Since the last post I have been working daily to serve God. I found two jobs that take my full effort to serve, patrons and prisoners. Both require some anonymity, so I can not discuss individuals, nor some key information, but I am learning many things. I will share those in time, but for now, send me questions on what you would like me to share. I will find the best way to enlighten you while following the rules.
Moving Forward
I once managed data processing for a principled company that taught how to plan and reach extraordinary results by implementing the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. We added to this knowledge, practices from Franklin Planners, Deming’s 14 Points for Managment, Kaizen, World Class Quality, Six Sigma and Miller Teams.
We knew planning, we knew implementation, we knew empowerment, before the world started teaching it in their universities and yes before the internet or the “smart” phone. What I learned in my unique role was how to harmonize strategies of excellence with common work processes. I learned how to grow an operation and how to achieve ever-increasing results.
The 90s were a period of massive change, and yet performance results are to this day based in those same time-tested principles. Whether you know them or not, they govern your success. Only as you incorporate them does their power benefit you.
The universities have no way to teach this. Oh, they cover the course material, but as in the book The Goal shows, you don’t gain the skills without applying each foundational principle. Yes, you have to do it, with your own personal and interpersonal challenges.
I watched The Watchmaker’s Apprentice and through this exceptionally slow, documentary became increasingly aware that my expertise in business came from my own practice of excellence. Day-to-day implementation of processes and improvement efforts. It came from all of my experience, not from the books I read. I loved the book Good to Great, because the arrogant author admits that he has no idea what made the companies transform, only that there were people (hedgehogs) who had figured it out. My experience has taught me that YOU are the key to that leap and it comes from inside using everything you learn, and then as you apply that knowledge to what you are creating, insight and understanding–yes even wisdom–eventually come. It truly is an art, an apprenticeship.
Sad the irony that just at the point our aging population prepares for pasture they have the most to share. We just let them go, to avoid pensions and healthcare costs. Well they are inconvenient after all when you have change management systems set up to remove them in order to make “needed” changes.
I realized that the reason I am helpful to others is because of the constant study I have put into motion over the years. I am an ExcelCEO master. Only 10% ever graduate from that study, but I made it, because I applied what I was learning on my own projects. I can make it do things that Excel was not originally designed to do. You may experience one of my products if you would like a calendar that calculates holidays for you. https://thegoodeggblog.com/product/excel-calendar-template/ It does all kinds of things to make printing a calendar easy. Here is where you get to use my planner-page design to customize your own principle-centered planning system that does not require batteries. It was fun to learn the frequencies of the holidays and how to apply them to a Gregorian calendar that would update each year.
Exhausted, I fell asleep and my brain kept working, opening my soul to the message and a beautiful scene appeared before me as if in a virtual world of spinning, orbiting bodies in the universe, ever expanding, and full of mystery. I knew instantly that every detail of the vast universe was planned, orchestrated, implemented for a grand purpose. My mind was filled with the clear impression that I simply had not the capacity to understand the smallest part of its complexity, and then as if returning to the world I knew, my mind began to ponder the detail of everything that surrounds me and I realized it all had revolutions, and synchronization more detailed than any manmade clock. As I continued pondering my knowledge of biology, chemistry, and technology, I had the vivid realization expand to my mind concerning the utter mystery of the miniscule and moreover the affirmation that every detail of it was indeed planned and executed and all these things were not only known by a loving creator, but were in constant control for His purposes. I was left with a feeling of nothingness in relation to the majesty my mind beheld and the love my heart perceived.
In summation, planning is important to our development. Our meager plans may not seem like much, nor may they prove fruitful, but the exercise expands our ability to invent and over time improves our chances for success.
Use my planner and make it your own. Decide what matters most in your life and ponder what you want to achieve, set long-range goals and then make a habit of writing and carrying out weekly achievements in each of your most valuable roles or activities that will help lead you to your dreams. Share those dreams with me if you dare.
Looking Back 20/20
For some, 20/20 vision is a regretful thing. We get to see our weaknesses through a lens of context, something most of us are not privy to as we walk through life. Context is everything, so looking back frequently can help us make course corrections. What we hope to gain is some kind of measure we can use to avoid the mistakes of the past, and this is the topic of today’s post.
That measurement is derived from experience, history, or the big picture. 2020 sucked for most of us, but let’s look at some context to know what might be in our future. After all, recent memories can be the clearest and may provide some insight. What actually happened?
