exercise daily

yeah, I really mean it. daily.

that doesn’t mean you have to go to the gym every day, or have an hour long workout everyday.
you don’t need to purchase a ton of equipment or get a personal fitness trainer.
you don’t need to first purchase a bunch of books or attend a class.

the most important thing is: decide – then do.

15 minutes a day is enough.

Enough to give you more energy, enough to relieve some stress,
enough to make you feel healthier, and most importantly:
enough to make you follow through on your decision.

you can even split it up: do 7 or 8 minutes of exercises right when you get up, and then another 7 or 8 minutes later in the day; any type of exercise, really – anything that will put a little more than usual strain on your body:
lift that shopping bag full of stuff up to your chest and lower it again – repeat ten or fifteen times. If you drop your brush, or wallet etc., pick it up and then drop it again and pick it up again. It’s so easy to get some movement into your bones, it just takes a little commitment.

if you really can’t come up with any exercises to do, feel free to message or e-mail me, and I’ll suggest some

DO IT, I DARE YOU!

deliver

I was asked to write, and I promised to deliver.

I believe I’ve heard it said a man is only as good as his word…

so my nudge to you today is: do whatever you can to deliver what you promise. Do all that’s in your power to make good on your word. It means way more than most of us could fathom.

But I also want to make a point of saying: do not let this discourage you from making promises in the first place. Don’t let this deter you from setting goals, either. Some of us shy away from certain responsibilities, or refrain from making promises, ’cause we fear we can’t deliver. My challenge is: learn to find the thin line between pushing yourself to the limits (growth), and over-promising. Then stay on this side of the line, but just within
yes, it is better to under-promise and over-deliver, but we don’t want to keep our expectations (or others’ for that matter) too low. Finding that line isn’t easy – but it’s invaluable.

Do it.

decisions…

Sometimes you just have to decide. There’s no more wavering, just a decision to be made. Sometimes circumstances force you to, then it’s very relieving, but other times you just have way too much room for indecision. You have too much time and/or too many options. How to decide?

Making decisions can be a difficult task – it might even seem unsurmountable at times. You are going to have to live with the consequences of your decision, worse yet, somebody else might have to live with the consequences. Oh, the responsibility! Your solution: RUN!! run from the torture of having to make any decision. Run from the risk of having to carry any responsibility. or…

here’s my two cents worth: as hard as it is to make a decision, it can get easier. “How?” you may ask. Well, that’s simple, the same way most other things become easier: practice. The more you make decisions, the easier it is, the more you try to avoid them, the more intimidating they become.

So, here’s the deal: begin with little decisions. Practice just deciding, ONCE, and sticking to that decision. “chocolate or vanilla?” chocolate! and now stick with that decision! There’s no “or maybe…”. DO NOT second guess yourself! Once you’ve practiced with a few smaller decisions, take the challenge of one bigger decision: Am I going to go out with my friends friday night, or not? whatever you decide, remember: stick to that decision!! (this one will be especially difficult, ’cause it involves other people, people who are going to try and influence your decision-making).
(remember, this is an exercise to help you actually MAKE a decision, it doesn’t mean that every decision you make HAS to be final; but when practicing, try and make them final, that will help you prevent the flip-flop behavior, the indecisiveness.)

I recently heard someone say: “you don’t make a right decision; you make a decision, and then you MAKE IT RIGHT!”

Too many people get stuck in their holes of indecisiveness, don’t join them!

reconnect

just a quick word here…

Take a little time (seriously, just a little) to reconnect with some old friends, family/relatives you haven’t been in touch with in a while. Just pick up the phone, dial that number, or pick up a pen and write them a note (yes, that’s right, I’m encouraging you to actually use pen and paper!) – a postcard, or just a short letter. It doesn’t have to be anything eloquent or fancy, just a little word or two.
Trust me, this little act could make a world’s difference to them or even your relationship with them. How often do you get mail from a friend? How nice is it when you do? I guarantee you: begin doing this, and pretty soon you’ll be on the receiving end of these blessings.

