Live Life With Purpose with Adam Smith

We have seen less importance placed on becoming a good steward, and more importance placed on what we can gain. I would also say that we have seen a negative shift in the way people view responsibility. Let me be the first to tell you that things won’t happen the way you want them to until you take some responsibility. You have to take responsibility for your actions, the decisions that have gotten you to where you are today, and for moving ahead. The Story of Brandon One of the best examples I have ever seen of someone who knew how to be a good steward with their lives was my boss at my first job, Brandon. He is still to this day the best manager I have ever known. Brandon knew how to coach others to become better, how to get great results, and he was also very personable with everyone. Because of this, Brandon was able to build trust and relationships with both the team and with customers. Looking from the outside, it didn’t seem like he should be this far along in life. He was young, he really hadn’t been in management for a long time, and he was attending grad school full-time while working full-time to pay for all of his schooling. But, even with being stretched in every direction, he understood the importance of doing well with what he already had. He didn’t let busyness deter him from pouring into the lives of others. I knew he had something that I wasn’t able to grasp yet, but now I understand. He was being a good steward. He knew that he didn’t have to go out and gather a bunch of different attributes first, but he was already enough. He didn’t wait to hopefully become a better leader someday, but he saw life as an opportunity and took advantage of it. Even though Brandon was in a waiting season himself, he knew what it meant to be a good steward with what he already had. Being A Good Steward With the Present Moment Brandon displayed what it meant to do well with what someone already has, but what about the trend of obtaining more, more, more? The want of something more isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but when it becomes your sole purpose, it becomes your wrong motive. When having more is always your focus, you miss out on each daily opportunity to use the talents and passions you already have in your possession to lead in the lives of others right now. When your focus is on the present moment, you will be able to give more to those around you. In doing this, you will have more influence. If I am using John Maxwell’s definition of leadership, being influence, nothing more nothing less, then this is where we need to focus. When you understand the need that people have for you and you know what needs to be done, it then becomes your responsibility to be a good steward and give life all that you already have. When you learn to be a good steward, you learn the importance of treasuring what you already have in your possession. When you learn how to be a good steward, growth always comes. The Waiting Season When things are going great, you probably don’t feel a huge need to focus on being a good steward, because things couldn’t be better. But, let me challenge you to not lose focus on what is at hand, so you can continue to grow. Being a good steward not only maintains greatness in life, but stewarding well is what grows people into becoming something better. Maybe you currently find yourself in the midst of waiting and are wondering if the next door will ever open again. Maybe you are making plans and are getting ready to put the work in. Or, maybe you are submerged in the trenches of your work right now, wondering when this pace will ever let up. Or, maybe you are in the season of reaping the benefits of the work you have put in for so many years and are wondering what to do with all of it now. Plain and simple, being a good steward in every life season is what will keep you growing. If you are currently in a waiting season or hav...

Gallup research shows that only 13% of workers are actively engaged in their work. Here’s an article stating that people don’t quit jobs, they quit managers. I also found an article on the 9 things that make good employees quit. I share these articles with you as proof that the topic of company culture is important, and for good reason. Businesses tend to focus the majority of their energy on attracting the right employees, but place much less focus on how they can keep the right people. Employee retention is a focus that’s worth the time and effort, because cultivating a great company culture is a necessity for your business to thrive. So, how can you help ensure a better company culture at your place of work? 1. Listen and be heard. Listening shows that you are engaged with what is going on within your company. When you really listen to what individuals on your team have to say, it shows you care about others. Listening isn’t the only way to show you care about others. Voicing your opinion shows that you care about the outcome as well. You will fight for what you believe to be right. Remember this truth the next time you have the urge to say something and feel like shying away from the opportunity. Voicing how you feel on a certain topic only shows that you care about creating a better outcome. If you are in a leadership role at your company, then it is your responsibility to listen to your team’s input. Of course a decision needs to be made once all input is received, but listening to your team shows that you genuinely care about the perspective of others. At some point a real disconnect happened between employers and employees. This happened when a few company executives decided to call all the shots and expected everyone else to fit in the terrible culture they created. The only problem with this is that a better company culture isn’t dictated – it’s acted out by people who care. A better company culture can begin to form when teams work together and healthy dialogue is exchanged between everyone involved. 2. Make creativity a top priority. Company cultures suffer when creativity is lost in the shuffle. Once things stop moving forward, employees disengage. Everyone suffers when things remain stagnant. Businesses need to keep creativity in the forefront of all that they do. Some questions you can ask yourself to create a better company culture are:  How can we continually innovate? How can we continually stay ahead of other companies in our field? How can we make our daily activities the best they can possibly be? How can we become more productive with our time? How can we reach more people? Answer these questions often to see your company culture soar. The possibilities for your company are endless when creativity is considered to be a necessity. 3. Engrain the Why into everything. If company culture is built by everything we do, then the mission of your company needs to be present in the actions of every employee. If management is doing their job well, then they are the ones who give the necessary tools to create a better environment for their employees. But, when employees see how they fit into the equation, they can help propel an engaging company culture to take it to the next level. A better company culture is the responsibility of everyone involved, not just a select few. Grab hold of the Why behind what your company does and see the difference it can make. Now, go and create a better company culture, today.

