Are You Making Progress, or Just Playing in the Dirt?

John Maxwell writes, "The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda. If you make a few key decisions and then manage them well in your daily agenda, you will succeed...You will never change your life until you change something you do daily."

My father was a master gardener. When we moved to a new house when I was in high school, he committed a small corner of the backyard for a vegetable garden. Each year he added a little bit more space to the garden until it finally covered about half of the backyard.

His goal each year was to reap a good harvest of corn, tomatoes, squash, onions, peppers and a host of other vegetables. He was quite productive in his gardening. Beginning in late February and early March of each year, he began paying daily attention to his garden. He broke ground, tilled soil, fertilized, and mapped out where he would locate the various vegetables he wanted to produce. Finally, he would plant seeds and set out seedlings, then everyday he would hoe weeds, thin out plants, and water his garden. Finally, he would harvest his crop of vegetables, and it was usually an abundant harvest.

Dad's successful garden was not a one day event. Every day for months, he would do some work toward getting a bountiful harvest. Every day he significantly managed his firm decision to have a productive garden. Without that daily commitment toward a significant objective, he would've just been playing in the dirt.

What does your daily agenda reveal about your commitment to your personal success? Are you making progress every day toward your significant goals, or are you just playing in the dirt?

First, Find Leaders!

As many of you know, I am by professional experience a pastor. I have led small to medium sized churches across 40 years of pastoral ministry. I've built and led built both paid and volunteer staffs. I've developed and administered financial plans. I've led churches in the accomplishment of vision plans and goals. Every action I've led as a church pastor has been a growth experience in my journey, and they have equipped me well in my role now as a certified speaker, teacher, and coach.

This post is directed to pastors, and especially pastors of small to medium sized churches. If I could give you one word of advice out of my years of pastoral experience, it would be this, "First, find leaders!"  If God has given you a vision for your church, you will not be able to fulfill that vision by yourself. It will be too big for you to accomplish alone. You will need help to get it done.

I have watched many pastors across the years scramble every year to find workers for the varied aspects of the churh's ministry, but what they sorely needed were qualified and enthusiastic leaders  in these ministry areas. Pastor, first find capable people who will give enthusiastic leadership to the ministries of your church.

Everything rises and falls in your church with your leadership and that of your leadership team. Pastor, first find leaders. Now that I think about it, that's also pretty good advice for business professionals and business owners.

The Positive Power of Daily Affirmations

The Positive Power of Daily Affirmations

            As I listened to a mentoring call the other night, I was made aware again of the importance of developing and using daily affirmations. These are statements about yourself to yourself that you repeat every morning to yourself and at any other times of the day that you find helpful. I have to admit that I have failed to keep up to date with my daily affirmations, so as a result of that speaker’s encouragement, I have developed and am utilizing the following daily affirmations.

1.      I am perfectly resourced to accomplish the goals and objectives my creator enables me to imagine.

2.      My failures do not define me, they refine me. I learn from both my failures and successes, and I am continually moving forward as I apply what I am learning.

3.      Every day, I choose to be a positive person, realizing that I and I alone determine my response to my circumstances.

I realize that these affirmations have some phrasing similar to other affirmations I have read, but they do capture for me what I feel is important for me to remember every day. Not only do I repeat these affirmations on a daily basis, I also live them out every day. I believe these affirmations, and, as it was pointed out on that call, to fail to live them out would be basically an act of hypocrisy on my part.

Do you have some daily affirmations that are significant for you? If not, take some time today to formulate a few daily affirmations and start repeating them and living them. You could also pour some value into my life and others by sharing some of them in response to this post.