Better Than Your Best

Please feel free to use these prayers for your own use in whatever context you feel they are appropriate. 

Invocation

Lord,

Help us to remain true to the self-evident truths so long ago proclaimed but existing from the beginning of time, that we are all created equal, and that we are endowed by You as our common Creator with certain unalienable Rights.

Imbue us with a renewed enthusiasm and respect for these, our mutual rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Cause us to know without doubt that from these rights issue forth genuine responsibilities to work for the common good so that all can truly experience the true fullness of freedom.

We pray the presence of Your Power to be within and among us this evening as we seek to manifest these truths within our individual hearts and within the soul of our nation.

We seek Your guidance as we again pledge our allegiance to the timeless proclamation of individual liberty and our uncompromising independence from any tyranny, foreign or domestic, that would seek to deprive us of any of it.

Steady us in these turbulent times, Lord, so that we will never waiver from our reliance on our faith in Your unyielding love for each of us.

Benediction

We now depart in Your love and with Your peace. But we are no longer the people who earlier gathered; we are now the people who leave to live with renewed passion, filled with infinite power and divine wisdom to be co-creators with You to make all things new.

We leave with deeper commitment to embody the words of the one in whose honor we have gathered this evening:

“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in . . .”

By Ken Wallace

Do you have a clear-cut idea of what you expect to be done?

Have you planned what to say before giving the instructions?

Have you taken into account the individual’s preferred communication style and tailored your delivery?

Have you checked your vocabulary for words and phrases the individual may not understand (and eliminated or changed them)?

Do you wait until you and the individual have adequate time and attention to give to the instructions?

Have you planned what to do if the individual is uncooperative?

Do you explain the big picture so the individual understands the “why” as well as the “what”?

Do you ask the individual to repeat the instructions as he or she understands them?

Do you discuss what decisions the individual can make on his or her own and when he or she needs to check with you?

Before you end a meeting, are you sure the individual knows exactly what he/she is to do, how he/she is to do it, and when?

Have you set up interim status reports if appropriate?

Do you give the individual feedback (positive and negative) after completing the project?

Do you assess your instructions and change them in the future if misunderstandings arise?

After hours of frustration trying to get my drain unclogged, I finally broke down and called a plumber. Upon arriving, he asked where the problem pipe was located. I took him to the bathroom and, pointing to the open doors under the sink, I said, "There's your challenge, right there."

He spent a few moments surveying the situation and then took from his toolbox a simple pair of pliers and gently tapped the entire length of the curvy piping. After just a few minutes of inspection, he wrapped his pliers with a bright red bandana he took from one of the many pockets in his tattered blue overalls. With precise aim, he drew back and struck the pipe about halfway between the bottom of the basin and the point where the piping disappeared into the wall. 

It worked! The water flowed freely and all was right with the world. The entire visit lasted a mere five minutes. The plumber wrote on the invoice the following words: "House call . . . FREE; Knowing What to Do (Where to Hit the Pipe) . . . $75.00.

But knowing what and where is not enough. The noted comedian, George Burns, was said to have interrupted a person who was not quite finished asking, "What is the key to comedy?" with his answer: "Timing!" In addition to what and where, you must also know when.

There is such a thing as "putting the cart before the horse:" you wind up having to pull a load you wouldn't have had to were you to have done things in the proper sequence and at the right time. You cannot hope to reap without having sown or to acquire wisdom and solid character without making the daily choices to discipline your baser instincts.

Wisdom comes from understanding what you should be doing with your time. . . right now wherever you are. Getting to the place where your knowledge, skills and experience position you to "move the needle" and succeed faster is the essence of living in peaceful abundance. When you know you know you can make things happen, you become equipped with the power you need to achieve what you want. Furthermore, what you want becomes shaped by what you know you can accomplish rather than merely hoping for something you doubt that you can achieve.

This, indeed, is a peaceful – and powerful – life that emerges from finding your better Self.

If we took $5 Trillion dollar bills and placed them end to end, how far would they go?

Take a guess:

1. From St. Louis to Chicago

2. From St. Louis to Hong Kong

3. From St. Louis to the moon

4. None of the above

The answer is 4. The line of bills would stretch 473,484,848 miles. That enough to encircle the earth 19,048 times. It would make it to the moon and back 991 times (it's 238,857 miles from earth to the moon).

The interest on $5 trillion dollars, using current rates, is almost $400,000,000,000 (count those zeros!) per year. That's over $1 billion per day!

This is for ONLY $5 trillion.

The Outstanding Public Debt as of 16 Nov 2009 at 09:53:02 PM GMT is: $12,006,580,141,918.41 (that's over $12 trillion). So the figures above need to be over doubled to account for our current debt and interest obligations. By the way, the national debt is expected to double in ten years, by 2019.
 
The estimated population of the United States is 307,299,348 – so each citizen's share of the November 16, 2009 (the date of this posting) debt is $39,071.28. Do have that laying around to give to the government? What this means is that the government needs to get this money from you in some form or fashion – the sooner the better. What are your plans to give the government what it has already taken from you – without asking you?

Another little tidbit of gloom: The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $3.85 billion per day since September 28, 2007!

For an up-to-the-minute tracking clock of the U.S. debt, click here.

A young boy found a cocoon. Each day, he held it up to the light to admire his discovery.

One day, a small opening appeared in the wall of the cocoon. He watched the tiny creature within struggle for hours to force its body through the tiny hole. Then it seemed to stop trying. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could go.

So the boy decided to help. He took a pair of scissors and opened the hole so that the butterfly could come out more easily. It quickly emerged. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The boy expected the butterfly to take flight at any moment. The longer he watched, the more he realized that the swollen body with shriveled wings would never fly. It was too bloated and weak, spending its pitiful existence floundering on the ground until it soon died exhausted from trying to start living.

