Pressing on with excellence!
Keith Smith
Showing posts with label excellence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label excellence. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Expectations
Life was interesting in how others reacted to this past period
of unemployment. My mother told me I need to get a job and I think “just over
broke”. I wasn't looking for just any job any more. I can get any job but that’s
not the point. I wanted to find work that has meaning, something that I love.
It’s not like I was just sitting around not doing anything or not looking for
work. I was just being a little pickier than I used to be. My brother said that
I was lazy. He thinks since I didn’t have a job that whatever I’m doing is not
productive or important. I think they don’t understand. That just because what
I’m looking for doesn’t fall into their idea of normal, that it’s not right for
me. They thought their expectations for me to get a job, for me to be normal, were
high. But, for me, it seems that if I settle for just a normal job their
expectations are too low and don’t have my best interest in mind. It’s sad really,
because I think that if I had listened to them then I might never have found
out what God really has for me. To me, it’s more important to find out what God
has for me and do that, than to settle for normal. Does that make sense? I’ve
begun a new chapter in my life and I will not settle for mediocrity any longer.
This life is not like the past and it looks completely different. So I wrote
this to say that sometimes we need to ignore some of the closest people around
us. Not to spite them, but for our own good. Their expectations may not help us
to get where we want and need to go or where God wants us to be.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
The Little Foxes
Solomon said in Song of Solomon 2:15, “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.” What was he talking about? I think that he was telling us to watch out for the little things. Be persistent in living a life of excellence in all areas of our lives.
It is easy to slip back into mediocrity. Am I doing the best that I can? Can I do better? Persistence is sometimes hard to muster. I have found that if I do things with excellence in one area of my life, it rubs off into other areas. This also works the other way around. If I slack off in one area of my life it affects the others.That is why it is important to practice excellence in small unseen ways, so that these little foxes don’t creep in and ruin my efforts. It seems like I wasted parts of my life by having big breakthroughs only to mess them up again. By not being persistent in my actions, and slipping backwards, I had to make another trip around the mountain. If I persist in what I learn, and don’t fall back, then I’m free to learn something new instead of having to learn the same thing over and over again. Have you ever had that Groundhog Day feeling? You don’t have to have that. Practice excellence in the little things. Ask yourself, can I do better here? Then do it.
Being diligent in the little things will have a payback. Check out Matthew 25:29. The New Living translation says “to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given.” It has to do with sowing with excellence and reaping what you’ve sown.
Pressing on with Excellence,
Keith
Saturday, June 25, 2011
HONOR
What is honor? The Bible tells us to honor God, also to honor our mother and father. It also tells me to teach my kids to honor and obey God.
I read somewhere that honor is a combination of three things. 1) Doing more than what is expected, 2) treating people as special, and 3) having a good attitude. The combination of doing those three things, and making them a daily habit, is a good habit to get into.
I've been teaching this to my kids, but, before I could teach them, I had to do some learning myself. It's hard to do more than what's expected if I have a bad attitude. It's also hard to treat people as special when you have a bad attitude. I have found that if I do it anyway (treat people as special and do more than what's expected), regardless of how I feel, that doing those things can and often does change my attitude. This is once again one of those weird paradoxes that I have found to be most helpful. It also helps me drop worry, anxiety and frustration and allows me to have peace and joy in my life.
Sometimes you have to go through the motion and the emotion will follow.
Have you ever tried this?
Pressing on with Excellence,
Keith
I read somewhere that honor is a combination of three things. 1) Doing more than what is expected, 2) treating people as special, and 3) having a good attitude. The combination of doing those three things, and making them a daily habit, is a good habit to get into.
I've been teaching this to my kids, but, before I could teach them, I had to do some learning myself. It's hard to do more than what's expected if I have a bad attitude. It's also hard to treat people as special when you have a bad attitude. I have found that if I do it anyway (treat people as special and do more than what's expected), regardless of how I feel, that doing those things can and often does change my attitude. This is once again one of those weird paradoxes that I have found to be most helpful. It also helps me drop worry, anxiety and frustration and allows me to have peace and joy in my life.
Sometimes you have to go through the motion and the emotion will follow.
Have you ever tried this?
Pressing on with Excellence,
Keith
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Balance
It really amazes me how much all areas of my life affect one another. For instance, if I don't get enough sleep throughout the week then my relationships suffer. My attitude starts going downhill and I don't feel like giving my all. If I'm not spiritually on track, meaning I don't invest enough time in prayer, meditation, and reading the Bible or other devotional material, that also will have an affect on my relationships, my attitude towards work, or even my physical life. Is there such a thing as balance in one's life?
