Posts Tagged ‘Priorities’

How We Spend Our Days Is How We Spend Our Lives

Posted: June 14, 2013 in Behavior
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How We Spend Our DaysOccasionally a phrase jumps off a page (or, more likely, a computer or smartphone screen) and grabs me.  That happened the other day with a tweet, although I’ve forgotten who tweeted it.  What I recall was the insightful statement: “How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.”  Fortunately, I kept the link the tweet pointed to, which was this article – a review by Maria Popova of Annie Dillard’s book The Writing Life.  While the review takes a different path with that memorable phrase than I will take here, it makes the prospect of reading the book intriguing, especially since it is a book about writing.

As I ponder the title of this post, I am immediately convicted.  I imagine on the one hand that person I wish to be, that I perhaps already imagine myself to be – that person I would like to one day be remembered as.  Then, I look at how I spent my time today, and the two don’t necessarily look the same.  It is such a simple, obvious, yet profound truth that if the sum of my life is to be “X,” I don’t get there by filling my days with “Y.”

A few examples…

  • If I want to be highly educated, then I must learn something today.
  • If I want to lose weight, then I must consume fewer calories than I expend today.
  • If I want to be remembered as a good family man, then I must spend time with my family today.
  • If I want to accumulate wealth, then I must spend less than I make today.
  • If I want to be generous, then I must give something away today.
  • If I want to achieve specific long-term goals, then I must complete a small step in that direction today.
  • If I want to grow in my relationship with God, then I must spend time with Him and His Word today.
  • If I have a career path I want to follow, then I have to take a step along that path today.

You get the idea.

In considering this subject, I was reminded of a conversation I had with a married couple many years ago.  They were several years older than me.  My inclination is to respect my elders, yet when the conversation turned in this case to the subject of charitable giving, their reasoning seemed hollow and disingenuous to me, though not uncommon.  They were heavy into a multi-level marketing business, always driven by time spent building their network and attempting to accumulate wealth.  Their reasoning related to charitable giving went something like this: “We don’t give much to charity now because we’re concentrating on our business.  If we work hard now and really do well with our income, just think of how much we’ll be able to give later on.”

We haven’t lived in their city for 30 years and we weren’t close friends, so I can’t say for sure what happened to them.  My suspicion is that they are still operating under the same self-deception that somehow, someday they will be generous with their giving, while in reality they are probably still consumed with accumulating.  They will wake up one day and realize (hopefully) that their lives have not been examples of generosity because their days have not been examples of generosity.

I understand that early years of life and even adulthood are naturally somewhat different than later years.  We don’t live static, unchanging lives exemplifying our ideal existence for decades.  But neither should we delude ourselves into thinking that something is really important to us if it is not important to us enough today to do something about.

There are things I did not do today that I should have, especially if I claim such matters as important to who I am in this world.

What about you?  How do you need to spend your time today so that you can ultimately know that you have spent your life in the right way?

2013 Goals Update – June 4

Posted: June 4, 2013 in Goals
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Progress ReportAnother month has passed, so it’s time again to check in with my goals for the year first published here on January 1 where I shared 11 goals divided into the categories of body, mind and spirit.  Updating my progress here monthly helps hold me accountable.

May was an interesting month for me. I spent 3.5 weeks at home due to needing to be of assistance to my wife who went through her second knee replacement surgery in two months.  I was able to spend some of that time catching up on some goals, but not as much as I had hoped.  So the update this month is still a mixed bag of being ahead on some, right on target with a few, and behind on others.  Here’s the scoop…

Goals related to body:

1. Keep my weight at or below 150 pounds.  Everything is fine here.  My weigh-ins have been at or below my target weight every day since last July 26.

2. Walk/jog/run a total of 10,000 steps per day three days per week. I’m still way ahead of schedule on this one.  With our company’s annual 100 Day Dash starting yesterday where my goal is to average 10,000 steps per day for 100 days, I’ll pass the goal for the year by sometime in September.

3. Average at least six hours of sleep per night.  I still don’t record numbers here, but more nights than not when I set my alarm and lay down, it’s for more than six hours from the time I’m going to bed.  My time at home in May allowed me to play catch-up some and get however much sleep I wanted.

Goals related to mind:

1. Read a book every other week.  I’m two months behind on this goal.  I finished two books during my May time at home and started a third, but I have much to do to catch up here.

2. Blog every other day (at least).  I’ve posted 70 blog posts this year, but an every-other-day schedule would have me at 77 already, so I need some daily ones to get back on track.

3. Continue to follow My 3 Words: Ground, Stretch, Reflect.  This one sneaks up on me because of not blogging every day like I did in 2012.  I don’t think I go a day without doing all three things to some extent, but unless I’m blogging, I don’t spend as much intentional time on the end-of-day reflection.

