$100

Compare a fresh, crisp $100 bill...

With this one... 

Which one is worth more?  

Despite it's being tattered and worn, spit on and muddied, burned and soiled, you could probably buy $100 worth of stuff, even with the dirty hundred dollar bill.

$100 is $100 is $100…  

$100 has intrinsic value equal to 

$100.  

And you are worth more...

You are much like the $100.  Except you are priceless...  

God has made you priceless.  You are worthy to God.  You have intrinsic value.  Whether you are a crisp Bill,  freshly printed, just recently born and devoid of error... Or a crumpled, dirty, filthy Bill, regretting most of your life.   You are still worth infinitely more than $100… 

And that is why your head trash has got to stop.  

If you de-value yourself with the words you say to yourself:   

I'm a failure.  I'll never amount to anything.  I could never be anybody.  I could never be loved by anybody...

... or any of a number of things you could say about yourself...  this is what your God says:

I Love you with no condition.  I Love you without reservation.  I Love you.  I Love you.  I am waiting for you.

You are still worthy.   You are called for great things. You are called to a specific purpose.  A purpose that can serve mankind!

Tangent:

I was asked recently to explain why I insist that our lives are about anything other than serving ourselves.    Why should we want to "serve" others?  Especially, if there's nothing in it for us?

All you need to do is give a gift to someone...  Give a gift to someone that did nothing to deserve it.  Do it expecting nothing in return, and witness the feeling that grace brings.  Grace is nothing more and nothing less than a gift that is undeserved.  Share a Thanksgiving turkey with a family that would never have been able to afford it.  Do it for no other reason than to give... and witness the transformation of giving in your life.  That will be explanation enough.   "Givers" gain in this world... and they gain more than money...  (Check out the BNI  motto... sometimes givers do gain money). 

People who spend their lives taking and not giving are missing one of the greatest blessings this life offers––  to give, and give abundantly.

Who's life are you NOT saving?

Recently on my drive to an early-morning appointment, I plugged in my favorite song from Mumsford & Sons,  Little Lion Man.  It's amazing what a well versed lyric and uplifting melody does to the psyche. Better than a double-shot of espresso!  

Then an awful thought occurred to me, followed by intense emotion.

What if all the songs that inspire and uplift me had never been written?  

There are so many  small things that make such a great big difference in our lives. A song  that energizes us, a word that uplifts us, a story from that book that tugged our heartstrings ––what if the collection of these small things makes the difference between joy and depression–– the degree of difference that gives special meaning to our lives?

That thought led to another idea... what if the people that wrote the songs, told the stories, or shared the words of encouragement had never done so?  What if each one of them surrendered to the critical voices that are all too common,  

"You're just not good enough.  You'll never be good enough.  Just quit."

Too many people give in to the fear and criticism inside them.  I've been there myself...  I still remember times when I've been so hard on myself that I refused to follow my passions and dreams, believing that the world was better off without me even trying... but those thoughts are lies.  Have courage.  Have Faith.

You make a difference.
The stories that you tell others about overcoming adversity, inspire others to overcome their own weaknesses...

Even if it's just sharing about someone else’s victory, stories of overcoming can directly or indirectly have a profound impact on hundreds or even thousands of lives around you!

Many of the moments that have impacted my life greatly are a result of such stories.  My friend, and business owner, Frances is a great example.  Her story of how she became a millionaire–– before she had even more than $100 dollars to her name–– is an inspiration to me. 

"I became a millionaire the day when my father-in-law said to me that I would never amount to anything but a coffee-shop girl.  No one had ever treated me like that.  I was so angry, I got in his face and told him that from that day on, I didn't serve coffee... people would serve coffee to me.  That month I started knocking on people's doors to sell their houses for $1,000 dollars.  I sold ten houses and nobody could tell me I was the coffee-shop girl anymore."

What about the stories that you don’t tell?  

What about the excellence that you resist pursuing because of your self image and fear?  What if your story is that one degree of difference that someone down the line was waiting for to make a change for the better?

You have a responsibility to your fellow man. A responsibility to overcome your obstacles to become an inspiration to others.

Don't underestimate yourself. Be bold.

Realize, that you have the potential to impact people's lives in a profound ripple effect with every positive actions and every act of courage, love, or compassion that you have ever shared in your life. 

You may have become the story or memory in someone's mind that makes them one degree better.

That one degree better is compounded over time into millions of positive interactions… but then… 

...so have the negative thoughts that you have had about yourself or shared with others.  

Those vibrations have also been broadcast into our world.