I know that I need 6 or 7 hours of sleep each night or I get cranky. So, that's 49 hours per week of sleep that I need. I also believe that I need to invest time with my work. I've been averaging about 53 hours per week, so that leaves me 66 hours per week out of 168 to divide up between physical activity, family, relational, and spiritual. I tithe with my money, so why not tithe with my time? Give God 2.4 hours of every day and that still leaves me 49.2 hours to invest into working out, family, and getting my to-do list done. 49.2 hours seems like a lot of time, but my kids are still begging for time with me. And do I really invest 2.4 hours every day with God?
Where is my time really going? Do you know? Do you have balance?
Pressing on with Excellence,
Keith
I know that I need 6 or 7 hours of sleep each night or I get cranky. So, that's 49 hours per week of sleep that I need. I also believe that I need to invest time with my work. I've been averaging about 53 hours per week, so that leaves me 66 hours per week out of 168 to divide up between physical activity, family, relational, and spiritual. I tithe with my money, so why not tithe with my time? Give God 2.4 hours of every day and that still leaves me 49.2 hours to invest into working out, family, and getting my to-do list done. 49.2 hours seems like a lot of time, but my kids are still begging for time with me. And do I really invest 2.4 hours every day with God?
Where is my time really going? Do you know? Do you have balance?
Pressing on with Excellence,
Keith
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Share Abundance
What do you need to succeed? This is going to sound weird, but I believe that in some situations a person needs to give himself permission to succeed.
If I have a scarcity mindset, then I may think that someone won't be able to succeed if I do, or that if someone succeeds, then I won't. This is also a self-centered or self-focused mindset. I'll give you an example...say that there's a nice pond that I know of and I see someone bowfishing on that pond. I watch him for a while and realize that he's not seeing any fish. With bowfishing you have to be able to see them. He doesn't know where they hang out, but I do and I don't tell him. Let's go one step further. Say I don't even have the fishing equipment to go bowfishing, so there's no way that I can be successful anyway, but I still don't tell him where the fish are. How selfish is that? How do I even know that if I help him, maybe he's got some extra equipment and can help me get set up? How will I ever succeed at anything if I'm not willing to give a helping hand or share some things I know? If I'm
willing to help someone out, I can share in their success. I also believe that everything you do comes back to you sooner or later, good or bad. You can't succeed with a scarcity mindset.
Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.
Tell him where the fish are, have a friend for life.
Pressing On with Excellence,
Keith
If I have a scarcity mindset, then I may think that someone won't be able to succeed if I do, or that if someone succeeds, then I won't. This is also a self-centered or self-focused mindset. I'll give you an example...say that there's a nice pond that I know of and I see someone bowfishing on that pond. I watch him for a while and realize that he's not seeing any fish. With bowfishing you have to be able to see them. He doesn't know where they hang out, but I do and I don't tell him. Let's go one step further. Say I don't even have the fishing equipment to go bowfishing, so there's no way that I can be successful anyway, but I still don't tell him where the fish are. How selfish is that? How do I even know that if I help him, maybe he's got some extra equipment and can help me get set up? How will I ever succeed at anything if I'm not willing to give a helping hand or share some things I know? If I'm
willing to help someone out, I can share in their success. I also believe that everything you do comes back to you sooner or later, good or bad. You can't succeed with a scarcity mindset.
Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.
Tell him where the fish are, have a friend for life.
Pressing On with Excellence,
Keith
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Captive Thoughts
Sorry I didn't get a blog out last week. I went on a little family vacation and I also went to a 2-day seminar on Coaching and how to build a coaching business.
This got me to thinking about what I am really good at or what would I be able to coach others on. What is the one thing that I know really well? If you have been following my blogs, it is all about changing the way you think. I've heard it said in AA that I didn't have a drinking problem, I had a thinking problem. This is true.
I've written blogs about fear and worry and such, but I believe it all comes back to my thought life. I have spent a lot of time
worrying about stupid things that never happened. That was wasted time that I will never get back, but over the last 19 years I have learned some good lessons. Probably one of the biggest is how to control what I think about. It's a stewardship thing. I've heard it said that you are what you eat. I don't believe that. I eat salad, but I'm not a rabbit! I believe that you are what you think. That is maybe the only thing that God gives us complete control of. I did not have control over my thought life for a long time. I was washed here and there by feelings and circumstances. The Bible talks about a double-minded man being tossed to and fro like a sailor. Also it talks about taking counsel from the wicked. The way that I talked to myself, I was taking counsel from the wicked.