4. Double the blog’s readership from 10,000 views in 2012 to 20,000.  I’m very happy to report that as of yesterday I surpassed the total readership number for all of 2012, so I am wonderfully ahead of schedule on this.  Many thanks to you, dear readers, for being the reason this goal is on target!

5. Continue to write hand-written letters to my sons.  It’s June, so it’s time to start making notes on what my next letters will be about.  I need to write them sometime this summer.

Goals related to spirit:

1. Finish reading the ESV Study Bible and read half of The Apologetics Study Bible.  I am now about two months behind on this goal.  Yikes!  That’s bad.  I thought I would make more progress on this during my time home in May, but I didn’t.  I may need another “monk week” where I spend a week reading at a nearby monastery once or twice a year to make a serious dent in the deficit.

2. Review 100 Bible memory verses weekly.  All is well here – easily staying current.  After writing a recent blog post about memorizing scripture, I had some good conversations with others, including one about memorizing whole books of the Bible which has me thinking about changing this goal for 2013, staying current with the ones already learned, but maybe adding a Bible book or two to memory.  I’ll wait until the end of the year to decide on that one.

3. Come to some resolution regarding an unsettled situation where I worship.  Completed in January.

The time at home in May was great.  My wife is doing well with her new knees, making progress daily.  I’ve learned more about gardening in her absence than I ever thought I’d know, although I’m still woefully ignorant on the subject.  My dog and I got to spend a lot of time together, including a special Daddy-Doggie Date Day which was fun for us both.  I took a little time just to chill and do nothing from time to time – something we all need probably more often than we do.

2013 is almost half over, believe it or not.  I may not be exactly where I’d like to be in all my goals at the midway point, but I’m not so far behind that I can’t catch up.  Even so, I like being goal-driven and feeling like I’m accomplishing some things.

What about you?  How are you doing on your goals for the year?

Book Review: “The Millennials” by Thom S. Rainer and Jess W. Rainer

Posted: May 24, 2013 in Book Reviews
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The Millennials

If you’d like to better understand the Millennial generation, also known as Gen Y – those born approximately between the years 1980 and 2000 – then I suggest you read the book The Millennials: Connecting to America’s Largest Generation by Thom Rainer and his son Jess Rainer.  Thom is a Baby Boomer while Jess is a Millennial.  I admire the collaborative effort they put forth in writing the book.

But before I say more about the book, let me explain a few reasons for my interest and possible bias toward both the generation and the book.

First, I”m a 56-year-old Baby Boomer with two sons who are Millennials born in 1980 and 1983.  I spent a number of years doing college ministry seven days a week with Millennials.  I wore with pride (and still do) the name “Blue” assigned to me by some of those college students, a name taken from the old dude who hung out with the younger crowd in the movie Old School (whose manager in real life was, coincidentally, named Jeff Ross).  Part of my inclination to the Millennial generation may just be some of the values we tend to share in spite of the age difference, although we certainly differ in some significant ways, especially theologically.  Still, for whatever reasons, I like this generation a lot and I enjoy being with them.

One reason I am predisposed to appreciate the book is because Thom is an acquaintance from having attended seminary with him in the 1980s.  We weren’t in the same degree program and didn’t hang out together, but my wife typed up Thom’s PhD dissertation in those days with our suitcase-sized, 30 pound, cutting edge IBM “Portable” PC.  But, I digress.

For the reasons above as well as the relevance of the topic to my work and church, I was eager to read the book.

A word of background about the authors… Thom is now president and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources and has been highly involved in research on many subjects in his current and previous roles.  He has written numerous books and is well respected, particularly in the evangelical Christian denomination we have both served for decades.  Co-author son Jess Rainer is also in Christian ministry.  While they do not hide (nor should they) their evangelical Christian perspective in the book, they go above and beyond to objectively analyze the research results of the 1200 Millennials studied.  The group consisted of Millennials born between 1980 and 1991 – older Millennials.  The results can be trusted as accurate for the population studied and any speculation that groups interviewed or results published are skewed to support a predetermined agenda on the part of the authors would be woefully incorrect.

It is no surprise that generations as a whole take on different characteristics than previous generations.  Everyone reading this post can likely contrast his/her generation with that of their parents or grandparents, identifying broad, generally correct differences.  At the same time, it is obviously wrong to assume that all members of any generation are alike in any, much less all, areas of study.  I only need to spend a little time with my Baby Boomer peers to realize that we run the gamut of beliefs, values, motivations, and lifestyles.  The same can be said for Millennials.  There is also truth, though, in the fact that patterns and trends emerge when studying generations.  One characteristic that may have been true for 60% of Boomers might only be true for 20% of Millennials, for example.  It is important to keep these big-picture realities in mind when reading the book.  It is vital to resist the temptation to paint all Millennials with the same brush just as it would be wrong to do the same with Boomers or any other generation.

That said, what about the contents of the book itself?  Glad you asked.