What the boy did not realize was what the butterfly actually needed. It needed to struggle to emerge from its confinement because that is the way the fluids of its body are extended to its newly formed wings so it can fly as soon as it frees itself.

Although we may fear encountering them and believe that to have them is to admit weakness, struggles are not the true problems we face in our lives. To the contrary, they are very often the means of our freedom from that which seeks to cast our souls, minds and spirits into melancholic bondage and dispirited living.

The true problems we have are those that are caused by our insistence that we have no problems in our lives, and, if we do, that the solutions be quickly and easily found. When we attempt to circumvent the demanding (and sometimes longer-than-desired) process of honestly dealing with our difficulties, we wind up demeaning the significance of any resolution to those difficulties that eventually may ensue.

Struggling is something you must do in your own time, in your own way and for your own reasons. Always remember that to avoid struggle is to shun victory. There is a time to struggle and a time to let it go and assess the degree of victory your struggling has yielded. When struggling defines your daily living, you’ve lost the meaning of why you’re struggling in the first place. Struggles result in peacefulness or they simply serve to exacerbate existing despair.

When next you find yourself struggling with something in your life, know that it is a process at the end of which is a victory of unimagined proportions and benefits. In other words, “this, too, shall pass” – and it will pass into a state of being that now knows how to fly beyond it’s present state of spiritual and mental confinement. At the end of your struggles await peacefulness and wholeness – the home of your better Self.

Note well: the end of your struggle happens only when you realize that you no longer need to struggle to be your better Self. This, indeed, is good news!

In my recent book, “Your Better Self: A Simple Guide to Where You Want to Be,”I cite Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues as being an excellent beginning for your journey toward manifesting your worthy aspirations and becoming your better Self. I’d like to share now Ben’s friend, Thomas Jefferson’s, 10 Rules that helped guide him to the astounding achievements credited to him.

Let me know if you think there is value to how he lived his life. Do you think you can benefit from organizing your life around the following?

1. Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.
2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.
3. Never spend money before you have earned it.
4. Never buy what you don’t want because it is cheap.
5. Pride costs more than hunger, thirst and cold.
6. We seldom repent of having eaten too little.
7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.
8. How must pain the evils cost us that never happened.
9. Take things always by the smooth handle.
10. When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, count a hundred.

Click here to read Paul’s comments on what has recently happened in America.

Please comment on his blog – and here, as well.

Ken

One Christmas, when my son was seven years old, he received a gift that I thought he would love – a harmonica. The moment he opened the present revealing the harmonica he looked up to see me pointing a camera at him. He smiled as big as he could while proudly holding the box in one hand and gently touching the harmonica with the other. He looked completely happy to get the harmonica.

Immediately after the photograph was taken, however, he threw one of the biggest tantrums I have ever seen him throw. He screamed, tossed the harmonica to the floor, ran through all the rooms of the house crying that we really didn’t love him.

Perplexed, I asked, “What’s the matter? You looked so happy to get the harmonica. Why did you smile so big when you opened it up? He said, “Because I didn’t want to ruin the picture!”

We paint the picture we have of ourselves in the actions and attitudes we exhibit. This is another way of saying that what’s on the inside eventually finds its expression on the outside.

What self-portrait are you painting today with your actions and attitudes? Is it your better Self – or something less?

I was going through my mother’s things today and came across a clipping from a newsletter long ago from some source unknown. It’s entitled, “Twelve Rules for Happiness.” I like them. Maybe you will, too. Here they are”

1. Live a simple life. Be temperate in your habits. Avoid self-seeking and selfishness. Make simplicity the keynote of your daily plans. Simple things are the best.

2. Spend less than you earn. This may be difficult, but it pays big dividends. Keep out of debt. Cultivate frugality, prudence and self denial. Avoid extravagance.

3. Think constructively. Train yourself to think clearly and accurately. Store your mind with useful thoughts. Stand porter at the door of your mind.

4. Cultivate a yielding disposition. Resist the common tendency to want things your own way. Try to see the other person’s point of view.

5. Be grateful. Begin the day with gratitude for your opportunities and blessings. Be glad for the privilege of life and work.

6. Rule your moods. Cultivate a mental attitude of peace and good will.

7. Give generously. There is no greater joy in life than to render happiness to others by means of intelligent giving.

8. Work with the right motives. The highest purpose of your life should be to grow in spiritual grace and power.

9. Be interested in others. Direct your mind from self-centeredness. In the degree that you give, serve and help will you experience the by-product of happiness.

10. Life is a daylight compartment. This means living one day at a time. Concentrate on your immediate task. Make the most of today for it is all you have.

11. Have a hobby. Nature study, walking, gardening, music, golfing, carpentry, stamp collecting, sketching, voice culture, foreign language, books, photography, social service, public speaking, travel, and authorship are samples. Cultivate an avocation to which you can turn for diversion and relaxation.

12. Keep close with God. True enduring happiness depends on close alliance with God. It is your privilege to share God’s thoughts for your spiritual nourishment, and to have a constant assurance of divine protection and guidance.

The source of these pearls of wisdom appears to be pretty old, judging from the yellowed paper on which they were inscribed. Nevertheless, they sound pretty up to date to me.

What do you think?

Action planning is critical. Doing it well is even more critical because if it’s not done well chances increase that nothing of importance will be accomplished and valuable time will be wasted.

There are five components of good action planning, all of which need to be included in the process. If any one of them is omitted, certain emotional reactions ensue which endanger the accomplishment of any meaningful results.

Following is the case for effective action planning and what happens when any of the five elements is lacking. Are you dealing with any of these issues in your team or organization? If you are, I can help. Call me at 866-586-5021.

Critical Action Planning Process