I love to watch epic movies such as Braveheart, Lord of the Rings, and my personal favorite, Gladiator.  Many may think it is because of the battles with swords or the bloody nature that draws guys to these types of films, and while that may be part of it, the real draw is the stories themselves. It’s the adventure!

I want to live an epic life.

Epic – very imposing or impressive; surpassing the ordinary (especially in size or scale)

2 Key elements!

1. Making the decision – An epic life does not mean running around with swords and spears with a scottish accent. It means that you make decisions that impact your world and the people in it.  There are problems all around us that need someone to step up to the challenge.  Living an epic mean you make the decision that no one wants to make, or taking on the challenge that no one else whats. It means taking a stand on what is right, not what is popular. It means doing what needs to be done and not doing what is easy.

2. Seeing it through – All new challenges give a fresh excitement and thrill, but living the epic means pushing through when everyone else wants to fall away.  When all is lost, everyone else is gone, and the sensible option is to quite; you decide to step it up a notch and try that much harder.  Our society loves to quit when things get difficult, but we are not called to be ordinary quitters! We are called to be epic!

These two keys can apply to any aspect of life.
- Are you applying these at your job? If not, it is time to step up and make a difference.
- Are you applying these to your family? It is time to be the leader you are suppose to be.
- Are you applying these to you spiritual walk? Time is short and lives hang in the balance.

We only get one life to live, so instead of just watching movies about epic adventures, I have decided to live one!

Will you join me in living the epic!

TV is the sedative of the nation.

I have recently been evaluating the way I live my life day to day.  I broke my schedule down to evaluate how I typically spend each part of my day. The format goes like so…

Early Morning (5-8am) – Workout, Quiet Time, Go to work

Morning (8am-12pm) – Work

Afternoon (12-5pm) – Work

Evening (5-8pm) – Go Home, Finish leftover tasks, Watch TV

Night (8-11pm) – Watch TV, Sleep

This schedule over a weeks time ends up with at least three hours of television per day.  That comes out to 15 hours per week (not including weekends), which is more that a total work day. So that mean that out of a week, I have spent almost a total day worth of time staring at a box.

TV is the sedative of the nation.

- Sedative – Something that causes you to be unaware and unresponsive to your surroundings.

How much time is lost while staring the TV. How many opportunities to enjoy life are lost because we are to unaware of our surroundings. Is there anyone of us who can truly claim that our life quality has increased with the amount of television we watch.

One of the ways I personally show affection is quality time.  In the past, I believed that watching TV together is quality time, but this is not so.  I can watch television with a complete stranger.  Television allows us to “spend time” with people but truly not be there. How many families “spend time” together but are still falling apart because of no real connection.

We only get one shot at making our live matter. We only get one chance to impact the people around us.  At the end our our life, we will not evaluate ourselves on the quantity of TV time, but on the quality we passed on to those around us. I am making a commitment to watching much less TV and living a lot more life!

Three Types of Leaders

1. Player
2. Coach
3. Scout

• Player – This type of leader loves playing the game. Whether it is in the business world or in church world, this leader loves getting their hands dirty and doing all the work.  The problem with this is that they leave nothing for everyone else.  The are not team leaders, but silos unto themselves.  Ultimately, the growth of the organization is severely limited with this type of leadership. Growth stops when the limits of the leader is reached.

• Coach – This type of leader helps those under his/her leadership learn to be their best. They are builders and realize that they cannot do it all by themselves. A coach can handle growth because they enable other to join in the cause.

• Scout – This leader is able to see the potential in others.  The are in their best element when finding where to place new recruits. This person is also an excellent networker. They understand that their success is based in finding the best person to fill a certain spot on the team and to do this well requires good connections.

As a leader, we will all, from time to time, play each of these roles in order to get the job accomplished, but the most effective leaders are those whose roles are typically the “Coach” or the “Scout,” or a combination of both.  I encourage you to examine how you are leading. Are you a silo or a team player. Do you find talent or make the talent even better.

Let’s hear your thoughts!

Hey everyone!

Just felt like this was to good to share. Companies will do anything to make a buck.

Introducing the “Hoodie Footie Snuggle Suit” (say that three times fast).

Hoodie-Footie Snuggle Suit (Youtube commercial)

The Website

Have you ever had a conversation with someone and you leave more confused than when it started?  Or have you ever try to tell someone something, only to have them stare blankly back at you?  It is important when communicating to someone to understand what is at stake.    Here are a few tips to help in communicating clearly:

1. Think about what you are about to say before you say it.
   • Although you may be an expert, your listener may not be so it is important to think through the conversation before it happens.
2. When having a conversation, Listen.
   • If you are the only one talking, the conversation is probably not going well.  If your listener is not responding, it may be because they have no clue to what you are talking about, thus wasting both of your time.
3. Speak clearly.
   • Sometimes we can be too polite because of a difficult issue, or speak to fast because of time restrains or nerves, or we mumble because of insecurity about the topic, but whatever the cause it is pointless to expect our listener to understand us if we do not speak clearly.
4. Lastly, If you don’t know, then don’ pretend like you do.
   • The phrase “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bulls**t” may be hilarious, but it is not very good advice if you want to be taken seriously.  I run when I see the person who is constantly trumping everyone else’s conversation just to hear themselves talk.  Don’t be that person.

Communication is a vital resource.  The best ideas will never happen if they are not communicated correctly.

Today I have been thinking about that phrase. It is very hard for me to comprehend the enormity of it. I have had great friends and I have had some that were not great in the end. Our friends typically are a great indicator of the kind of person we are.

God is a great friend to me, I wonder what type of friend I tend to be to him.