Donald Miller's Blog, page 105

Need to Manage Your Relationships? Consider Friendly Fridays.

So I’ve developed a new plan, a new workflow and I thought I’d share it with you in hopes it might help you but also in request for feedback.

As an introvert, meeting with people can sometimes be draining. It’s never draining in the moment, it’s actually quite enjoyable. It’s only draining later. If I travel and meet with people, I find I’m no good in the office for at least two days, and often three. If I give a conference, it will be ten days before my brain returns to normal.

I’ll be traveling less in the coming year so I can write two books, but the pressures to “get together” are still pretty furious here in Portland. I’d say every day I get about ten invitations to get coffee. Often, these are old friends of people I’ve done business with. Most of them are people I’d like to spend time with. Still, the choice is between hanging out and talking or having a productive week.

When writing, I can’t have anything else on the schedule. You never know when the words are going to hit. Being a writer is like taking pictures of weather. You have to be there, but so does the weather. If either of you don’t show up, the day is a loss. So, the key to writing is to always be there and hope the weather shows up too.

That said, sometimes the weather shows up about ten minutes before you agreed to get together with somebody. That means the writing day is ruined.

So here’s the new plan. I schedule all my meetings on Friday. I get it all done right before the weekend. The weekend can be spent with friends, too, but it can also be spent resting and getting ready for Monday.

I am even considering only returning phone calls and e-mails on Friday, too. That way the whole rest of the week can be spent writing and getting work done.

Monday, for me, is the most productive day of the week. I HATE meetings on Mondays because they fall right in the middle of my most efficient time. Whenever I see a Monday meeting on the calendar, my heart sinks.

What would your week look like if you only scheduled meetings on Fridays? Would it improve?

Need to Manage Your Relationships? Consider Friendly Fridays. is a post from: Donald Miller's Blog

Need Help Building a Platform? Michael Hyatt Has Some Good Advice

For years now I’ve counted Michael Hyatt as a friend. Whenever I’m going through a career transition or considering a new book, Mike takes time to meet with me. I count that as a blessing because there are plenty of folks who’d like to meet with Mike. He was the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers for years, is a best-selling author himself and has helped hundreds of people launch their writing careers.

I was glad to see the subject of his new book because now I don’t have to call him every time I get the inkling. Instead, I can pick up platform.

I don’t endorse many books on this blog but because I get so many questions about writing and speaking I wanted to let you know Mike’s book releases this week. For writing, I recommend William Zinsser’s  On Writing Well and for the creative Process, Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art. And for all the rest, that is for marketing and self promotion, bringing a product to market and building a following, I recommend Michael Hyatt’s Platform.

Mike is doing some special promotion this week and you can get a lot of free resources here. The best to you as you build your platform, too.

Need Help Building a Platform? Michael Hyatt Has Some Good Advice is a post from: Donald Miller's Blog

The Blog is on Pause for Storyline!

If you live in or near Nashville or want to take a trip this weekend and join us at the Storyline Conference. A Storyline is a 65-page workbook containing three exercises and six modules that, once completed, will give you a full life plan. And add to that, the process is fun.

At Storyline our mission is to help people tell better stories with their lives. Our life-plan isn’t based on achieving the American dream but rather having a sense of fulfillment at the end of our lives when the credits roll.

At Storyline you’ll clarify your ambitions, prioritize your relationships and learn to manage them, anticipate conflict and learn to engage challenges rather than run from them, and envision climactic scenes that will be more powerful than setting goals.

Most of our goals aren’t reached because they lack a narrative context. Our brains don’t work like computers in the sense we can input a goal and output action. Instead, we are motivated and inspired when we find ourselves in the middle of a great story.

This coming Sunday we will be holding our first-ever Nashville Conference. And a month later we will be visiting beautiful Santa Barbara, California for our conference at Westmont University.

In Nashville we will be joined by special guests Jamie Tworkowski, Bob Goff and Amy Grant. You’ll be entertained and inspired.

Register today. Join us!

The Blog is on Pause for Storyline! is a post from: Donald Miller's Blog

Today is the Last Day for Early Registration for Nashville’s Storyline

If you live in or near Nashville or want to take a trip next weekend, join us at the Storyline Conference. A Storyline is a 65-page workbook containing three exercises and six modules that, once completed, will give you a full life plan. And add to that, the process is fun.

At Storyline our mission is to help people tell better stories with their lives. Our life-plan isn’t based on achieving the American dream but rather having a sense of fulfillment at the end of our lives when the credits roll.

At Storyline you’ll clarify your ambitions, prioritize your relationships and learn to manage them, anticipate conflict and learn to engage challenges rather than run from them, and envision climactic scenes that will be more powerful than setting goals.