  When I took the StrengthsFinder test, I found that my number one strength is “futuristic”. It’s truly my blessing and my curse. I always want to live in the future, curious as to what’ s next, but I have forced myself to analyze my past. Why? Because it’s necessary. Of course we don’t want to dwell on the negativity from our past because we can’t change what has already been done, but we can continually learn from it and change our lives from this one simple practice. Here are the three main reasons I believe looking at your past is one of the most important things you can do: 1. Looking at your past helps ensure that bad history doesn’t repeat itself. We all have times in life that didn’t turn out so well. The way we can all turn these negative experiences into positive ones is by not being afraid to look at the past. Although it may not be comfortable, we can work to not only look at the past, but to learn from it. James Burke said, “Why should we look to the past in order to prepare for the future? Because there is nowhere else to look.” We should look at both mistakes in the past and victories and take advantage of them, because we can. But, the only way to know that bad history won’t repeat itself is by making changes now so the future won’t turn out the same way. Want to change your future? Begin making better choices right now. 2. Looking at your past gives you incredible stories to share with others. Looking at your past not only improves your memory, but making this a regular practice helps you to never forget where you came from. I will again recommend journaling to be able to remember moments, but some of the best stories that I share now are from the far past. This is fun for me, because I can see what obstacles I have overcome to get where I am today. You have had to do the same thing in your own life, and it’s in these experiences that make you who you are. Every time you don’t allow your past to be used in some way, you rob others from experiences you have already encountered. You already have valuable insight on situations that others may encounter along their journey, so you might as well begin using it for good. Share your past to help someone else’s future. 3. Looking at your past lets you know what you can improve. Looking at your past tells you how well you have been working in your strengths and weaknesses. You’ve probably heard the definition of insanity before — it’s doing the same things over and over again expecting different results. Some people do this without even realizing it, and when they do this they get stuck in a monotonous cycle that leads to a rut. Looking at the past in this way will tell you if you have been working towards your goals or not. Based on this analyzation you will have a good idea of what kind of improvements need to be made. If you have been working towards your goals, then that’s amazing. Keep it up! But if you’ve been heading the opposite direction, then by all means make the needed improvements now instead of “someday”. (That may be my least favorite word ever.) Make looking at your past a habitual practice. It will not only help you now, but it will assist you in planning for the future. Take these three steps and begin looking at your past, today.

  After reading Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project, I became more interested with what makes people happier. Everyone wants to be happier, but not many people know where to look, and that’s okay. What I have found in my research is that the road to happiness is not a one-size-fits-all approach. The beautiful creativity, the endless possibilities, and being able to analyze what works and what doesn’t are just a few of the things that makes life amazing. This being said, let’s look at what habits most happier people possess that anyone can use in their own lives: 1. Most happier people challenge themselves in a fun way.  If you find yourself incurious about life, it is time to reevaluate. When you challenge yourself and become curious once again, it will immediately spark interest in your life’s passions, and in return will make you happier. When you begin doing this, no it may not always be easy, but easy usually doesn’t equate to doing what’s important. In fact, very few times will it be easy to do what’s important. Ask any leader if their journey was easy, and I can almost guarantee that there were bumps along the way. But when you find these leaders, also ask them about the mistakes they made along the way. Actually, ask anyone who has been successful about the mistakes they’ve made along the way. I’m sure they will have many stories to share with you. Most happy and successful people allow themselves to make mistakes, instead of being hard on themselves. Learn to make attempts and have fun along the way. When you challenge yourself while allowing yourself to try and try again, you will find yourself a much happier person. 2. Most happier people exercise and get outside.  Exercise is scientifically proven to increase happiness due to releasing dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain. Because of this, people who are more physically active report greater levels of excitement and enthusiasm than people who are less physically active. Exercise can make you less stressed out, energize you, and boost confidence. Exercise also helps me when I am feeling anxious. Some studies even show that 20 minutes of exercise is all you need. David Conroy, professor of kinesiology said, “You don’t have to be the fittest person who is exercising every day to receive the feel-good benefits of exercise. It’s a matter of taking it one day at a time, of trying to get your activity in, and then there’s this feel-good reward afterwards.” 3. Most happier people spend time focusing on other people. When we do things for others, we feel better about our own lives and are able to see the difference we are making in the lives of others. I think a huge reason in this is that we are able to take the focus off of our own problems, and help others through our lives instead. Conversation and companionship in relationships contribute to more happiness. When we know that people truly care about us, we become happier. Research has found that the characteristics of people who are happy and show the fewest signs of depression are those who have “strong ties to friends and family and commitment to spending time with them.” We can also spend more time with people in a more organized way that is found in volunteering our time and service. In a recent review of 40 studies done over the last 20 years, researchers found that one activity was far more importan...

