Yesterday the Apopka Area Chamber of Commerce awarded me the Businessman of the Year award for community service and business leadership for our area in Northwest Orange County. What an honor, and certainly one that I feel both shocked and humbled by, when considering all the other worthy potential recipients.
At the annual banquet, a couple other awards were given to various community leaders, and then they started to read the bio of the one who would be named Businessman of the Year. Obviously after they gave some of my stats, I knew it was me that was about to be introduced.
So what do you feel when you are about to be singled out to receive an honor?
My thoughts went to our team at Reliance Media, Apopka Printing and New Book Publishing who work to help build the amazing businesses that I am privileged to lead. I thought of all the other great people in the Chamber who in my mind were more deserving to receive this award. I thought of my 87-year-old dad who built an amazing business over many years, and who was sitting at the banquet. And above all, I thought of my wife Sheila who has been with me through it all. Her intellect, determination, wisdom, motivation and skill has been right there with me in building our businesses and our life together. She certainly is more deserving of honor for putting up with me and for what she has accomplished on her own.
Unfortunately I wasn't given the microphone to comment or I would have expressed these thoughts to the large gathering. But I think what I need to take away from all of this is that God has been the one who deserves all the credit. He has supplied the gifts, talent, opportunities and work ethic to be the steward of all he has given me responsibility over. He alone is the one to be honored for the opportunities He brings our way.
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Why don't you write?
I come in contact with people from all walks of life who really have an amazing story to tell, but they can’t seem to get it out of them, into a computer and share it with others in a book.
Why? There are many reasons or excuses, but one stands heads and shoulders above all others.
“I’m too busy!”
All of our modern conveniences have allowed us to do more with less time – and yet these very inventions have played a part in holding us captive. We have great transportation, so we can get places faster. We have microwave dinners so we can cook and eat faster. We have continually evolving computers which allow us to accomplish more than ever before in productivity. We have instruments and equipment that allow us to do things faster and better. We have healthcare procedures that make recovery faster so we can go back to work. Through the internet we can research more and faster, buy things from worldwide suppliers in an instant, and connect via online video, audio or text to make things happen which would otherwise take days or weeks. I could go on, but you get the picture.
Yet with all of these advances, we seem to cram more in a day without giving our brains any real downtime to think broadly, creatively or systematically. The urgent has taken the priority over the important. Priorities have taken a back seat to the almighty schedule.
And so the things that may have been erupting in your heart as important, never seem to emerge. Your ideas never gel. Your days turn into weeks, months and years, and the pace of life regularly leaves your writing desire by the side of the road. That desire to write a book looks smaller and smaller in your rearview mirror of living, as you speed down the road of daily life.
And the book never gets started.
…or it it was started, it doesn’t seem to have a hope of being finished.
My friend something has to change. Honestly, you have to decide to change, or your dream will never become a reality. More on this in coming blogs...
Why? There are many reasons or excuses, but one stands heads and shoulders above all others.
“I’m too busy!”
All of our modern conveniences have allowed us to do more with less time – and yet these very inventions have played a part in holding us captive. We have great transportation, so we can get places faster. We have microwave dinners so we can cook and eat faster. We have continually evolving computers which allow us to accomplish more than ever before in productivity. We have instruments and equipment that allow us to do things faster and better. We have healthcare procedures that make recovery faster so we can go back to work. Through the internet we can research more and faster, buy things from worldwide suppliers in an instant, and connect via online video, audio or text to make things happen which would otherwise take days or weeks. I could go on, but you get the picture.
Yet with all of these advances, we seem to cram more in a day without giving our brains any real downtime to think broadly, creatively or systematically. The urgent has taken the priority over the important. Priorities have taken a back seat to the almighty schedule.
And so the things that may have been erupting in your heart as important, never seem to emerge. Your ideas never gel. Your days turn into weeks, months and years, and the pace of life regularly leaves your writing desire by the side of the road. That desire to write a book looks smaller and smaller in your rearview mirror of living, as you speed down the road of daily life.
And the book never gets started.
…or it it was started, it doesn’t seem to have a hope of being finished.
My friend something has to change. Honestly, you have to decide to change, or your dream will never become a reality. More on this in coming blogs...
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Capturing Your Thoughts
Everyday great thoughts come and go – they escape, and we lose them.
Next develop a quick way to arrest them and “handcuff” them – meaning take them captive in a temporary fashion. Maybe it is carrying a small 2”x3” notepad in your pocket or purse. Merely jot down a quick note of the general idea, but enough to jog your memory later (temporary captivity). Maybe you have a memo section on your phone, or a small digital recorder, and you quickly make a small memory-jogging verbal notation. 95% of the people will not do this critical step for success, I have found.
Like a “traffic speed trap” set by police, we need to be on the alert for speeders (great thoughts) and stop and detain them, then arrest them and take them captive. These speeders are the thoughts and ideas that have great potential to help us and others, but they come and go at a time when we think we just don’t have time to do anything else but note they occurred and hope we can remember them later.
From now on, stop them! Step one is KNOW that they WILL be coming and probably at the most inopportune time to capture them.
Next develop a quick way to arrest them and “handcuff” them – meaning take them captive in a temporary fashion. Maybe it is carrying a small 2”x3” notepad in your pocket or purse. Merely jot down a quick note of the general idea, but enough to jog your memory later (temporary captivity). Maybe you have a memo section on your phone, or a small digital recorder, and you quickly make a small memory-jogging verbal notation. 95% of the people will not do this critical step for success, I have found. Now probably 75% of the people who did take temporary custody of that wonderful idea don’t do step two – move the note from “temporary captivity” to “permanent incarceration.” Daily have a quick method of moving the note from the notepad or verbal message, to a computerized add-to list of GREAT THOUGHTS! 
