Have you read the story of the little engine that could?
The story of the train that can because he thinks he can. He thinks he can over and over again. It is a powerful story, but it is also a kid’s book. Here are some things you can think as you chug and chug and think through life.
Word Power:
This is called word power. If you are a Christian, you can use these word power statements. They are bible verses that are written in a paraphrased first person form.
Vision:
I praise God for everything.
In Christ, I am of extreme value.
I have Christ’s authority over all the enemy’s power.
Christ’s stripes heal me.
God provides for all my needs.
God so loved me that he gave.
Eternal life is a free gift.
Character:
I honor Christ with every part of my body.
I am a joint heir with Christ.
I can endure all things through Christ.
I wear the full armor of God.
I serve others: I do not expect them to serve me.
Skills:
I bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
I trust and obey God in everything.
I fix my thoughts on what is good.
I have set my mind on things above.
I serve Christ in the workplace.
I only think about the good things in others.
I live Christ’s live on purpose, not by accident.
I hide God’s Word in my heart.
Elevating Value:
These are powerful statements for someone who follows God. If you do not follow God, you will have to keep following the kid’s book method. I think I can…. I think I can….
Follow God and the Bible and you can elevate the value of whatever you do.
The word statements above are from the Mentoring His Way Series. These books are great for one on one mentorship.
I recently was introduced to Viktor E Frankl by Chip Gaines from Magnolia and fixer upper. My wife bought me the book Capital Gaines by Chip. When my wife buys me a book, I always read it. In Chip’s book, he talks about how he lost himself because everyone pulled him away from himself. He found his way back, and as you may have noticed, he is doing a lot with giving and service. I noticed he recently grew his hair long and then shaved it all off and donated his hair.In the book Capital Gaines, Chip talks about how the book Man’s search for meaning really helped him find himself and find the real meaning in his life. When I work with Value, I focus on three things. Character, Skills, and Vision. The main topic in the book Man’s search for meaning is Vision.
Vision is so important. To have meaning, you must have a vision of anything going forward. If you get meaning from your skills, you could loose yourself by others using your skillsIf you get meaning through your character, you will only be how you are today, not how you will be in the future. using vision, you are able to see today, the past, and the future. If you frame your vision in a way that has value, you will have meaning everyday. (This really is awesome! Everyday you can decide to get up and say “This is going to be a great day!” It is not because of what you can do, it is not because of who you were yesterday, but it is because you have meaning in your life that gives you joy to get up and go. Jim Rohn has a quote that says “It’s not the wind, it’s the set of the sails that determines your direction”
The book Man’s search for Meaning is about a man who was in a concentration camp. In the book, it describes the awful things that happened and how awful the conditions. Viktor Frankl was a Psychologist doctor and he watched, listened and learned about how the camps affected the people around him and himself.
He found that some of the men like himself could still find joy in the inner self. A quote from the book says “ As the inner life of the prisoner tended to become more intense, he also experienced the beauty of art and nature as never before.Viktor Frankl comes up with a term he calls logotherapy. In comes from Greek word Logos which denotes meaning. Where as psychoanalysis focuses on who you are and what made you that way, logotherapy would be more about how you think and what you are doing?
Both books Capital Gaines and Man’s search for Meaning are worth reading. from my perspective, they will help you become valuable by helping you improve your vision. Do you have vision? Most people do not have a vision of anything but conformity. I will leave you with this message today by Napoleon Hill. Napoleon Hill said there are only two types of men in this world. Men who can do what they are told and…Men who can do nothing else.
Here is another example of farming without the farm. See my first post on farming without the farm here.
When should a person start?
A new farmer is planning on having the best crop ever. He wants everything to be perfect. He does all the research on what seeds to use. He prepares the soil with rich fertilizer and cultivates the soil getting rid of all the weeds. He finds out all the chemicals to spray to get the best results once the plant is up. He creates a chart with how much sunshine and rain he will need. He even goes out and buys all the right harvest equipment so he is ready to bring in the bumper crop. After all the research, it is time to plant.The land is to dry and the temperature is too cool. His perfect chart says it is the time to plant but he knows there is not enough water for the seeds to sprout. The farmer checks the forecast and finds out that the weather is expected to be ideal next week. Next week comes and it has rained and it is now too wet. The next week comes and it is now too cool. As time passes, the days get shorter, the rains begin to fall daily and, by now, it is too late to plant. This year’s crop is a failure and it was never even planted. It never had a chance!The perfect crop has turned into a failure. As the farmer drives around, he realizes that the land around him has plants coming up all in a row. The other farmers land is producing? What happened? How could they have planted in all the rain? How could they have planted when it was too dry?