We can all become overoptimistic of our capabilities at some point in our lifetimes and then find ourselves overwhelmed with all that we have going on if not careful. Past the need to focus on our priorities and knowing who we are, there will be times in our lives that we find that we have too many things going on. Being busy and overwhelmed never helps anyone. I believe that all of us can and should continuously tweak our schedules, so that we can find more bandwidth on a daily basis. Now, by no means do I have a perfect schedule. I am currently in the process of discovering how I can make my own schedule better and hiring more people to make it all work. But, I have discovered life-giving keys during this process of keeping a better schedule. The closer you get to finding what works for you, the more often you will be able to work in your passions and purpose. So, here are four tips that have proven useful to bringing balance back to my own schedule, and I know they will help you as well: 1. Know what you want from your schedule before committing. This is an easy step to overlook, but it is necessary to bring a balance to your life. What do you want to do? Who do you want to be? Who do you want to spend time with? You need to realize the answers to these questions now, so you can commit to the right things later. 2. Learn to say “no”. Sure, saying “yes” to more opportunities is what helps you to begin doing new things, but you need to know when enough is enough. Sometimes the best thing to say is “no”, even to those things you may enjoy doing. This is important in order to allow more room for the things that you were made to do. 3. Quit double the amount of activities you begin. In order to get my schedule back in order, I have quit more activities in the past week than I ever have before. I have found that a good rule of thumb is to quit doing two things for every one thing you start doing. I have adopted this practice and it is absolutely liberating. It will also constantly remind you what your priorities are. 4. Realize that life changes and stay engaged with where your heart remains. Know that the commitments you make today may not be your heart a year from now. That’s why it is important to hear what your heart is saying, and to also be engaged with the life you are living. When you are self-aware, you can better anticipate issues that may arise in the future. This should be a routine practice you commit to at least every month to keep the activities you are committed to in line with your pursuits. Now go and use these four tips to find more balance, today. Please leave a review on iTunes if you enjoyed this episode.

We all get the same twenty-four hours per day that everyone else does. So how is it that some people seem to get more done than everyone else? It has to do with the mental space that individuals take up with the unnecessary. If you are constantly thinking about everything else besides what you need to get done, well then you won’t do what is important. For those who have figured this out, they have more brain power to think about what needs to be done and more energy to take care of the tasks at hand. If this sounds like the person you want to become, I have five tips for you to simplify your life in order to get more done: 1. Save 45 minutes per day. Simplify by creating a daily uniform. It’s no coincidence that Steve Jobs wore the same black turtleneck and jeans everyday and that Mark Zuckerberg does the same with his hoodie, grey t-shirt, and jeans, and that Albert Einstein always wore the same grey suit and that President Obama only wears grey or blue suits. Sure it’s part of their branding, but they figured out that if they could have one outfit they would simplify the shopping, the trying on of clothes, the finding of the favorite shirt and pants, the daily choice of picking out what to wear, the finding of what matches, waiting on the washing of laundry in order to have clothes that do match, the time it takes to iron, and the choosing of what goes in the suitcase when traveling, they would save tons of time and would instead save brainpower for things that matter much more than clothes. Whether they were the ones to actually do these things themselves or if someone else was doing it all for them, it still takes up precious time. When you already know what you are going to wear, you save time and are able to do more in your day. This being said, when you find your favorite shirts, pants or shoes, buy more than one of them. This keeps you from having to find new favorites in the future when the best product you have found is discontinued and you have to start the process all over again. 2. Save 30 minutes per day. Simplify by eating the same meals everyday.  I learned this tip from Nathan Wiebe, and have already applied it to breakfast and lunch. I have kept dinner as a different meal every night, because I love trying different foods and use it as a reward system. And no, I could never go to the one meal per day system that General Stan McChrystal recently talked about with Tim Ferriss. By simplifying two meals out of the day, I don’t have to research new foods. It’s just easier to simplify as many meals as you can, but it also increases discipline and willpower when you’re able to stick with a meal plan. 3. Save 20 minutes per day. Stop procrastinating.  I learned this tip from time architect, Jana Kemp. She says to take care of all outstanding calls, paperwork, and emails the same day, so that they don’t get put on a to-do list somewhere to be forgotten about. This is just one other thing that takes up mental space, but it doesn’t have to. When you learn to simplify by prioritizing, you will see how much damage that procrastinating can make. 4. Save 30 minutes per day. Create templates for everything you do online.  The average person sends 40 emails per day. That’s not only a lot of emails being sent every day, but that is a lot of time that goes into thinking up the topic, the body, and actually constructing the email. How many similar emails do you send on a daily basis? No matter how many emails you send, the answer you have been looking for to take back control of your emai...

