JULY 2018

Business Tips:

                              SYSTEMS

Check out the diagram to the left. Systems are just that. It is a way to organize thinking, action, and results in a process. That is a system. When you think of a system, you should think of putting something on autopilot. Putting someone on speed dial is a system. Setting your alarm is a system. Anything that makes your life easier, more efficient, and at the same time takes into account your relationships becomes a system.

We like systems at our companies. Why? It’s because it becomes available for anyone to step in and continue the legacy that we have created.

No one is irreplaceable. Not me, our management, our staff, administration, no one. We are all dispensable and technically so are our lives.  How many times have you looked at a calendar and thought, where has time gone? Remember though, what you bring to a system is your competence. What you create in the system is your identity, your security, your belonging, and also sometimes purpose. So leave your work, family, and relationships with systems that will endure the storms and trials of life.

When you look at the big picture in business, it points to systems of success. When you see a good business, start to look for systems that those businesses have in place that can make our companies better.

As we continue to implement systems, we hope that you will join in the journey with us because all that we have is really not ours. It’s ours to hold stewardship of and then to pass the legacy on to the next generation. May we leave things better than they are because we are constantly evaluating our systems, progress, results, and relationships with one another? I look forward to learning more with you.

Personal Tips:

GIFT OF GIVING

“The only way you can truly get more out of life for yourself is to give part of yourself away.”

Winston Churchill said, “You make a living by what you get; you make a life by what you give.”

One of the key principles in giving, is that the gift must be yours to give-either something you earned or created or maybe, simply, part of yourself.

Life Skills:

Faith, Family, Fitness, Finances, Friends, Fun, Following, Freedom; we call these the 8F’s in life. Many of these categories can tell one where their priorities are in life by measuring the time one would spend in one of the above categories. I know we don’t have it all figured out, but we have a lot of great sources that speak into these items and we welcome your comments. Please feel free to drop us a line concerning any of them.

AS PROMISED: THE TRUTH ABOUT THESE CULTURAL LIES:

Dr. Richard Menken said, “From the moment they wake up in the morning, to the moment they lose consciousness at night, Americans are in near-constant visual contact with bright, pulsating rectangles.” "We discovered in almost all cases that Americans find it enjoyable and rewarding to put their faces in front of glowing rectangles for hours on end,"

The Five Core Needs of Life

Dr. Koch doesn't just outline the problems as we spoke of last month. In another book, Authentic Hope and Wholeness: 5 Questions That Will Change Your Life (2005), she goes into depth regarding how our sense of identity controls our behavior and how our five core needs can be met in much healthier ways.

The first need is for security—Who can I trust? 

The second, identity—Who am I? 

The third, belonging—Who wants me? 

The fourth is for purpose—Why am I alive? 

And the fifth, competence—What do I do well? 

If these are the 5 Core needs of life, you can see how technology can tell us lies about those needs through just plain subconscious viewing.

5 Cultural lies we are programmed to believe as a result of the unnatural use of and connectivity to technology:

1.       “I am the center of the universe.”

2.       “I deserve to be happy all the time.”

3.       “I must have choices.”

4.       “I am my own authority.”

5.       “Information is all I need. So I don’t need teachers/mentors.”

Dr. Kathy Koch’s book, Screens and Teens: Connecting with Our Kids in a Wireless World.

Notable quotes: They are italicized above.

Something I want you to know:

Make sure to answer for yourself or have someone answer them on your behalf to see if you are on the right track in your thinking in the Five Core Needs.

Then guard yourself of the lies introduced last month.