We’re at the start of the new year and it’s about that time to look back and ask “what happened to those resolutions?” In this month’s podcast, I’m talking about how to overcome life’s PASSION KILLERS - those things that quench our passion and keep us from fulfilling our goals and resolutions.
Click HERE to check out the podcast and don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to the podcast and RATE/REVIEW it as well. Doing so helps us spread the word even more!
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Have you ever seen those stickers on cars that say 13.1? Or 26.2? I recently learned that those stickers (or magnets if you’re in the 21st century) signify that the person who owns it has run either a marathon (26.2 miles) or a half marathon (13.1 miles). I never knew that. But I do now. Why?
BECAUSE I JUST RAN A HALF MARATHON BABY! BOO YAH!!!!!
Read MoreHow do you short term changes into long term habits? You need two things: the FAITH to believe and a PLAN to achieve.
That ‘s our topic in the final installment of Starting Small. We turn our attention to how to make those short term changes “stick” and last into the long term. To do that, you’ll need more than willpower. You’ll need some faith as well.
And don’t forget our key thought throughout this entire series: successful people do CONSISTENTLY what others do OCCASIONALLY.
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Below is a post I wrote almost six years ago - on the first day of school back in 2013. As I was re-reading, I realized that this is exactly how I’m feeling now - I CAN’T WAIT FOR SUMMER TO BE OVER! And it’s not just because I’m a party-pooper and the “fun police” as my kids call me, it’s because I see the value of structure, routine and SYSTEMS! And as I’m prepping for my second message in our latest series, STARTING SMALL, I thought this post would be the perfect lead in to prime the pump for Sunday. Enjoy!
Read MoreAfter a few weeks off, I am BACK! We kicked off a new series yesterday, about a topic that is very near and dear to my heart.
The name of the series is Starting Small and the premise is simple: it’s the small things that no one sees, that lead to the BIG things everyone wants.
So if you’re looking to make some big changes in your life, check out part 1 above and get ready to start small.
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“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” Harry Truman
Year after year, among the most common New Year’s resolutions is to “read more books.” It’s right up there with “eat better”, “exercise more” and “spend less.” It’s a goal that I’ve personally set many times in the past, with limited success.
NOT THIS YEAR!
This year, I turned “read more books in 2018” into “read 15 books in 2018” and you’ll be happy to know that I’m currently on track to more than DOUBLE my goal! I’ve already completed 2 books and should have a third complete by the end of January – putting me on pace to complete 36 books by the end of year.
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If you're finding your goals on life support as well, I believe there are two possible reasons why. Your problem lies either in the process of SETTING GOALS, or in the process of FOLLOWING UP with your goals.
I’ve written before about how I personally set goals each year. I have a specific process that I’ve been using for the past 4-5 years and it works great for me. But what I want to share today is the process I’m using to FOLLOW UP with those goals – which is equally as important and might be the reason you find yourself falling short.
The main change in my 2018 plan is that I’M GOING BACK TO ANALOG! I’m using a “paper and pen” system to follow up with my goals.
Read MoreThe Well is BACK and started with a BANG! Kicked off a fantastic new series yesterday called WanderLOST where we seek to answer the question: WHAT DO YOU WANT?
What do you want in 2018? What do you want in your career? Your relationships? Life in general? What do YOU want?
That's the first question. Now the second question is this: ARE YOU SURE? Are you sure that what you want is what you REALLY want?
Did you ever consider that your pursuit of what you WANT might be standing in the way of your attainment of what you REALLY WANT???
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We're coming to the end of another year and if you want to make the coming year special, NOW is the time to start planning for it! How? Believe it or not, the key to looking ahead is actually to start by looking back.
I've come to the conclusion that for me, the key to setting effective goals in the new year is to start by evaluating how things went in the prior one.
In other words, I don't start with "where do I want to go in 2018"? I start with "what happened in 2017?"
Why? Because you must PROCESS YOUR PAST before PLANNING YOUR FUTURE.
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What’s the fastest way to learn how to tie your shoes?
Let’s assume we’re back in the pre-YouTube Stone Ages of the 1990s. You just got a new pair of shoes and you need to figure out how to tie the laces. You’ve never done this before but you know others who have.
What’s the fastest and simplest way to learn how to tie your shoes?
Option 1: keep trying till you figure it out on your own
Option 2: find someone who knows and watch how they do it
Which would you choose?
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“Everyone ends up somewhere, but not everyone ends up somewhere on purpose.”
That’s a sentence that I heard several years ago and it’s stuck with me ever since. Of all the fears in life that I have (airplanes, pushy salespeople, being stuck on airplanes with pushy salespeople), my greatest fear is getting to the end of my life and realizing that I missed out on what God had in store for my life.