Government was under siege all year. This was Trump’s last year, and though he was plagued with phony investigations and constant media maligning, he actually did quite well at following through with his promises. The election was very close, almost too close to call, thanks to the rampant corruption throughout many battleground cities. It seemed like a year of superlatives. Even the laws that mitigate a breakdown of society were ignored, almost as if some power intended our demise in the US.
Economic disruption was severe. Though we showed real recovery early in the year and some toward the end of the year, the COVID-19 pandemic affected everyone. We may never know who sent the virus to the world, but shutdowns of small businesses, schools, and churches were enforced by state and local governments. Travel to and from heavily affected countries was blocked. People were locked up for having family gatherings, and many lost their jobs. There were times when toilet paper was in short supply, because of the run on needed commodities. Store shelves were bare.
On the other hand, media outlets, internet companies, and large businesses had plenty of business. Public entities were financed by our taxes that continued to be paid. For us in the South, it seemed like hurricane season is all, but the big stores recovered quickly and Amazon online sales went through the roof. Gun sales soared. Families were reunited and had lots of time together. People were able to reflect on their relationships and purpose. Jobs that should have been work-at-home jobs were brought home. For us, the time was very well spent on what matters most and getting our house in order.
Social shifts were happening everywhere. With churches closed, we went online to communicate. People started to flee cities and states that were in lockdown. Facebook started censoring its own customers and using biased third-party services to shut down anyone with new information or a different opinion from big-media narratives. Riots broke out, during the pandemic, in cities with groups hating on government and cops. Arson claimed large areas in the western states. Racial tensions were amplified by communist groups and fueled by video clips of cops killing blacks. People of all races joined in to support the oppressed and call for truth and equity.
The moral ethos changed. It was hard to explain it, but if I were to summarize, I would say the truly religious became more religious and the godless became more godless. Rich became richer and poor became poorer. The powerful grabbed more power. The oppressed were more oppressed. People that were on the fence for the most part were faced with a choice to make. It was easy now to disassociate, so if they really wanted religion they had to do something about it. War did not break out and Israel signed many peace accords, and surprising alliances of people from differing denominations made real strides in coming together to address the growing humanitarian needs in the world.
My takeaway is, as always, you get what you give. Many were required to make sacrifices and those sacrifices made us stronger. Now it is up to us to take what we learned and move into the new year with determination and eyes wide open.
Back to Liberty People
Let’s get back to liberty. I read an article about the government making decisions that had unintended consequences. That got my juices flowing. Just know that before I get into my rant some things don’t need course adjustments, like our constitutional rights. The government at all levels in the United States doesn’t get to ignore these. It is up to citizens to exercise our rights wisely and hold our elected officials accountable for their duty to their oath to uphold and defend the constitution. That is our responsibility as Americans.
Sure, the government has a role to play to report to us. Tell us what’s going on and assist if asked, but there is a line not to cross. That line is my home, my church, my speech, my thoughts, my privacy, and my ability to defend myself and my community from tyranny and terror. I am not a criminal. I am a citizen. Laws and regulations that cross that line are invalid, unconstitutional, and immoral. Agencies crossing those lines had better be justified based on factual evidence of a crime, not hearsay, bias, profiling, accusations, etc. We are innocent and should be treated with respect. You work for us.
The governments, federal, state, and local must own their mistakes and stop changing the rules so they don’t apply to them. They should stop making laws that make criminals out of good people. Laws should be understandable, enforceable, and nothing should be hidden in them that is not apparent in the title. They should stop giving themselves raises when they can’t even balance the budget. We don’t need to bail them out again. They should start by cutting all pork from all laws. The government should not be paid until they have paid off the debt. I realize that the government is a huge entity, but outside the military defending our boarders the rest can and should be taken care of by citizens. They should not make us pay with taxes. They should sell lands and holdings back to the citizens for the same price they paid for the property. They should get rid of agencies and departments that are getting in the way of the prosperity of its citizens. They should stop the incentives and favors paid to special interests, colleges, foreigners, corporate monopolies, banks, and the thousands of places that live off government grants–these are bleeding us dry.
If they have an idea of how we can live better and they have developed that idea into a product or service we want, we will pay for it ourselves. In fact, they could sell the idea and let the market regulate. After all, we all want better. Taxation is theft. Printing money is theft. End the theft! They should stop taking out loans from our enemies to pay for programs we don’t even want. They should stop funding organizations like Planned Parenthood that are engaged in murder. They should stop stealing children from parents. Sure if the parents are both felons and in jail someone needs to help the children, but it does not need to be the government. There are many people who want to be parents and can’t. Social services must be reformed and removed from playing the role of parents.
