Get out of the box.

"You really don't know you are in a box until they finally close the lid".

... I have spent most of my life trying to conform to a set of

rules that were primarily created to give the illusion of a control

that will keep you safe and comfortable. When we are in the box

everything feels pretty warm and safe and no real issues to deal with

daily. The problem is that with this comfort also comes a bridling of

your ability and creative nature. If you think about a job or even a

union job you can see how it really robs you of your ambition and

desire to chart your own course. In most controlled employment

environments the harder you work the more trouble you seem to cause.

If you think outside the box you are taunted because your ambition is

exposing there apathy. The more you do the more they try to control

you! The odd thing about it is that most people seem to prefer these

controlling environments because they can hide here and never have to

really perform at a very high level. Before you know it the lid

begins to shut on you and your greatest assets can begin to die.

Dreams, ambition, creativity, thinking for yourself, ingenuity and

most leadership skills fade when the lid comes down. Look around

yourself in all the environments that you are in and ask yourself are

truly free or are you clinging to the safe confines of the box?

In order to make an extraordinary jump in life you are going to have

to ignore conventional behaviors. You are going to have to do and

think in way that you have never done before. Think about it, if what

you knew and were doing was going to get the job done don't you think

it would have worked by now! Our natural tendency is to turn to what

we know and what we are familiar with. The problem is that you have

already been down this road and your soul is craving something that

allows you to freely express yourself and achieve your highest

calling. We all want to do out best but then we rely on what we know

and we have always done and then get the same results. This is a new

era folks and the rules of the game have changed! Customizing, mobile

flexible, unique and non conforming are the model of the next 10

years. Your old styles and approaches will cripple your efforts at

making a massive breakthrough.

You are so close and I believe have been prepared your entire life for

this time right now to break out and make a radical leap in life. You

must learn to try and avoid the trap of faith in the familiar.

Building new habits is the key to breaking free. Our strengths become

our weaknesses if we rely on them too heavily. If you have ever rock

climbed you have probably found yourself relying too much on your

hands instead of your feet and legs. Before you know it you have

nothing left in your hands. We are all familiar with using our hands

to pull ourselves up and so that's what we do. But any good rock

climber will tell you its all in the legs and you have to ignore the

temptation of doing what you know and embrace the new unfamiliar

strength that is just waiting to be used. This change will bring

about an awareness that you never new existed and new tools begin to

show up in your life. "if your only tool is a hammer, you approach

every problem like it is a nail".

Being aware of the box is the first step. Please take a look around

and ask yourself if you are being encouraged to be creative and

instinctive or to just "follow" or just "do your job"? Our

authorities can cloak this with being nice and friendly but you have

to understand that if you keep doing the same thing you will keep

having the same thing. We are in an era where everything is

reinventing; are you?? If you want change then be the change! The

world needs you to start thinking and creating!

The safe, comfortable confines of the box are actually a trap and

eventually the lid will close. Either you will lose hope or control.

Its funny how the box feels good with the lid off. We can still look

up and have the illusion of being free because we can still see out.

But, when they close the lid all of that goes away and now its too

late to get out and do something about it.

Is the "frog boiling"? Many of you have heard the story about the frog

in a pan of cold water that could have easily jumped out but as the

water was getting hotter and hotter the frog did not make the jump

because the change was so subtle day by day that it didn't even notice

it. The water eventually boils on the stove and the frog dies, all

along it could have jumped out and changed its destiny. Are you in a

"pan" I bet you are and don't even know it! Just look around and see

what you are comparing yourself too. Is it all a bunch of people in

the same hot water, is that your standard? Well then please jump out

and embrace change and harness your God given creative abilities. We

have plenty of followers, be a leader and lead change by being change.

Break free by thinking freely!!

Find comfort in the discomfort

How many times does life come down to a precious moment?