  As you know, I tend to talk a lot about action because it is how I am geared and it’s what actually gets things done. But what I haven’t given enough attention to is downtime through sleep. I haven’t always been the best at getting more sleep, but this is a serious change I am beginning to make in my life. After adopting a nonsensical mentality of “I’ll work now and sleep when I die” for many years to keep up with everything, this change comes from many people close to me calling it out in my own life. I just can’t keep the pace up. This kind of lifestyle has become a real epidemic in 2015 for all of us. The thing is that I could tell you how busy I am, but my guess is that you are just as busy or may even be busier. There seems to be higher expectations, more work being given to individuals, much shorter deadlines, more people to please, and less time being given to families at home in order to finish this work. Let’s face it – most of our lack of sleep is due to stress or staying up to finish work. While more and more people push society with higher expectations, I want to challenge you to not fall for this trap. The more we give into these false standards, the more stress that we voluntarily bring upon ourselves. I saw signs pointing to this struggle in a documentary I recently watched entitled Happy. This documentary is about what makes people happy, but in an effort to see the flip-side of happiness, the documentary also talked about Japan’s workforce literally working themselves to death. Karoshi as it has been named, is such a problem with employees due to Japan not having regulated overtime laws that people have given it a name. Yes, it looks like there is an effort to make this issue better, but I think it points to a much larger mindset we have all created – one that rewards more work and punishes the rejuvenation we need that is found in sleep. Health not only includes eating healthy and the workouts that most people think of when they hear the word, but also sleep. Maybe when you were younger you thought you could take on the world and keep going no matter what detriment you brought to your body, but have realized that this isn’t a manageable reality. At least it’s not a reality for people who want to get more done. Action is just part of the equation of accomplishing more. You need the fuel found in sleep to finish what you started, because without it a struggle with lack of energy and burnout are both close by. If you think that more sleep each night sounds great, but you are having trouble finding the good night’s sleep you are looking for, here are 25 tips to help you: * Start the day out with exercise. * Have a regular meditation time. * Write down a to-do list for the next day to get everything out of your mind for the evening. Get ahead and stay ahead by doing this. * Eliminate caffeine or only consume it in the early afternoon or before. * Be smart with napping. * Stay away from large meals at night. * Stop drinking after 8pm. * Implement deep breathing exercises. * Know what is mentally relaxing and go there to unwind from stress. * Power down an hour before bedtime. * Set a regular bedtime. * Wake up at the same time every day. * Increase light exposure during the day. * Avoid brighter lights before bedtime. * Take a hot bath. * Try aromatherapy. * Dont stress about sleep. * Paint your bedroom a softer color. * Keep “white noise” in the background. * Make sure bedroom is a cooler temperature.