Right now, because of government regulations, good food is being thrown out. Remove the barriers to distribution and other industries that are monopolistic in nature. They don’t need government protection nor regulation. At a time like this barriers need to be removed. The free market needs to be unleashed. Intrastate commerce, especially food production, should not be regulated by the federal government. Labeling needs to be truthful. I can see some oversite there, but they are not even enforcing that well.
You may oppose these ideas or agree. After all, I will admit this is only one man’s opinion. Write to me about what you think. Let’s have a dialog. I seek to understand your opinions also. Don’t be afraid of what others will think. Think for yourself and speak to one another. Advocate
Not Smart
Stop trying to smart yourself into success. Sure, get an idea about where you want to start. Brainstorm for 10 minutes, outline your thoughts, look at the mess, but then find a place to begin. Focus on the one thing you can DO something about. Now stop thinking and get to work.
In school, I was taught to memorize what teachers thought was important.
Memorization never made a difference except on a multiple choice test.
Facts and Data can be stored in a computer, yet have no value.
Analyzing Data is futile until there is a reason for it, a problem to solve.
Important or not, there was something lost when I didn’t discover it myself.
Solving the problem takes new thinking, and that comes from work. Apply the data. Make a move. Sweat a little and your mind starts to open to discover more aspects, problems that were hidden, muscles that were unused, relationships ignored. Yes, work smarter but that does not happen without hard work. It’s the hard work that brings out the need to work faster, better, cheaper. Work the problem and people will credit you for the great thinker you are. Do it and it becomes part of you.
Unanticipated vs. Unprepared
As the Coronavirus COVID-19 rolls throughout the world, it has again made us more aware that there are things outside of our control that will affect our churches, schools, businesses and our lives. How we respond to such unexpected things may determine if we survive. In some cases, there is no time to respond without suffering major effects. The threat of thermonuclear war was enough to motivate people to prepare for the unthinkable when I was growing up, but as time has passed the warning has lost its power to motivate us. Individually, we have little control over how the markets will perform, whether a war will break out, if a virus will wipe us out, or if some other natural disaster will destroy.
What we do know can guide us to be prepared if we will take an inventory of the primary resources we need to function. For my business, it is the network to reach out to you. For my home, it is food, shelter, clothing, transportation. For my church, it is being able to teach and serve. For my school, it is being able to receive funding and retain students.
How do you focus on what matters the most? Make a list, brainstorm 10 minutes each morning and then prioritize that list by importance and then urgency. If you can’t get to all of it, don’t stress, investing your time in doing the important things will prepare you for any unforeseen calamity. To know what is important, learn from those who have already been there. After learning from my superiors, I may still need wisdom. For this, I seek a higher source and listen to that inner voice to allow providence to guide me. The more I do this, the better my decisions are. I can give example after example, but your own examples are more powerful. Send me some of your stories of doing the right thing, before the disaster occurred and how you were protected by following your inner promptings.
Getting Burned
You don’t always know when you’re going to get burned. Most of the time you were not trying to get burned, it just happened. Sure you learned not to touch the stovetop when it was on early, but then there was that volcanic microwave burrito you put in your mouth. As we get older we are more and more careful of dangers, but at some point fear of taking action can slow our response time into inaction and kill the growth our initiatives need. Knowing when to act is more about recognizing the urgency and the importance and being prepared to act when the risk is justified.
History
All we have is our history unless we fail to record it. I am one that regrets not recording my story well. I have been richly blessed with a wealth of experiences and in my hurry to pass them on, I sometimes waste my time on those who do not appreciate the gift.
When you write it down, it becomes lasting. For Christmas this year I was given some writing tools and was thereby reminded of my desire to record and share.
One of those projects was my family recipes. I started long ago to gather and maintain them. I produced a pamphlet, then my sister took it up and made a wonderful book she gave the family. Our copy was so worn that I wanted to revisit it and with permission, We edited and added missing entries. You will find it in the product store for free. It was a real labor of love.
Homemade Bread! Yum!
If you have not already started preparing for Thanksgiving guests, start now! Something we always enjoyed at Thanksgiving was the rolls. Well this bread recipe is able to do fried scones, sliced bread and rolls.
Try it out and tell me your stories and recipes that cannot be missed this Thanksgiving. greatnessfactor@gmail.com
Building the Good Egg
I have been adding to the nest of contributors. From time to time check out what the chicks are up to in the menu. Links to the various pages will be highlighted in yellow for you to explore. Today lessons for Excel were linked and a recipe for bread was posted there. You will not get notifications of these activities. They are there for you to enjoy any time you come to the chicks menu item.