Given the study of 1200 Millennials, the book addresses a variety of topics in its eleven chapters, beginning with an introduction to the generation.  The first chapter, “Meet the Millennials,” sets the stage with some quick claims about the majority of Millennials who now make up the largest generation in America, surpassing Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) in quantity.  These general characteristics of Millennials include:

  • They are the most educated generation in American history.
  • They are marrying much later in life, if at all.
  • 65% of them cohabit prior to marriage, compared to just 10% in the 1960s.
  • They are a more diverse group than previous generations with minorities making up 40% of the total.  This diversity is assumed, expected, and valued.
  • They want to make a difference in the world, not focusing as much on self as on how they can make that difference.  They are impatient with people or institutions that impose what they consider to be unnecessary barriers to positive change.
  • They are a hopeful generation.
  • They do not define greatness as other generations might.
  • They are very relational, typically having strong ties with friends and family, including their parents whose advice they seek and respect.
  • They are willing and able learners, eager to have mentors.
  • They look to religion much less than previous generations.  While a majority claim to be “spiritual,” a very small minority consider any type of spirituality really important in their lives.
  • They are not workaholics.  They seek a better work-life balance than their predecessors.
  • They are “green” in that they think and act intentionally with environmental concerns, though not to the extremes some may imagine.
  • They are communicators anytime, anywhere, with 70% saying the cell phone is vital to their lives.  Texting is their primary means of communication.
  • They are financially confused and tend to turn toward the government for help.

Given the opening overview points above, the remaining chapters then do a deeper dive into these characteristics, sharing the research results and sprinkling the chapters with a generous number of quotes and anecdotes from the interviews.  Subsequent chapters focus on a Millennial’s perspective, family, openness and diversity, motivation, the workplace, their role as mediators, their connection with media, money, religion, and then a final chapter geared toward the church and how it needs to respond to this generation.  A postscript section summarizes many of the book’s findings and challenges the reader to be thoughtful and intentional in working with Millennials.

I found the book to be very worthwhile, informative from a research perspective, unbiased in its analysis of data, carefully written so as not to dwell to a mind-numbing degree on research numbers, and for me very practical in that my workplace has a growing population of Millennials and my church wishes it did.  Since the book was published in 2011, some of the stats such as the number of subscribers to social networks will jump out as very outdated, but there is no way around that in printed publications that have been around even one year, much less two, especially given the time involved between research and publication.

There is no shortage of articles and resources related to Millennials.  A Google search will yield more than anyone could read in a lifetime.  In just the past few days, my personal, normal, daily routine of looking at resources from people I follow on Twitter and elsewhere has produced the following resources with no search effort on my part:

My generation of Boomers is large, of course, but we’re now entering retirement at the rate of 10,000 Boomers per day while the even larger Millennial generation is making up more and more of the workforce.  Yes, Boomers will probably be able to go to their grave watching reruns of Andy Griffith, M.A.S.H. and other staples of their earlier years.  We’ll be able to find radio stations with songs from our youth, toys we grew up with, and more because there are still enough of us around to demand them.  We’ll be self-centered enough to keep thinking the world revolves around us even when it doesn’t.  But it is critical that those of all generations understand, get connected with, and learn to live, work, play, serve, and (maybe) worship with Millennials.  Reading this book will be a good start.

As Thom Rainer and Jess Rainer write in their closing words:

“Are we ready for the Millennials?
We better be ready.
They are already here.
Here come the Millennials!”

I, for one, am glad.

2013 Goals Update – May 16

Posted: May 16, 2013 in Goals
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Progress ReportIn my first post for the year on January 1, I shared 11 goals divided into the categories of body, mind and spirit.  I review my progress here monthly to help hold me accountable.  I have some good news and some bad news on my goals for 2013 to date.  The good news is that I’m well ahead or on target for several of them.  The bad news is that I’m woefully behind on a couple and it will take quite a bit of time to catch up.  Catching up is possible, especially since I’m now in a stretch of three weeks I’m (mostly) taking off from work with more time daily to devote to them, so I’m hopeful that my report next month looks better.  Here are the details…

Goals related to body:

1. Keep my weight at or below 150 pounds.  All continues to be well on this one.  I still weigh in daily, and that weigh-in determines what and how much I eat as well as influencing physical activity for the day.  I look forward to the 1-year anniversary of reaching my target weight July 26.

2. Walk/jog/run a total of 10,000 steps per day three days per week. I’m way ahead of schedule on this one, having done it enough days to already be in the month of July ticking them off a calendar.  With our company’s annual 100 Day Dash starting June 3 where my goal is to average 10,000 steps per day for 100 days, I’ll easily pass the goal for the year by the end of that Dash in September.

3. Average at least six hours of sleep per night.  I still don’t record numbers here, but more nights than not when I set my alarm and lay down, it’s for more than six hours from the time I’m going to bed.  I’m enjoying a little extra time in bed during these weeks off in May.

