If you were in a cage with a lion what would you do?
In the book ‘The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader’ John Maxwell talks about taming a lion in the chapter on Focus.
‘Experienced animal tamers take a stool with them when they step into a cage with a lion. Why a stool? It tames a lion better than anything – except maybe a tranquilizer gun. When the trainer holds the stool with the legs extended toward the lion’s face, the animal tries to focus on all four legs at once. And that paralyzes him. Divided focus always works against you.’
Are you focusing on too many things at once?
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Do you believe your eyes?
Gregg Easterbrook, of the Brookings Institution, in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal compares the media perception of America with the perception of individual Americans. His article is titled, ‘Life is good, so why do we feel so bad?’
‘The relentlessly negative impressions of American life presented by the media, including the entertainment media, explain something otherwise puzzling that shows up in psychological data. When asked about the country’s economy, schools, health care or community spirit, American’s tell pollsters the situation is dreadful. But when asked about their own jobs, schools, doctors, and communities, people tell pollsters the situation is good. Our impressions of ourselves, and our neighbors come from personal experience. Our impressions of the nation as a whole come from the media and from political blather, which both exaggerate the negative.’
‘The latter has never been thicker. Democrats insist Republicans are ruining domestic policy. Republicans insist Democrats are ruining foreign policy. Neither claim is true, but both reflect what we’ve been conditioned to believe: that America is in much worse circumstances than it actually is.’
Being able to extrapolate the truth by obtaining information from multiple trustworthy sources is important. It takes time to identify and develop those sources.
Although freedom of the press is guaranteed there is no requirement for fairness, accuracy or objectivity.
‘The relentlessly negative impressions of American life presented by the media, including the entertainment media, explain something otherwise puzzling that shows up in psychological data. When asked about the country’s economy, schools, health care or community spirit, American’s tell pollsters the situation is dreadful. But when asked about their own jobs, schools, doctors, and communities, people tell pollsters the situation is good. Our impressions of ourselves, and our neighbors come from personal experience. Our impressions of the nation as a whole come from the media and from political blather, which both exaggerate the negative.’
‘The latter has never been thicker. Democrats insist Republicans are ruining domestic policy. Republicans insist Democrats are ruining foreign policy. Neither claim is true, but both reflect what we’ve been conditioned to believe: that America is in much worse circumstances than it actually is.’
Being able to extrapolate the truth by obtaining information from multiple trustworthy sources is important. It takes time to identify and develop those sources.
Although freedom of the press is guaranteed there is no requirement for fairness, accuracy or objectivity.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
One View of Success
In an address at Regent University titled ‘How to be a Real Success’ John Maxwell, author and leadership expert, offered his insights on success. Following is an outline of what he discussed.
Success is:
1 – Knowing your purpose in life
To discover your purpose
Discover your passion
Find your strength
2 – Growing to your maximum potential
3 – Seeking to benefit others (add value)
Four things successful people do:
1 – Get along with people
2 – They equip (train and develop) people
3 - They have an attitude that is different from other people
4 – They have learned how to influence people
Notice there is no mention of money or material goods to determine success. It revolves around using your talents and abilities, improving yourself and being a positive influence in the lives of others. Is there something here you can learn benefit from?
I think these principles apply in life, business, church, family or any other area you may be involved in.
To get a better understanding of Maxwell’s thoughts see the whole article at: http://www.regent.edu/publications/keynote/pdf/vol3_no1-2008.pdf
Just do it
How many times have you thought about doing something and then didn't do it because you didn't think your efforts would make much of a difference?
I want you to watch the following video and then take some action on something you have been putting off. It is easy to doubt or question. It takes a little more courage to stand up and do something.
Following is the intro I received for this video by e-mail.
I want you to watch the following video and then take some action on something you have been putting off. It is easy to doubt or question. It takes a little more courage to stand up and do something.
Following is the intro I received for this video by e-mail.
******************************************************
Please watch the following video clip -- it is a story of Johnny, the grocery store bagger. It is very short, but it will remind you of why and how we make an impact in what we do. You may even want to share it with others, and I hope you will. It's amazing how one young Down's Syndrome bagger made such a wonderful impact on those customers lucky enough to have Johnny bag their groceries!
http://www.stservicemovie.com/
http://www.stservicemovie.com/
Sunday, June 1, 2008
What I saw
The mother of the woman we built a house for in Juarez, Mexico, came over for the dedication of that house on a Wednesday evening. She lived next door and her grandson, Jonathan, who would be living in the new house with his mother, had helped us in building his mother’s house.
