Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. (Ecclesiastes 11:4)

When a farmer anticipates a windy day, he puts off planting seeds; otherwise the gusts will blow the seed away before they can penetrate the earth. And when a farmer anticipates rain during the harvest, he puts off cutting wheat or oats; if the grain gets wet it gets ruined. So a farmer needs to exercise a little caution. Exercise too much caution, however, and your seeds will never get planted and your harvest will never come in.

The Living Bible renders this verse: “If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.” (Ecclesiastes 11:4 TLB)

If you need to begin a new project or start a new diet or launch a new ministry or make some big changes in your life, don’t wait for the perfect conditions to come along. Instead, seize the perfect moment — this moment — and take the first step in moving forward.

It’s also said that successful people become successful by doing the little things that average people don’t want to do.

In your work there are probably a few little things that you don’t want to do: items that should be done, but don’t have to be done — at least not yet.

Though the items on my not-to-do list change from day-to-day, they all have one thing in common: none of them are impossible. They’re all do-able with just a little bit of effort.

They have another thing in common: by ignoring them, we short-change ourselves.

We don’t like to call this type of delay by its proper name, but Solomon doesn’t hesitate to: Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. (Proverbs 10:4)

For many of us, that’s all that stands between us and the fulfillment of our goals. A little indolence. That’s not a mountain in front of you. It’s just a hill. A small, tedious, do-able hill.

Challenge yourself and your team today to make a not-to-do list — and tackle these items first, one-by-one. See what happens.

____________________________

Tweet this memo

The employer asks, “Was it eliminated because of funding cuts?”

The man says, “No. It was eliminated because I caught the dog.”

Have you ever felt like that dog catcher — that you have outlasted your usefulness and are no longer necessary? It’s been known to happen. One way we sometimes deal with it is simply to let the dog back out on the street and chase it some more. We may not accomplish much in the long run, but at least we keep busy. There is, however, a better way.

Robert Schuller says that one of the most difficult times in his life was after he had, at a relatively young age, reached all of his goals.

He began to wonder if there any new mountains to climb — any new dogs to catch, so to speak. The result was that Schuller began to dream bigger dreams, moving his ministry beyond the borders of his southern California community, to reaching people through books and TV.

In the Old Testament there’s a story of a Babylonian slave named Nehemiah. Nehemiah had a big dream: he wanted to rebuild the walls of the city of Jerusalem. Against all odds, he accomplished his goal. What next? Tear down the walls and build them again? Instead, Nehemiah moved to a new level. He developed a new dream, bigger and more ambitious than the first: reuniting the people of Israel.

This is what he wrote: At that time the city was large and spacious, but the population was small. And only a few houses were scattered throughout the city. So my God gave me the idea to call together all the leaders of the city, along with the ordinary citizens, for registration. (Nehemiah 7:4-5)

Instead of questioning his own usefulness, Nehemiah upgraded his goals in life; he made the transition from building walls to building people.

If your life has become a circle of letting the dog out so you can catch it again…of tearing down walls so you can rebuild them…it may be time to upgrade your goals. God gave Nehemiah an idea of what to do next. 

He has an idea for you, too.

But this year I’m encouraging you to place one goal ahead of all the others. I’m encouraging you to zero in on one specific thing — maybe your weight or your marriage or your income — and decide now that you will give this one item top priority in 2009. Decide now that in the next 12 months, even if you fail at everything else, you will see progress in this one area. 

If you’re like me, your list of needed improvements is long. All of them are important or they wouldn’t have made the list. But one of them is a little more special to you, or a little more urgent. Circle it. Think about it. Pray about it. Read about it. And decide today that this is the one you will conquer in 2009.

George Burns said, “I honestly think it’s better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.”

This year you can focus your time and attention on the mundane: making money, paying bills, getting ahead — or you can focus on your passion: doing those things that don’t seem like work, but it feels so good getting them done. Such as writing songs, or working on a novel, or fixing someone’s car, or fixing their computer, or fixing their lunch.

Yeah, the bills have to be paid and you’ve got to earn a living. But don’t forget to do each day something you love. It may never bring you big success — not in the sense that it will pay for a home by the beach — but it will bring you more satisfaction than you can measure.

The idea was to give young players an opportunity to learn the basics of the game without the pressure of competition. I think it’s a pretty good policy to put in place while five and six year olds are becoming familiar with the fundamentals. But there comes a time when we’re ready to start keeping score and to start collecting stats. It’s how we chart progress, and it’s pretty much the point of the game.

It’s the same in business and in life. We need to make a habit of keeping score in certain areas — keeping track of where we are and where we are going in order to get where we want to be.

Charles Coonradt said, “You have to measure what you want more of.” This is why we keep an eye on the scoreboard during the game, it’s why we check our bank balances during the month, and it’s why — if we’re smart — we evaluate our progress in the less tangible areas of life.

No one stumbles into holiness accidentally. No one just gets lucky — not long term anyway — with a happy family and a perfect marriage. And no church experiences sustained growth (numerical and spiritual) without a concerted effort to measure progress and chart results.

Paul told us to run our race in such a way as to win the prize. He’s not talking about competing with others, he’s talking about competing with ourselves: being the best that we be for the sake of the gospel. For this reason, Paul states, “I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.” (1 Corinthians 9:26)

In order to get where you want to be, you have to learn to keep score. This means measuring the time you spend with your family, the time you spend in the Word, and the results you’re achieving personally and professionally. You measure what you want more of. Decide what it is, and run the race in such a way as to win the prize. — SM

We are all driven by one appetite or another, one hunger or another. Which one is driving you today? The hunger to provide for your family? The hunger to succeed? The hunger for recognition?

Or the hunger to make a difference in eternity? The hunger to please God? The hunger to change lives?

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6) Let this be the hunger that drives you today: The hunger to do good, the hunger to be good.