I know, sometimes it can intimidate us to think about all the things we need to or want to say to that person. Well, I’d encourage you just to forget about all those things, and just say SOMETHING. Whether it’s just “hi, was thinking about you, so I decided to send you this postcard” (yes, you have my permission to copy that line down if you like, I won’t sue you for plagiarizing), or something else that might seem meaningless to you as you write it, believe me, it’s more important to just put down a few words, and get that note out the door!
Better a short note that arrives that long letter that remains intention! (as, I believe it was, Edison put it: “An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.”)

A little tip to get you started: if you’re intimidated by the idea (of a letter), and you keep putting it off, do the envelope first! Write the address on it, put a stamp on it, and then lay it on your desk. And then decide that it needs to be posted within the next two days, REGARDLESS of what’s in it!

Try it, I DARE YOU!! and when you’ve done so, tell me about it Let me know how it worked out for you.

don’t turn “this stress” into “distress”

By popular demand (that is, one person’s request), today’s topic is “stress”.
Having already had this in the back of my mind for the past week, it’s funny that just today my life should be humored by the mail I received. Today the mailman (or woman, I’m not quite sure) left me two letters (that’s right, not one, but two). One sender I was familiar with, the other I had but a faint guess at who it might be (but knowing it must be something of importance since they required confirmation of delivery). Well, to spare you any more elaboration on the stories: they were both bills. big ones. One completely unexpected, the other somewhat unexpected (“somewhat”, since I didn’t expect this bill to hit until February or March). And to give you and idea why this might be of any significance (or relevance to this blog): I’m completely blank. (yes, I saved and spent every last penny on what’s most important to me, and that’s the opportunity to go spend some time with my wonderful girlfriend). Both of these bills that just paved their way into my life on this dreary late autumn day exceed my current monthly wage. Additionally the sender of the completely unexpected bill been so kind as to offer me six days to hand over the mulah before they take me to court.

So, can you see how this might possibly be a stressor in my life right now? Now I believe I have gained the credibility to write about this topic…

Since this isn’t a paper, but rather a blog post, I’ll try not to elaborate too much, but just give you a little food for thought.

I found this explanation/definition of stress in the internet “Stress is a biological term which refers to the consequences of the failure of a human or animal body to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats to the organism, whether actual or imagined.” (from The Stress Of Life, Hans Selye, as quoted in Wikipedia) The first thing this statement tells us, is that stress is a response. Recently I was listening to Jack Canfield as he was talking about his favorite formula: E + R = O . That is, “Event + Response = Outcome”. This means, the outcome isn’t merely determined by what happens to you, but also (and perhaps largely) by the way you respond to that. Which brings us to the famous quote by the Greek philosopher Epictetus “it’s not what happens to you, it’s how you react to it that matters.” Many times we can’t control the event – the circumstance, the situation, whatever it is that is happening or has happened to us, but if we don’t like the outcome, we DO have the choice about how we respond to that event. Now if stress is a response, this means that we can choose to either have it or not have it. The event itself (whether it be a task or a situation) is not the stress, our response to this event determines whether or not we experience stress.

Stress relievers: here are a few things that might help you in dealing with stressful situations (or things to do once you feel stressed)
- be thankful: think of all the blessings in your life, begin to write them down, and remind yourself daily
- do sports: a great way to vent some of that crazyness building up inside you
- listen to music: either something uplifting, or something that identifies with your situation (I don’t recommend depressing or hateful music/lyrics)
- eat some chocolate: a little, now don’t overdo it! but a few happy endorphins might just work a miracle
- read Calvin and Hobbes: or any type of humor that can get you at least chuckling, at best rolling on the floor.
- put it in perspective: my mother would always quote my grandmother saying “what’s that compared to eternity?!”. now, since our little brains don’t do well thinking in terms of eternity, we might take up the suggestion of Darren Hardy (Publisher of Success magazine) to ask yourself “In 20 years will this matter” (do you remember what you were stressed about on November 19th, 1988? well, there you go!). Another point he makes in the article is “at least I don’t live in Bosnia” – a thought that came to mind after he’d been stressed about something and then turned on the TV and seen the news. When you realize the problems some people face, you’ll realize how minute some of the things you worry about are. What gets me is thinking back to the time I spent in Thailand: meeting the girls there who’d been at risk of being sold into prostitution by their families, seeing them smiling and enjoying life, praising God, makes me realize that my problems most of the time aren’t even worth mentioning. If they can praise God after all they’ve gone through, who am I to complain?!