Goals related to mind:

1. Read a book every other week.  I am more behind on this goal than any other.  I’m a few dozen pages away from completing book #5 for the year.  By this time, I should already be in book #10.  I have some work to do!

2. Blog every other day (at least).  I’ve posted 59 blog posts this year, but an every-other-day schedule would have me at 68 already, so I need some daily ones in this time off to reach the goal.

3. Continue to follow My 3 Words: Ground, Stretch, Reflect.  Same as reported last time, this one still sneaks up on me because of not blogging every day like I did in 2012.  Nightly blogging provided a built-in time for this reflection.  Without that, I’m missing it too many nights.  I still think through the sequence on days I blog to see what is worth writing about, but other days I tend to forget about the framework even though I may still do two of the three instinctively every day.

4. Double the blog’s readership from 10,000 views in 2012 to 20,000.  I’m running 20% ahead of schedule on this one and will pass last year’s total readership either this month or next.  Many thanks to all of you for making that happen!

5. Continue to write hand-written letters to my sons.  As reported before, this is only done a couple of times a year, so having done it last in December, it will be this summer before I do it again.  Time to start making notes on what the focus of these next ones should be for each son.

Goals related to spirit:

1. Finish reading the ESV Study Bible and read half of The Apologetics Study Bible.  I am a month behind on this goal.  My time off this month is allowing me the luxury of peace and quiet at home to do more reading, so the report on this next month should be much improved.

2. Review 100 Bible memory verses weekly.  So far, so good. This takes less than an hour weekly, so it’s easy to stay current.

3. Come to some resolution to an unsettled situation where I worship.  Completed in January.

Life has been a little weird around our house the last six weeks.  My wife just had her second knee replacement surgery since early April, so our schedules are anything but normal.  I learned from the first one that I can’t keep a regular work and personal routine going with her in the hospital and rehab and then needing more help than normal around the house.  That’s a large part of why I’m taking off so many days from work now through the end of the month.  I needed to take some time off, anyway, for a breather and to work on some of the above matters that are very important to me.

So that’s how I’m doing on my goals after the first 4+ months of 2013.  What about you?  How are you doing on your goals for the year?

I Said Goodbye To a Friend Today

Posted: May 11, 2013 in Grief
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Goodbyes Make My Throat HurtNote: I wrote the following on March 15 after a visit with a friend in the hospital, thinking that it would be the last time I saw him this side of heaven.  He defied the odds and remained with us for nearly two more months, allowing me the opportunity to visit him again.  Still, I share the following as originally written in memory of and with thankfulness for the friend whose funeral I just attended today.  He will be missed.

There have been very few times in my 56 years when I’ve had the chance to say a proper farewell to someone who was about to pass from this life to the next.  The first occasion was in the final days of my sweet sister’s life in 1995 before cancer took its toll.  I will always remember the private moment of being alone with her in her bedroom, holding her hand, telling her I loved her and how proud of her I was, and giving her a final kiss.  She couldn’t speak words back to me, but I know I saw a slight smile on her lips.  In the presence of others that weekend, she said, “Well, hello, Mamaw” – a reference to our grandmother who had passed away less than two months earlier, making us all wonder what she was experiencing as she transitioned between this life and the one to come.

Tonight I said goodbye to an older friend from church.  His life dramatically changed a matter of weeks ago with a diagnosis of leukemia and a series of medical incidents that abruptly took him from an active life to one coming quickly to an end.  My wife sent me a text on my way home from work telling me that we needed to go to the hospital when I got home because time was limited.

At the hospital, my friend was alert, lucid, engaged in meaningful conversation, and had a handshake with his right hand as strong as an ox, while his left laid lifeless – a recent development in his rapid physical deterioration.  In a moment like that, there is neither time nor reason to skirt the issue at hand, no sense in pretending you’ll see each other again in a few days, no reason to pray for healing or to give empty wishes of getting well.  In that moment, it is right and good to acknowledge that earthly life is nearing an end, and that it’s alright.  That is certainly what my friend was telling his visitors.

My friend has had a glimpse of what is in store for him once he passes from this life to the next.  What he has seen and heard and experienced in recent days as he has walked that fine line between this life and the next has given him absolute assurance of what is to come.  Instead of others trying to comfort him, he is the one spending his last days comforting and assuring others, providing hope, and anticipating a life eternal that is more beautiful and indescribable than he could place into words.  I believe in the reality of what he has seen and in the conversations he has had with Jesus to pave the path he must follow during his final days.  He is ready to go whenever his Lord takes him.

