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!

My Vision!

In all of our speeches and seminars, you will find an overwhelming topic hammered on constantly and that is the importance of Vision. As the smartest and richest person ever to live on this planet said:

We there is no vision, people perish...said King Solomon

But the opposite is also true: Where there is vision, people prosper!

We get asked all the time about our vision. What are we trying to accomplish? What are my dreams? What part can I contribute to make the world a better place? When it's all said and done for me, what contributions do you want to make?

Here is the essence of our vision (my vision books are on volume number six):

To help, to inspire, and to motivate millions of people through my life, my story, and walk with Jesus Christ with the complete understanding that today, I can effect the life of another human being.

It matters...

Design matters...

Presentation matters...

Don't overlook it....instead, be intentional and focused on both

It separates the good from the great!

Thoughts...

Every single thought is either:

1. Strengthening you and making you better.......or

2. Weakening you and robbing you of life

Given this, doesn't it make sense to really work on our thought process? I would say so....

**** Thoughts - Feeling - Actions = Choices

Life is our series of choices we make (or don't make)

If choices come from thoughts....let's make good thoughts to make good choices!

Q: What are you thinking today?

• Doom, Gloom
• Negative
• More wrong than right
• Mediocrity
• Addiction
• Fear
• Worry

or

• Fun
• Joy
• Peace
• Right than wrong
• Abundance
• Let's Go
• Can Do

Sleep

I remember when I was growing up how soundly I slept. Specifically, we had a summer cabin on a lake and I would spend all day outside playing baseball, swimming in the lake, and riding my bike up and down the lake hills. At the end of the day, I was all done and the minute my head hit the pillow, I was out!

But I recall how soundly I slept. It was so full of peace and calm.

But now 29 years later, real life can take its toll and with all the real life noise, sleep is much more difficult. I don't have sleep issues but nevertheless, I long for those days when my head it the pillow it was all over...and full of peace. That's the way sleep should be.

So I am working intentionally on my sleep plan called REST

Reset
Every
Single
Time

• When today's done, it's done (stop trying to always do more and more)
• Be Thankful for today and rejoice in it
• Review the day (what worked and what did not work)
• Reset to the Big Picture...(always keep focus on the big stuff and not little details)
• Let go and Go Up (it's not about me but rather God and his plan)

But as my teachers taught me: to get good sleep, you have to make a Intentional Plan! Like anything else, you have to work at it. I never thought about it like that but I think it's so true.

Happy Veterans Day

Veterans (both past and present)

Thank you!

You are my true hero's.

You selfless acts and ultimate courage are my inspirations!

Thank you!

Snowball

My thoughts have a Snowball effect!

Negative Thinking = Negative Results

Positive Thinking = Positive Results

It's really that simple. But the problem I see is that most people don't Intentionally work on this process. I work Intentionally on my attitude and thoughts every single day. It's the most important thing I can do. Why?

See above.

Create Today!

Great Leadership (and my formula) =

• Vision : What exactly is the vision for your life and business? Is it big enough?
• Goals: Set some targets based on your vision to make it come true
• Creative and Innovation: Boring is out. Be interesting and entertaining!
• Execution and a Do it Now Mindset: Take Action, Get on offense, Avoid Procrastinations
• Focus: Use your time wisely...manage your time just like you do money...maximise your resources
• Have Fun! : One shot at this life so we better have some fun

When I am not speaking, I make sure there is 50% or more of my time used to be CREATIVE and INNOVATIVE!

My Time Journal:

50% Creative ($200-$500 per hour)

30% Working On Business ($100-$200 per hour)

20% Tasks and Doing Stuff ($10-$50 per hour)

It's all relative...

^^^^ Bad Times and Bad Events are all relative ******

I remind myself of this powerful thought all the time.

Seriously.

I hate pity parties.
I hate lack of courage.
I hate feeling sorry for myself.
I hate fear.
I hate living in ordinary levels of consciousness (when levels of extraordinary consciousness are available to me...and for FREE).
I hate looking back.

You know what? It's not all about me. In my times of adversity, I need to remind myself that I am not the center of the universe. My tough times are not the most important thing on this planet. And besides that, it's all relative. I tell myself this all the time:

Somebody on this planet would trade my tough times for theirs in a FLASH!

