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If the things you "believe in" are not worth fighting for, then they also are not worth "believing in"

Someone who is overconfident in their thinking rarely makes much progress in life. Leaders learn from others who are more accomplished

Things that matter most are the things that inspire others to fight for you or to fight against you. if ur not in a fight...well u get it

What are you doing today that your peers will demand it be written into history?

We cannot make a difference outside ourselves if we insist on staying the same inside ourselves

We cannot make a difference outside ourselves if we insist on staying the same inside ourselves

What You Don’t Know About LIFE Will Hurt You!

Raised on a farm, I am blessed to have parents who taught me the value of education and respecting an earned dollar through hard work.  I was always a serious student, and I learned how to get good grades, but what I enjoyed most were the leadership roles I had in student council, colorguard, and other organizations.  Learning how to inspire and serve others was exhilarating as we worked together toward our goals.  This is where I felt the most alive.  I had a strong desire to change the world, and I thought becoming a lawyer might be the answer.  
After a series of seemingly random events, I decided to go to Kansas State University to pursue a double major in Architecture and Architectural Engineering.  My advisor told me this seven-year dual-degree program was a combination of the most time-consuming degree and the second-most difficult degree.  Being choleric, I smugly accepted the challenge.  I made that decision at 17 years old, and I never looked back no matter how many people advised me otherwise over those seven years.  One of those people was my mom, who half-way through this program sent me a letter.  She added up all the years I had left until I had both licenses, and told me how old I would be.  She then asked me if I had considered how a marriage and family would fit into my plan.  I didn’t know.  I was so career-driven, that it hadn’t occurred to me the sacrifices I was blindly making in other areas of my life.  It would be several more years before I would realize this for myself.
The greatest blessing during college was meeting Ryan.  I immediately knew he was the one for me, though I didn’t think I deserved him.  He graduated before me, so we had a long-distance relationship for three years, and then the next year, I lived in Houston for a healthcare architecture fellowship.  The next year, we were married and decided to make St. Louis our home.  I got a great job at a well-known architecture firm and continued working in healthcare.  This was a very promising career track for me professionally, but it required a lot of travel and overtime. 
After a few years of this lifestyle, it finally began to occur to me that I wanted more than just a successful career, thanks to my husband’s leadership.  He saw more for us than what was defined by the lifestyle of two architects.  He began to dream about where and how we would live if we could choose.  I was reluctant to dream-build with him, because I didn’t know how we would put food on the table.  He said he didn’t know, but we would figure it out, and he started trying.  We explored options in real estate, inventions, and self-employed business ventures, to no avail.  We now know that the reason those weren’t successful, is because we were relying on information we already knew to make them work.  We didn’t know what we didn’t know, and it was hurting us.  
It wasn’t until we were reacquainted with my hometown friends, Brandon & Kristina Brazier, that we learned the answers lie in new information from people who have what we want in LIFE. Brandon showed Ryan the plan for the Team opportunity after he realized how dissatisfied we were in the rat race of corporate America.  Ryan tried to explain it to me, and I didn’t get it, but I trusted Brandon and Ryan’s judgment.  We went to a monthly seminar, and the rest is history.  We didn’t understand much about the business, but we knew that these were people who had what we wanted and they were willing to help us.  We saw how applicable this information could be in our personal and professional lives.  Being around the people in LIFE awoke in me the same exhilaration I had in high school leadership roles, mostly the love of learning how to truly make a difference.
Being career-driven, I had some things to learn from LIFE.  I didn’t know it was possible to earn my freedom and live my priorities instead of my obligations.  I didn’t know I could earn a living without having to separate how the Bible says I’m supposed to live my life.  I didn’t know the joy of making an eternal difference in other people’s lives by helping them with their marriage, parenting, faith, or finances.  I didn’t know how desperately this country needs freedom restored, and that I can help.  I didn’t know that retirement has nothing to do with age.  I didn’t know my purpose-the thrill of pursuing God’s definition of a woman of excellence.  I didn’t know how to be a wife of excellence.  I didn’t know the peace that comes from my husband being the spiritual leader of our home.  I didn’t know that being a mom is the most rewarding, challenging, fulfilling and significant career I could ever have, and thanks to our results in LIFE, I now have job security as a full-time mom!
My dream to change the world is coming true thanks to the LIFE business that Chris Brady & Orrin Woodward have designed and implemented.  We are grateful to the Braziers for introducing us to the Team’s systematic approach to a better LIFE, and for the coaching of Chris & Marcia Robinson and mentoring of Mark & Rita Haas in the areas of Faith, Family, Finances, Freedom, Following, Fitness, Fun and Friends.  Do yourself, your friends, and your family a favor and find out what you don’t know about LIFE!  Your legacy depends on it.
 What didn’t you know about LIFE that has impacted your legacy?  Please share and post to FB.

