Will this make or break you?

After a long run or a hard workout, it is the best time to stretch while your muscles are warm. You have been on a long run, now is the time to stretch.  

This is not a report of the current situation, so bear with me.

We are right in the middle of the global pandemic of the Coronavirus. All the experts are telling us about it every day, moment by moment. We are truly getting a play by play!

Every new positive test has become the new sports report since all sporting events around the globe have been postponed.

You will become what you think about most of the time. Worried if you only listen to the play by play.

Life has been shut off for most people around the world.

But, has it really? Has your life...

If you (or anyone) were to plot the course of your life as a graph, it would show high points and low points – turning points in your life. Though we all wish life was a steady flow of positive experiences, success in every area, and easy living, the fact is, no one has a steady line. There are ups and downs for every one of us. 

Now the good news is that if you are a low point, you don’t have to stay there. In his latest book, Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Learn, John C. Maxwell talks about the value of those low points. He agrees with the adage that failure is the best teacher and recommends we experience failure fast and often. 

As someone who is well versed on this subject, having hit those low points...

“Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story.”      – Casey Stengel

It’s that time of year again – that time where winter and spring do their tug of war and the local baseball teams don their cleats in preparation for what promises to be a winning season. Each team starts out thinking that, of course, they will be the champions this year.

The fact is, no team starts out wanting to lose. We all want to win. But somewhere along the way, we realize there are winners, and there are losers…and so we have to fight to win.

In my work, I often am called upon to work with teams. Sometimes I’m engaged to help make a good team better....

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”        - John F. Kennedy

Did you ever wonder what it would take to walk to the moon?

Atmospheric issues aside, how many steps – and how much time - would it take to walk that far? Are you thinking it would be impossible for any person to walk that far in a lifetime?

Think again – the answer may surprise...

Are you like me? I am very impatient. When I want something, I usually want it yesterday. My wife often makes fun of me when I get hungry because I can turn into someone else, someone unrecognizable. She loved when the Snickers® bar commercials came out with the actor Joe Pesci, who turned back into a young man when he ate a Snickers® bar.

Well, that can be me when I have gone about one minute too long without eating. I hope I never get lost without food. This is another reason why I don’t practice the long-recommended fast in my Christian faith. I don’t think God was talking about people like me when He said to fast. Personally, in my case, I think He was really saying, “Run fast and get some food!”

What...

“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” – John Wooden

I’m faced with two candidates for a position.

One is highly skilled, graduated top of the class, and was voted “most likely to succeed” – one of those people with enviable gifts that everyone wishes they had, but few naturally possess.

The other is good, but less skilled. This person graduated more toward the middle of the class, but has managed to succeed in every previous position by exhibiting a high level of dedication, proactive learning, and tenacity.

Which would you hire?

Now what if I told you that the first...

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ~ Maya Angelou

This being February, it seems befitting that we talk about relationships. Every person has relationships – with God, spouse, family, friends, co-workers, and if no one else, we each have a relationship with ourselves.

Whether those relationships are good and strong, well, that’s another story. In fact, that IS the story. We all need strong, healthy relationships in life. In a world where texting is rapidly replacing conversation amongst members of a whole generation, this is of great concern. When you couple that with the fact that parent-to-parent...

“Success is due to our stretching to the challenges of life.
Failure comes when we shrink from them.”
– John C. Maxwell

Have you ever gotten a little weary in the rat race of life and wondered, “Where’s that EASY button?” At what point do you get to rest on your laurels? Though there are times in life where you have to slow the pace a bit to restore your energy, you can’t just get off the path completely and sit on the sidelines.

The fact is, what got us to where we are will not get us where we want to go. In other words, we must be continually growing and improving, learning…and tweaking according to what we have learned. To do otherwise would be like riding a horse on the interstate....

“Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.” ~Napoleon Hill

A lot of folks like the show The Biggest Loser. Here you have people who have lost their way physically and who are very often in dangerous physical condition with seemingly no way out. But they have one thing going for them – DESIRE. They DESIRE to be healthy. They DESIRE to make a change. They DESIRE to be able to run and play with their kids. They don’t know how to make it happen – it seems overwhelming – but they want it badly.

For the few who dare to take that first step, DESIRE meets OPPORTUNITY. Now that opportunity comes with a whole lot of...