Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
December 17, 2016 - January 2, 2017
• List out five moments or event that you can remember being extremely anxious about. • Looking back now, how significant were they?
• If you carved out thirty minutes every day, you would end up with 182.5 hours over the course of a year. If the average audiobook is eight hours long, then you could read almost 23 books per year by committing to thirty minutes a day. • The average NFL game takes close to four-hours to watch on tv when really there are only thirty minutes of play from snap to down. That’s nearly 3.5 hours of Bud Light and Viagra commercials. What if you read a book during that time? I did! • Tips for reading: don’t look at the back and check how many pages there are to read. The book is about acquiring
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• Your value comes from who you are, not what you do. • Who do you feel the need to prove yourself too? Very often, those we think we need to prove things to really love us for who we are, regardless of what we do. • Who are your greatest supporters? Let them know how much their love and support means to you.
The friendly Sensei looked at John with compassion and said, “John the reason it takes longer is because with one eye on the goal, you only have one eye for the journey.”
He then went on to tell John stories of people who climb ice mountains, and that if they are focused on the top of the mountain they will not know where exactly where to step next and they will slip and die. The key to ice climbing is to focus on one solid step at a time.
His Sensei smiled, and said, “Many years of chop wood, carry water. John, you aim only with your eyes, but I aim with everything. Everything impacts everything. The way I stand, the position of my feet, how much tension I put in the bow, how much tension I have in my hands, how I breathe, and what I see in my mind all impact the end result. Everything impacts everything. Everything is aiming. You have much to learn young John. Get some sleep, and tomorrow we chop wood, carry water.”
Every single thing that has ever happened in your life has prepared you for the present moment. Every context you are in today CAN prepare you for something in the future.
• What characteristics would you love to adopt? Write out at least 3. • What contexts will you be facing tomorrow that provide the training ground for one of those characteristics?
Be faithful in the small things for it is in them that your strength lies. –Mother Theresa
• Looking back 2-10 years ago, what do you wish you would have had? How can you create that tool or provide that service for others? • Wisdom is the most valuable, and most overlooked, commodity in the world. Con you share your wisdom with others? Write out ten things you have learned in life and share it with someone younger.
• What are you wondering about right now? What school you will go to? Will you get a promotion? Will you have enough money? Why did she raise her eyebrows when she walked by me today? Why didn’t he pass the ball? • What conclusions have you already drawn about others, their motives, or how things will turn out? • Have you ever been wrong in the past? • Is that the most beneficial thing to assume? • What are three controllable things you can shift your mind towards instead?
“The grass is greener where you water it.”
Read Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon
• What are some characteristics that you would like to let go of? • What are some that you would like to adopt? • How can you be intentional this week about choosing to train those characteristics in your life?
In leadership, one of our commitments should be giving specific and sincere compliments to between 2-5 people each day. These are not Dr. Phil sessions! • What are some of the specific compliments you have received? How have they impacted you?
What I know is that too many of us are fitting in for the wrong reasons, instead of standing out for the right reasons. We are afraid of failing, looking dumb, or being uncomfortable.
• What are 3 areas in your life where you feel like you are simply playing it safe? • Like my fear of pause in conversations, what terrifies you? • In what ways could you step outside of you comfort zone and challenge yourself? • My guess is that doing so will not result in serious injury, loss of your job, or death. What is the worst-case scenario?
Read In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day by Mark Batterson
• The BIG LIE is that satisfaction and fulfillment are found somewhere higher on the ladder. Happiness and fulfillment are often in direct opposition to each other. By seeking and pursuing one, we will most likely miss out on the other. • Happiness is most often me-focused and comes through the easy road. • Fulfillment is most often others-focused and comes through the tough challenges. • Fulfillment is a much deeper and abiding feeling than short-lived happiness. If you want fulfillment, you most likely have to sacrifice short-term happiness. • What are some opportunities you have in your
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We are intentional about what we value.
We don’t just become who we want to be. We become the person we trained to be.
Today, I choose to treat ___________ better than I think this person deserves. Even though they have treated me poorly I choose to love them as Christ loves them.
Be deliberate. Be consistent. Be specific. Be the change that you want to see in the world.
“If I could go back and be a player again, one area in which I would strive to be better would be my daily preparation. I would take more time to mentally prepare myself for practice. It would have made me a far better player if I had consistently taken the extra time to mentally prepare myself and focus on what I expected to get out of that day’s practice, and to mentally prepare myself to truly compete that day, from the first drill to the last.”