Once you have this computerized master list, you have made it to the elite few in life. From this list great ideas will come for, books, income generating, relational growth, child rearing, business development and so on. Now categorize and prioritize the list as to both importance and timetable for further development.
Last make an appointment with yourself to regularly review this list, asking yourself when is the time to commit to development of that idea – from concept to completion. Do this, and succeed in any avenue of your life!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Start With What You Know
I have found that if I want to transition out of something and move into something new, many times I feel stuck and immobilized as to where to start. Have you been there? I want to move, but am just not sure how to begin.
So what I have discovered is that a great place to start is to take an inventory of what I already know to be true. During times when I evidence a little intelligence, I write down that list of things I “know” to be true related to the issue at hand.
I did that this morning. I woke at 5:30 with something on my mind pertaining to our printing and publishing business. I started a list of single sentence thoughts surrounding the area in which I wanted to bring some transition. Each line on the paper represented something I have found to be true surrounding the core issue.
As each line was listed and built, clarity of understanding began to unfold. Beginning points and even general solutions started to become evident. Proverbs 17:24 notes: “A discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth.” I need to regularly “keep in my view” or the forefront of my thoughts, those things I know to be true. Also, I must not always be looking for the “newest” thing to focus on all around me, without being somehow still tethered to the wisdom and truth I already have obtained on the subject.
Deuteronomy 30:11-14 says it in a different way: “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.” In short, God is saying that He has already made certain things readily available for us to grasp.
So when considering a transition in your life, start with making a full list of what you know surrounding the subject at hand. God has already revealed many things to you that you “know” to be true. From that vantage point, new thoughts can spring to life as a great starting point from which to launch.
So what I have discovered is that a great place to start is to take an inventory of what I already know to be true. During times when I evidence a little intelligence, I write down that list of things I “know” to be true related to the issue at hand.
I did that this morning. I woke at 5:30 with something on my mind pertaining to our printing and publishing business. I started a list of single sentence thoughts surrounding the area in which I wanted to bring some transition. Each line on the paper represented something I have found to be true surrounding the core issue.
As each line was listed and built, clarity of understanding began to unfold. Beginning points and even general solutions started to become evident. Proverbs 17:24 notes: “A discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth.” I need to regularly “keep in my view” or the forefront of my thoughts, those things I know to be true. Also, I must not always be looking for the “newest” thing to focus on all around me, without being somehow still tethered to the wisdom and truth I already have obtained on the subject.
Deuteronomy 30:11-14 says it in a different way: “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.” In short, God is saying that He has already made certain things readily available for us to grasp.
So when considering a transition in your life, start with making a full list of what you know surrounding the subject at hand. God has already revealed many things to you that you “know” to be true. From that vantage point, new thoughts can spring to life as a great starting point from which to launch.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Transitioning to Focus on the Important
As I was walking and talking with God this morning, while on vacation in New Port Richie Florida, I felt like God dropped into my mind the phrase – “transitioning to focus on the important.”
The implications are clear. Although what I have been doing to date has been good and maybe necessary, the important things of life have been handled sporadically but not regularly. We all seem to let life lead us instead of us leading life.
Daily necessities occupy most of our time and mental focus. If you have a job, you become consumed in the incidences of our daily grind. If your “job” is taking care of energy-filled children, you are consumed with the seemingly never-ending needs they have. Even if you may be retired, your life may be filled with recreation, your favorite television shows, or chores that take longer and demand more.
In short, the ordinary stuff of life becomes all-consuming. The inverse of that – the extraordinary things of life – are left basically without your focus, time or attention.
The result – an ordinary life.
In most cases, an extraordinary life does not happen on accident, or without focused effort, time and regular attention. However, the ordinary life does happen naturally. Live “naturally” and you can confidently expect an ordinary life.
But, by choice, determination, prayer and unrelenting effort, a person can begin to set a course to become an extraordinary person whose life “naturally” brings forth extraordinary evidence of God’s glory on display.
Maybe for some, this change happens with flip of a mental switch in their brain. But I think for most, it happens through a purposeful season of transition.This transition starts when God illuminates our life and shows us that there is more, and we are settling for less. As “dawn” breaks in our understanding of this reality, we come to the point of decision – go forward, requiring a change in focus and lifestyle, or continue on our natural normal path of the ordinary.
The implications are clear. Although what I have been doing to date has been good and maybe necessary, the important things of life have been handled sporadically but not regularly. We all seem to let life lead us instead of us leading life.
Daily necessities occupy most of our time and mental focus. If you have a job, you become consumed in the incidences of our daily grind. If your “job” is taking care of energy-filled children, you are consumed with the seemingly never-ending needs they have. Even if you may be retired, your life may be filled with recreation, your favorite television shows, or chores that take longer and demand more.
In short, the ordinary stuff of life becomes all-consuming. The inverse of that – the extraordinary things of life – are left basically without your focus, time or attention.
The result – an ordinary life.
In most cases, an extraordinary life does not happen on accident, or without focused effort, time and regular attention. However, the ordinary life does happen naturally. Live “naturally” and you can confidently expect an ordinary life.
But, by choice, determination, prayer and unrelenting effort, a person can begin to set a course to become an extraordinary person whose life “naturally” brings forth extraordinary evidence of God’s glory on display.
Maybe for some, this change happens with flip of a mental switch in their brain. But I think for most, it happens through a purposeful season of transition.This transition starts when God illuminates our life and shows us that there is more, and we are settling for less. As “dawn” breaks in our understanding of this reality, we come to the point of decision – go forward, requiring a change in focus and lifestyle, or continue on our natural normal path of the ordinary.
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