I have always encouraged everyone to live every moment like its our last and to celebrate everything in our lives but, lets be honest, there are always a few moments that stand out from all the others and seem to be the defining moments in our lives. When I was just out of High School I decided to make a run at being a professional tennis player. It had been my dream for as long as I could remember. I trained for hours every day with the deep passionate dream of playing in Wimbledon stadium. However the one area of the game that I neglected was the mental aspect of competing at the highest level in front of large crowds or media. As I climbed through the rankings I found myself in front of bigger crowds and sometimes in front of reporters that were looking for a snap shot or story. It was at these times that I would always play my worst and fold under the pressure. It would irritate me so deeply that I nearly quit the game as a result of my constant failures. In fact, it was this failure that led too my game ending car crash that put me in the hospital and ultimately prematurely ended my career.

Later in life I found myself speaking in front of tens of thousands of people all over the world and once again consumed by great fear and discomfort. I knew I had to find a way to get this under control in order to be effective. So I decided to find a way to reverse the polarity of this effect. I worked to convince myself that instead of thinking that this feeling I had in my gut and my elevated heartbeat were a result of fear, that in fact it was a result of hundreds of people and God himself encouraging me throughout the universe. I made a decision in my mind that all of these feelings, that I used to call “choking”, were in actually the effects of all these life forces sending positive energy and love my way, that they were praying and encouraging me to be calm, confident and bold. Suddenly I would feel a great calmness and confidence come over me. I could feel what we would call “home field advantage” take over my presence. I would stand taller, speak clearer and convey much more passion because I could feel all these beautiful people saying “go for it” “you are awesome” “we are with you” “set them free” “help them heal”. It was truly a beautiful thing to experience.

I referred to this feeling as the “pull”. I could feel them all pulling and praying for the best to happen. The pull is something that we can all embrace when we feel the elevated pulse and nervous energy. Something beautiful and special is about to happen. You are stretching your comfort zone and reaching for new levels of impact in your life. The Universe wants to see you succeed! Embrace this feeling as a gift from God. Doctors would call it adrenalin; I call it special juice to take us to a new level of impact. Don’t fear it, embrace the uncomfortable and call upon the love of the world that needs a new hero.

Look for opportunities to harness this special life force and you will learn to find great comfort in the uncomfortable. You are awesome and the world wants to see you overcome.

Doubt your doubt

Doubt isn’t always a bad thing. Most of us have spent a season or two doubting our abilities, our dreams or ourselves. I would like for you to consider making this emotion work for you. Why don’t you choose to doubt your doubt? They only thing you should doubt is the limits that we have allowed into our lives. If doubt is something that has placed limits on your dreams or commitments then make it work for you by doubting that there is something you cant do.

Nobody has the ability to absolutely see the future right? Then why don’t we cut lose on any limiting thoughts and really just go for it. Doubt is just misplaced faith. You believe more in your obstacles and inabilities than you do your gifts. If we can see the future, lets just place faith in what is possible and doubt on those that say its impossible.

then nothing would ever have been invented. Others say that they have to have overwhelming evidence to really believe but I would ask you has anyone ever provided overwhelming evidence that you cant. My guess is that they have not so lets just believe and see what might happen.

Belief or doubt are kinda like love and trust. You can’t make it happen or force it to be, but we can act like we do. We may not have the capacity to love and trust everyone but do have the capacity to act like we do! Our actions and our beliefs can be different if it serves our intentions. Over time both of these will align as our actions give root to deeper love and trust or in this case suspending doubt and instilling belief.

We make a choice every day how we are going to act. Let your conscious mind dictate the decisions that will honor your intentions. Speak and act every day like you know whom you are, what you do and where you are going. These choices will be the wellspring of great confidence and belief.

You’re never ready!

Perfect timing means that the visionaries have already started! Many people feel like they need to be fully organized and prepared for every possible option. I am a proponent of being organized and prepared for whatever endeavor you are about to embark on, but I am very concerned about analysis paralysis. Taking too much time to plan and organize every detail can take away from the stimulation of spontaneous energy. There is just something special about launching into a project with a wild heart and adventurous spirit. I am not suggesting you take life threatening chances or making moral decisions that could have life long prices. However, being in the creative, first to market position can activate some passions that can propel you into the next generation of your industry.