How to Start:
In the example of the new farmer who wanted to make the best crop, he would have been better just asking when to plant and plant the crop. The crop would have grown just like his neighbors. Instead of planting, he focused on perfection and found all kinds of reasons it was not the right time. Just like on the farm, there are so many ways we see this in life.
When to be kind – all the time, not only when people are kind to you When to lose weight – all the time meaning eat healthy and live healthy When to give money – all the time, be generous, regardless of circumstances When to start your business – start now, just don’t start the perfect business When to start running – in about 20 or 30 feet you can get to running speed. That will be a start.
Focus on Value:
If you can focus on value, you can start today. If you are focused on important things, you will be elevating value. If you begin working on things that matter, you will be growing, and this is the start that will end in valuable results.Just like farming, in everything you do, plant today, harvest in the future. Planting daily has great results. Trying to find perfect harvests is much harder than planting. Plant and the harvest will come. Don’t be like the farmer who waited and now sees everyone with a successful crop. Plant today!! Start Today!!
What are your favorite characters in movies, television shows, or plays?I could name a few of mine. I really enjoy funny and outgoing people. If you have seen my pinned tweet on twitter, you know I like Chris Farley. I also enjoy comedians and story tellers. Tim Hawkins is a good comedian. Jim Rohn is a story teller who makes things simple.
Is your Character Special?
Now, the same question goes for real life. What characters do you enjoy most?Positive: Do you like the people who are fun and outgoing? How about the people who have something to say that is interesting, positive, and exciting. Negative: Do you like people who share something negative? Do you enjoy people who are critical? Do you enjoy people who are talking about the worst news story they have heard this week? Now, there is something that greatly distinguishes people you know vs people you see perform. The big difference is their character. The more you know someone, the more you know their character. Their character includes things that other people far away from them may not see. This is more than if they are fun, entertaining, positive, or negative. There are real character traits. Are they liars? Are they hurtful? are they people that you can not trust? Are they loving, caring, someone you can trust. The real character of a person will greatly affect the way you feel about them.
Quotes About Character:
Let us not say, Every man is the architect of his own fortune: but let us say, every man is the architect of his own character. – George Dana Boardman
A man’s character is like his shadow, which sometimes follows and sometimes precedes him, and which is occasionally longer, occasionally shorter, the he is. – Madame de la Rochejuquelein
Question about Character for you to answer:
Who’s characters is most important? Is it your character or the character of others?I believe that your character is the only one you can alter. You can change your character. You cannot change others unless they are willing to change their own character. Do I know the character of Chris Farley, Tim Hawkins or Jim Rohn? No, I do not. I only enjoy their work. Do you know your character? Is your character elevating value?
If you were given regular 5 year old car Sedan and 100,000 dollars to improve it, what what you do?
new rims
new paint – probably purple and fire
New Audio Stem
Hydraulics
new interior
What else?
Now if you couldn’t sell the car ever and you would have to drive it the rest of your life, what would you use the money for?
Fixing every part of the car
Maintenance schedule.
New transmission
New Engine
Paint and Interior when it needs it.
The Cool/Fun Factor and the Success/Joy Result.
What I just described is a way people live their life. We all do this to a certain extent. We are hungry and need something to eat, so we go get a few fast food burgers and feel good quick but feel bad afterword.
If you want success/joy in health, you eat what is not as good – vegetables, fruit, less food, healthier options but feel good (success/joy) health later.
Proverbs 15:17 Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred.
This past week, I finished a project of buying a business and helping a husband and wife retire from the insurance industry.
Buying a business is not a Cool/Fun experience. The cost is upfront and the the work is up front and the results and success are much later.
The Cool/Fun Success/Joy Graph.
Cool/Fun
This is not always true, but many times, when the first hit is up the delayed move is down. If you zoom out and look at the graph from a whole life perspective, it looks like a graph of decrease.
Gambling
Drugs
Sex – used incorrectly
Food –
Entertainment
Anything used to give joy for a moment can cause disaster later.
Success/Joy
This is also not always true but generally true. What the work is hard first the results are better long term.
Food
Investing
Sex
Entertainment – Reading – learning
Health
Buying business buying real estate
If you are elevating value, you will look at things with a value type vision.