I have learned how to talk to myself differently and have learned to think differently and it has revolutionized my life. So I think that I will focus on helping others to change their thinking and to have good stewardship practice on what you allow into your head. Paul talks about taking every thought captive to Christ and Proverbs says "as a man thinks so he is." I believe that this should be the foundation that I have been working on for so long.
It's time to launch.
Pushing towards Excellence,
Keith
This got me to thinking about what I am really good at or what would I be able to coach others on. What is the one thing that I know really well? If you have been following my blogs, it is all about changing the way you think. I've heard it said in AA that I didn't have a drinking problem, I had a thinking problem. This is true.
I've written blogs about fear and worry and such, but I believe it all comes back to my thought life. I have spent a lot of time
worrying about stupid things that never happened. That was wasted time that I will never get back, but over the last 19 years I have learned some good lessons. Probably one of the biggest is how to control what I think about. It's a stewardship thing. I've heard it said that you are what you eat. I don't believe that. I eat salad, but I'm not a rabbit! I believe that you are what you think. That is maybe the only thing that God gives us complete control of. I did not have control over my thought life for a long time. I was washed here and there by feelings and circumstances. The Bible talks about a double-minded man being tossed to and fro like a sailor. Also it talks about taking counsel from the wicked. The way that I talked to myself, I was taking counsel from the wicked.
I have learned how to talk to myself differently and have learned to think differently and it has revolutionized my life. So I think that I will focus on helping others to change their thinking and to have good stewardship practice on what you allow into your head. Paul talks about taking every thought captive to Christ and Proverbs says "as a man thinks so he is." I believe that this should be the foundation that I have been working on for so long.
It's time to launch.
Pushing towards Excellence,
Keith
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Where'd your "want to" go to?
I haven't received very much feedback on blogs, but if you read this and have any ideas on this, I would appreciate your feedback.
Why are people apathetic to change? Most people, if you ask them if there's anything in their life that they would like to change, they would say, yes, and then give you a list. They might even give you 20 reasons why they should change. Such as, I would like to change my eating habits because I have or am close to being diabetic and I know that if I don't get this under control, I'm going to die. They might change their ways for a while, but sooner or later, they give in and go back to not eating right. It's even more subtle in behaviors like gossip, negative talk, or talking to yourself negatively.
What keeps people doing this? I believe one of the things is desire, a "want to." How do you keep that "want to" going? How do you develop a steadfastness that will not fail? Is it just "mental laziness?" I know I get that way about exercise once in a while, but then I see the effects and get motivated again. I need to make a decision, then follow through. I have been given self-control through the Holy Spirit and, when I practice it, the self control gets stronger and stronger until I develop a habit that I refuse to give up.
Also, I would like to add, if I'm out of balance in one area of my life, it seems to have an effect on other areas of my life. Such as, if I'm not getting enough sleep, then I tend to get cranky or I don't feel like exercising. I don't want to exercise self-control and I let my guard down on other behaviors I'm trying to change.
Pushing with Excellence,
Keith
Why are people apathetic to change? Most people, if you ask them if there's anything in their life that they would like to change, they would say, yes, and then give you a list. They might even give you 20 reasons why they should change. Such as, I would like to change my eating habits because I have or am close to being diabetic and I know that if I don't get this under control, I'm going to die. They might change their ways for a while, but sooner or later, they give in and go back to not eating right. It's even more subtle in behaviors like gossip, negative talk, or talking to yourself negatively.
What keeps people doing this? I believe one of the things is desire, a "want to." How do you keep that "want to" going? How do you develop a steadfastness that will not fail? Is it just "mental laziness?" I know I get that way about exercise once in a while, but then I see the effects and get motivated again. I need to make a decision, then follow through. I have been given self-control through the Holy Spirit and, when I practice it, the self control gets stronger and stronger until I develop a habit that I refuse to give up.
Also, I would like to add, if I'm out of balance in one area of my life, it seems to have an effect on other areas of my life. Such as, if I'm not getting enough sleep, then I tend to get cranky or I don't feel like exercising. I don't want to exercise self-control and I let my guard down on other behaviors I'm trying to change.
