I just finished a conversation with my daughter and her parting remarks were, “I still have to get the great big list of things done! “As big as my list is, her’s is bigger. It was in that moment the question, “How do you eat and elephant?” popped into my mind. I smiled and began writing this article, which was the next thing on my list.
This might be a simple example, but it was in this moment of time for me a perfect example of an important success principle. Yet as I reflect upon it, it is really about so much more. The underlying habits and principles we build into our daily lives are important. They are a foundation which allow us to continue to move forward in the direction we want, rather than being blown off course. Jesus talks about the house that has a foundation built on rock being able to withstand the storms which come that way (Matthew 7:24-25).
Deliberately choosing to be principle motivated and build habits that generate positive responses in challenging moments is a worthwhile action. These choices are easier to make before the storms come your way, than in the middle of “a situation.”
Far too many people drift from one day to the next, to the next, giving very little thought to the process of building their character and developing a positive and powerful mindset. How do you eat and elephant? One mouthful at a time. How do you build your character and develop a positive and powerful mindset? One decision, one step, one action at a time. What will you do today to prepare for what will be? Remember, your thoughts, beliefs, words, and intentions impact your actions, which create what will be.
I have said it before and will say it a whole lot more in the future, “What you think, and what you believe, and what you say, and the intentions of your heart matter, because they impact your actions which determine the outcomes in your life.” This is one of those concepts which take five minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. The layers of insight go very deep when you begin to truly understand the facets being revealed.
The habits you are manifesting in your life, right now, are the result of repetitive thoughts and actions which have built strong neural pathways in your brain and now are automatic in their patterning. These habits form a mindset out of which you are currently living.
Maxwell Maltz wrote something in The New Pscho-Cybernetics which caught my attention. He stated, “The word ‘habit’ originally meant a garment or clothing. . . . Our habits are literally garments worn by our personalities. They are not accidental or happenstance. We have them because they fit us. They are consistent with our self-image and our entire personality pattern. When we consciously and deliberately develop new and better habits our self-image tends to outgrow the old habits and grow into the new pattern.”
You can begin to predict responses from individuals you meet regularly in terms of their mindset patterns and habits. If you were to ask someone like Ed Foreman, “how are you,” you know you will get a response which includes the word, “terrific.” You likely know someone else you really do not want to ask that question to, because the response will at best be a weak or whiny “fine” and more often well over in the negative territory.
Norman Vincent Peale wrote a short piece on John 10:10. He said, “Many people are lacking in energy. Their vitality is low. They are filled with inner conflicts, which dissipate energy. They are dull and apathetic.” This is a reflection of their habits and mindset. Their thoughts, beliefs, words, and intentions are impacting their actions and creating their outcomes.
Dr. Peale continued, “Every day as you repeat this text make it read, ‘Christ has come that I (fill in your name) might have life and might have it more abundantly.’”
What you choose to focus on and create through your thoughts, beliefs, words and intentions will be what you manifest in your life. You are 100% responsible for your habits and what they look like and the results they produce.
There is always a way to get something done, even when you do not see a possibility on your radar screen. What is viewed as impossible, is simply a place where the answer has not revealed itself yet. When you are open to the possibility an answer or solution exists, you move in a manner that allows you to see what is right before your eyes. As an example, if I chose to look out certain windows in the front of our house I could come to the conclusion there is no way I will ever get any mail because I cannot see a mail box out at the road. However, should I believe there is a mail box, I then have the opportunity to consider, why not look out a different window. When I do, I can then find a window which reveals there is a mail box there.
Now I am in a position to be able to determine whether I have mail, because I can see if the flag on the mail box is up or down. I know this is a strange concept for many people who collect their mail from a community box, or have it delivered to their door. But we actually get rural mail delivery while residing in town.
It seems we are more unique than many people, and I suspect, this applies to a lot of areas in our life. While seeking to bring insurance policies from several companies together, our two month journey, which took us to the territory of, “this is a unique situation,” ” it is impossible, you can’t do that,” to the reality of all papers signed a couple of day ago!
Did the process mean some effort? Did the process mean some creativity? Did the process mean some perseverance? Was there an answer to the “impossible”? Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! To each of these questions.
I put up a post on Face Book a couple of days ago in which I apologized for the quality of the live streaming of our Church service on Sunday. We were looking to live stream a training event the next day on the Monday morning, but chose to delay the start of the event in order to attempt to find a solution to the glitch. The challenge for us related to the fact while we were using the highest speed levels and band width available from our phone company, it barely meets the minimum required for live streaming. Anything which diminishes that transmission tips the scale against the transmission quality. In looking for options, our phone company has no plans to upgrade the quality of service for at least 5 to 10 years. Oh by the way, your contract was automatically renewed and there is a steep penalty if you chose to end it. Cable does offer a variety of options to meet our current needs, but finding a way right now to absorb the cost of the penalty, plus the costs of setup on cable is impossible, right? Not if you know there is an answer, you just haven’t found it yet.
