“Character is often confused with personality, but they’re not the same. Personality is your predisposition, your basic instincts for how to think, feel, and act. Character is your capacity to prioritize your values over your instincts.” Adam Grant in Hidden Potential It is a gift to recognize the seasons of weather. We prepare for the…
As I was hustling through the airport, I bumped into a guy I had not seen in a while. As I spent maybe five minutes with him, I heard the regret of decisions in his voice. I saw the regret in his eyes. I get it. Spend enough time with me, and you, too, will…
Michael Jordan was with the Chicago Bulls thirteen years. He won his first championship after he had been with the team seven years. In his first year, the Bulls won only forty percent of their games. He is going down as, arguably, the greatest who ever played the game. For the record, I would argue…
Emotions are lightning bolts of energy. Consider the negative emotions you will face every day of your life. The frustration when things don’t go as planned. The disappointment when someone lets you down, a spouse, child, friend, co-worker. The emotions that come with comparisons to other people. Negative emotions mean we are human. Externally, negative…
“Delay is the deadliest form of denial.” C. Northcote Parkinson As I read Scripture, I see the impact of immediacy. Noah worked immediately. Abraham left at once. Paul changed his life in an instant. “At once” is used 59 times in the New Testament. Time has a way of extinguishing visions. Delay eats dreams. Inaction…
Momentum continues day after day, building one direction or another. The mistakes and bad decisions that happened yesterday haunt today’s thoughts. The “what if” scenario is replayed over and over in our minds. Maybe the relationship is not where it needs to be. The family is struggling. The tank is empty. The momentum is down…
The journey of life is never consistently up and to the right. Allie Garfinkle wrote a great piece in Fortune magazine about Larsen Jensen, an Olympic swimmer and former Navy SEAL. In the interview, Jensen painted a picture of the grind to get to the podium. “It does feel surreal [on the podium],” Jensen said….
If there is absolute truth that we can hold onto, everything changes. Everything matters. Our soul is settled. We find peace. If everything is gray, nothing matters. Everything is debated. Our soul is never settled. Peace is never found. “Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born…
Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter. Francis Chan We measure ourselves through our own lens of success. Did I achieve the results? Did I close the sale, drive the volume? Did I make it happen? And, possibly the toughest measure, am I…
I asked a group, “Are you the same today as you were ten years ago?” One word was used to describe what caused the transformation in each person. Experiences. But it seems that life is set up to give us shortcuts that rob us of experiences. A glaring example is the college transfer portal. Great…