  We have all made things more difficult than they need to be, and most of these times are due to not putting enough thought into our actions. Sure, it is important to begin moving ahead, but what about knowing where we are going? I would say that anticipation is a much needed quality for all of us to possess. The key to foresight is knowing that it is much less about luck than what most would make it out to be. When we put thought into our lives each calculated response can make life easier. When we take correct action now, the future can become much more predictable. Do you want to lead a remarkable life? Put thought into it. On the other hand, if you want to lead an unremarkable life, don’t think about what effects your actions will make. Most people think that life lived according to the latter principle is much easier, when it’s actually much more difficult to make wise decisions on the fly when we don’t have grounded beliefs. When we know beyond a shadow of a doubt what we were made to be and do, clarity comes. Sure surprises come, but many less of them are present when we choose to look ahead. The secret is to not only think about today, but to look at tomorrow, next week, next year, the next ten years, the next twenty-five, and so on. It requires a mental shift to see the importance in this, but your future deserves it. Here are the seven ways I have found to make life easier in my own life each and every time before taking anything new on: 1. Ask yourself, “What do I stand for?” I intentionally ask myself this question repeatedly, because if I don’t know this I waver. The same goes for you. Who are you and what do you believe? You should know this inside and out, because it changes how you view yourself and the world around you. What you believe will help you to know right decisions from wrong decisions. You make life easier when you honestly answer this question, because it keeps you on track and gives you answers to issues before you even have to address them. Clarity here is a necessary foundation for accomplishing more with your life and helps you make life easier because it helps you prioritize what is truly important and move forward. 2. Ask yourself, “What do I want to accomplish?” In other words, what do you want the outcome to be from what you are doing with your life? When you get to the end of your lifetime, what will you want to be able to look back on and be grateful for? This question helps make life easier because it keeps you focused on the right things you have set out to do. Answering this question keeps you saying “yes” to the right opportunities and helps you say “no” to the things that aren’t the right fit for you. We have all said “yes” to things that keep us too busy to be able to focus on our full potential. When we are able to separate our strengths from our weaknesses and our essentials from our nonessentials, we can become much more focused on our life’s priorities and accomplish more. 3. What plan do you have in place to ensure that you get the results that you desire? The previous two steps will help you before you get to this step of creating a detailed plan and putting it in place. If you don’t first know who you are and what you want to do, it will be impossible to put a plan into action. To accomplish more in your lifetime you need to make a perfect plan to pursue. I can help you form a specific individual life plan through my one-on-one life coaching program, or you can take the seven steps in this episode to help you craft your own. However you decide to go about it, a plan is necessary for you to reach your biggest dream. You don’t have to keep taking guesses at what you should do next with your life. The time is now to make a plan tailored for you...

Companies today are concerned about attracting and retaining individuals who are between 20-35 years old. By 2025, this age group will comprise 75% of the global workforce. When the global marketing firm McCann WorldGroup surveyed 7,000 Millennials in 2011, it found more than 90% of those surveyed rated “connection and community” as their greatest need. Community is that important! As the researchers put it, “to truly grasp the power of connection for this generation, we can look at how they wish to be remembered. It is not for their beauty, their power, or their influence, but simply for the quality of their human relationships and their ability to look after those around them.” We can see from this research that what the world needs more of is us. People don’t need a new break room, or more money, or more perks to make them happier – people need you and your relationship. They need your story, because your story matters. Telling it allows you to reach out and begin new relationships. Your story matters, because that’s what gets you in the door. In order to help you build better relationships, I have compiled a list of five thoughts to help you share your story in better ways than you ever have before: 1. Realize that everyone has a story. When you fully see this, you can get over the low points that you have experienced along the way. Pull from the best and the worst moments of your life and let people in. Sharing pulls people in and allows for them to share with you. Many times we will only focus on the negative areas of our story, but what about the amazing parts? What good and bad life-altering events have taken place in your past? Every great story has conflict, but it also includes a climax and resolution. Every part of your story matters. How have you healed along the way and how are you better now than you were before? These are all elements of your great story that you desperately need to share. 2. Realize that your story is far from over. Your past is to learn from. Don’t let it hold you up. Every time someone allows their past to dictate their future, they hold back their story from impacting the world. Maybe you have a dark past, but your future is so much more important. The pages that have been written about your life are done, but you have the opportunity to write a more powerful story in the future. Everyone has something amazing to offer to those around them. You can begin writing your new chapter right now. 3. Your story matters because it helps you relate. Last year I wrote an article for ChurchLeaders.com to help pastors and others learn how to tell their story in better ways. It doesn’t matter who or where we are talking about – all people crave community whether they realize it or not. And the easiest way to begin new relationships and grow a community is learning how to tell your story. Your story matters because it helps you to relate with all sorts of people. A lot of times people believe that what has happened in their own lives hasn’t taken place in any one else’s life, so they choose not to share. I really start to doubt that there aren’t similarities in all of us, and those similarities begin with the need for community. Learn how to tell your story and pull people closer to you. 4. You need to be honest and let others know what makes you who you are. Every part of your story matters. Fear will tell you to hold back. Don’t do it. Honesty and vulnerability are keys to building trust in any relationship. The more you build relationships this way from the beginning, the more true community you will build over time.

