Are you focused on the giving or taking value?

“Earn your success based on service to others, not at the expense of others.”

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Is your life a debit or a credit to the lives of others? Do you bring value to people, or are you a person that extracts value from others?

Extracting value isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it matters significantly about where you want that value to be delivered. Is it for your benefit or the sake of those whom you serve? Which perspective will count and be meaningful after you are gone from this earth?

What’s the point?

“Every person that you meet knows something you don’t; learn from them.”

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

It is amazing how much more you can gain from life if you live to learn. Equally amazing is how much more you can give as well…

What is the point of living if you already know everything?

What can you learn today?

“Every person that you meet knows something you don’t; learn from them.” 

H. Jackson Brown Jr.

How different would our relationships be if we started every conversation, every interaction, every engagement with the simple question of; “what can I learn from this person?” Not as a one-time thing, but every time. Would this help one switch from being focused on self to one that is more focused on others? What would the impact be to the people that you are communicating and engaging with? How might you be perceived?

How many people will you interact with today? How many learning opportunities will you have? What will you learn today?

Make your hours count…

“Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”
 
H. Jackson Brown Jr.
This one hits right between the eyes doesn’t it?  As I read it though it occurred to me that all of these great people accomplished their incredible feats over the course of their lives.  They are measured on the totality of their contributions, not a single event or action.
Sometimes we get so caught up living in the here and now that we forget that our greatest impact might not have happened yet.  It might be a current work in progress or it might be the thing we do tomorrow.  We should work to make all our hours count, but we shouldn’t spend all our time counting the hours and measuring our success based on what we get in return for each of those hours.
As Andy Stanley has said “Your greatest accomplishment may not be something you do, but someone you raise.”  And I believe this applies whether you have children of your own or not. You can replace “raise” with “serve” and the meaning and impact is the same.  Use your hours to impact others and you’ll make a difference.

Prepare for the future by focusing on today…

“The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.”
 

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

 

Tomorrow’s dreams are dependent on today’s hard work.  It is far too easy to get lost in what you want to have happen instead of focusing on what is in the here and now.  I will fully admit that I have been guilty of this far too often.  As a highly goal driven person sometimes it easy to live in the future instead of focusing on what has to be done TODAY.

When training for an Ironman race it is hard to think about the magnitude of the race distance when it was almost a year away.  The key is to focus on the training needed to do for a specific week, and then the even more specific effort that you need to put forth on a given day.  Having a plan, trusting that plan, and doing the work on a daily basis is the reason that you can go into the race without any fear or nervousness about completing the 140.6 miles ahead of you.  If you have done the hard work then you are prepared for the day ahead.

Being prepared for whatever God has planned for us means that we have to put in the hard work each and every day.

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dusty

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