Remember:
You choose how you view a situation: you can view it as a challenge, an opportunity to grow – greatness is often birthed in arduous circumstances. If it’s pressure – that’s how diamonds are shaped; If it’s resistance – that’s how muscles are built; if it’s opposition blowing straight in your face – that’s how a sail can chart a new course. You choose.

If you still feel the need to read more about stress or avoiding it, the google search for stress came up with over 160million results, “avoid stress” turned out almost 2 million results, and “prevent stress” came back with over 2.5 million results – so there’s plenty of info (personally I would recommend the article by Darren Hardy mentioned above, and the second one about building resilience to stress).

the power of words

Words can change a life. The words someone says to you can change your outlook on life – they can give you the energy you need to excel, or they can rob you of any motivation you might have ever had to take even one more step. The words you say to someone else can impact your relationship with them – both for the positive or the negative.
Just a little story I recently heard: A major league baseball player had gone with an associate to do a day of prison ministry. While he was there, he was talking with his associate telling him about his path to a professional career; he told him that when he was young, tossing a baseball with his dad, his dad would always comment and say ’son, if you keep throwing the ball like this, you’ll end up in the major leagues some day’. He continued to tell his friend ‘and today I am right where my father always told me I would be’; an inmate had overheard the conversation and interjected, gently shaking his head, telling them ‘the same thing happened to me, I’m exactly where my father told me I would be’.
The bible tells us that in the tongue lies the power of life and death (Prov. 18:21)- beware how you use it, my friend!

Moreover, words have the ability to limit your thinking, or on the flip side, to empower your thought life.
Certain concepts cannot be grasped without the word power to describe these; certain situations cannot even come to mind if one lacks the words: Whereas we might have three or four words to describe snow (powder, slush, sleet etc.), the Eskimos have maybe twenty*. They know all the different attributes certain types of snow have, and what that snow is good for (*though this might be a myth, it helps to explain the concept of thinking about concepts with the help of words. Perhaps Eskimos don’t have tons of words for the one word we use, “snow”, but rather terms that describe the different conditions. Anyways, here’s a page that claims the multiple snow words are a myth, and here’s a page with tons of Eskimo words pertaining to snow).
Also, your vocabulary helps determine your Intelligence Quotient (IQ); your command of a language will either set you apart from the masses, or make you blend in (possibly rendering you invisible). A little story to help illustrate this: When I left Germany to attend university in the USA, I had a strong command of the German language; I was well spoken, with only a slight local accent, and quite eloquent. With the cunning use of my words I could talk myself into and out of just about any situation – so much so, that I had a significant number of people approaching me and telling me I needed to become a lawyer. Once I had moved to the US, I found myself in a completely different situation. Suddenly I felt incredibly uneducated. I felt like a simpleton, ’cause I couldn’t express my thoughts in a manner I was used to. Yes, I was able to communicate in English, but my vocabulary was a very basic one. It would sometimes drive me nuts, ’cause I’d think to myself “I’m WAY more educated than that!”, but I’d have to give in to the use of simple phrases. The first line of a book I’ve begun working through reads “your boss has a bigger vocabulary than you have.” It goes on to say “that’s one good reason why he’s your boss.” Now, given, that doesn’t hold true in all situations (and this book is a little older, things have changed a bit these days), but in most corporate settings this happens to be the case. It is usually the ones with the better diction who end up getting the promotion (considered all other things being equal, that would likely be the case). A couple of scientific findings this book points out are “That if your vocabulary is limited, your chances of success are limited; That the vocabulary of the average person almost stops growing by the middle twenties”. I don’t want to ramble on, but I do want to encourage you, that if you want to get ahead, you’ll be well advised to improve your vocabulary.