Instead Chris, how about this:

• Pick yourself up dude
• Nobody really cares about your pity party and nobody wants to attend
• Instead, Go out and make a difference
• Keep on keeping on
• It's Go Time
• Embrace Adversity
• It's all disguised as tough times but in the end it's really good for me
• Relax...God in control and with me
• Awesome!

DD + MM = WE!

Formula:

DD + MM = WE

Dramatically Different and then provide Magical Moments and you equal a WOW Experience!

1. Dramatically Different: What is your AHA in business? Why you? Why should people do business with you? What makes you unique?

• VISION! You got to have a huge vision that is clear and motivating. If you aren't clear, how can you expect the marketplace to be clear? Vision separates the top from the rest; we see it every single day!
• Do things different. Be unique. Take the road less traveled. Get uncomfortable.
• Dream Big Time!

2. Magical Moments: Do the things that make it an experience! Do the little things extremely well from your heart!

• Take the ordinary and make them extraordinary!
• Focus on perfecting the BASICS (do the basics better than your competition)
• Be Intentional (greatness doesn't happen by stumbling across it but rather by being intentional)
• When you do this little things from the heart, you will be alone because your competition won't do it..Why? It's just too hard for them.

3. WOW Experience!: Business that has the "IT" factor full of energy, spirit, high performance, and passion. Something that can't be copied or duplicated. WOW!

When you are going to start?

Seperation

What exactly are you going to do to separate yourself in the marketplace today?

You need a plan...

Make it magnificent and marvelous!

Start today.

Activities vs Achievement

Activities vs Achievement

Huge Difference!

A great exercise: Look over your calendar for the last couple weeks and audit your time. What did you see? More activities and noise or actual steps forward and achievements?

I think in today's world there is a wrong test for success. It seems like the gauge for success in today's world is how busy you are rather than how much you achieve. I see it all over.

Busy here and Busy there. Running around a million miles per hour with hair on fire; But short on achievements.

I am just the opposite. I want to slow down and take my time (especially with my decisions because most of them stay with me a long, long time.) I want to do less busyness and more business. I want to get rid of all noise and focus on taking steps forward. I hate distractions and busy bee non-sense that keeps me from getting the most impacting rewards accomplished.

But to get this done, I have to audit my performance and know exactly where my time goes. Why? I am where my time goes. Period.

What if....part II

What would our businesses look like if we:

• Found our passion and big aha difference maker
• Cast a clear and motivating vision
• Get great people on board
• Execute the BASICS better than our competition (especially focusing on relationships!)
• Take little steps forward each day with passion and enthusiasm
• Have a bunch o FUN!

Today, we are making business/life much harder than it needs to be.

Let's just take a time-out and really think on this.

If any of this hits home, you need to sign up for IGNITE Seminar we are hosting. Email kelly@christapken.com for details (limited space and seats are filling up fast). You don't want to miss out on this day long seminar where we are building a plan of action for an amazing 2010! Enough mediocrity...there's a better way and it will start with you being at IGNITE course!

KISS...Part III

KISS

Keep it Simple Silly!

We all are making business too difficult today! The top producers keep things very simple and focus on the BASICS!

It's all about the execution of the Basics:

• Do Basics Daily!
• Add a sprinkle of Passion!

Execute the basics every single day with a dose of passion and you have a formula that your competition can't match!

Apple, Google, and YOU! Keep things simple! (just like Apple and Google!)

Courage and some thoughts

Courage!...What does it mean? Something I have really been thinking about and working on.

It takes courage to live the life you want to live. This is for sure.

Another point about courage: Embrace adversity and tough times all the while understanding there will be ultimate victory. That's easy to say but hard work.

Really, I should look forward to adversity? Yes. Because it's in these tough times that we really grow. We dramatically improve when the weather is not so fair. We absolutely learn when the road is rough. We advance when the footing is not so sure. Now, please also understand that it's not fun and easy in these turbulent times. Nobody enjoys getting beat up. But it's needed and good for us.

Lastly, we need to keep our eyes on the prize which is in the end, WE WIN! We all will get through these tough times and come out even better. Defeat ..never. Victory is ours.

I think that's courage.