This is why self pity is a waste, and destructive. When you hold yourself back from overcoming, when you hold yourself back from creating–– and inspiring others to create!

When you hold yourself back from doing the thing that you were designed to do, (your calling, your destiny)  you are stealing from the world the gift that is your life. In your selfish self pity, you are denying the world the one degree of better that makes a difference.  

Who’s life could you be saving, simply by pursuing excellence in all your dealings… in overcoming your adversity… and in becoming the you that you were destined to be?  

I know it’s hard…  but who said it was supposed to be easy?  Do the right thing anyway.    Push yourself to be the best version of you. Then inspire others with your story.

How do I raise my influence?

CLICK ON ME FOR THE AUDIO TEACHING!

Leadership is influence... nothing more... nothing less...   

Everything Rises & Falls with Leadership...

The Importance of Positive Self-Image

Positive Self Image

Today I’m going to elaborate on one of the most important and limiting or enabling qualities of a human being.  I’m going to talk about the man or woman in the mirror.  

Your view of yourself determines your behavior.  Because your behavior today affects who you become and how you perform tomorrow, the Law of the Mirror says, you will never out-perform your self-image.

The value you put on yourself is the value that others will put on you as well.  

John Maxwell says, 

“If you place small value on yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise the price.”

Steps for Building a Positive Image  /  Visual:  Clearing the Muddy Waters  

When you are a baby your water is clean.  Let’s say that your psyche is this cup of water.  Your psyche is clean.  You have a personality, a potential, and a set of natural gifting that are yet to develop.  But as for the voice in a baby’s head.  It’s mommy and daddy’s cooing voice they hear.   

As we get older and negative events and voices start making their impact on our lives, the cup begins to get tarnished with these voices.  Until the voices become our own and we can’t distinguish between the negative voices. And the voices are nothing more than ideas we can believe or not believe.  Their truth value is determined exclusively by you.

I believe that every person is born with unique gifts and potential just waiting to be tapped into.  There are some people that can do things that I will never be good at.  I stick to the things that I’m good at and that I love. I work on a lot of the things I’m not good at so that I can get better, and because doing those things builds me up as well…  

(That doesn’t mean that I was always good at the things I’m good at today.  When we’re babies, we don’t know anything.  We naturally develop all the abilities we own today).

The problem is that many people never even give themselves room to develop the innate abilities within them.  They judge themselves by the way that water looks to them.  They say, water isn’t for me, when they have to put in the work to develop.  Because no-one who was ever great developed their abilities accidentally.  They slaved over those skill sets.  

Henry Ford said,  “Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.”

The voices about yourself you believe determine the vision of the future you can achieve.

How many of you criticize yourself heavily on a pretty regular basis?  And it looks like:  “Man, I’m not good enough. Or, I can’t really do that.  That’s not something for me.  I’ll never be good at that… look at other people, they can do this so well… I wish I could be that good, but I’ll never be that good…”  ?

I used to call that the auto-criticism monster.  Other people call it the gremlin.  Some people call it the enemy.

In the little bit of time I have left, I want to show you a vision of what your life could be.  

This hazy glass is dark and murky.  This is your subconscious… your psyche literally has an unclear view of itself.  And so the vision of your future in turn is unclear.

The Secret is…

We need to flush it out. 

Our thoughts and beliefs about ourselves create emotions.  Emotions are ENERGY in motion.  Emotions affect our actions.  We think about our actions on a conscious and a subconscious level –– those thoughts create further emotion.  That energy in motion creates our behaviors.

We sometimes can’t control the thoughts or voices of our auto-criticism monster/ our gremlin.  But we can control what we say back to those thoughts.  We can control what we believe.  It takes work. But let me show you.

To build your self esteem:

1. Guard your self talk.  Stop talking negative things to yourself.  Never say it out loud, even if it’s in your head.  Instead, talk to yourself out loud and say positive re-enforcing things.  Find positive adjectives and say them out loud while looking in the mirror.
2. Stop comparing yourself to anyone. When you discover that the best version of you has unique things to offer that someone else doesn’t, you’ll be liberated.
3. Create habits and disciplines to combat and kill the auto-criticism monster/ that deadly gremlin cancer.  Practice a small discipline daily.  Get up early and listen to empowering music.
4. Celebrate small victories and log them in your journal.  (You should be journaling and reflecting daily)
5. Write and speak positive adjectives about yourself and give yourself room to grow.
6. Perform intentional acts of kindness and add value to others. 

Embrace growth is a process.  Breathe. Let yourself make mistakes and learn from them.