Most of our goals aren’t reached because they lack a narrative context. Our brains don’t work like computers in the sense we can input a goal and output action. Instead, we are motivated and inspired when we find ourselves in the middle of a great story.

This Monday, hundreds will pour into the Armory Theater here in Portland for Storyline, and the following Sunday we will be holding our first-ever Nashville Conference. And a month later we will be visiting beautiful Santa Barbara, California for our conference at Westmont University.

Each conference will have special guests who are living great stories themselves. You’ll be inspired.

Today is the last day for early registration prices for Nashville. Join us!

Today is the Last Day for Early Registration for Nashville’s Storyline is a post from: Donald Miller's Blog

What if Your Life Could be More Engaging Than Television?

Ask yourself before your next major decision “If I were a character in a story, what decision would make the story more interesting?”

You’ll be surprised at how differently you feel about the decision. You’ll weigh safety over excitement, risk over comfort. You’ll likely decide to love people more, quit your job, bring home roses, leap off the cliff into the water and so on. Great characters in exciting stories don’t sit around on the couch playing it safe. They get up, move, try, fail and risk it all again.

Living a great story costs something. People who live great stories know failure isn’t a judgment, it’s an education.

In America, the stories we are living are boring. And people are suffering the emotional consequences of the American dream. They hate their lives. We live vicariously through television shows and gossip magazines because our lives are insufferably meaningless.

Whatever will work in a story will work in life, too. After all, we are each living a story. If our story is boring, it’s because we’ve chosen a safe route.

What if your life could be as inspiring and as interesting as the shows we watch on television?

So, today, ask yourself “If I were a character in a story, what could I do right now to make my story interesting?”

And then do it. Why? Because you are a character in a story. You always have been.

The American dream got hijacked. It’s time to take it back. Lets turn off the television and start living a better story today.

 

*At Storyline, we’re fighting to live lives more interesting than television. We are creating a community of people who are planning and executing great stories. We will teach you the framework, but the story is all yours. Not only this, but we’ll introduce you to real-life people who are taking chances and inspiring others with their lives. Join us.

 

What if Your Life Could be More Engaging Than Television? is a post from: Donald Miller's Blog

Stop Critiquing and Start Creating, How to Defy and Destroy our Barriers to Change

Today’s guest post is by Justin Zoradi, who runs an nonprofit called These Numbers Have Faces. Justin has guest posted before and I hope we hear more from him in the future. Today’s guest post is about creativity, but to me it’s also about maturity. Justin elaborates on some of the thoughts in Andy Crouch’s book Culture Making.


In an age where too many books aren’t new material, but critiques of whatever else is out there, Justin argues we need to mature from consumers to critics to creators. Great thoughts:

A good friend told me there are three types of people in the world:

1. Consumers
2. Critics
3. Creators

There was a time in my life when I thrived in my role as a Critic. I had an opinion about everything and spent many sleepless nights brooding over ideological arguments and creating fake debate scenarios in my head. It was mania, an obsession, fueled by the high of feeling “right.”

One day I realized that my very critical opinions were taking up a lot of time and making me a very angry person.

I also realized I was against a lot more than I was actually for.

Take politics. No matter who is in the White House, it’s easy to critique the policies of a President without having to constructively engage in the political process. I find it fascinating how many people have very strong political opinions but can’t name their local representative in Congress.

But if you look at the people who’ve made the greatest change in the world, they’re the ones who spent the least amount of their time as critics and consumers.

I believe human beings were made by a God who loves to create, and in his benevolence, he made us a lot like him. Whether 7 days or 7 billion years, God is at his best when he’s creating. So are we.

I also believe that people and the positions they hold can change. Which means it’s our job to try and move from a life of consumption and criticism and into a life of creative action.

Maybe you’ve already begun. If so, it’s your job to cultivate creativity in others.

This isn’t just for artists, activists, engineers, or entrepreneurs. I think everyone has the ability to create with great purpose. This is one of the reasons I’ve started this blog.

I believe ordinary people have the unique ability to impact the lives of others. And if you’re reading this with a few minutes to spare and high speed internet, you also have a moral responsibility to do so.

Work can be monotonous. Each day I try and put one thing on my to-do list that requires a fresh creative punch. Oftentimes this is as simple as a 10 minute phone call to bounce a new idea off a friend. I find this simple act of forcing myself to create actually invigorates all the other things I’ve been avoiding all day.

Some final thoughts:

Creativity is an exponential force. It produces better work that produces better work.

Creativity is also a repelling force. The more we create, the more it repels us away from the dangers of over consumption and over criticism.

 

Questions to ask yourself:

What moves you? What drives you? What infuriates you? And how can you creatively engage in a way that uses your innate gifts and abilities, instead of just responding as a critic or consumer?

Start today. The worst thing you can do is postpone your creative action until tomorrow.