    Action is the foundational key to all success. – Pablo Picasso   One of the biggest problems in this world is the fact that most people don’t follow through. Good intentions are great and all, but it takes more than good intentions to make things happen. Results require action. Without action, lives don’t change. For years I talked about how I would accomplish things, but never took it further than that. I didn’t put action to the plan I had created and my results weren’t good because of it. I was a good dreamer, but not so good at implementation. I knew deep down that something had to change, but how? I found some keys to moving through the dreaming stage, and I want to share them with you in this episode. Here are three ways for you to move past talking about doing something and actually take action: 1. Action comes with an internal change. Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action. – Peter Drucker It takes more than a plan to get things done. It takes heart, and heart fades away if there isn’t an internal drive to do more. If you want to accomplish anything, it is important to first search yourself and see your true potential. You are capable of more than you probably think. 2. Your focus needs to be clear. Successful people maintain a positive focus in life no matter what is going on around them. They stay focused on their past successes rather than their past failures, and on the next action steps they need to take to get them closer to the fulfillment of their goals rather than all the other distractions that life presents to them. – Jack Canfield Do you know what you want to accomplish with your life? It isn’t about what sounds good to do. You need to do what you feel compelled to do and make those things important. How do you make those things important? Spend your time doing what you have made important. Focus on prioritizing your life and the rest will fall into place. 3. See that what you do will help others. Empathy is the starting point for creating a community and taking action. It’s the impetus for creating change. – Max Carver If you want to have a lasting impact, people need to be on the receiving end of your actions. You have heard me talk about the importance of helping others and even refer to this as the main theme of living a life of purpose, and it’s still true. People matter more than anything else. When people become the reason behind the reason that you do things, you will be compelled to take action. Implement these three points in your life and take action, today. 

  Most people look at fear as something to always avoid, but fear doesn’t have to be a bad thing. I’m not talking about fear as in the fear of heights, but more as in the fear of not making a difference with your life. Seeing some fears as good can be what helps us accomplish more. Here are three ways that you can deal with your fears differently than you are right now and look at them in a better light: 1. Fear is learned. Your fears only have the power that you hand over to them, and in most cases, fears aren’t as big as you have made them out to be. Somewhere along the way you picked up the fears that you have, whether people told you up front that you should be scared of these fears or they were put into your subconscious somehow. Whatever the case may be, someone told you that doing what you are doing will hurt you, and you bought in. If you want to do something that you are currently afraid of, then it will take a rewiring of the way you see things before it will get better. But, there is hope. Even though it is more difficult to do, if a fear was learned, then it is most definitely possible to unlearn that same fear. Are you willing to put in the work? 2. Fear does not make you weaker. Everyone fears so that’s not what makes you weak. Believing the lies that fear tells you is what will make you weak. On the other hand, people who are strong have learned to deal with fear in better ways and tell themselves why they are bigger and better than their fears. It may be time to tell yourself all the reasons that you can, instead of telling yourself all the reasons you can’t. Are you listening to the right voices? 3. Fear lets you know you are onto something good.  Fear is a part of life that reminds you that you’re alive. Anytime that fear comes in like a tidal wave, it’s a good indication that whatever you are fearing is something you care about. Sometimes, the things we are most called to are the things we fear the most. We all fear something. Learn from these moments and keep pursuing your convictions. You are specifically wired for doing great things in your own way, and it is up to you to go after life with everything you have to make your dreams a reality. Fear is a deterrent if you allow it to be, but it can also be the force that pushes you to do more in life. Do you fear the fears you are currently facing more than living a mediocre life? That’s a question that only you can decide. Now go and be brave, today. 