Convictions drive courage

The key ingredient to building trust is not time, but courage - Patrick Lencioni

The person who is not disciplined in the right habits will always be at the mercy of someone who is.

If you are the same person you were a month ago, your level of influence with spouse, children, friends, and coworkers is the same also

Jam1:26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, & does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless.

I'm enjoying reading the LIFE ago subscription this month..."Am I really a Christian? - Mike McKinley

A Large Place

Yesterday's Scripture Sweet was Psalm 118:5.  "I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place."  I've always found the Lord's response to the Psalmist's plea quite interesting.  This morning as we discussed this scripture as a family several thoughts rang through my mind.  This ancient recording does not read that the Lord answered him and "rescued him from his afflictions," "lightened his load," or "saved him from distress."  Instead, it simply states that he was answered by being set in a large place.  I am struck by the reality that in the midst of personal adversity, He gives us room to grow.  What a blessing this is!! Yes, he commands perfection (Matthew 5:48), and He offers us His grace along our journey.

I am blessed with friends and family that have also "set me in a large place."  I feel their grace also as they have repeatedly given me room to grow on my journey through this mortal life.  Michelangelo once shared, "Every block of stone has a statue inside it, and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it."  As the stone is carved away, the David beneath is revealed.  In that sense, there's nothing to attaining perfection either.  With the help of the Almighty, we can remove all the obstacles in our life that would stand in the way of perfection. In a grander sense, our inner Davids slay our personal Goliaths on a daily basis.

How is this accomplished?  In many ways, the task seems insurmountable.  In enters LIFE and the Mental Fitness Challenge.  Yes, our greatest tool for perfection is God's word.  However, we have been given companion tools that are specifically designed to help us along our journey.  The Mental Fitness Challenge (MFC) designed by Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward is a revolutionary way to start our journey to perfection!  Changes come best if we take one item at a time.  The MFC starts out by offering us a baseline view of ourself through the Self-Assessment and 360 degree feedback.  By examining our Wheel of LIFE we can target key areas of our life that are those pieces of stone ready for crumbling.  When we perform the daily steps of the MFC...reading 15 minutes, listening to two audios, watching the video, reviewing our goal, and taking specific action toward that goal...we are chiseling away at the sculpture waiting to be revealed.  The Challenge Group environment helps us to see how the mallet is working in the lives of other LIFE members and customers, and our chisels are sharpened through the LIFE subscriptions and LIFE's coaching and mentoring process.

What better way to achieve perfection than by focusing on one area at a time! Striving for perfection in business? home? family?  Begin with one area in your life and become perfect in it!  Add trust in your relationships by becoming perfect at always being on time.  Show your wife you love her by becoming perfect at speaking her love language.  Increase your health and wellness by becoming perfect at quitting smoking.  Grow your business by becoming perfect at edifying and validating those you work with.  Share optimism by becoming perfect at avoiding negative self talk.

We have been set in a large place.  As pebbles in God's canyon, He awaits the discovery of our boulder within.

Prov 11:14 Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.

Eph 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up....

1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing

It's not that people plan to fail, they don't. The problem is that people don't plan NOT to fail.