- JZ

Stop Critiquing and Start Creating, How to Defy and Destroy our Barriers to Change is a post from: Donald Miller's Blog

Storyline Special Guests!

This year we have an amazing line up of special guests.

We are still doing our flagship conference in the trendy Pearl District of Portland (early registration ends TOMORROW) and the following week we will be in Nashville, TN. About three weeks later, we will be in beautiful Santa Barbara and at each conference we have some inspiring people stopping by.

This year’s conference is all new, too. We’ve created a 55 page workbook including nine modules that, once complete, will give you a life plan based on the elements of story. Essentially, you’ll be plotting your life the way great writers plot their novels and screenplays. It’s a whole new way of viewing your life and creating a life plan has never been more fun.

Bob will be joining us at Portland and Nashville's Storyline

In Portland, our special guest is Bob Goff, whose book Love Does releases this week (If you’re coming, we’ve got a copy of his book as our gift to you.) Bob is the living, breathing Walt Disney of construction lawyers and also happens to be the American Consul to Uganda. I’ll be interviewing Bob extensively about his school in Uganda, his passion for family, his crazy thirst for adventure and motivation to spread God’s love. Bob does life like nobody I’ve ever met and I think you’ll be inspired by what he has to say. For our special event in Portland, we will be showing Blue Like Jazz. For those of you who haven’t been able to see it yet, we’re rolling it out and I’ll be doing a Q and A after.

Amy will be performing a special, acoustic concert at Nashville's Storyline

Bob will also be joining us in Nashville, along with our friend Amy Grant.Amy will be performing an acoustic set and talking a bit about her life. I could list all of Amy’s accomplishments, but honestly, she’s just a hometown, Nashville girl who has lived an unbelievably exciting and redemptive life. We are honored that she’d be willing to join us! (Early registration for Storyline Nashville ends next week!)

Jamie will be joining us in Nashville and Santa Barbara

Joining us in both Nashville and Santa Barbara will also be Jamie Tworkowski. Jamie is a dear friend of ours who started the organization To Write Love on her Arms for which a film called Renee will be released later this year. Jamie is a humanitarian with a mission, helping thousands of kids and adults who struggle with depression and hopelessness writer better stories for their lives. You’ll be inspired to live a better story by hearing from Jamie.

Jeremy Cowart will be joining us in Santa Barbara

In Santa Barbara, our special guest is acclaimed photographer Jeremy Cowart. Jeremy has photographed both wealth and poverty, the famous and the marginalized and has helped millions see the world differently. Perhaps one of the most creative guys in the industry, we will talk to Jeremy about his many projects including Help Portrait, an organized effort in which photographers all over the world set up shop on a specific day and create head shots for those who can’t afford to have their picture taken. In a digital age of Facebook and online resume’s, this simple act has changed the lives of thousands.

Everybody we ask to be a special guest at Storyline is a friend. And those who come become friends, too. We are building a community, and we’d love for you to join us!

REGISTER TODAY!

 

Storyline Special Guests! is a post from: Donald Miller's Blog

I Like Your Christ, I Don't Like Your Christian, Thoughts on Church Haters

All week I've been reflecting on themes brought up in the movie Blue Like Jazz. Today is a tough one. I'll get hammered for this I'm sure. Still, I hope you give these thoughts and the film a chance. I'd appreciate it.

Since Blue Like Jazz came out years ago, I've been accused by some of being critical of Christians. To be sure, I have. But much less and much more objectively and without malice than I'm accused of. And I criticize myself much more than anybody else, I hope.

I love the church as I knew it, and I love the church even more as I've discovered it in the last few years (that is global, not bound by denominational walls instituted by feuding scholars). That said, I do not think the church is an elite organization that is beyond criticism. In fact, any organization that is defensive against criticism is suspect.

Would you work for a company that didn't allow for criticism? Would a father be a good dad if he disallowed criticism? Would you want to have surgery at a hospital that rejected all forms of criticism? Then why would you want to worship through an organization that is hostile to criticism?

In my profession, I am daily criticized. I'd imagine I've received hundreds of blog comments, letters and @replies wishing me the worst. I get it. Criticism is hard. And not only this, churches get criticized for stuff that happened hundreds of years ago. I'd venture to say most criticism is unfounded and ill-informed. It can also be spiteful and hateful. So, I don't want to be lumped in with the haters.

However, if the church has wronged people, we all need to admit that and apologize for it. There's no use hiding it or covering it up or pretending we are perfect. The Catholic church's handling of the sex-abuse cases has been disturbing. But in a way, I get it. If they admit fault, they're going to go down hard, both financially and in global participation and attendance. Unfortunately, though, the ramifications of telling the truth shouldn't be considered. The only thing that should be considered is obedience to God. And He wants us to tell the truth.

