Timothy Ferris: The 4-Hour work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
This book will change the way you think about work and possibly your purpose. As a result of reading this book I started Smooth Stone Resources to help better fulfill my purpose. (*****)
Richard A. Swenson: Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives
We all need it...few have it. How do you create margin in your life. Swenson touches on the four areas in our life where we need to have margin. If it is not present, he will give you the prescription in which to create it. (*****)
David J. Rendall: The Four Factors of Effective Leadership: Revised & Updated
This is the best overall leadership book I have read. It does a wonderful job showing you the four areas in which effective leadership is derived. As Rendall points out this truly is a mental filing cabinet in which you can put just about everything you have and will learn about leadership. (*****)
Stephanie O. Hubach: Same Lake, Different Boat: Coming Alongside People Touched by Disability
This book looks at the Biblical view of disability. The points that were made we so clear and truth driven. I learned a lot even though I work in this field full time. (****)
Steve Farrar: How to Ruin Your Life by Forty
This book I will give out to every high school or college graduate I know from now on. It is on of those books that clearly and plainly communicates what decisions will need to be made early in life and how to make them most effectively. Even if you're over 40 get this book and read it. (****)
Craig Groeschel: Chazown: khaw-ZONE - A Different Way to See Your Life
This book really give a Biblical way to see your life differently. Groeschel creatively and humorously presents the five spokes of Chazown. (***)
Philip Smith: A Billion Bootstraps: Microcredit, Barefoot Banking, and The Business Solution for Ending Poverty
This is a very new investing opportunity. This book will open your eyes to some of the good things going on in 3rd world countries. Who knows, you might even choose to invest after this read. (***)
Jerry Porras: Success Built to Last: Creating a Life that Matters
If you have not ever read books on personally effectiveness then this will be a good one. Some of the ideas I have heard before, but overall solid. (***)
« January 2008 | Main | April 2008 »
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkerd by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."
--Theodore Roosevelt
If you missed last week's Super Bowl, you missed one of the better Super Bowls in a long time! It was a great game. Full of everything you want in the capstone game of the season. The Giants surprised many and upset the only 18-0 NFL team ever. Big stuff.
My wife and I had some friends over to watch the game...and the commercials (I think E*Trade topped the list of some of the funniest commercials). But after everyone had left and the kids were in bed. Anna and I were watching the post game show. Now my wife is NOT a football fan. In fact the post game show of the Super Bowl is her happiest point of the year.
At one point in the post game show, they interviewed the Patriots (losing team) coach. And you could just see the pain and frustration on his face. At that point, my wife looks over at me and says, "Why would anyone set themselves up for that level of potential disappointment?" Her question stopped me for a second. I did not know how to answer it, because for that brief moment I thought, yeah really why would someone open themselves up to that potential. And then the answer came...
Right after the interview the broadcast cut back out to the field where the Giants where still celebrating. Their families and friends where on the Field. There was loud up beat music playing, They had hats and shirts, trophies, all this because they WON!
And then I thought to myself. Thats the answer. Thats why someone would open themselves up to potential hurt and pain...because there is also a potential of a SUPER REWARD!
The same is true in our lives. We don't have to step out and go after our purpose. No one is forcing us. If we want we can be very comfortable sitting on the sidelines or even worse way up in the bleachers.
But what is our potential reward if we stay there...absolutely nothing. We are guaranteed failure. Sure pursuing our purpose opens us up for potential SUPER RISK...but it also gives us the possibilities for SUPER REWARD!!!
Ok as I reread this I am convicted that there is something I have been putting off and sitting comfortably on the sidelines about...so right after I finish this post I am sending that risky email I have been putting off
The other day I was watching the Celebrity Apprentice. Yes I am hanging my head in shame as I write this...Chris this is YOUR fault!!! Ok let's look past that...there is a point here. Well they were in the infamous "board room" with The Trump. And there were two guys going at each other. I mean they were tearing each other up. Not just on how well or poorly they preformed on the task, but also on moral character and personality...Yikes! And then the craziest thing happened after this knock down drag out fight happened. They were leaving the board room after one of them had been fired and they shook hands and said, "Hey, its business not personal."
I was like "WHAT?!?!?! It's not personal? How could it not be personal?" I mean these two guys just bashed each other on national television for all five people who were watching this show to see (Trump admit it...ratings are down!) But my point is, IT IS PERSONAL!
What we say to each other and have said to us is a personal thing. Especially when it is related to our purpose. Thats why it is called a PERSONAL purpose statement. Ah see...making sense?
But you know what, we can often times run into people who are not supportive of us. These could be people who are very close to us, parents, spouses, children, life long friends, co-workers. What happens then?
Well you know what, if you have taken the time to really evaluate yourself. I mean really looked at your God-given skills and abilities, your relationships, your experiences, and your desires, and they are pointed to a specific direction. Then you have to go for it, despite what the people in your ear are saying. So many times we get bumped (or shoved) off track because of what someone says to us. The advice or direction they so lovingly give. Their intentions are good...most of the time. But it still moves us off track.
Don't get moved off track. Look for people who will help you mind your own business (You want a great example of this check out Stosh's blog) You might have to distance yourself from some people and fill their place in your life with Purpose Pushers. But hey...its not just business we are talking about here...this is YOUR LIFE and your effectiveness in it!
I just got a call from a very good friend of mine today. (Dave Rendall, you have to check out both of his blogs, Freak Factor & Four Factors of Effective Leadership) I did not get to talk to him because it was at the end of my work day and I was going in five different directions. It was a crazy day! On my way home I listened to Dave's voicemail. And when I finished listening to it I thought to myself...NOW THAT IS A PURPOSE PUSHER!!! You might be going ok...wait a second Mike, "What is a purpose pusher? Should I have heard that term before?" They answer is NO! You know why...because I just made it up on the drive home from work (not bad for a three minute commute).
Ok let me offer some explanation. Dave's voicemail...was simple...he was calling to encourage and push me towards what I am put here on this earth for. He was just calling to see how I was doing on the things that are most important for me to be involved with. He asked me about this blog, my new CD, work I am doing on my new company, and a series of other personal items that he is walking with me through. That's it! He was not calling with an agenda, with a request, with a need. He was just calling to push me! Dave does this all the time. It is unusual if I go 10 days or so without hearing from him. And like I said it is not because he needs something it is just to check in on how I am doing accomplishing what I was put on this earth for. Pretty cool huh?!?!?
What about you? Do you have a Purpose Pusher? What about this question...are you someone else's Purpose Pusher? This is a critical part to a life well lived. There are too many people out there who will offer you negative comments (and you don't have to take my word for it check out this quote by Mark Twain), but we need to surround ourselves with people to push us in a positive direction!
"Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great."
--Mark Twain