It was a holy moment to acknowledge in that final conversation the greatness of our God, our complete reliance on Him, and gratitude that we serve such a wonderful Savior.  It was gut-wrenching but important to tell him that I loved him, that he was a good man and that I had the deepest respect for him.  It was good to hear his kind words to me, recalling the time I asked him if he would be willing to serve as a deacon.  It was bittersweet to walk out the door saying goodbye, knowing I would not see him again this side of heaven, yet knowing that we both understood what I meant when I said, “I will see you again.”

As I think back on the 60 hours I’ve worked this week, on the many things done and undone on my task list, on how I spent my time, I am reminded that as wonderful and fulfilling as this life can be, this is but a shadow of something far more that we are meant to experience.  I left the hospital thinking, “Now that is reality.  That is important.  That is what this life should be about because ultimately this life is only a prelude to the eternal one to come.”

I am thankful for my friend.  I am thankful for his faith and how he demonstrated it in his final days.  I am thankful that I had a chance to say a proper goodbye.

As I write this looking at a screen blurred by tear-filled eyes, I will simply say “Until we meet again, my friend…”

Making Values-Based Decisions

Posted: April 17, 2013 in Values
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Corporate ValuesHow do you make work-related decisions?  Do you fly by the seat of your pants and do what seems expedient at the moment?  Do you go down the easiest path?  the hardest one?  Do you do what you think will get you the most attention, glory and upward mobility in the organization?  Do you have some clear goals, objectives and strategy in mind by which you evaluate the pros and cons of options?

There are many processes and criteria people can use to make decisions at work.  Some are more noble than others.  Some are more effective than others.  I’d like to share with you some thoughts about values-based decision-making that stems from some discussions and communications at my company about our corporate values.

Recently, five simple values were presented by senior leadership to all associates.  To be more accurate, many associates at all levels were involved in the process that resulted in the set of values, but the final communication about them to everyone came, naturally, from top leadership.  I’m very impressed by them, and especially by their clarity and simplicity:

  • Inspire Health
  • Cultivate Uniqueness
  • Rethink Routine
  • Pioneer Simplicity
  • Thrive Together

Nearly all companies of any significant size have a variety of statements they tout from mission statements to purpose statements and value propositions and guiding principles and mottos and blah, blah, blah, ad nauseum.  I never was able to figure out the difference in all of those types of statements.  Too often they sounded like corporate-speak mumbo-jumbo that nobody outside the little cocooned offices that unveiled them really cared about.  So it was with a slight bit of skepticism that I listened to and read communications from our leaders and others about newly defined values.  Was this just the corporate-speak du jour spawned by a change in leadership, or was it more substantive than that?

I’m glad to say I think it’s substantive.  Yes, promotion of the values is being championed by our new CEO, but he believes in them, speaks often and convincingly about them, practices them, and expects others to do so as well, all of which is very encouraging.  The five values are simple, easy to remember and communicate, and something the average employee can buy into, keeping them in mind as we do our work and as we make decisions about what we do and how we do it.

For example, one cause I’m championing right now at work is opening up our internal social network to allow all employees to use the vendor’s excellent mobile apps on their personal mobile devices so that anyone can access the network simply, quickly, and effectively from anywhere, anytime, without losing any functionality they expect from the app.  That isn’t possible currently because of security measures and access processes in place.  Some clunky and inadequate workarounds make the current mobile experience so dreadful that nobody uses them.  Consequently, leaders and others on the go rarely participate due in part to the lack of mobile access.

Looking at the five values above, I have to consider the “pioneer simplicity” value when looking at possible solutions to this matter.  Do the current workarounds pioneer simplicity?  No.  They take complexity and user-unfriendliness to extremes.

What would happen if the stakeholders involved with coming up with a solution sat around a table with each of them buying into the idea of pioneering simplicity?  I am confident we could reach a solution that meets the security needs of the enterprise while maintaining the simplicity, user-friendliness and full functionality demanded by those who use the internal social network.  As we have future calls and meetings about the matter, you can rest assured that I will, if needed, respond to suggestions of complicated solutions with the legitimate question, “How does that mesh with the corporate value of pioneering simplicity?”

And that is where the beauty of having clear, simple corporate values can come into play for the average employee.  If I challenge a complex solution, it isn’t because I’m being a grumpy old man or I have some personal vendetta against others involved.  It is because I believe in the value of pioneering simplicity, and I think living and making decisions accordingly is in the best interests of the company, its employees, and ultimately its customers and stockholders.

As individuals, we have deeply-held personal values that are inseparable from decisions we make in our personal lives.  Such values are what guide us day by day in decisions big and small.  So why should we not also have a few simple, important values undergirding our business decisions?  I think we should.  I’m willing to adopt and promote the five values above as appropriate for my company.  Your organization’s values will likely be different and in accordance with its unique purpose.

Do you know your organization’s values?  Do you agree with them?  Do you consider them when making decisions?

