Category Archives: OnPurpose

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How to Live the Abundant Life

I often think about the words of Henry David Thoreau: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”. When I was younger, I thought about those words and couldn’t understand them at all. It just made sense to me that the reason men live in quiet desperation was caused by their own actions. So if you don’t want to live this way, you must change it. And for the most part, that is correct. And now at 60, I am truly interested in the abundant life and how to achieve it. Let me give you a few ideas on how to achieve it.

  1. Do an inventory of your gifts and talents. Make sure that you have a clear understanding of the gifts and talents you have been given.
  2. Apply those gifts and talents to your work. Ask yourself if your “why” is being fulfilled? When you understand your “why”, you will find a clear “way”.
  3. Most of what we fought for growing up, may not necessarily make you happy and fulfilled today.
  4. Perhaps its time for some changes in your habits, thoughts, and relationships.
  5. Start to think about life from a eternal perspective. Make sure you are storing up treasures that will benefit you in your next life.
  6. Remember, that when you die, you can take nothing with you. So, are you living a life that helps others? Are you helping to make others happy? Are you giving from a warm hand instead of a cold hand?
  7. Love more, give more and forgive more. Remember that is truly all that you can give.
  8. Find a group that builds your spiritual muscle. Its impossible to live the abundant life if you are not feeding your soul.
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How to Overcome Troubles In Life

We all know that if you live long enough, you will encounter troubles. The issue is not “IF” troubles come, but “WHEN” will troubles come! But why do some people seem to handle troubles and get through them with peace and others are consumed with troubles and become negative? The answer is given in a person’s perspective. It has often been said if you change your thoughts, you change your life! And that couldn’t be more true here. Its all about seeing the Bigger Picture in life and knowing where you going! If you tend to think that all you have is your troubles and then you die, you are for sure going to struggle. But knowing that all that happens to you will somehow allow you to see God’s glory, gives you a new perspective on those troubles. If you know that your struggles here on earth are just temporary, but your life in heaven is eternal, it gives you strength to press on and resist going down the path of negativity and fear. Thank you Pastor Jonathan for a powerful message this past week!

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7 Steps to getting yourself “UNSTUCK”

Are you one of those individuals that feels “stuck” in life and can’t seem to find the path forward? Do you find yourself getting angry at yourself while others seem to be just moving forward in life? Well, if that describes you, then may I suggest making a few changes in your daily habits. Here are the 7 P’s required in designing a new LifePlan for yourself:

  1. Purpose– We are all designed by God for a purpose in life. Its our job to cooperate with God to determine what our’s is. Remember, “when you loose your why in life, you often times loose your way in life”. Finding your purpose will help you get unstuck!
  2. Power– As you get older, some of the things that you used to do, now require more energy and power. You need to have power and energy to get unstuck. There are two kinds of power- your own and that coming from God. You need both!
  3. Plans– It is very important to reconnect with your “why” so that you can start executing your vision. But vision requires definite of purpose and plans. Aligning your why behind definite plans and executing those plans everyday will help you get unstuck.
  4. Passion-Nothing in life is more important than passion. Its passion that uses your giftedness. Its passion that creates desire and perserverance to keep going! When your stuck in life you need passion to get up each morning and face the tasks at hand. You need passion to work your plan even when you don’t feel like it.
  5. Pillars-you need a foundation to build your new life on. And a foundation requires pillars or core values. Go back and revisit what your core values are and write them down. Its your core values that guide your actions daily. Its your core values that drives your comeback.
  6. Platform-launching your new LifePlan to get unstuck has never been easier, but also never been harder. Your story, is your greatest asset and to launch your story you need a strategic platform to launch from. You need a following, a tribe, a group of folks who believe in what you have to say and do. Actively think about your platform and how you will launch.
  7. Prosperity-It is important to feel prosperity, significance and a sense of movement forward. We humans are designed to grow, to expand, to become and it is important to experience success in life at all ages and phases. The feeling of being prosperous is critical to our comeback, critical to getting unstuck and critical to your LifePlan.
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Why Quality Relationships Matter

It has been said that the quality of your life is very dependent on the quality of your relationships. In fact, if you look at the 5 most important relationships that you have, it will tell you something about yourself. If you hang with positive, energetic people, chances are you are one of those types. If you hang with lazy, low energy people, changes are you are like those types of people. So, it is critically important to choose your friends and partnerships wisely. Unfortunately, we live in a world today that places more emphasis on “stuff” rather than relationships. Today, many people view their success on the wrong things. Its about building and growing lasting relationships that will have the greatest impact on someone’s life.

Here are 3 questions you should ask yourself:

  1. What positive relational connections am I helping to create for the people I care about?
  2. What influence am I creating through my example and words?
  3. How deeply do I care about the people God has brought into my life?

(Taken from my pastor’s sermon series-Pastor Jonathan Schaeffer)

If you stop and think about those 3 questions, it might give you some direction on the impact you are making in someone’s life. And another question that you should ask yourself is: “How do I want to remembered when I die?” Do you want to be remembered as a cheap person, or a generous person? Do you want to be remembered as a selfish person or a kind and loving person? Do you have good relationships with your parents and siblings, or do you fight and argue any chance you speak with them. Our words matter and what we say can profoundly impact another person beyond what we can even imagine. Our relationship with our children has a significant impact on their emotional health, and the quality of their future relationships. So, take the time to see how you are impacting the people around you. Relationships do matter and the quality of your relationships determines the quality of your life!

