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Practice. Practice. Practice. We’ve heard it drilled into us since we were kids. “Practice makes perfect,” we were told. If we accept the word “perfect” as the Bible teaches it—meaning mature—then Jesus said the same thing in story form. Except it wasn’t about perfecting piano technique or dribbling and shooting skills. It was about practicing the skill of transformation—hearing God’s word and applying it to our lives, exhibiting the willingness to change. When a woman was overcome with Jesus’ teaching, she shouted from the crowd, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth.” Jesus countered, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” (Luke 11:27-28) In story form, Jesus described such a person as wise, building a foundation for his house on rock rather than sand. Neither torrents of rain nor battering wind would shake that house from its foundation. In contrast, the foolish man sticks to his ways and never changes. Failing to practice, practice, practice, his house falls with a great crash. (Matthew 7:24-27) The point is simple: If all is right in your world now, look outside. Is it because of fair weather? If a storm is raging and your house is shaking, or even collapsed around you, dig deeper. Below the sand of self-reliance is a firm foundation, the Rock of Christ. It just takes practice, practice, practice.

Your thoughts? How are your transformation skills shaping up? Are you looking for new ways to apply God’s word in your life?

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Earlier this week, Cameron Douglas, 31 year-old son of Academy Award winning actor Michael Douglas, was sentenced to a 5-year prison term on charges of dealing large quantities of drugs (read story). Offering what he said “may well be his last chance to make it,” the U.S. District Judge in the case handed Cameron what is considered to be a lenient sentence. In his appeal to the court, Cameron, an abuser of drugs since he was 13, remarked, ”I squandered a lot of [opportunities for recovery]. If I should be so fortunate as to have another chance, I will never squander that opportunity.”

As I read this tragic story, I couldn’t help but think about how much talent went unnurtured in his escape to drugs. Addictions of any kind rob the addicted of so much potential. Ever so quietly, so also does living unintentionally. Without worthy goals and the self-discipline to work toward them, I will squander the opportunities I have to nurture my talents. Every day I have a choice to make between merely desiring a change and working toward it. The difference is self-discipline. “The problem with self-discipline,” as my friend and co-teacher, Roger Thompson, points out, “is that not doing it is instantly rewarded.” But like drug use, it’s a hollow reward.

Your thoughts? Are there some time-wasting habits that are squandering your opportunities?

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Therapist and career counselor, Barbara Sher, combines skills from both disciplines in this easy-to-read New York Times bestseller. In the first three chapters, Sher seeks to illuminate what she refers to as our inner conflict. “One side of the conflict is arguing in favor of your getting what you want, and the other side is determined to stop you,” she writes. Getting a handle on the type of conflict is key to creating a strategy to overcome it. Each of the successive chapters are written to offer questions and strategies depending on the type of conflict. Are you:

• Thinking that the only way to make a change is to quit your job? You’ll find a strategy for that in the chapter entitled “The Sure Thing.”
• Thinking that you have so many interests it’s impossible to pick one? You’ll find some encouragement in Chapter 6.
• Thinking that you have no idea what you want to do? You’ll find some helpful ways to rediscover your interests in the chapter entitled “Regrouping: It’s A Whole New Ball Game.”

Sher covers eleven such inner conflicts in a format that I’ve found particularly helpful. When I first read it a number of years ago, three of the conflicts she described resonated with me. Though the book is written from a secular worldview and with a bit too much self-help, rah-rah, you-can-do-it-speak for my liking, the thought provoking questions and the breadth of her material is well worth the modest investment in time.

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Living in Minnesota, spring is my favorite time of year. Usually it comes too late, after a long cold winter, and surrenders too quickly to a hot summer. But I love the two weeks of Minnesota spring. From the chirping birds returning from wherever they go, to the honking geese on our lake, to the budding new foliage on the trees, all of nature seems to suddenly come alive singing the chorus of spring—all that was seemingly dead is now revived. Something about this season revives me as well. I begin to feel more optimistic about resurrecting the dead things in my own life: ridding myself of winter weight, tackling ignored household projects, getting out again for extended bike rides, and, inwardly, melting the frost of repeated disappointments. Orben’s observation is correct. Spring is God’s way of saying, “One more time!” One more time to shed the weight of winter despair. One more time to push growth through a hardened earth. One more time to remind ourselves that His love and mercy is, in fact, new every morning (Lam 3:22-23).

Your thoughts? What things might God want to resurrect in your life?

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I recently had a conversation with a bullet train. Not a real train, mind you, but a person who has the same drive as one—cruising at top-speed toward their destination. Being around high-capacity, high-energy people like that fuels my bullet train engine too, and inspires me to move farther down my own track. The problem for my friend was that his destination recently changed. He’d lost his job.

Being a resourceful bullet train, however, he was already on track toward the next idea, when the thought struck him. “How do I know if this is the best direction for me right now?” That’s a familiar question. I’ve asked it myself on a number of occasions, usually after I’m much farther down the track on the next venture than he was. In fact, a number of years ago I launched a new company and worked in it for two years before I stopped long enough to ask if it was the right business for me. I pursued it because I was bullet train, and bullet trains are designed to move, not to be parked in the train yard. During that painful time I learned that I had placed a higher premium on velocity than direction. Anxious to resume top-speed again, I plunged into the next opportunistic thing regardless of what it cost me to get where I didn’t really care to go. It was a train robbery at high-speed—that impatient start robbed me of my freedom to evaluate the best destination.

Your thoughts? Have you had a similar experience of jumping prematurely into something just to keep moving?

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Parodying the success posters seen in corporate offices—the ones with pretty pictures inscribed with a motivational saying—Despair.com sells what they call “demotivators,” posters with a dry and downbeat message instead. One such poster observes, “Quitters never win, winners never quit, but those who never win AND never quit are idiots.” It’s a near corollary to the thought of holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankl. Some circumstances are beyond our control and despite all of our hope for a change, there may be little that can be done about it—except to change ourselves. To do otherwise is like trying to win a staring contest with a mannequin. In the lingo of a demotivational poster, obstinacy to change is idiocy.

Your thoughts? Is there a circumstance you’ve been having a staring contest with?

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Admittedly, I can be mesmerized by the significant—a towering and majestic mountain, an electrifying thunderstorm, a devastating natural disaster. The remarkable, by definition, demands attention. So too with personal achievement. I lend more attention to the dramatic—becoming an IronMan, doubling my income, starring in a major motion picture—you name it. The dramatic may, however, overshadow the value of incremental change, for no meaningful achievement is possible without it. Over the duration of its flight, a guided missile makes frequent infinitesimal course corrections to reach its target. Like a butterfly effect, those seemingly insignificant changes breathe life into something much bigger. That’s leverage. And it’s the best kind because it’s easier to make a tiny change today than a big one tomorrow.

Your thoughts? What tiny changes could you make today to yield a big difference in your future?

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Conquering a challenge can be very exhilarating. Whether climbing a mountain, getting into shape, or honing a new skill, an appropriate challenge can bring out your personal best. But it takes more than the eye of the tiger to rise up to a challenge. A brother can help. This 30-minute presentation explores the three types of challenges we face and how we can issue the kind of challenge that inspires others to achieve their personal best. From the IronWorks series, “8 Things Every Man Can Give.”

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This audio presentation is a quick expository overview of one of my favorite passages in the Bible: 2 Corinthians 5:11-6:2.  In it, the apostle Paul reminds us that we are ministers of reconciliation. What’s noteworthy is that the greek word for “reconciliation” has at its root the word “change.”  Paul is really reminding us that we are to be agents of change in this world.  This presentation, lasting about 40 minutes, explores the three attributes of a life-changing life.

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