2013 Goals Update – April 6

Posted: April 6, 2013 in Goals
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With Progress Report2013 now 1/4 complete, it’s time to report on how I’m doing with the many goals I set for the year.  My first post for 2013 on January 1 is where I shared 11 goals divided into the categories of body, mind and spirit.  Reporting on my progress here helps hold me accountable, so that’s why I’m doing these monthly updates.

There’s good news and bad news on the goals front this month.  The good news is that I’m still doing well on some of them.  The bad news is that I’m more behind on others now than I was a month ago.  One big reason why I’m more behind than expected is that I had to cancel a week of vacation for late March where my plan was to catch up with the reading and writing goals.  With simply too much happening at work to walk away for a week, I felt the impact of not having that time for working on my goals.  I’ve scheduled a vacation week for April and another for May to try to catch up some, but with other schedule oddities going on that I will mention below, it will still be a challenge to completely catch up anytime soon.

It is what it is, so here is the update…

Goals related to body:

1. Keep my weight at or below 150 pounds.  All continues to be well on this one.  I still weigh in daily, and that weigh-in determines what and how much I eat as well as influencing physical activity for the day.  I look forward to reaching the 1-year anniversary of reaching my target weight this summer.

2. Walk/jog/run a total of 10,000 steps per day three days per week. I’m still way ahead of schedule on this one because I’ve been doing it five days per week instead of three for a couple of months now to reach some reward goals with my company’s incentive program, HumanaVitality.  In March, I ran my first 5K race in about 5-6 years when my company scheduled one just for our employees and families in downtown Louisville.  My race time was the slowest 5K I’ve ever done at 31 minutes, 18 seconds (my previous race before this one, for example, was under 24 minutes), but I’ll use it as a benchmark going forward.  At least there were only seven people my age or older who finished before me.  I was #232 overall out of 2074 finishers.  I’ll take it.  Also helping with this goal is that the weather is finally getting warmer, so I will be more inclined to go for runs or longer walks with the dog than during the cold weather.

3. Average at least six hours of sleep per night.  I still don’t record numbers here, but more nights than not when I set my alarm and lay down, it’s for more than six hours from the time I’m going to bed.  I’m probably pretty close on this one.  Unless I buy something like a Fitbit that tracks sleep, I won’t know exactly how well I’m doing on this goal, but I’ll have a good idea.

Goals related to mind:

1. Read a book every other week.  I really bombed on this one in March.  I didn’t complete any book.  I’m about 2/3 through the one I’m reading, but this is one of the goals impacted by me canceling my vacation a couple of weeks ago.  I have much to do here.

2. Blog every other day (at least).  I keep lagging a few days behind in this goal, having published 45 posts this year when an every-other-day schedule would have me at 48 by now.  Catching up won’t be difficult.  Blogging daily for one week would do it.

3. Continue to follow My 3 Words: Ground, Stretch, Reflect.  As I reported last month, this one still sneaks up on me because of not blogging every day like I did in 2012.  Nightly blogging provided a built-in time for this reflection.  Without that, I’m missing it too many nights.  I still think through the sequence on days I blog to see what is worth writing about, but other days I tend to forget about the framework even though I may still do two of the three instinctively every day.

4. Double the blog’s readership from 10,000 views in 2012 to 20,000.  I’m very happy to say that as of today I’m running 46% ahead of schedule on this one.  At the current pace, I’ll pass last year’s total readership in either April or, more likely, May.  A couple of pairs of popular posts have helped the cause with each receiving hundreds of views and the most popular (The Worst Mistakes I’ve Made As An Employee) now approaching 1000 views.

5. Continue to write hand-written letters to my sons.  As reported before, this is only done a couple of times a year, so having done it last in December, it will likely be this summer before I do it again.

Goals related to spirit:

1. Finish reading the ESV Study Bible and read half of The Apologetics Study Bible.  I am more behind on this goal than any other.  Again, canceling the vacation week really hurt me here.  I have much to do to get back on track, but just a few solid days of vacation devoted to this would do it.

2. Review 100 Bible memory verses weekly.  So far, so good. This takes less than an hour weekly, so it’s easy to stay current.

3. Come to some resolution to an unsettled situation where I worship.  Completed in January.

I don’t expect to be caught up on all goals by the end of April.  My wife just had knee replacement surgery two days ago and will have the other knee replaced in about four weeks.  She needs assistance from me, of course, when she returns home, and the schedule meanwhile is way different than normal.  I’m also officiating at a wedding later in April, going out of town for a couple of days for that.  Whenever I perform a wedding, I rehearse it a bazillion times so I can say everything just right without depending much on notes, so I know I’ll spend a lot of hours on that the next couple of weeks instead of other matters my time would normally be given to.  That isn’t a complaint, of course, since it’s a great privilege to officiate at the wedding of dear friends.  It’s just a notation that spending more time in one effort means there is less time to spend in others, so there may be consequences related to these goals that I’ll have to make up later.

So that’s how I’m doing on my goals after the first three months of 2013.  What about you?  How are you doing on your goals for the year?

