Belief in people is of paramount importance as it relates to the success that they will have. As a matter of fact, believing in others is the fuel that propels them down the road to success.
What should you do when those around you don’t believe in you?
You should find a different group of people to surround yourself with. If the people that don’t believe in you are friends and family, limit your interactions with them, tell them they’re wrong and more importantly prove them wrong.
“Some are destined to succeed, some are determined to succeed.” ~H.H. Swami
You tend to become who those closest and most important to you think you will become. Choose those that are most important and closest to you wisely.
Share your thoughts and experiences with both sides of this coin.
As we go about our busy days, filled with many things, choices, options, decisions and distractions; A simple question we must ask ourselves is “What’s The Purpose?”
If the answer to that question is lame, selfish, you find yourself making up an answer or you can’t come up with an answer at all, it may be time to do something different and change directions.
What’s The Purpose?
What’s The Purpose Of The Relationship?
What’s The Purpose Of The Sinful Behavior?
What’s The Purpose Of Spending More Time At Work Than With Your Family?
What’s The Purpose Of A Promotion at Work That Constitutes A Demotion Of Family?
What’s The Purpose Of Your Different Personalities Depending On Your Audience?
What’s The Purpose Of Talking About What You Want To Do, Instead Of Doing It?
What’s The Purpose In Having Another Drink?
What’s The Purpose In Always Pointing Out What Others Are Doing Wrong?
What’s The Purpose Of What You Are Doing Today?
What’s The Purpose Of What You Plan On Doing Tomorrow?
What’s The Purpose? What’s The Purpose? What’s The Purpose?
The Author of “Imitation Of Christ” Thomas à Kempis says it this way, “Life without a purpose is a languid drifting thing; every day we ought to review our purpose, saying to ourselves. ‘This day let me make a sound beginning, for what we have hitherto done is naught.’“ The modern translation would be, “This day let me make a sound beginning, for what we have done until now is nothing. Let’s do this!”
Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after. ~Thoreau
If we want to live lives of purpose and on purpose, we must do a better job of answering this simple question: What’s The Purpose?
This is a video that I shot literally 3 years ago from this week. It’s amazing how much things have changed in just 3 short years. I took quick unedited video snippets throughout my day and pieced them altogether.
It’s amazing how much things have changed in 3 years:
Feed The Children has gone through some difficult times and a major leadership change
@Shaq has changed his twitter name and has retired from the NBA
My sons are no longer little boys but rather little young men (kinda-sorta)
I no longer have the goofy transitions glasses
I’m no Longer at LifeChurch.tv and many of the staff are in new roles inside and outside of LifeChurch.tv
How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. James 4:14 NLT
How much has life changed for you in the last 3 years?
I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving with friends, family or even by yourself. It’s time to close the Thanksgiving Chapter and move on towards Christmas. If you want a great way to help your family or small group to put a purposed focus on the Christmas Season, you should check out Christmas Reboot.
Christmas Reboot is an eBook by my friend Alan Danielson. It has 25 devotionals that help people and families see Christmas in a different way. The ebook is a great value at $8.99 and this Christmas Season 50% of each purchase goes directly to missions in Guatemala. That’s a 3-in-1 type of deal: 1. no black Friday lines, 2. great book of devotionals, 3. Make a difference in Guatemala.
Most people will use the book, devotional, conversation starters and other activities on a daily basis with their families in December. Click here to read a sample chapter and purchase Christmas Reboot.
You can even purchase a distribution license that allows your organization the legal right to distribute free copies! You can use the distribution license for appreciation gifts to volunteers in your church, to your company’s staff members, or even as a free gift to people in the community. Click here to purchase a bulk distribution license and give Christmas Reboot to people you want to influence.
Check out Christmas Reboot and let the Christmas Season officially begin.
Life is about Moments & Memories. The things you do in today’s moments will be tomorrow’s memories. It’s important that we embrace every single moment, understanding it’s true potential for lasting memories. If you talk to anyone that has lost someone they loved, they will always talk about the Moments & Memories that they had with that person. The same thing is true for the parents that look back and remember when their children were toddlers and next thing you know they are graduating from high school.
All of our moments are precious gifts from God. Take some time today to look at your moments at work, with your kids, your friends and your spouse differently. Realize that those special moments are special gifts that will produce special memories. Think about your child’s 1st step, piano recital, gymnastics meet, when they made a decision to follow Christ, football games, basketball games, open house at school, trick or treating, college graduation, their wedding day and the list goes on and on.
No matter what you do, do it from the perspective of asking these two questions: Are the things that I’m doing in today’s moments creating the right memories for tomorrow? Am I finding the God moments even in the little things?
Below are a couple of videos from this past Saturday of my 8yo son Jayden running the ball, one is a little swing pass and the other is a trap. I love coaching this group of boys and they have come a long way this season, as a matter of fact this past Saturday was the semi-finals and our 26-25 victory put us in the Championship Game this weekend. Such great Moments & Memories.