Rather than criticize, which I hope I've done little of, I want to maintain an objective view of the church. Is it perfect? No. Is it a good organization? Yes, the exploits of the church go far and wide into the world and have brought food, water, hope and Jesus to billions. Have they also brought harm? Absolutely, because the church is made up of fallen people.

I occasionally get shame-based letters and emails criticizing me for criticizing "the bride of Christ" lumping me in with men who beat women. I dismiss these accusations as well-intended but naive. Paul criticized the church, as did John and Christ Himself. We want to deify the church, or, more honestly, market the church. We shouldn't. We should confess our sins and be open and honest about our depravity, both individually and collectively. Those who walk in the light have more, not less of their sins exposed. The very idea that those who make up the church pretend to be perfect indicates they do not walk in the light.

In the movie Blue Like Jazz that releases this Friday, the protagonist turns against the church. In fact, he protests (rather secretly and cowardishly) a local church in a way that is profane. It's one of the scenes that almost got us an "R" rating. This will no doubt earn the film some criticism from the camp that does not walk in the light. But let me offer a few caveats before things get heated:

1. When people turn against the church, they are having a strong emotional response to having been hurt. The most harmful thing we can do to somebody who has been hurt is to invalidate their pain. The most kind thing we can do is to apologize and reach out in kindness.

2. In the film there is only one shady Christian character. The rest of the Christians turn the other cheek, perform acts of Justice, forgive their oppressors and are down-right heroic. Those who think this is an anti-church movie aren't paying attention and, unfortunately, aren't being objective. I hope people can view these scenes objectively.

3. Ultimately, Don finds God, not religion. Religious people will want God represented through a church (and lets face it, through their kind of church) but God's not such a control freak. People find God and God finds them with and without organized religion. He is in control, we aren't. If this is unsettling to you, this will be a difficult film. If it's interesting or inspiring (that you don't have to obey rules or jump through hoops to interact with God) the film will be comforting.

Regardless, the film opens this Friday. It's too late to change anything. Let's hope it starts some great conversation.

Here's a scene where Penny confronts Don about his protest of a local church:

I Like Your Christ, I Don't Like Your Christian, Thoughts on Church Haters is a post from: Donald Miller's Blog

Blue Like Jazz Opens Friday!

Our movie, Blue Like Jazz opens in four days (Friday night!). We'd love for you to see it. Here's a little clip from the film, and beneath the clip are some links so you can read reviews and see what theaters it's playing in near you. Hope you love the movie!

The movie opens in 25 cities and select theaters this weekend. The following weekend more cities will pick up the film, and hopefully more theaters. However, if it doesn't do well this weekend theaters will pull the movie. Please try to see it this weekend cause we want you to see it on the big screen. THANKS.

What theaters is it playing in?

What are the honest reviews of the film?

Where's the website for this thing?

Blue Like Jazz Opens Friday! is a post from: Donald Miller's Blog

Does God Exist?

When I was in high school I renounced my faith. I'd taken a college-level psychology course and in studying Abraham Maslow my faith was challenged. I'd been brought up believing God was scientifically verifiable and the concept of God logically sound. I was never prepared to enter into an objective conversation about God's existence.

To be honest, there are still days I consider the whole thing absurd. But any other solution to our existence leads me to equally or more absurd conclusions. Life is rather miraculous and so the answer of it's origin must also be miraculous, at least from our finite perspective.

One of my favorite scenes to write and edit in Blue Like Jazz was the God debate scene. It was also one of my favorite scenes to film, as we got to film in Portland's famous Powell's Bookstore. I like the scene because both sides are equally represented, as they are in real life, and there is no decided winner. That's not normal for a Christian film, but we believed people should be allowed to hear both arguments, both having valid points, and then decide for themselves. Of course it's an edited debate so it's short, but I think we handled the debate well.

I think one of the mistakes Christian thinkers have made is they've feared to embrace the mysterious as an explanation to our existence. To me, this is our biggest selling point. I understand why they've abandoned the idea because it associates us with so many other wishy washy ideas about our origin. But to associate does not mean we are the same or our thinking is the same. Much of life defy's logical explanation. Mystics get this right and evangelical apologetics often get this wrong. They've got a small God, shoved into their tiny heads.

Love cannot be explained logically, nor beauty nor wonder nor eternity or our endless cosmos. Much of our existence defy's logical principles. As does God.

To fit God inside our logic is to reduce him. And a reduced God is easy to refute. I'm more of a Chesterton guy than anything else, I suppose.

Anyway, here's the clip from the film. It opens this Friday at a theater near you (hopefully.) I do hope you go see it. And I hope it's good for your heart, and for your faith, too.

Does God Exist? is a post from: Donald Miller's Blog