Our behaviors determine our habits.  Our habits determine our character.  Which in turn determine our DESTINY.

Make the glass clean.  

Where There is No Vision...

Vision

There is a several thousand-year-old saying.

"Where there is no vision, the people perish."  You'll find it in Proverbs.

I want to challenge you today.  Do you have a clear vision for you life, your business, your relationships, your team?  Is it clearly stated so that the relevant parties are aware of that vision?  Have you written it down?  Is it in a visible place where you must see it often?

Visionary Leadership

Visionary leaders can see things the way they are in reality–– And they see things the way they are potentiality.  Both are a prerequisite to bring ideas into being.

Seeing things first as they are allows the visionary leader to assess the situation effectively and to begin to engineer change.  The ability to see the way things could be potentially enables the visionary leader to cast the vision and relate it to others.

Once the vision is clearly cast, written down, and communicated to all relevant parties, the next step is to bring the picture of the way things could be into the world of being.   

Warning! 

You will meet resistance as you pursue a vision that those around you cannot see.    To be a leader, by definition, means to go first where others have not gone. As you cast the vision of change that you want to bring about, you will find resistance.  Especially if your vision of change means others must step outside their comfort zones.

Often times, this resistance comes from your own leadership (such as superiors) and from your peers (your friends and co-workers).   

Visions often die between the "what" and the "how". 

The number one question that presents a danger to your vision is "how are you going to do that?"

This is where your grit and your mettle will be measured as a leader.  Often times, visionaries have the idea––  they have a picture of what they want to achieve–– and no idea how to achieve it.  And so they let the great idea die.  

Great ideas are a dime-a-dozen.  It’s the execution and bringing of ideas into reality that we recognize as extraordinary.

To avoid getting holes shot into your vision, make sure that you have your vision firmly planted in your mind.  Make sure that your vision is so clearly detailed in your mind that you could see, smell, taste, and touch your vision.  Make it such that if a genie granted you a wish and your vision suddenly became reality, you could walk through the new landscape as if it had always been so.  Make your vision familiar.  Make your vision the new normal.

Avoid sharing your vision with those that would discourage the vision for lack of all the steps necessary to make your vision a reality.  Some of your peers and leadership will require you to have a clearly cut plan.  Wait until some of the details are clear before sharing with these people.

The clearer the vision is in your mind, the more ideas will begin to mature from your vision as to “how” to make it a reality.  Once a few of the steps are clear, you may want to bring it to your mastermind inner circle.  These are the people that are fellow idea generators.  The individuals that can help take your idea to reality.  These are the people you trust will just take it as a given that your vision will be a reality.  These are the individuals that instantly jump into thinking of ways to manifest your new reality.

Next, take the next available steps!    

Often, only a few steps in your plan are visible to attain the vision in your mind.  Embrace the unknown!  A great leader takes the information at hand and makes decisions.  A poor leader waits for all the minute details to become clear and often misses the window of opportunity.  

As you move forward to attain the vision, resources will continue to make themselves available.  People will become attracted to your vision.  Because you behave as your vision is the already-certain future, and because your inner circle takes action toward that already-certain future, then others will begin to take it for granted that your vision is the certain-future. 

Some will remain against you until the very end.  Some will join you.   Be ready to meet resistance, but be ready to recruit help from those that are inspired by your vision.

Vision without execution is just hallucination -  Henry Ford

The 3 names you will carry

In your lifetime you receive three names.

The first is the name you are given at birth.  Your parents thought about it for months before you were born (sometimes changing it at the last minute).  Your name may even have carried special significance.   

You do not have control over your given name.  

The second name is the name you give yourself.   It is your self image.  Your identity that you have formed about yourself.  It is the picture of you that you hold steadfast.  "This is who I am."  And you reinforce it with your words:

You have power over your self-image.  

Do you look at your life and say, "I'm so lazy", or "I'm a very productive person" ?  Do you say, "I'm not that smart,"  or do you say "Whatever the challenge, I am creative.  I'll figure it out"  ?   Do you say, "I am unworthy,"  or "I am beloved" ?   These are the words that carry the I am.   What words you pair with 'I am' create your identity.  These words are a reflection of how you see yourself.  

When you talk to yourself, do you criticize and de-value yourself?  Do you believe that you will never amount to something, or that you will change the world and make it a better place?

Finally, the third name you carry is the name of your legacy.  Your final name is the name you will be remembered by.   He was kind.  He was gentle.  He was courageous.  

How you live determines your remembered name.



People will sum your whole life in one sentence.  So choose your life sentence now and start living toward it  ~ John Maxwell