How to create excellence

Hello! Welcome back to A Good Bible Study: StressLess. I'm so glad we are sharing this adventure together. Let's pray:

Dear Lord, I thank You for every good thing in my life. My heart is full of love and gratitude for Your constant intervention. I know You are working things for good, for every person reading this study. Every person who loves You has been called according to Your purpose and good things are in store, not matter what has happened in the past. Thank you. Give us clear heads and calm spirits as we share Your Word. In the name of Jesus, amen.

I want to expand a bit on what we shared yesterday. I gave you a quick goal-setting exercise just to show you that it doesn't have to be complicated. We are always thinking about what we want to happen, what we'd like to do and see in our futures. This is just a way of helping you get intentional about it, so there is no hoping things will go well, only knowing things will go well.

Yesterday I said if you put those goals away and do nothing else for a year, you will be surprised how many will have come true, or be in the process of completion. I'd like to show you how to accelerate that process. Are you game?

Place those goals you wrote somewhere that will catch your eye each day, and then read them all every time you see them. Your brains responds best to distributed practice, which means reading something in a relaxed state, in between other tasks. Doing it over and over creates more connections to the information, making it easier to recall (which is the evidence of learning.)

All this combines to make the goals become more and more real to your brain, which likes continuity, remember? Want to amp the success rate up even higher?

Re-write your goals to say "I am so grateful and thankful that XXXXX is happening," or whatever makes sense in terms of your goal. The important thing is saying the words grateful and thankful. Even more important is creating a true emotion of gratitude while you say it.

Really ham it up. Thank God for the events and choose to believe He is working things out to bless you. Be grateful for God's good gifts. Our brains really get excited over feelings of love and positivity. There is all kinds of research, including quantum physics, learning and behavioral psychology, you name it, on the fact that everything responds to positive attitudes.

Without going too deep, even atoms and molecules respond to prayer and expectations. And learning has been shown to dramatically increase in an atmosphere of acceptance love. Still a sceptic? Then try it for yourself. You are your own proof.

Read Philippians 4:6-8

You know what, people who are sick of the way things are, are the very ones who will actively create a different life. Until you are ready to change, things will remain the same. Some of this is new for you. That's ok, because if what you've been doing was working out, you wouldn't be here now.

The great thing about writing down where you want to end up in one month, one year, or even by retirement, is that you have a compass to compare to your options. When you are going to make a decision to spend money, or which people to spend time with, or what to do on a free afternoon, ask yourself first, "Is this going to bring me closer to my goals, or not?" Even if you choose to do something unproductive, at least you are making a conscious decision, not waking up the next day and scratching your head.

You'll be amazed how exciting your life can be when you write down a goal for yourself and then bring it to fruition - it's intoxicating! You will be proud of yourself, and you will inspire those who look up to you to do the same.

And don't get paralyzed by thinking you have to write it down the perfect way, or with the most exact meaning. Doing anything constructive is better than doing nothing at all. You can revise it tomorrow, for heavens' sake!

"Excellence can be attained if you care more than others think is wise,

risk more than others think is safe,

dream more than others think is practical,

and expect more than others think is possible." 

Again, author unknown, but I'd love to know who said that.

Now, write down something  and do it now. Pray about it. Ask God for wisdom. Then do it before you talk yourself out of it. Then go and enjoy the day because God loves you and wants the best for your life.

Read Matthew 6:31-34

Father, thank you for helping us to know what is important and what we should focus on. Help us to dream big and seek Your wisdom in doing so. Thank You for instilling in us the ability to act on our own behalf, and trust You for the rest. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Love, Karen

Photo by Stasys Eidiejus, courtesy of http://www.photoxpress.com/



How your top five values determine your future

Hello friend! Thank you for spending this time with me in A Good Bible Study: StressLess. I am proud of the way you've made growing in your relationship with God a priority for your day today. Let's pray:

Dear Father, I'm so thankful for the changes You are making in our lives as a result of our dedication to seek You in Your Word. Each time we open the bible, each time we pray and ask You to develop our spirits, each time we spend time with others and support each other's desire to grow - You honor us with Your presence. Help us to open our hearts to You more today than yesterday. Help us to recognize the Truth. In Jesus' name, amen.

I'm so excited about today's lesson! We're are talking about your future today and boy, is it bright!

So often we get stuck in our past, and before we know it today has come and gone and we are living in our future without a clue as to how we got there and why it's not any better than we imagined.

Read Ephesians 5:15

God says there are lots of ways that we can throw away the time we've been given, but He wants us to be wise; plan our time so it's used for our benefit.

