Change

What is real change? It is not trying something new, it is committing to be better by taking a new approach. You notice I said committing, not trying.

Too many times we say we are going to try to lose a few pounds, or try to pay off bills.

The subliminal message of try is,"it's okay not to succeed because we are only trying."

The subliminal message of committing,"I have to do this, there is no alternative."

Which do you think will yield the best results? Then make a commitment to something important and press forward. Make it public if you need an additional motivator.

Once you make the commitment the change becomes easier, not necessarily easy, but easier.

The Difference

There is a huge difference between people who reach their goals and those who don't. It may be subtle and hard to see. Many call it luck. Others have no clue what it is.

What is it?

The Mental Edge! Developing the proper thought process and sticking to it until the proper habits are formed. It works as follows:

Thoughts become feelings.
Feelings become Actions.
Actions become habits.
This progression is the same for positive and negative thoughts. Be careful what you put in!

It takes about 21 days to create or to break a habit. Start a new, positive thought process and keep it for 21 days. Watch your Mental Edge grow!

Focus

Focus is a high priority action step toward achieving a vision. When you take a picture with an unfocused lens you get a blurry picture. This holds true for our life as well. It is near impossible to reach a goal or create a vision when you lose focus.

How do you maintain focus? Create a daily action plan which lists your 10 most important activities and/ or attitudes. Write and speak these daily and you'll find your focus to be laser sharp at all times.

Are you on the right path?

Where we go in life depends upon our path. There are many paths to choose from. Are we taking the correct one? How do we know we are on the right path?

My wife and I enrolled in Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University last night. We think we are headed down the right path, but how can we be sure?

The best way I know of to confirm direction is to seek wise counsel from those who have been successful in the specific area. If they confirm, move on to another area needing change. If they don't, and ask for mentoring.

Once you identify the mentor you'll need to develop, implement, and follow the plan of action they suggest.

Remember the definition of insanity; doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.

If you want to change your life, you must change your life. The first step is to confirm your path.

Valid Success

The past few months were sort of a re-focusing period for me. Several projects gained priority while others lost theirs. My priority out side of drawing closer to God, and my awesome family are shown below. These are listed in a flexible order (they will change at any given moment).

1. Finish my bachelors degree. I am enrolled online at The University of Oklahoma!

2. Complete the manuscript for Saving Grace . . . Inc. This book has transformed itself from a non-fiction to a full fledged fiction and I love it.

3. Perform my role as Promotional Strategist at Lifechurch for the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit.

4. One article per month for submission to various magazines and online periodicals.

5. Blog daily, this will be the biggest challenge. My blogs will be short and sweet and centered around the Valid Success platform. Valid Leadership, which is near and dear to my heart is actually down line from Valid Success. This is an exciting step in the creation of my ministry.

This blog can be found at Amazon.com and sent to your kindle automatically each time there is an update. Another exciting opportunity for 2011.

Thanks for reading.

When Confidence Becomes Arrogance

Being confident in our ability to lead is vitally important if we are to be successful, VALID leaders.

However, if we overextend our confidence into the area of arrogance we turn the tide backward.

A VALID leader understands all gifts, including the gift of confidence must not be taken lightly.

Confidence is defined as: powers, or reliability of a person or thing. When we are confident we are bold to speak what we believe as stated in Philippians 1:14 (MSG)

Where as Arrogance is defined as; display of superiority or self-importance; overbearing pride. When we are arrogant we are prideful as stated in Proverbs 21:4 (MSG)

A confident leader shows how much he cares. An arrogant leader shows how much he knows.

A confident leader has praise for his people. An arrogant leader has praise for himself.

A confident leader is proud of his people. An arrogant leader is proud of himself.

A confident leader makes the right decision. An arrogant makes sure he is right.

A confident leader promotes others. An arrogant leader promotes himself.

A confident leader takes blame and passes the credit. An arrogant leader takes the credit and passes the blame.

Hopefully you get the point. Please add to the list, thanks and God Bless.

How Do You Spell Success?

Success. What is it? Where is it? How can we achieve it?

The definition of success I like best; the favorable outcome of something attempted.

Based on the above definition, success can be anything we attempt to accomplish. The confusion is generated by the word, favorable. Do you have to actually accomplish a task to be successful or does success come from the attempt?

The technical antonym of success is failure. But do we really fail when we don't achieve a desired result? Or is the failure only revealed by act of quitting before we achieve our goal?

My belief is we can eliminate most of the confusion by setting proper goals. Once we have solid goals in place we develop and implement our daily action plan. Success will show its face as we attain each of the smaller goals. eventually leading up to the ultimate prize, whatever that is.

We may not actually reach the pinnacle of our dreams. However, by not quitting we'll be in a far better position than we started.

Isn't that success?