For Such a Time as This

Posted: March 21, 2013 in Priorities
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For Such A Time As ThisAt my company, we have many discussions and activities related to the subject of well-being.  Most of these are related to the health dimension of well-being, but we still acknowledge and work toward improving well-being in other areas as well, such as security, belonging, and purpose.  This post addresses a little about the purpose dimension of well-being.

If someone asks you “What is your purpose in life?”, how will you respond?  Will the answer today be different than a few years ago?  Does one’s purpose remain relatively constant throughout adult life, or do you think it’s subject to periodic change?

For a few decades, when I have heard the question, I have immediately thought of the first part of the Westminster Shorter Catechism created in 1647:

“What is the chief end of man?  Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.”

I’m not telling anyone else what their purpose should be by posting the above – just stating that such a clear, concise understanding has helped guide me for many years and continues to do so.  But what does that mean?  It’s a rather broad statement and certainly open to interpretation at the level of implementation detail.  For me, the overall purpose remains constant, but how that fleshes out from one year to the next or even one day to the next is up for grabs.  I certainly have some consistent beliefs, practices and commitments related to that purpose, but there is flexibility that can make what I do today a little different that what I did yesterday, and there’s even a little wiggle room in some peripheral beliefs.  A sense of purpose may provide wide guidelines and boundaries within which we operate, while still being open to momentary, unexpected events that tie to the purpose, yet could never be planned in advance.

I believe each of us is uniquely positioned in this world to do something and to be someone unlike any other.  Nobody else has the exact experiences, motivations, passions, trials, and opportunities as you.  Nobody.  So it seems that each of us has the opportunity to live out our purpose in a wonderfully unique way that has not existed before and will not be repeated again, even if we share the same overall purpose.  It is as though we are actors in a tremendous drama where we get to write part of the script as we go, making the most of each moment.

This unique fleshing out of one’s purpose recalls to mind an insightful thought from one of the main characters in the grand story from the Old Testament book of Esther in the 5th century B.C.  As scenes change from one queen losing favor with the king, and a young Jewish Esther becoming queen, evil Haman plots to kill all the Jews in the Persian Empire.  Esther’s cousin, Mordecai, in discussing her risky option of approaching the king to help save the Jews, tells her ”who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).  Being in that place at that time for those actions was central to Esther’s purpose in life.  I wonder how many little things along the way not recorded in the book contributed to the unfolding of events as they played out.  She, and only she, was in a unique position to make a difference in that situation for all time.

Decisions may be seemingly small, random and passing (such as to help that needy person on the street), or large and obviously consequential (e.g., career choices, relationship decisions, and leaps of faith).  It’s possible that coincidence is involved in the timing of some things, but it is just as likely (more so in my opinion) that there is more at work than mere coincidence, even in the daily unexpected moments that bring meaning to our days and that relate to our purpose.

My takeaways from thinking about this: Know the broad overarching purpose that gives your life meaning and significance.  Plan your days and work hard, but always be open to unexpected opportunities uniquely presented just to you at just that moment.  You will respond to them either in accordance with or contrary to your perceived purpose.

Who knows whether you have come for such a time as this?

Lessons From American Idol

Posted: March 6, 2013 in Learning
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American IdolMy wife and I have enjoyed watching American Idol for years.  I missed the first season, but have been a big fan since then.  Now that we’re into the phase where America votes weekly on who remains, I thought it might be nice to reflect on some of the many lessons that can come from watching this show.  Feel free to add your own in the comments.

1. People aren’t always as talented as they think they are.  The early episodes of every season are proof of this.  Some are just painful to hear.  William Hung, anyone?

2. Talent can be found in unexpected places.  I’m not talking geography here since people travel all over the country to these auditions.  I’m referring to the fact that a booming voice might come out of a soft-spoken, unkempt, homeless person nobody would ever suspect as a good singer.  File this one under “can’t judge a book by its cover.”

3. You need social skills in addition to talent.  The contestant who has a great voice but who can’t get along with others, also fails to connect with the voting public, and eventually loses.  It’s not just about you and your talent; it’s about living in the context of a community and relationships, and that’s a whole different ballgame.

4. Only the strong survive.  I feel for the singers who get matched up in group week with people they can’t relate to or with people who don’t want to do their fair share.  That week requires everyone to work hard – all night if needed, and those who slack off tend not to progress to the next round.

5. Never assume you’re safe.  How many singers through the years have been surprisingly eliminated early in the voting, most likely because people didn’t bother to vote for them since they considered them safe?  Assume nothing.

6. Your vote counts.  Or, more accurately this season, your 50 votes count.  If you don’t vote, don’t gripe about the results.  Do your duty and vote if you care about an outcome.