There are four basic guidelines I suggest when attempting to break free and radically change your life. First, be in the present moment and act! Try to avoid saying “some day” or “we are going to” and replace them with “now” and “we are”. The other day I was discussing some ideas with a friend of mine, Luke, and I said “ we are going to have so much fun” and he politely added “we ARE having so much fun!” It was a friendly reminder to honor my own rules of staying in the present, acting now and enjoying the beauty of what was going on right then. Secondly you must add passion to your thoughts, words and actions. People learn more from observing you than any other method. Passion is the multiplier of everything we do. You get an exponential boost in your results and your team gets the example that they can quickly feed off of. My third guideline is to make sure that you have a coach/mentor that has been down the road a bit and can guide you through some difficult situations. But, I want you to be aware of “over coaching” or the possibility of “lazy mind” that can destroy your intuitive and creative mind. Be your own person but use the discernment and wisdom of those that have deep experience. Lastly be willing to change on the fly. The only real teacher out there is life itself! If you are unwilling to fail then you will certainly never move ahead.

Don’t confuse being ready with feeling ready! Don’t wait for the feeling to convince you. BE ready by taking the first step and accept failure as the great teacher. If you wait for the feeling you may never start, let alone finish. Act without fear! Fear is the unwillingness to accept temporary failure! If you know you will get up then take a few falls and learn that it doesn’t hurt that bad and you have just uncovered proof that it wont work that way! Repetition is the mother of all skill and the only mistake is not learning from our mistakes.

The time is now! I hope you’re not ready! Attack, learn, live with passion, take counsel and keep on changing! There is nothing that you cant do!!

What are you expecting?

...One of the most important keys to breaking free is to change your level of expectation. You will never rise above your lever of expectations nor will you ever rise above your level of confession. What you expect and what you speak will always determine your level of accomplishment. These have become huge barriers on our society today. It has been drilled into our heads that it is better to lower your expecWhat does it mean to respect something? I believe it means to pay attention to it, to realize its capacity and be aware of its potential. Well then how much potential is in your potential? I would have to say that the answer to this would be infinite. There really is no limit to the potential of your potential. It feeds itself and builds on itself perpetually with every growth and learning experience.

Several years ago I coached a 12 year old baseball team that started off losing several of its first 10 games. I could tell that this team was either going to succeed or fold based on how they handled these early days. We discussed potential over reality. We discussed that we may not be winning many games now but that if we worked hard and were willing to persevere our potential would kick in and things would turn around. The boys all decided to stick together and get to work. We practiced for hours and hours every day, up to 8 and 9 hours on the weekends. There attitude and work habit became infectious and they began to win some games. We decided to enter a tournament in Las Vegas and match our skills up against some the best team on the West coast. We scraped by our first game and knocked off some of the doubt that had crept in as a result of listening to the rumors of how good everyone else was. We won our second game by a big margin and the confidence began to rise even hire. Our potential was building even more potential. Two days later we found ourselves in the finals against what was believed to be the best team in California. We pulled a meeting before the first pitch and discussed all of our hard work and all of the barriers we had overcome in the past few months. We talked about how far we had come and how this is just one more of those breakthrough moments for us. Two hours later we were lying in a huge dog pile, the champions of the Las Vegas Fall Classic! Truly one of the great memories of my coaching career.

We had embraced our potential more than our abilities. “Hard work beats talent because talent often times wont work hard”. Your potential deserves more respect than your abilities. If you are willing to out-work the field you will often out-perform the field! Most people won’t work hard because they believe their limits instead of embracing their potential. Unfortunately this then hamstrings your work habit and the passion behind your efforts. The only way to insure that you will never miss a goal is to never set one. We have to be willing to set goals that are beyond our current beliefs! By the very definition of a goal we are required to set it beyond what we think we can do. They need to be something that has multiple obstacles to overcome in order to achieve the goal. How thrilling would it be to watch a sporting event if there was no defense? The greater the challenge the greater the thrill, thus calling up your supernatural abilities that lay dormant until passion, hope and adrenalin put them into action.

After all who really risks more? The person who sets huge goals and goes for it or the one who sets no goals and hits every one of them? Those that are willing to risk and then pursue with all their heart at least have a chance! They may just hit them or find something even greater along the way! But the one who risks nothing is guaranteed to get exactly what he strives for, NOTHING! Your only limits are based upon your own beliefs and what you are willing to attempt. Never forget that omission and commission are a decision. Commission gets the juices going and gives you a chance. Omission only fuels doubt and fear which will eventually kill all hope and terminate any actions.