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How to Perform the Miracle of Multiplication…

The simple but difficult step necessary to perform the miracle of multiplication is the act of “giving thanks”. No matter how much you have or don’t have in your life at this very moment, just offer it up to God and give thanks for it. “Giving thanks is crucial to a life of fullness and blessing. On top of that, it also gives you the power to perform the miracle of multiplication.” The key is not to look at how little you have or how big your problem is or how impossible the situation is. “You lift it up to the God and you give thanks for it. And the blessings you have will multiply, if not in the world, then in your heart.” Taken from the Book Of Mysteries by Jonathan Cahn.

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How to Thrive in Your Wilderness Experience-7 steps

If you live long enough, you will for certain experience the pain of a curve ball in life. Perhaps its the loss of a dream job, divorce of a spouse, betrayal of a business partner, death of a loved one, or some kind of sickness of a family member or friend. Here are 7 steps to make it through with peace.

  1. When the curve ball hits home, instead of asking: “Why Me?”, ask yourself what is God trying to teach me?
  2. Check your foundation? If your house is built on sand, chances are you won’t have the stamina to whether the storm. Make sure you build your house on a rock foundation.
  3. Change your perspective! You have to start to think from the eternal and not just what you see here on earth. If you begin to look at all that is happening to you, God will work together for your good, things start to look differently to you. But remember, you need to be one of his family members.
  4. Run your race! Things happen because either God allowed it to happen or he caused it to happen. Of course we have our free will but God is sovereign over all and it is a mystery. Look to your life and don’t be jealous or looking at someone else’s life and wish you had it.
  5. Seek and search for peace. Everyone will experience some sort of wilderness experience, but if you are at peace with yourself and with God, you can walk through the wilderness knowing that God is using this time to speak to you.
  6. Listen and watch for guide posts. While you navigate through your wilderness in peace, God will show you mile markers and guide posts. He will guide your footsteps like a GPS.
  7. Hold onto God’s promises. When your going through the wilderness, hold onto God’s promises that you will get to the other side. You will make it through if you get on your knee’s each morning a pray. God uses this time to speak to you and tell you what steps to take next on your journey.
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How Can We Trust God In Times Of Trouble and Doubt?

One of the things we can count on in life is that we will have troubles! We live in a broken world where bad things can happen to good people! And we ask why God? Why did this happen to me? How could let this happen to my family? Why do some people seem to fly through life, while others struggle? It can be difficult to trust God and his word in times of difficulty and strife. It can be difficult to trust God when this world seems to be falling apart. It can be difficult to trust God when the politicians are doing crazy things. But that is precisely the time to draw nearer to God. Because we can TRUST God 100 percent to be there with us through it all if we are one of his children. Here are six reason why you can trust God if you are one of his children and not everyone is his child.. Everyone is his creation, but not necessarily his child.

  1. God Never Changes…He is the same yesterday, today and forever!
  2. God is trustworthy not because of our circumstances, but because of who He is!
  3. God is sovereign- He either causes things to happen or allows things to happen and if you are one of his children her promises to use all of these trials and troubles for his glory
  4. God has a purpose and a plan for each one of us. He knows us before we are born and knows exactly what He wants us to accomplish for his Kingdom.
  5. God has made promises to us…In fact more than 3000 promises and he has an inheritance for us! Its our job to walk into it
  6. When we can’t understand the “why” of God, we can trust his heart! There are many mysteries that we just don’t know, but we can trust God’s heart because his heart is Love. God is Love!

This is a summary from Friday’s with Fred! More on my podcast!

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The Leader’s role in Leading Change

A key result of effective leadership is change and transformation. Every leader is faced with a changing environment, but not every leader is equipped to lead change. Lets look at the stages to leading a successful transformation:
1. Intention and urgency- Successful transformation occurs when the leader has set the intention and created a sense of urgency in the organization.

2. Formulate a team- forming a cross functional team that are associated with the process improvement needed. Then empower the team to come up with a plan to transform the problem.

3. Paint the Vision on the canvas- It is often said that the vision represents the invisible connections that aren’t seen. The leaders job is to paint the vision so others can see it.

4. Communicate the vision- first create the vision and then communicate the vision so that others are inspired to own the vision as their own.

5. Deliver the empowerment- The leader must give life to the vision and then empower the team to execute the vision and create the transformation.

6. Alignment is key-The leader must align the vision and strategy/goals/actions plans and plan for short term “wins”. Celebrate the wins. The team needs the encouragement that they are achieving the process goals and that gives them energy to complete the tasks.

7. Rise to the top- Watch key employees rise to the top. Hire, promote and develop employees who can implement the vision and mission.

8. Changed behaviors lead to success- high light the behaviors, habits, processes and procedures that have lead to the transformation and create new leadership development approaches that insure consistent transformation.