7. Not everyone who judges you is worthy of doing so.  While the four judges this year had sole authority to determine the top twenty, they may or may not have made the right calls.  They may not be representative of what America wants.  They may have hidden agendas and criteria we never hear about that impacts their decisions.  Do I personally really care about anything Nicki Minaj ever thinks or says?  No.  But she’s paid the big bucks to sit there looking dumb and sounding dumber, so whether she is worthy or not isn’t the point now.  Contestants will still be impacted by her comments for good or bad.

8. Give it your all.  When singers play it safe and just blend in with other so-so performances, that doesn’t cut it.  You need to give it your heart and soul and know that you left it all on the stage.  The final results may be in others’ hands, but you can at least know you did your best.  There is great satisfaction in that.

9. Always keep learning and improving.  Whatever your current skill level, there is room for improvement, so do what it takes to learn and grow and reach your goals.

10. Make friends along the way.  Nobody wants to be around others whom they fear would willingly stab them in the back to get ahead.  Don’t be such a person.  Be the one who takes the time to notice and befriend others as you go.  Praise the members of the band.

11. Climbing a ladder isn’t a lifestyle.  There is more to life than just trying to get somewhere else in the future.  It’s about experiencing the present, too.  You climb ladders for a short while so you can do something else at the end of that ladder.  Know when to step off the ladder and do other things.

12. It’s OK not to get the most votes.  If there are 10,000 people trying out and only one can win, does that mean 9,999 are losers?  No!  It just means that the system is set up to give a greater reward to one person.  Many contestants go on to very successful careers without winning the competition.  You get to define success in your life.  Don’t let others do that for you.

13. Fame and fortune comes at a cost.  Some have the personal character, wisdom and right people nearby to handle fame and fortune.  Some give in to its temptations and flame out early.  If you think you’ll be the one making all the calls about what happens with your life at the level of stardom these singers seek, you’re wrong.  There are trade-offs your dreams didn’t envision.

14. Enjoy the ride.  We know that some things can’t last forever.  That’s OK.  Be thankful that it happened as long as it did.

15. Give back.  You didn’t get where you are completely by yourself.  Parents, friends, teachers, even bitter enemies all worked to help shape you into the person you are, as did your own dogged determination.  Others are invested in you with their lives.  Give back to them.

I’m sure I’ve missed some obvious lessons that my fellow American Idol fans can think of.  What are they?  Tell me in a comment.

p.s. – If you haven’t figured it out by now, the lessons above don’t apply just to a singing competition.

If It’s Important, You’ll Find a Way

Posted: March 3, 2013 in Priorities
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image from carrotsncake.com

image from carrotsncake.com

This morning as I walked across the parking lot at my church, I saw a car pull up near the main entrance.  An old man got out and opened the trunk, then pulled out a walker for his wife.  He took it around to her door, helped her out, got her situated safely with the walker, then he headed back to the driver’s side to go park the car while the woman slowly made her way from the pull-in to the outside elevator entrance.  It was a sunny morning, but very cold.  The lady’s steps were short, slow, and deliberate.  It would take her a few minutes to inch her way across that relatively short distance from the car to the elevator – a distance I could sprint in about two seconds.

As I made my way to where I was going, I couldn’t help but admire the determination of the couple to do what they believed to be important at that time on Sunday morning – be at church.  I wondered how many others would stay home today because it was too cold, or because they were too tired from staying up or out late last night, or because it just isn’t important to them.  I wondered how many others – even church members – would think up some excuse for staying in bed or staying inside where it was warm and cozy because they didn’t want the discomfort or inconvenience or time spent doing something else.

I have believed and taught for many years that Sunday morning is not the time for you to decide whether you will be in church that day or not.  That is a decision made when you make your faith commitment, choosing to be a part of a body of believers from that point on, only excusing yourself from participation in the larger community in case of illness or very unusual, temporary circumstances.  I suspect this older couple shares that sentiment.

The takeaway lesson for me from watching the couple was that we find a way to do what is important to us.  I know that many of us have more things on our plate than should be there, and we have to occasionally let some things go in order to do others of greater importance.  Still, when it comes down to deciding what gets done and what doesn’t, we find a way to do what is really important.

If spending time with family isn’t important, we fill our days with other things.  If taking care of our home, car or other personal belongings isn’t important, we let them deteriorate.  If taking care of our bodies doesn’t matter to us, then we abuse them in all kinds of ways without really showing concern for the eventual consequences.  If living for the moment is more important than providing for the future, then we throw caution to the wind and think about tomorrow when tomorrow comes.  If we care mostly or solely about ourselves, then we never take the time to focus on and do what is in the best interests of others.

You want to know how you can find out what is important to me?  Look two places: at my schedule and my bank account.  How do I spend my time and how do I spend my money?  Those two windows into my life will tell you what is really important to me, regardless of what I say is important.  I pray that the view from those windows tells the same story as my words.

What is important to you, and does your schedule and your bank account reflect that?

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