Read a few verses on. He implores us further to invite God to fill us with the Spirit, focusing on what we have to be thankful for, encouraging each other with Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

In other words, focus on the things of God and His Word, and He will give you joy in your heart. That's always the best place to start our day - filling ourselves up with His Spirit and choosing to be thankful. If you are praising God, you can't help but begin to feel lighter.

Honestly, Satan loves to keep you looking back, so he can make sure you never enjoy right now, or experience the fun of creating a future that brings you joy and contentment. But, you can define and walk right into your future in only five minutes a day.

I love the five minute concept because that's about my attention span sometimes. How about you?

We are busy people these days and I think if we don't feel we can accomplish something in five minutes, then we decide in advance that we don't have time for it.

Now, what I am showing you today is two activities. Both will seem simple, you might even have heard a version of this before and if so, it's even more evidence that this works. So, like so many things, just do it.

When you are stressing out and there is nothing productive you can do about the situation I want you to

1. Say this out loud, "Father, you know what is bothering me and I believe You are working this out for my benefit. Thank You."
2. Then, choose to put five minutes of energy on a goal, a value, or a priority.

Look, it is psychologically impossible to feel two emotions at the same time. You can block a negative emotion by choosing to do, think, and say things that create a more preferable emotion. We learned this week that taking action creates a feeling of accomplishment and competence. That's got to feel better than worrying.

So, may be you are one of those folks who think you don't have any goals. Impossible.

Read Matthew 6:21

It says pay attention to our _________, and that will tell us where our ______ is, or what we value.

What do you spend your real time on? List it all. Not what you think you should spend your time on, what you actually do spend your time on.
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

Now, again, what do you actually spend your money on? No one is reading this but you, so be honest with yourself if you want to get the most out of this.
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________

What did you learn about yourself? Is your treasure, what you value right now, what you thought it would be, or what you hoped it would be?

If you are not valuing what you want to value, you can change it. This is a great tool to see if we are getting off course with who, what, and where we want to exchange our time and money!

You know, looking at what we are valuing with our time and money will give us a good idea of the future we are creating. Is it what you want? Because if we go on auto-pilot, we are going to get where we end up, and it might not be where we hoped we'd be at the end of the day.

Melanie Strick calls herself "The Entrepreneur's Success Coach," and she's identified five Top Values that most of us strive to satisfy in the course of our lives.

• God and Spirtual Growth
• Family Health and Happiness and Time
• Money
• Creative Output and Reward
• Rest and Relaxation including Travel

Try this right now, and do it quick, without a lot of thought. This is not forever, just your top thoughts.

Write down on a piece of paper each of those values and next to each, write the first thought that comes to mind as a goal to achieve in that area. It might be as simple as "pray first thing each morning," or "do the activities in this study each day," for your God value.

For family it might be something like "spend 15 minutes a day alone with each of my children to listen to them." Money could be "set aside $20 a month in an envelope to save up for ____ at the end of the year."

It's up to you. It doesn't matter what you write, but write it and don't throw it away afterwards.

Just tuck it somewhere and don't look at it again for one year. Seriously.

Believe it or not, your subconsious is already making subtle changes in your thinking to make what you wrote a reality. Your brain loves congruency. It doesn't differentiate between "reality" and what you choose to be "real." If you say it happened, your brain actually wants to be congruent so it will begin to make your internal reality and your external reality the same.

That's why what you say about yourself and speak over your children is powerful and it does matter.

Want proof? Harvard did a study in which it asked the graduating class to write down goals. Ten years later they checked on the grads. Not one of the folks who refused to write down their goals achieved what they intended, but nearly all of the students who wrote down specific goals, did what they wrote!

Here's another statistic for you: Only 10% of people achieve their goals. Of those 10%, at least 90% of them wrote their goals down!

The written word is powerful. If you do nothing else, write down something you'd like to achieve - today!

When I was driving a semi over the road with my husband (about a decade ago) I wrote a "bucket list" of the way I wanted my life to be. I found it a year or so ago and was floored but what I saw. I had forgotten about this list almost from the day I wrote it. It listed:

1. My husband would have his own trucking company
2. We would live on a farm
3. I would have horses
4. We would be debt-free
5. My older kids (who lived with their dad) would return home to live with me
6. I would write a book

Guess what. All of this has come true!

Let that sink in and I will continue this tomorrow. Until then, let's pray:

Lord, you have given us more power over our own destiny than we know, or would like to admit sometimes. Make us wise, Lord, in what we value and how we spend our time and money. Lead our hearts and give us a vision of Your plan for today and the future. Help us to take action, to take responsibility for our choices and to write down at least one goal today.

Let our greatest and most important goal be to believe in Jesus Christ and accept the gift of His forgiveness so we can stand before You in the end and hear You say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." In the name of Jesus, amen.

Love, Karen

Photo by Lee O'Dell, courtesy of http://www.photoxpress.com/