Category: Uncategorized

Posted on

The Little Engine that Could

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.
Posted on

Man’s search for Meaning

Justin Bieber always asks What do you mean?
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”
Carlin Day@elevatingvalueIt is not the wind, It is the set of the sail. – 🤔 Jim Rohn thoughts https://t.co/7oKkzAuJmz8:52 AM – 19 Oct 2021
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.  
Posted on

When is it time to Start?

When is it time to Start?
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!!
Posted on

Is Your Character Special?

Is your Character Special?
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?
Posted on

Tricked out Car!

The best car –

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!

Have a good day!

Posted on

The Farmer’s Secret

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! 

Posted on

God’s Word to us during times of fear

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.

 

 

Posted on

The Grocery List

By Carlin Day:

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.

Thanks,

Posted on

Get a Flyer


By Carlin Day

In a new year, it is a great time to think about what you are going to do different than you did the year before. This can be from little things to big things.  Some things can be very hard to change and we all know this to be true.

This post is not about cutting something out. Cutting something from your life is about playing defense. This post is about offense. One way to improve your defense is to keep your defense off the field!! The defense is off the field because you are still on offense!

Here is a way to play better offense in 2020 – Make a flyer –

I was inspired with this idea from watching one of my favorite shows, American Pickers. By me saying American Pickers is one of my favorite shows, I feel like I need to let you know that I am not a hoarder. I enjoy the show and I have always been entertained by Mike and Frank and the interesting people they meet. I also learn a lot about history. One thing on the show that makes me laugh is their flyer.

They drive up to someone’s house and hand them a flyer. On this flyer it has a list of all the things they want and they give it to the person and have the person look it over. The types of people they visit usually have something on the list.

My first point about the flyer is that is seems like something they would not need. If you are into collecting you should know who Mike and Frank are and what they do. But the thing is, a lot of people don’t. A lot of people have no idea who they are.

The second thing about the flyer is that it gives the other person the feeling that if they help out Mike and Frank, they are going to get paid!!!

Could you use the flyer method in 2020?

Make sure the world knows: Whatever it is you are going after, you tell everyone about it. You also learn how to present it in a way that is interesting and exciting. If you know what you want you will be going to people who possess it.

Help the other person understand it would benefit them by helping you: Whatever it is you are trying to do, the other person should feel like if they help you, they are getting paid or receiving dividends from the things they can help you with.

If you did these things, you would always be on offense towards the thing you are trying to accomplish. If you made a flyer, what would you put on it that you want? How would you make the other person feel like helping you would benefit them?

The Flyer is a simple step to help you elevate value.

Have a great year,

Posted on

Make sure you have a Goal

Imagine you are playing in a basketball game and the score is tied at halftime. You and your team make some adjustments and you are going to go out and execute better in the second half and win the game. Big problem, someone has taken down the rim from your goal. The other team still has their rim but you only have a backboard. What would happen? Would your team finish the game?

Life is not a game. It is very serious.  The basketball analogy is silly, but it can be very meaningful. Our time is designed to be used while we are alive. Just as playing a game of basketball with no rim will not work; neither will a life without meaningful goals. In order for activity to useful in any matter, it has to be used to accomplish something of value.

For most things we do, we use default goals that have been ingrained in us as children. Most people do not talk about these goals but without them, life would be very confusing.

Common Goals:

Eat 3 times a day
Go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning
Go to work in the morning and return at quitting time
Watch a television show from the start and expect to complete it
playing games(like basketball) where getting the most points makes you the winner

If you did not have these goals, it would be hard to live a balanced life. Imagine going to work and always wondering when you were going to get to go home. Imagine only going to work when you feel like it. What if you just watched five minutes of every television show?

Valuable Goals

What would it be like if you really did play a game of basketball with no rim? You’re just running around getting sweaty and shooting the ball at the backboard. You are being guarded for no reason. It is impossible to score an actual, tangible, visible goal.

Now that you understand you are actually quite good at setting goals, please understand that you can set more advanced goals towards meaningful activity. A more successful use of time is completing small medium and large goals on a consistent basis.

If you are working on valuable goals, they will require valuable activity. If your actions are valuable, you will be elevating value.

Carlin