    I don’t have the typical writing story of beginning to write in elementary school and being engulfed in reading from childhood.  I don’t know if that’s the typical story actually, but I didn’t enjoy reading until high school and I began writing shortly after that, because it was my introverted way of getting things out of my head. After I had been writing for a few years, I had a college professor tell me that I should focus more on my writing because he saw potential in me. So, I did what anyone should do when they want to focus more on their writing. I sought out the necessary tools to do so in the digital age. Here are the three things that you should start a blog:   1. When you start a blog it allows you to unleash your voice. Blogs allow for writers to put their content in digital format for readers to see forever. We are all creating our stories online, whether we realize it or not, and have the opportunity to portray our uniqueness to the world. You have a unique life experience and a story that you have been developing for years, and when you setup your blog, it will be time to let the words begin to spill out. 2. When you start a blog you will build your audience. More than two billion people use the internet right now and your potential audience will only continue to grow. So now that you have a blog, define who it is that you specifically want to target, what they need, and what you can offer them. People want well-written content on a weekly or daily basis, and a blog gives you a chance to speak directly to your audience as often as you see fit. 3. When you start a blog it allows you to have complete control over online customization. I started writing with a xanga account, then posterous, then tumblr, then wordpress.com, and then ended up with a self-hosted wordpress blog, and I am so glad I eventually found the best platform to be on. When you register your domain and set it up through wordpress.org, you can have complete control over what your webspace looks like. WordPress allows you to leave your own personal mark where everyone gathers – online. Different themes and plugins are what gives you this control, and there are so many to choose from, so you can bring your personality not only to your content, but to your design as well. If you don’t feel the need to start a blog, I hope this podcast has inspired you to look into setting one up. When you do this, you will gain more influence and reach more people, today.

    I believe that some people are confused on what the word mentor means. They think it needs to be some elaborate meeting and that it will equal someone else dictating what they will do with their life. If that’s the meaning of mentor, then I don’t want any part of it. Here is the definition of mentor – “An experienced and trusted adviser. To advise or train.” Take it or leave it, that’s what it means. To seek out a mentor means that you want to be advised as what to do with your life. If you are mentoring or being mentored, then you know how important it is. The reason for being mentored is to have people speak into your life who have been through what you are currently going through or what you will go through in the future. They can help you make less mistakes, because the truth of the matter is that you can either learn from mistakes or from mentors. It’s your choice.   The 2 topics that my mentors help direct me in is my relationships and my businesses.  These two topics are my biggest concerns. At first, my main issues with being mentored were that I didn’t have enough time to meet with them and that I wanted to just keep some things personal. When I realized that mentoring can sometimes be done by just a phone call  or by checking in weekly or monthly and that life is best lived with others in community, stepping out and seeking advice from people I respect and who I want to speak into my life became much easier. Relationships My biggest prioritized relationship is the one with my wife, Jasmine. My second highest priority in relationships is with my kids. When these are in sync, life is great. When they aren’t, chaos abounds. Since these relationships are so important to me, we have finally set up ways to ensure that they don’t lower from our single top focus. How did we do this? We now enforce the top three rules of marriage – constant communication, honesty, and show each other our individual love languages. [Book] (Jasmine’s love language is quality time and mine is words of affirmation.) Mentors of mine who direct me in the relationships department with my family need to have been married for at least fifteen years and have grown children. There are just so many issues that are dealt with inside of marriage that people who are single don’t deal with. Of course there are plenty of things that I take away from people who aren’t married, but what I cannot take for myself from them is time management. The main difference between people who are married and those who aren’t is the way that time is scheduled, and for me that is a huge deal. For those who are married, there should be time set aside every day for family time. For people who don’t have a family, then this time can be used for other things. So, to say that I should be able to keep up with people who are not married in my work would be a ridiculous goal if life’s priorities are correct. Yes, everyone has the same amount of hours in a day, but the way we use it is completely different depending on where we are at in life. My best advice is to research the background of people who you are reading about or letting speak into your life, because they might not have the same responsibilities as you and that drastically changes things. This is the best criteria I can give you for selecting a mentor.  If there are people who are married who have a great relationship with their spouse and children and accomplish a lot in their day, then I am all ears to hear their secrets as to what they do to get it all done. These are the people that I want to learn from. Business In business,

