Unsustainable Pace

Too many people are living life at an unsustainable pace.

A friend of mine sent me a message about how shocked he was the the head football coach of Florida, Urban Meyer, would resign from one of the best jobs in his profession. How could you resign from a dream job and when you are at the top of your profession was the question asked of me. I wasn't shocked at all. Why?Because I see it every single day where people, just like Coach Meyer, are burning life at both ends and running at a pace that just can't be sustained for the long haul.

Is this called burnout? No. This is much more of a problem than "burnout." Burnout is a short term energy and passion issue where as this is something much more. This is crazy life pace is a long term strategy that won't work. It's a loser. And part of the problem is society's barometer for success is completely wrong. Society tells us the most successful are the busiest people. WRONG! In my economy, the most successful are those who achieve the most. Let's not mistake activities for achievements!

How can I get out of this rat race and losing life strategy?

• 30 mins of quiet every single day. Complete isolation daily.
• Constant auditing of your time. Where is it going? Are you doing the right things with your time? Are you working on the most productive things? How much true waste in time do you have per week?
• Cut out all busyness and busy-bee activities.
• Be Accountable (and if you can't do it yourself, find a partner to help you)
• Start each day with a plan.
• Say NO! You will have to learn to say NO more than yes to most requests of your time.
• Stop and notice each day a miracle (sunrise, sunset, rain storm, a baby, blue sky, a laughing child, a loving family, husband and wife sharing life, the ocean,....they are all over but you need to stop and train yourself to see them)

Don't buy the hype. Don't listen to society. Being more busy is not better! It's a long term losing strategy. There is a better way. Slow down. Make a difference. Do the things that have an high impact and cut out the rest.

Homeless no more!

Kim Perkins has a home!

I met Kim on a street retreat for Mobile Loaves and Fishes where I became homeless for one weekend. MFL founder Alan Graham told me I needed to go of which I am so grateful. In this life changing weekend where I experienced being homeless (no money, no ID, no phone, no place to eat or stay), Kim looked after us. She guided us and was our Shepard making sure we stayed from danger (and found something to eat). You see Kim has been homeless for years and an expert on living on the streets in Austin.

After this street living weekend, Kim and I stayed in touch. I had a front row seat to see just how hard Kim was working to improve her life. She constantly was taking little steps to improve. I now am so proud to call her my friend. She is an outstanding person and I am so thankful I got to know her this year. I have learned so much from Kim.

Kim also has made some unbelievable advances in her life. She has shown all of us that when we keep moving forward, just small steps, along with faith, amazing things will happen. Let me brag about Kim and consider her accomplishments this year:

• Kim has a home! After years (7-10 years)of being homeless, Kim now has her own place! A home. A safe place where Kim can get a proper nights rest. A full 7 hours of sleep is something most of us take for granted. Not the homeless. Most homeless are so tired and it takes everything they got to make it through a basic day. Kim now can get out of the wind, rain, cold, sun, extreme heat, etc and have a safe place to call her home. Say it out loud, Kim has a home!
• Kim's home has everything she needs: Chair, Bed, Kitchen, Bathroom! It's amazing!
• Kim has food so she doesn't need to worry about eating each day.
• Kim has been baptised where she publicly professed her faith in Jesus Christ!
• Kim regularly now attends Lake Hills Church downtown.
• Kim has a telephone.
• Kim has clothes and a new coat. (and doesn't have to carry everything she owns like she did before)
• Kim has a new life!

The true joy for me has come from knowing Kim and her friendship. It showed me, first hand, the power of serving and helping people out. When all of us just help out a little, huge things will happen! There are a million reasons why we can't serve more and help more (busy schedules, work, running here and there, emails to send, parties to attend)....but we all need learn from Kim and just take little steps to help out.

Mobile Loaves and Fishes is an outstanding place to start. I learned that it's the little things that make all the difference and end up being big things! One down and many more to go! What are we going to do about it?

Simplify

As you are making your 2010 plans, I have one word that is life and business changing: SIMPLIFY!

We are all making business and life too difficult. Just look at and audit your calender for the last 90 days. Busyness...Busy being busy. Noisy!

There is a much better way.

Simplify.

Less is more.

Let's not mistake activity for achievement!

I could care less who is the busiest (noisy activities)...but I am totally engaged on who is running the business (achievement)

To be more successful, get rid of all the "stuff". And then concentrate on the big impact activities only. And I promise all of those will have one word in common: Relationships.

• Relationships with employees
• Relationships with stake holders
• Relationships with customers

Simplify. Get rid of noise and clutter.

HOPE

Powerful word.

Life changing.

My Hope:

• Grow my faith and relationship with Jesus Christ
• My kids future
• My wife and our future
• Peace (relational, financial, spiritual)
• That society changes (priorities, how we treat each other, end homelessness, end poverty to name a couple)
• I leave the world a better place
• To motivate, inspire and help millions of people through my life, my story, and my faith (my work)

Some days are tough. Really tough. Hope gets my through every single time!

What do you HOPE for? When was the last time you worked on your HOPE?

Be intentional about your HOPE...

Choices

I have been working with my 5 year old son Teddy on choices. When he is looking at his younger brother and the wheels are turning on if to mess with him or not...I look over and tell Teddy to make a smart choice. And he knows:

• Mess with my younger brother = timeout
• Don't mess with my younger brother = keep playing

Here is what I have learned on choices through some good choices and some terrible choices.

Take your time with choices and think, because they will be with you a long time.

With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight here are some of my thoughts on my choices:

Bad ones:

• Made to quickly
• Didn't consult with others
• Didn't take time to stop and think (reactions)
• Didn't pray
• Self above all else

Good ones:

• Used my head and did some thinking
• Involved others
• Took my time
• Prayed and connection with God
• Selfless involved

The results and consequences of our choices last a long, long time. Be smart, use my head, take my time, involve others, and pray work for me.

Effort!

The score at the end of the day is the by product of something much more powerful and important called: *** Effort!

My focus on our business is the daily effort and moving forward each day. I try not to worry about the end results (profits). If I concentrate on the daily basics of our business, the results will come and be there.

Some questions we ask of ourselves that may help you:

• In business today, are you giving it your all?
• Are you totally committed?
• Are you striving to become the best at what you do?
• Would Teddy and Tate be proud of my work effort today?
• Are you settling for less than your best today?
• If so, why?

When you concentrate on the end score only, you lose.
When you concentrate on the basics, the score at the end of the game will say you win.

A great exercise....

Do you want a exercise you can do in your business that will rock your world? Here it is:

How can I/we make doing business with me/us, a total blast?

Do this individually if you are in business for yourself, or as a group.

Today, we have:

• Similar people
• Similar things
• Similar products
• Similar experiences
• Similar prices

Applebees, Bennigans, TGI Fridays, Chili's, on and on....all doing the same thing. How boring!

***** Be Different. Dramatically Different.

Make doing business with you a total riot...how can we do this?

It's all about experiences....It's all about doing things different.

I told Kelly this weekend that if we do things exactly opposite as the real world does and suggests, we would be right every time!

Different is in!