Pushing with Excellence,
Keith
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Help me, Lord!
Help me, Lord. Help me to be the person that you want me to be and to know who and what that person is. Help me to be a blessing to others and to care about others as you do. Help me to know you more, to really know you Lord. Help me to hear you and to know what you're saying to me. Help me to love the way that you do. Help me to see you in others and to treat others with compassion. Help me to treat myself as you would treat me. Help me to listen to others and care about what they care about. Help me to forget myself. Lord, help me to think like you think. Lord, help it to be second nature to know your thoughts. Help me to be like Christ.
The stars in the sky, the awesome sunrise, is nothing compared to your masterpiece creation. Your masterpiece is people and your work is wonderful. Help me to see your masterpiece the way you do.
Help me, Lord to act on my belief and to trust you for the outcome. In times of doubt and despair, help me to know that you really care. Help me to be, Lord, all that I can be, a blessing from you to all who will receive it. I surrender to you, Lord, and give you permission right here and now to change anything about me that you want. I know that without you I'm nothing and I'm not able to change anything on my own. Help me to hear your still small voice and in all of my ways bring glory to you. Help me to pass on what you've taught me, oh Lord, to my kids, family, and all that are yours. So that when I get to see you, I hear you say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant. Come here to stay."
Dear Lord, I ask that you will bless everyone that reads this today in a very special way, that they would feel as if you reached down and scooped them up and gave them a great, big bear hug.
Pushing With Excellence,
Keith
The stars in the sky, the awesome sunrise, is nothing compared to your masterpiece creation. Your masterpiece is people and your work is wonderful. Help me to see your masterpiece the way you do.
Help me, Lord to act on my belief and to trust you for the outcome. In times of doubt and despair, help me to know that you really care. Help me to be, Lord, all that I can be, a blessing from you to all who will receive it. I surrender to you, Lord, and give you permission right here and now to change anything about me that you want. I know that without you I'm nothing and I'm not able to change anything on my own. Help me to hear your still small voice and in all of my ways bring glory to you. Help me to pass on what you've taught me, oh Lord, to my kids, family, and all that are yours. So that when I get to see you, I hear you say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant. Come here to stay."
Dear Lord, I ask that you will bless everyone that reads this today in a very special way, that they would feel as if you reached down and scooped them up and gave them a great, big bear hug.
Pushing With Excellence,
Keith
Saturday, April 2, 2011
What Motivates you to Excellence?
I want to write about stewardship a little bit. Not just in the sense that its generally talked about, which is traditionally money, but how stewardship should play a vital role in all aspects of my life. Yours also, if you dare to go there.
How does stewardship look in other areas of my life? It goes back to what Jesus says in Luke 6:38. "Give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." What does that mean to me? It means you truly do reap what you sow and how you sow you get to receive it back. How does that relate to stewardship? It means if I strive toward excellence in my life, I will get back the same. If I put good effort into my marriage, it will come back. If I put good effort into watching what I eat, I can be slim. If I push myself physically, I get to be fit. If I put time into relationship building I get friends and I get a great return for the effort and excellence that I put in.
What would happen if I put time and effort into my relationship with my kids? What would happen if I put time and effort into my relationship with God? What kind of rewards would I receive? This is worth trying just to see. What if I put energy into learning about all the areas of my life? What if I put time and energy into refining what I do know and started doing the things that I do know better and better? Would that pay? I believe that it will.
"The enemy of good stewardship is mediocrity. The beginning of mediocrity is pride."
Pushing towards Excellence,
Keith
How does stewardship look in other areas of my life? It goes back to what Jesus says in Luke 6:38. "Give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." What does that mean to me? It means you truly do reap what you sow and how you sow you get to receive it back. How does that relate to stewardship? It means if I strive toward excellence in my life, I will get back the same. If I put good effort into my marriage, it will come back. If I put good effort into watching what I eat, I can be slim. If I push myself physically, I get to be fit. If I put time into relationship building I get friends and I get a great return for the effort and excellence that I put in.
What would happen if I put time and effort into my relationship with my kids? What would happen if I put time and effort into my relationship with God? What kind of rewards would I receive? This is worth trying just to see. What if I put energy into learning about all the areas of my life? What if I put time and energy into refining what I do know and started doing the things that I do know better and better? Would that pay? I believe that it will.
"The enemy of good stewardship is mediocrity. The beginning of mediocrity is pride."
Pushing towards Excellence,
Keith
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