• Before you get to work, before you go to school, before you go to practice or a game, and before you start making breakfast for your kids sit down and write these two things out: 1. Two ways in which I will improve today 2. One person whose day I will make great
the only thing that matters is who you become and the effect you have on others in the process.
• Looking back, are there any questions or anxieties that you had that were resolved in due time? • What are you anxious about right now? What can controllable things can you do to shift your energy in a more beneficial direction?
• In what ways has discouragement from others hampered your life?
• Do you use discouragement and shame to get others to perform? • Instead of shame, how can you encourage and cast vision for those you lead and serve?
• List out four of your dominant “I am” statements. Be honest. Are these the most beneficial beliefs? • If not, what would be more beneficial to believe about yourself? • What are some characteristics you would love to have? Who models them?
Adam Braun’s The Promise Of A Pencil
Choke, Dr. Sian Beilock
• If it’s true that 90% of our thoughts are the same things we thought the day before, then there are some obvious patterns in what we think. • Take a notecard with you today and jot down some of the thoughts that riddle your mind throughout the day. • For a long time, my dominant thoughts were about scarcity in finances and opportunities and thinking about the future. • Now that you are aware of your dominant thoughts, how can you be intentional about sowing something different? • For example, when thoughts of money and finances come up I usually sing a little jingle
that I remixed from one of my son’s cartoons: “When you think about money STOP and pray right away.” From there I remind myself that my father created the whole world and has great things planned for me.
• Just because the battle is going on in your head does not mean that you are losing! • You have the power to choose to intervene during the doubt storms in your life. • Read How To Stop The Pain by James Richards • Read Crash The Chatterbox by Steven Furtick
“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.”
I see people quote Jeremiah 29:11 on Twitter all the time. You’ve probably seen it many times as well. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” It’s funny though, because I’ve NEVER seen Jeremiah 29:10 on Twitter. “When 70 years are complete….” Jeremiah was writing to people who were in exile, and would be for a total of SEVENTY YEARS!! We want verse 11 without going through verse 10.
• What are some of the things that you wanted so badly in the past, that looking back you are glad did not work out? • Maybe what we want right now isn’t necessarily what we need. • What are the resources and opportunities that you do have right now that you can be a great steward of?
• List out some of the things that you are passionate about. What are the “Yeah, but…” thoughts that come up as roadblocks to your dreams? • When people tell you that something can’t be done because of ___________, ask yourself “Who says?” and see if those roadblocks are just obstacles that steer us toward creative solutions.
When you punish people for making a mistake or falling short of a goal, you create an environment of extreme caution, even fearfulness. In sports it’s similar to playing “not to lose—a formula that often brings on defeat.” —John Wooden
• As you go into training or work this week, write out your performance cue card. At the end of the day, evaluate your self-talk and circle things that you don’t think are the most beneficial things to say. Then focus the next day on more beneficial things to sow in your heart. • Realize that you can only control the controllables in the present moment, and aim for growth. And don’t forget to laugh at the ridiculous thoughts that try to flood your mind. They make for great stories down the road!
“Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” — Francis Chan
We put so much emphasis on winning in our culture, it makes me wonder if one day we will get to the top of the ladder and realize our ladder was on the wrong building.
• Identify 2-5 points in your day where you can choose to zoom out from the task at hand. • During that time, reflect on how your task is training the characteristics you want to adopt.
Try this after every practice, game, and season: • Write out: “My worth does not come from what I do, it comes from who I am” • Write out 15-63 specific things that you did well • Write out 2 areas for growth • Write out 2-3 things that you learned • Write out the Growth Mindset Creedo: “Anything that happens to me today is in my best interest. It’s an opportunity to learn and grow.”
“Anything that happens to me today is in my best interest because it CAN make me a better person and better at my craft”
• What are some actions that are 100% under your control that you could be faithful in doing? • What are most other people on your team or in your field not willing to do?
• How much growth could you experience by having a willingness to do the dirty hard work?
The stories we tell ourselves become our beliefs, and our beliefs become the lens through which we see the world.
• Anything that happens to me today is in my best interest, it’s an opportunity to learn and grow. • Do the best you can with what you have where you are. • Excellent body language can trump emotional feelings. • Trust your gut. • If I abide in Him and His words abide in me, I can ask anything of the Father and He will provide it. • What CAN you do? • Talk to yourself instead of listening to yourself. • October is coming. • God is not surprised. God is sovereign. • Value listening more than being listened to. • Sometimes things are less about you and more about other people. • I know that You,
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