His grandmother was short, about four feet tall. Her skin was tanned, wrinkled and appeared leathery. She wore a scarf over her head and wore a long dress and she carried her Bible.
She smiled during the dedication service and read some scripture in Spanish when given the opportunity. At the end of the simple proceedings there were many hugs but more tears as the house was presented to the new owner.
I didn’t think much more about the grandmother as we went to the dedication of the second house just a few hundred yards up a dirt road where we encountered another family that was truly thankful. Again many hugs and more tears.
Thirty four of us had traveled from the Philadelphia area to El Paso, Texas, where we boarded four vans. In El Paso we had stayed in a church on Sunday, Thursday and Friday nights where we slept on the floor, on pews or on chairs.
On Monday morning we went to the offices of Casas por Cristo to meet up with our project managers, Scott and Jason. After we got some tools and made plans we added two pickup trucks to the caravan and headed to Juarez, Mexico. Juarez has had a lot of crime recently and the US State Department had issued a warning to Americans traveling there.
Casas has a fairly new community center they had built in the area where we would be working. We would be sleeping on the concrete floor of this center and making and cooking our food here from Monday to Thursday.
This area of Juarez is on top of an old dump with dirt roads, run down shacks, lots of stray dogs, empty plastic bags and plastic bottles everywhere and lots of dust. There were dust storms and hot sun every afternoon.
Interestingly there were used tires everywhere and many appeared on roofs apparently holding roof coverings secure.
Casas has been a presence in this area of one million plus people since 1993, I believe. They have had such a positive influence that whenever people, whether adults or children, saw our caravan they waved and smiled.
As we loaded into the four vans on Wednesday evening to leave the second dedication we drove down the road toward the first house we had built. Up to this time I had not been moved emotionally by this experience. I was glad that I came and glad that we could do a little to help these people in such difficult circumstances.
As we passed the first house we had built, I noticed the grandmother stepping into the doorway of her house next door. I watched her as she looked at our van and clapped her hands for us – she was applauding us. She then raised her right hand high over her head and gave us a thumbs up sign.
The only thing that came to my mind was ‘what you do for the least of these you do for me’. I know it isn’t the exact scripture but I think it captures the meaning. You can check it at Matthew 25:40.
For me that was the reason we had come.
His grandmother was short, about four feet tall. Her skin was tanned, wrinkled and appeared leathery. She wore a scarf over her head and wore a long dress and she carried her Bible.
She smiled during the dedication service and read some scripture in Spanish when given the opportunity. At the end of the simple proceedings there were many hugs but more tears as the house was presented to the new owner.
I didn’t think much more about the grandmother as we went to the dedication of the second house just a few hundred yards up a dirt road where we encountered another family that was truly thankful. Again many hugs and more tears.
Thirty four of us had traveled from the Philadelphia area to El Paso, Texas, where we boarded four vans. In El Paso we had stayed in a church on Sunday, Thursday and Friday nights where we slept on the floor, on pews or on chairs.
On Monday morning we went to the offices of Casas por Cristo to meet up with our project managers, Scott and Jason. After we got some tools and made plans we added two pickup trucks to the caravan and headed to Juarez, Mexico. Juarez has had a lot of crime recently and the US State Department had issued a warning to Americans traveling there.
Casas has a fairly new community center they had built in the area where we would be working. We would be sleeping on the concrete floor of this center and making and cooking our food here from Monday to Thursday.
This area of Juarez is on top of an old dump with dirt roads, run down shacks, lots of stray dogs, empty plastic bags and plastic bottles everywhere and lots of dust. There were dust storms and hot sun every afternoon.
Interestingly there were used tires everywhere and many appeared on roofs apparently holding roof coverings secure.
Casas has been a presence in this area of one million plus people since 1993, I believe. They have had such a positive influence that whenever people, whether adults or children, saw our caravan they waved and smiled.
As we loaded into the four vans on Wednesday evening to leave the second dedication we drove down the road toward the first house we had built. Up to this time I had not been moved emotionally by this experience. I was glad that I came and glad that we could do a little to help these people in such difficult circumstances.
As we passed the first house we had built, I noticed the grandmother stepping into the doorway of her house next door. I watched her as she looked at our van and clapped her hands for us – she was applauding us. She then raised her right hand high over her head and gave us a thumbs up sign.
The only thing that came to my mind was ‘what you do for the least of these you do for me’. I know it isn’t the exact scripture but I think it captures the meaning. You can check it at Matthew 25:40.
For me that was the reason we had come.
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