Vision – how will this play out over time? chain thinking
Character – you will become what you think –
Skills – Learning to do something will be hard now but rewarding later
If you read this – Thank You – I appreciate you reading, and my wife likes me to tell you and not her. She prefers I would listen to her. I am trying!
Time travel is awesome! I really like all the time travel movies. I especially like the back to the future movies with Marty McFly. Recently, there have been some Hallmark time travel movies on TV that caught my eye. What is it about time travel movies that intrigue me? I really don’t know, except that their just so interesting. I think it is trying to figure out the what ifs or the ,wait, how does that work? How can you go to a time before you were born? How could you go to a time in the future after you were already dead? These are hard to answer questions. They are impossible questions. In order to stop giving time to questions like this. We need to focus on what we can control.
I have found that time travel is possible. That is correct! I am claiming time travel is possible as long as we are talking about time travel in your mind. In your mind, you can be at three places: The present , the past, or the future. It is basically right out of the story A Christmas Carole where scrooge is visited by three ghosts. the ghost of Christmas past, Christmas present, and Christmas’ yet to come. Every time you have a thought, it is convening the past, the present, or the future. This means you have three times or places your mind can be.
The Past
The thoughts of the past are your memories. When you are thinking about memories, you will be trying to recreate and bring to mind the images, events, locations, and people of the past. By going to memories of events, people, or places. You can probably remember things that happened and almost replay them in your mind. You could go to places that you are familiar with in the past and remember what it looked like, what it smelled like, or even how it made you feel. You can spend time thinking about what if I would have done this? or what if I would have said that? If you are fully in the past, it will be hard to be effective in the present here and now.
The Present
You can think about and focus on what you are currently doing. Some may call this presence of mind. The phrase is used a lot in sports by broadcasters who are talking about someone who made a decision so quick. Here’s the call brought to you by none other than Bill Walton.
In the clip, Reggie Miller had the ability to steal the ball step behind the three point line and drain the three all in an instant. He was so present, he was able to make the exact, right decision at the right time.
Another example I like is the dad Saves! This is where the baby or kid almost falls and, out of nowhere, the dad saves the day. He has great presence of mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnYT4uQQu0c
The more we are present, the more we can deliver in times of stress or times of difficulty. Although you might be thinking of something else, you are alert enough to make a quick decision to handle the current situation. When you are acting in the present, your mind is in the current time.
The Future
The final place we can be is in the future. In your mind, you can think about the years to come and what is to come. This is a valuable tool, but can also be something that distracts you from the tasks at hand.
The future mind is a place of vision. If you look out into the future and can see things that others can’t, you have better vision.
Understanding that each action is part of the next link and also connected to the last is understanding the chain of events.
If each action, habit, or activity would be plaid out in the mind, you stop being a creature of habit but a creature of control on a course where you are going. Being a person who can see and think in the future is a valuable skill. While it is a valuable thinking skill, it still has to remain in balance with thinking in the past and having a present thinking mind.
What time to think
Now is the time to think! Here is some things that could help you elevate your value!
keep track of thinking – how much time do you spend thinking about today, the past, or the future. Figure out if you need to stop thinking or start thinking in the past, future or present.
Understand that you can not change the past, but you can use the past to live in the present and change the future.
All of your activity that you did in the past, today, and in the future will run through the filter of your current thoughts. Make sure your mind(or soil) is ready
What are your favorite characters in movies, television shows, or plays?
I could name a few of mine. I really enjoy funny and outgoing people. If you have seen my pinned tweet on twitter, you know I like Chris Farley. I also enjoy comedians and story tellers. Tim Hawkins is a good comedian. Jim Rohn is a story teller who makes things simple.
Now, the same question goes for real life. What characters do you enjoy most?
Positive: Do you like the people who are fun and outgoing? How about the people who have something to say that is interesting, positive, and exciting.
Negative: Do you like people who share something negative? Do you enjoy people who are critical? Do you enjoy people who are talking about the worst news story they have heard this week?
Now, there is something that greatly distinguishes people you know vs people you see perform. The big difference is their character. The more you know someone, the more you know their character. Their character includes things that other people far away from them may not see. This is more than if they are fun, entertaining, positive, or negative. There are real character traits. Are they liars? Are they hurtful? are they people that you can not trust? Are they loving, caring, someone you can trust. The real character of a person will greatly affect the way you feel about them.
