was difficult to obtain and therefore needed additional means to achieve it. He wrote: “We are threatened with suffering from three directions; from our body which is doomed to decay; from our world which rages against us with merciless forces; and our relationships with mankind which is the most painful.”

Take responsibility For Your Attitude

Purpose today that you are going to change your “Bad Attitude” areas. The first step is to change your thinking about yourself. Start becoming the person you desire to be, not the present current version of yourself.

Walt Emerson stated that what lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. Your attitude has a compounding affect. I choose to not feel sorry for people with bad attitudes – it is a choice that you can change!

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

The Today Matters by John Maxwell

The complete show notes and slides are found on our YouTube Channel

FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

Executive Coaching Premier Service – Private message me for details on this customizable service

Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!