After we win the Championship Game this coming weekend (prophetically speaking), I get the opportunity to drive 2.5 hours to officiate a wedding of a great couple with a really bright future.
“If you long for the perfect moment, the perfect moment will pass you by.”
Great Moments & Great Memories.
Share your thoughts on Moments & Memories. You can also share your thoughts on my son’s two plays in the above videos.
I am making an announcement about the new Season for The Williams’ Family. Before I announce what that season is and where we are going, let me rewind almost 8 months ago. I actually made the “Big Announcement #2″ that I was going to be transitioning out of my role at LifeChurch.tv into a new season of ministry for my family.
Fast forward 8 months and I have started a consulting company Nxt Level Solutions LLC. The short and skinny of what we do is help organizations with both external and internal growth. We do this by helping with Leadership Development, Strategy, Diversity Consulting and New Media. In a short amount of time, God has blessed us with an amazing group of organizations and individuals to work with. We are growing and at the same time helping others go farther faster. On top of this, more entrepreneurial adventures are around the corner and I’ve been blessed to continue sharing the message of Church Diversity around the country.
As far as the new season for the Williams’ family, we are going to be (give me another paragraph). I have received many texts, DM’s & calls about what the new season is; let me explain a little further. When we made the decision to start a new season for our family 8 months ago, one of the goals was for us to continue to grow as a family. As we prayed about what that would look like, LaKendria and I set one of our primary goals as her being able to stay home. Years ago we thought this would have been important when our boys were young; however we are finding that it’s important really important at their current stage.
So the New Season For The Williams’ Family is not about us going to a new place physically, but rather LaKendria is going to be staying home. Yep straight up Betty Crocker, Soccer Mom, Family Coordinator, Supporter, Teammate, Mother, Partner, Wife & making us a better family SAHM. She put her notice in this week and her last day will be sometime in November.
This wasn’t simply a goal for us, but a step of faith and an act of listening to God’s Whispers. God is oh so many steps ahead of us, we are happy to follow his lead. Ecclesiastes 3:1 NCV say’s it this way, “There is a time for everything, and everything on earth has its special season.” I’m really looking forward to this special season.
What new seasons does God have for you and your family? He’s whispering, are you listening?
I was one of the speakers for Leadership Network’s TheNines Conference again this year. This year’s task was quite simple – shoot a 5 minute video answering one the 9 questions. This is the video that we shot answering the question: How Do You Manage Your Time?
My man @SamsonVarughese brought the video to life for me with a little extra effects.
What does it mean to be present in this hyper-connected, fast-moving, multi-responsibility, technologically-advanced, distraction-based, ever-evolving, multi-tasking, dollar-driven, multi-focused world that we live in? That’s a hard question, with a very simple answer.
The simple answer is “Be Present!”
Present is defined as being, existing, or occurring at this time or now; at hand; immediate or current.
To be present is to focus on the here and now. To give focused and undivided attention at the current moment or place that you find yourself. This is easy to get away from and takes focused attention to make it happen. A few things that I do to try and be present are:
I finish all cell-phone conversations before I go into my house, on the drive, in the garage… but not in the house.
I try to complete all assignments, tasks, appt.’s between 8-5 and not allow them to carry over into family time.
I put everything on my calendar, in order to make sure my priorities are straight and look back and see what kind of undivided attention I gave people, places & things.
I answer e-mails in divided chunks of the day and not as they come in.
I like to plan; however I embrace the tension of not looking too far ahead and I rarely look back.
I could go on an on with things that I’m trying to do in order to stay focused and be present; however the bottom line is it takes focused effort. If you don’t focus on being present, you won’t.
The theme of this years Catalyst Conference in Atalanta is Be Present. Not just be present as in attendance, but rather focusing on being present in our lives. I will be present and personally I’m looking forward to hearing the list of great speakers. I will definitely be present when Dr. Cornell West speaks.
What are you doing to Be Present in your life? Will you Be Present at Catalyst Conference in Atlanta this year?
I met this beautiful college freshman in 1996, we married some 5 years later and today is our anniversary. God has blessed us more than we could ask, think or imagine.
Today is a BIG Day. Actually as you read this I’m on a cruise and we are probably somewhere in the Bahamas. I’m enjoying time with the love of my life Lakendria and these two young men that we are both pretty fond of.
A couple of years ago, our sons Wesley & Jayden surprised us with what they called Anniversary Cafe, featured in the above video. I have shown this video on our annversary for the last couple years, so I decided to make it a BigIsTheNewSmall.com August 4th tradition. I’m sure they will not appreciate me showing this once they are in college… nonetheless, if I’m still blogging in 10 years, I’ll be showing the video.
“The art of love… is largely the art pf persistence.” ~Albert Ellis
What are some special surprises that you have done for your friends/loved ones, or how have your friends/loved ones surprised you?
Belief in people is of paramount importance as it relates to the success that they will have. As a matter of fact, believing in others is the fuel that propels them down the road to success.