A last word about books…
Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, one of the biggest promoters of reading is quoted saying “You are the same today as you’re going to be in five years except for two things, the people you meet and the books you read.” He continues “Hang around thinkers; you’ll be a better thinker. Hang around givers; you’ll be a better giver. Hang around workers; you’ll be a better worker. Hang around a bunch of thumb sucking, complaining, griping boneheads; and you will be a better thumb sucking, complaining, griping bonehead.”
Books will inspire you, give you new ideas, might provide a good laugh, could lure you into deep thought, they might even enlighten you, at least they’ll improve your language proficiency. But as the statement above explains so nicely, you will become what you associate with, so choose your books wisely (for ideas on what to read, feel free to ask me…).
Read, friend, READ FOR YOU LIFE!

__
- the “little story” about the baseball player, as heard in a podcast by Zig Ziglar, “Words are important”, part of the “inspiring words of encouragement” series.
- the book quoted about vocabulary: “30 days to a more powerful vocabulary” (Dr. Wilfred Funk & Norman Lewis)
- Charlie “Tremendous” Jones quote take from article “Postcards from my son” found on “SUCCESS.com”

WWW: Walk With the Wise!

Proverbs 13:20 tells us “He who walks with the wise will become wise”

So today I would like to encourage you to “walk with the wise”. What does it mean to “walk with the wise”. Going for a stroll in the park? Why not. But I believe “walk” includes more than using your legs to put one foot in front of the other. More than walking, it means spending time with, listening to, observing, and learning from the wise. Do this, and you will gradually assimilate their knowledge, their behavior, their wisdom. (but beware, this also works in reverse when you spend time with fools).
How do I do this? Ok, admittedly, not all of us have free access to a vast pool of wise people all around us (some are more fortunate than others in that regard). You of course can make an effort to seek out a wise person you might learn from in your surroundings (church, work, school etc.), but even if you don’t think you can find someone like that (or you can’t yet pluck up the courage to do so), you can learn from the wise in various ways: read, watch, and listen.
There is plenty literature out there with words from the wise just waiting for you to tap in and absorb the wisdom. I’ve started reading and I can tell you that it’s been an amazing blessing. Recent highlights include
- “Confessions of a Pastor” Craig Groeschel
- “The 21 Indespensable Qualities of a Leader” John Maxwell
- “Chazown” Craig Groeschel
- “I’m Proud of You” Tim Madigan
- “Calvin and Hobbes – It’s a magical world” Bill Watterson
I would recommend the above to any and everyone. In addition to that, I’ve picked up a subscribtion to a magazine that has begun to change my outlook on life and give me all kinds of new ideas. Another read that I would highly recommend to anyone:
- “SUCCESS Magazine”
The magazine is about success in life, not just one area, but a roundabout approach: finances, health, and relationships. It’s filled with encouraging articles about people who made it (despite the odds), and interviews with people who’ve lived a successful life (one of the guys who has most impressed me is Paul J. Meyer).
Of course, if you’re looking for wisdom, there is one important source you’ll have to tap into; yes, that’s right:
- “The Bible”
Irrefutable, indispensable,  indescribable, incredible (yet absolutely credible), undeniable: the Word of God.

Ok, so we’ve covered reading, but what if I don’t like to read? What if I (think I) don’t have the time to read? What if I can’t find those books in my local bookstore? My friend, there’s a solution for you! A wonderful little thing called “podcasts”. They’re free, they’re available, and they’re waiting for you to download them.
I just did a little browsing and found some great material that should definitely get you going. Here are a some to check out:
- lifechruch.tv (Message Series: Audio)
- “Inspiring Words of Encouragement” (Zig Ziglar)
- “The Leadership Moment Podcast” (1min podcasts, for those who claim they don’t have time…)
- “Maximum Impact Podcast” (you’ll have to weave through the blah of the hosts)
- “The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership” (John Maxwell)
…just to name a few.

Just reading or listening doesn’t do it for you? Well, for you, too, there’s hope. Observe. Watch those people you think highly of. What are they doing that you would like to do? What are they doing that makes them successful in life? Watch them interact with other people. Observe how they tackle tasks/assignments.
Don’t think you have anyone you can watch or observe? Alright, we’re back to podcasts – because guess what: there’s video podcasts! For that TV generation out there Just watch and let it sink in.

So here’s for today: if you want to be wise, “walk with the wise” !

(please feel free to leave any comments, questions, or suggestions)