Tag: faith

Fully Present

Are you fully present?

The above question could be the most exposing question of our time. Let’s be real; we live in the age of distractions. It’s no surprise that we even rationalize the distractions. Ever told someone you love to wait a minute, all the while, you’re busy scanning a social media site. Being fully present is a rarity amongst rarities.

What does it mean to be fully present?

To be fully present is to have faith. This kind of faith stands and says the moment in front is the most important moment ever. You might be questioning with some skepticism. Maybe you’re thinking what my son told me this week; “I don’t have time.” As it is for him, so it is for you. You have plenty of time. The question is what are you doing with it.

In my times of reflection, I can see and feel what it means to be so distracted as to not remember that feeling. The feeling like this morning when I could hear the rain and the birds singing in harmony. So many pursuits can get in the way of being present. We jump from experience to experience hoping that something will last. We hope something will hold up under the raging storm inside.

We miss the beauty right before our eyes. If only we would slow down and hold the look.

Here are a some tips on becoming fully present:

  1. Decide today what’s most important to you. Stop kidding yourself and start living what you say
  2. Stop and just be. Start with 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes in the evening
  3. Start seeing the insignificant as significant.
  4. Stop allowing the 80% of life trick you into allegiance. This post from a few months back might move you
  5. Stop listening to the marketing. You know what you need to do.

Call on me if you need some help here.

 

Comfort

“I don’t know who I am because I’m too busy living what I’m expected to be.”

The quote above came to me not so long ago. It was born out of a conversation.

If you walk long enough you might see a trend. In your work, your church, your family there is an unspoken system at work. I don’t mean to be observant, but comfort is a fashionable drug.

Here’s where I’m going:

  • Race through life to get to somewhere. A somewhere someone has already been
  • See work as all-important and surrender identity
  • Have faith in a tomorrow that you’re not able to guarantee
  • Succeed at the unimportant, while failing at what matters
  • Lie to yourself, over and over until it has an appearance of truth

Comfort is a funny thing. It allows you to hide, defend and fold. Your ability to displace comfort for the sake of your epic life, is a daunting task. It is especially daunting if you’ve made friends or peace with it.

If today is your “aha moment,” then move in such a way to turn around.

Risk

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It didn’t take me long, as a kid, to know I was born an entrepreneur. A risk-taker who understood that to live, is to risk.

 

a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.

 

The above definition is from dictionary.com and notice the word any.

I wasn’t the kid selling lemonade on the street corner for twenty-five cents. Though I had similar ventures way back when. I liken my path as a life entrepreneur, who had varied enterprises, with varying levels of risk. Each of them shaping who I have become today.

I haven’t always gotten it right or been celebrated for my achievements. Quite frankly, some of my biggest successes are ignored to this day.

So I think…

What are you risking today? Are you involved in any tremors or ripples? Have you stood up when most remain seated?

Embrace risk because it is a key to epic living.

Faith in Business

What level of faith (belief in something that is real, but unseen) do you have in your business? How about your people? Do you act on this faith even if the brilliance is not seen by many?

The answer to the three questions I posed will tell you a lot about the soul of your business and its true health.

This is the "hard" in hard work.

The Implications of Trust

Saw this post yesterday in Forbes and it got me thinking about the implications of trust.

What strikes me is how our business culture has forgotten or needs to be taught about how trust is built and kept. We definitely are living in a curious time, when it comes to trust. Seems like many have left trust in dust, even though we say its so important.

The vast advances in learning has led to arrogance on the part of business leaders. This is the type of arrogance that threatens the very enterprises deemed to be so valuable to multiple groups.

Can those (family, friends, company, etc.) conting on you trust you? Are you building and strengthening trust everyday?

Seth Godin on Risk and Failure

  

This interview with Seth Godin will encourage you to try and fail. 

Are you in a workplace where taking a risk and failing are frowned upon?  Do you frown upon it yourself?  Why not begin a small experiment today with risk and failure?  It could liberate you.

In the interview Seth gives some good examples of what a small experiment might look like.  The following are my suggestions:

  • Interact with a client in a different way.  Make a surprise visit to their office and engage with the receptionist and no one else.
  • Sign up for a cooking class, even if you see yourself as a lousy cook.
  • Try something that your kids are good at, but you're not.
  • Suggest a unique place for a work retreat.  Like this spot.
  • Introduce yourself to someone you've never met at work, at school or in your neighborhood.