Quotes about character:
Let us not say, Every man is the architect of his own fortune: but let us say, every man is the architect of his own character. – George Dana Boardman
A man’s character is like his shadow, which sometimes follows and sometimes precedes him, and which is occasionally longer, occasionally shorter, the he is. – Madame de la Rochejuquelein
Question about Character for you to answer:
Who’s characters is most important? Is it your character or the character of others?
I believe that your character is the only one you can alter. You can change your character. You cannot change others unless they are willing to change their own character.
Do I know the character of Chris Farley, Tim Hawkins or Jim Rohn? No, I do not. I only enjoy their work.
Do you know your character? Is your character elevating value?
There once was a farmer on the side of the road mending his fence. The preacher happened to drive by and saw his friend, the farmer, on the side of the road working on the fence. The preacher pulls down the window to talk to the farmer. After a warm greeting, the preacher praises the farmers farm and says “Wow, God has really blessed you with an amazing farm” The farmer responds by first thanking the farmer for his good words but then responds to the preacher. “God has definitely blessed me with a beautiful farm but you should have seen the farm when God took care of it” The preacher then had his sermon for next week.
This is a paraphrase of the story of the farmer from Earl Nightingale’s radio and video piece called the Strangest Secret. This story is a great reminder of the way things happen and the way we tend to think things happen.
Normal and average way of thinking – We all will think like this at times
Some people are lucky
Some people are gifted more than others, and that is why they do more
Some people are called by God
Some people have it easy
Higher form of thinking – We need to think like this more!
There are events that happen that are not normal, they are miraculous
Some people use the talents that God gave them and, by discipline, cultivate their skills to levels no one has ever seen before.
All are called by God
No one has it easy
Just as the farmer had to put in the work, so must each person put in the work. In the Bible, God placed Adam in the garden to farm it and tend to its production. When Jesus gave the parable of the talents, he definitely approved of the ones who used their talents and went for it.
In the story of the farmer mentioned above, the preacher’s sermon the next Sunday probably ended by saying something like. “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few!” The farmer knows this secret, to harvest more, he has to plant more! to have a better farm, he has to improve it! The secret happens to be strange because it is so simple! God gave us the authority, now it is up to each one to go out and work!
One of the ways you can have peace during times of fear is by resting in the word of God. God is the God of hope! He reveals this in his word! Spend time in scripture by reading the scriptures and doing word searches
2 Timothy 1:7
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control
Psalm 34:4
I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
You can elevate your value by thinking about your grocery list. Most people use one. My mother used one when I was a child. My wife uses a list as well and does a good job of buying what we need. You wright down all the things you would need or would like to get and then go to the store to get the things on your list. The grocery list can teach us two big lessons. The list can teach us that our thoughts are things. This list also teaches us that things happen by definite action.
Thoughts are Things
The first lesson about thoughts being things is one of my favorite. Did you know that your thoughts are things? Jesus talked about this in the Bible. He talked about the things we think about being real. In Matthew 5:28, Jesus said that if you have lustful thoughts, you have already committed adultery. The things we think about are real. They are happening within our minds and heart. A drawing is a great example of how the thought is a thing. The image always begins in the mind and ends on the paper. This is at least true of a drawing that was meant to look like something. When you make the grocery list, you are basing it off of real things and putting them down on paper from your mind. You are creating the exact desire of a real material object just like an artist forming the idea of his painting in his mind. The next step is bringing the idea to reality.
Definite Action
Once you have a grocery list complete, is it filled with confusing generalities? No! it is filled with exact items. They are so exact they may include the brand and size. One thing I have found is that you also need to clarify if it has gluten or doesn’t. Is it supposed to have low sugar? I always get confused on if is the right product because they are claiming they took everything out of it? Maybe we wanted the one with everything in it. Main idea is that the list is specific and definite. You now have to act with definite action to receive the items on the list. This would include going to the store or ordering it online. This step cannot be skipped. Somehow and someway the items must be gathered. After this is completed our list usually goes in the trash and a new list begins.
Here is how the grocery list can help you in your life. You may find that you are good at making a grocery list. If so, you can translate that skill to all the ways you can elevate your value. Think about the important areas of your life and see if you have a list for these things:
Health
Spiritual
Marriage
Work
Things to get done
People need to call
Business
If you are not making a list, what are you doing? If you have a shopping list, you have a list of the things you want. If you didn’t, you would end up buying things you don’t need or not buying the crucial item you need today!
The same is true will all these areas. If you have a list, you would be creating the thoughts that are things. If you acted on the list, you would be moving these things through definite actions and making them real and, I guess I could say, in your kitchen.