The regret is too much for me to swallow. The feeling of “I missed out” on what God had planned for me or for my family or for my church drives me to be very intentional about the way I live my life and plan for each year.
I don’t want to just end up somewhere; I want to end up somewhere on purpose.
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It’s January 4. We’re now four days into the new year. Be honest… have you kept your resolutions for 2017? Are you still doing what you said you’d be doing? Did you even start? Is your year going the direction you thought it would by now?
Studies show that by the end of January, 40% of all New Year’s resolutions will have been tossed aside. And that number jumps to 75% just one week into February!
It’s amazing how easy it is to come up with things about our lives that we want to change and yet how hard it is to actually change them!
Why is that? Why can’t we keep our resolutions? Why can’t we make those changes that we know we need to make?
Did you know that...
Merry Christmas everyone! I know Christmas was three days ago but it seems like the party’s just ending now. I think because it fell on a weekend, this year’s Christmas felt more like a week-long event as opposed to just one day.
And in case you’re wondering how I spent that week, below are a few of the many highlights from an action-packed week:
One of the most important steps in making any significant life change is the process of SETTING GOALS. And that was the topic of this week's message. Check out the Week 3 message in THE DANIEL PLAN - delivered by my good friend Peter Karras - and learn why it's important to set goals and how you can increase your chances of success by setting godly goals for your health.
Come join us for The Daniel Plan - either in person or by following along at TheWellAtSTSA.com - and find out what it means to "glorify God in your body." Enjoy!
Take it from me – a recovering workaholic – WORKING HARDER IS NOT THE ANSWER! We all have things in our life that we want to change – bad habits that we want to get rid of, or good habits that we want to incorporate into our lives. And most of us think about those changes in terms of effort – I need to work harder to accomplish _________.
Well, I know this might sound strange but believe it or not sometimes working harder is actually counter-productive and takes us further away from our goal, not closer to it.
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One week into 2014 and by now, statistics say that 60% of New Year’s resolutions have already been abandoned. And by the end of January, that total will reach almost 90%! WOW!
But it doesn’t have to be that way – at least not for you. You don’t have to be part of the 90%. You can make 2014 different. Believe me, I struggle with New Year’s resolutions just as much as the next person and I don’t claim to have any secret tricks to make it any easier. But I have discovered some helpful hints throughout the years that have helped me stay on track.
The most important concept/idea to keep in mind is this (this is a good one to post above your desk or somewhere prominent):
We all end up somewhere, but few people end up somewhere on purpose.
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“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” Michael Altshuler
Yesterday I wrote about Why I Go to Bed at 8:00 and apparently I raised quite a few eyebrows. Several people asked me to provide more details as to how I schedule my days and how I use my time. So as a blogger of course I am happy to share.
But let me preface it by saying that there is no right way to schedule your time or a right time that everyone should sleep and wake up. I’ll share what’s worked for me but please realize that – as my wife always tells me – there’s no one else in the world like me.
So here goes - my top 3 principles when it comes to staying on a schedule.
Read MoreWhat's your final to do item before the clock strikes midnight on 2012? Getting a NEW VISION FOR A NEW YEAR. Resolutions are great, but vision is what lasts. Happy New Year everyone!
A familiar scenario for most people: the alarm clock goes off. You set it early this morning because you have so much to do and you really need to get a head start on the day.
You know the importance of starting your day with some quiet time with God and you’ve seen the fruit of that when you’ve been consistent with it. You also made that resolution to exercise and you really want to get back into shape. Add on top of that the ever-increasing demands of your job and your need to get in early and get some work done before the chaos of the day ensues. Bottom line: YOU NEED TO GET UP EARLY TODAY.
But despite all those reasons, 9 out of 10 times you end up doing the same thing…SNOOZE!
And you continue to hit the snooze button – every 9 minutes if your clock is like mine – the whole time calculating in your head what you can cut out of your morning routine in order to get some more rest (if I don’t eat breakfast I can sleep for another 3.5 minutes). Sound familiar?
Read MoreThe late Dr. Stephen Covey, best-selling author who helped change my life with his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, used to always say that “all things are created twice.” What he meant by that is that every new idea or concept or dream must be created twice: first in one’s mind and secondly in one’s life.
For example, let’s say you want to build a house. What do you do first? Start digging a hole? No. Before you start the actual work of building a house, you sit down and come up with a plan. You can’t just start digging and figure it out as you go. You first create the house on paper – in as much detail as possible – and then you begin the actual work of building the house physically.
The same holds true for a dream. Recently I wrote about the starting point of making your dreams a reality.
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