The cable company is scheduled to come Friday morning to install their equipment. We will be able to do what we need to do for live streaming without the question will this work? It will no longer take more than four plus hours to upload a thirty minute video to the internet. The cost of installation? Oh, there was a promotion right now for new customers. The installation fees are waived. The large up front cost to break the contract? Well, if we simply keep the service and pay the monthly fee until the end of the contract, we pay about the same amount, but we don’t have to pay the total right now and get nothing for it. We also have a back up option, poor as it might be, should we need it.
Having a mindset which believes in the possible, even when things look impossible is something you might want to consider moving towards in your life. There was a father whose son was having physical challenges. The situation was desperate. No one had been able to help his son, including the disciples of Jesus. When the father finally met Jesus, he said, “if you can do anything, help us.” Jesus response to the father, as recorded in Mark 9:23, is very important and revealing. He said, “If You can? Everything is possible to the one who believes.”
Your faith, your belief, is the catalyst which allows the possible to reveal itself when the impossible looms large. What do you believe?
You do know, your subconscious mind can be a great ally, or a strong opponent in your life, right? You are the one responsible for the programming which runs through your subconscious mind. As a young child, even before you had the capabilities of discernment, assessment and filtering about what was coming your way, your subconscious mind was operating in “save” mode and setting up the parameters of operation based upon the inputs it was receiving.
As I began to learn more about the influence and impact of the operation of the subconscious mind upon our daily actions, I began to see more clearly the value in making a choice to include it in the process of committing my life to God. There are those who would suggest the subconscious mind is the gatekeeper or watchman in our thinking. It automatically obeys the commands and data which it has been given, good or bad. Many years ago now, using my imagination, I made the choice to identify the Holy Spirit as the One who would be in charge of my subconscious mind. He would be the One who would be in control of the data flow, not only for my benefit, but for God’s glory through my life. I have found this a very beneficial arrangement and offer this idea to you for your consideration.
The Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 3:2, “Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth.” The focus of our mind is important to our welfare and the data we chose to operate with determines whether we have a powerful ally, or a strong opponent working from within us.
As I write this article I am operating from a short night. I have been seeking to solve a specific challenge for many months without a resolution. In reading the book, The New Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz I came across his suggestion to turn an issue you are looking to resolve over to your subconscious servo-mechanism for the answer, which I did. A couple of nights ago I woke up in the middle of the night with the first pieces of the solution. Last night I knew I needed to get out of bed and start writing down what I was being given. While there are still a few things to work out, I have enough of what I need to move forward with what it is I was seeking. In fact, I have discovered several other challenges have simple and easy solutions, which only days ago seemed impossible.
When you allow the Holy Spirit the opportunity to guide the processes of your subconscious mind and then specifically ask for direction, you can know the answer is already on the way. 1 John 5:14-15 tells us, “This is the confidence we know we have in Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. {15} And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked Him for.”
There are those who have stated the importance of dressing for success. At the same time other speak of the need to look beyond appearance to see the character and value of each human being. Often there is a broad canyon that exists between these two points of view. What I would suggest for your consideration is, what message do you want to convey to others about yourself in the moment of first impression?
There is potential our eyes and even our ears can be deceived and we need to be aware of this situation. At the same time we are not to judge others before we even know them. Dr. David Schwartz make a point we ought to consider as we think about this issue. He writes in The Magic of Thinking Big, “Your appearance talks to you; but it also talks to others. It helps determine what others think of you. In theory, it’s pleasant to hear that people should look at a man’s intellect, not his clothes. But don’t be misled. People do evaluate you on the basis of your appearance. Your appearance is the first basis of evaluation other people have. And first impressions last, out of proportion to the time it takes to form them.”
The choices we make related to our appearance do speak about how we feel regarding our self and convey that message to others about how we expect to be treated. It really does not matter what we think about this aspect in our world, it is what it is, and we would do well to take heed about it. Our appearance sends out an energetic vibration which others quickly feel and respond to, without even knowing about it or understanding it.
The truth is our intention should never be to simply impress someone. Our intention should reflect our desire to be and represent the best version of our self possible. As someone who has said YES to the relationship with Jesus we are ambassadors and representatives in the world for Him. In reality, it is about our appearance and also our character. When you put forward the best of both of these two feet you increase the percentage of making a positive impression that will open doors which otherwise would remain closed to you.
Think about your intentions and the message you want to convey through your appearance as you activate the choices in your day. You are influencing someone who is watching you.