Growing an audience begins with this question – What matters most? Say it with me. This is something I had to define for myself three years ago when I rebranded my online presence. I answered this question with “caring about people” and built my entire brand on that. This is why I begin each week’s blog topics with relationships, and then fill the rest of the week with other topics to equip people with the tools they need to lead in life. Relationship with people is the foundation for what each and every one of us contribute to this world. I don’t care what job you have, the Why? behind what you do should always be that it will impact people. It is when we lose sight of the Why? that we begin losing focus of our own importance in carrying out the mission. Right before I did this online rebranding, I read Patrick Lencioni’s The Three Signs of A Miserable Job and remembered that one of the three points he made was that jobs are miserable if you don’t know why they matter. We can apply this concept not only to our jobs, but anything we do. When you put people on the receiving end of what you do, you then know why you and your company exists. Introverted or extroverted, at the very core of us all is the desire to impact people, whether we realize it or not. If you have lost sight of the Why? for your role in your business, here are 3 ways to get back to doing what matters most and get back to growing your audience: 1. Listen to your audience.  It doesn’t matter what business you own, listening to what your customers, clients, and audience wants and needs is huge when it comes to growing your business. I can’t tell you how many entrepreneurs I have met who stick their head in the sand and either just don’t care and want to do their own thing or they are too afraid to listen to constructive feedback from customers. Whether it’s forming a survey or creating some sort of public forum, having a way to hear from the public is essential to see where you may be lacking, or so you can see what you are excelling in, so you can focus more of your attention there. 2. Pinpoint your differences. To stand out in a world where there are enough products and services to confuse consumers, you need to pinpoint your differences. Why do these things set you apart? What products and services do you offer that your competitors don’t? Why should people care about your offerings? No matter how small it is, you need to make sure that people clearly know what it is that makes you different. Even if you think you have already done this, maybe you haven’t clearly communicated this to your audience and displayed it prominently for people to see. 3. Bring your business back to what it is about – people. As a business, you are there to offer products and services to an audience, so that they can profit from it. That’s why people will come back time and time again. Maybe you have lost sight of that and have been focused so much on what you are profiting from it that you forgot the reason you began doing what you do. Issues in our own lives are amplified when we are focused on ourselves. When we focus on the lives of others, our own issues become minuscule and we are reminded of the reason we are here on this earth – to touch the lives of others. Use these three points and return to why you do what you do to grow your audience, today. 

    If you are a creative, then you know there are some things you have to do to carry out creativity. You have a responsibility to look at the world in a different way. Of course, doing the same things that everyone else is doing will get you the same results that everyone else is achieving. You can and will accomplish more with your life when you adopt creativity for yourself. The excuse for most people that don’t create outside of their minimum basic contributions to this world is a lack of time. I mean, I get it. But, to do what you truly want to with your life, your view on how you are creative will have to change. When you change your view, you will realize that the creativity you are pursuing won’t complete itself. If you are to become more creative, then you will need to give it some effort, but I can help get you there. I want to help you get your best jump start on living a more creative life, so here are five tips that you need to live out more creativity with your life: 1. You need to schedule creative time. This point hits you one of three ways – you either don’t have any more extra time, you feel that creativity should just flow whenever you have a free moment, or structure of any type feels like a constraint on your creativity. The truth is that scheduled time for creativity is what keeps you accountable to the process. It is what keeps you showing up time and time again to get the work done and if there’s anything that you need, it is more commitment to the craft you are pursuing. That’s exactly what this scheduled creative time gives. 2. You need to get alone. This is the worst part of the process for me. With a wife and two children, the last thing that I want to do is isolate myself. But, being alone is one of the most necessary parts of the creative process. Being alone gives necessary clarity in the midst of a noisy world and when done correctly you are more efficient in the other areas of your life. Being alone is most effective when you know where you need to be to create. If you work best in a quiet environment, find a library or other quiet environment to create. If you work better in a noisy environment, find a busy coffee shop to be creative in. If you find that you can’t create in your office environment, then it’s time to get out. The right environment can help you be more creative, and the great thing is that you can probably choose where you do your work at some point in your day. 3. You need to take care of things as they happen. Something has to give when you pick up new things to do, but beginning anew doesn’t always have to mean that other areas of life need to suffer. When we know what our top priorities are, we don’t have to wonder what it is that needs less attention, because we have already streamlined our life in the way it should be. When we take on anything and everything, life quickly becomes chaotic. I’m sorry to break it to you, but you can’t possibly do everything in this world and still do it well. But, when you decide what you need to pour your heart into, you allow yourself to be more creative in these areas and can make a bigger impact as well. Room to breathe and margin is what helps you get the work done. Now, some people like pressure in the creative process, but I have found that space allows for more time, which allows more tinkering with ideas. Great things happen when there is time to mold ideas into better ones, and that only happens when we give the process of finding solutions more of our time. Rushing creativity gives basic thoughts, but when we have time to ponder these ideas, it is here that we get to push through to find our best possible answers. 4. You need to create more often. When people say they haven’t done what they have wanted to in life, my first question to them is,