So I would suggest that if you are someone who likes to avoid risks, to get going! If you do nothing you risk everything. If you set some goals and get going you reduce your risks and give yourself a chance to unlock the massive potential that is inside of you. We all have it but we must decide to step up, reach out and throw our hearts at our dreams. I cant wait to hear your stories. Please feel free to post hear and let me know of your personal breakthroughs. You will empower many and might just set someone free!tations to avoid the pain of failure than it is to expect great things and let the energy of that hope fuel your efforts. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The first thing you have to do is break free from limiting thoughts. Ask yourself now what beliefs do you carry around that are preventing you from really achieving great results. Do you think you are too old or too young? Does your level of education hinder you? Do you think you are shy or not confident enough to do certain things? Do you feel you are unworthy or unable? All of us carry around a few beliefs that we need to blow up and reinvent our thought processes. We will never, all of the sudden, surprise ourselves and blow through a belief level. We must believe we can before we ever will! That fact of the matter is that you can do anything you can conceive in your mind and believe in your heart!

Almost everything we have in this world today was at one time impossible. Laser surgery on eyes, heart transplants, computers, cars, telephones, air and space travel etc etc. what do we consider impossible today that will be common place many years from now. Somewhere out there someone is working away knowing in their heart that there is a way and they will find it. Is that you? What will you break through? Who would have ever thought that a phone would be a camera, gps system, music player, light, game station, computer, guitar tuner, shopping device, recorder, video camera, traffic monitor, surf and snow update and thousands of other applications. All we have to do is imagine it and get to work to make it so.

What company do you want to build? What habit do you want to build or break? What characteristic do you want to strengthen? Set an expectation well beyond what you want. Set it at a level that can impact the world. Be part of the great contribution in making this world more in love, in peace and in harmony. I would rather aim for Mars and hit the Moon than aim for a mud puddle and hit it! I cant wait for your breakthroughs and contributions. I am proud to be your friend not lets go for it!

START!

When my oldest boy Braden turned 10 years old he told me that he wanted to play professional baseball. I think most every young boy dreams of being a professional athlete at one time or another but there was just something different about how he said it to me. We were blessed to have a chunk of land out behind our house that appeared to be flat enough to build a baseball field so I thought I would give it a go. After all, how tough could it be to put grass down on a flat spot and through some bases down and call it good? I guess I never thought about the 50 trees in its way, the fact that the ground was not level, it was actually a glacial dump so it was full of rocks and I had no idea what I was doing. I can guarantee you that if I had taken all the time to plan, budget, measure and really think it through, I would never have built this field. Analysis paralysis would have stopped me dead in my tracks.

After 100 hours on a dozer 200 hours picking up rocks, 100 pallets of retaining wall bricks, 50 loads of top soil, 25 bags of seed a mile of irrigation pipe and a thousand hours of back breaking labor we introduced the finest private little league field in the state! We called it Duncan yards after my dear friend Brad Duncan who had mentored me for over 10 years. Since that opening ceremony we have held concerts, charity benefits, hundreds of games and impacted thousands of lives in our community. There is no doubt that all of these blessings were well worth all of the struggle.

The key to all of this is that we started and never looked back. There were many days that I asked myself “what in the heck am I doing” but I always went back to the dream of kids laughing and running all over this field. This vision carried me through all the hard days and streamed down my face as tears when I saw the first home run hit out of the park by my son.

You don’t have to know everything before you get started. I would admit that a plan is always a good idea but please don’t get so tied up in the planning and details that you don’t do the most important thing and that is get to work! Being in movement educates you. I would get on the web every night and learn more about what I needed to do the next days and weeks. I would stop every day at Home Depot and pick up the supplies for that days project. Day by day, hour-by-hour we chipped away at our dream. I surrounded myself with people that believed in the dream and we encouraged each other when the days got long and hot. Tom Gollatz, Kiley Floor and Glen Uekawa were instrumental in bringing this dream to fruition.

Every day we would learn a few more things. Mistake after mistake we learned our lessons. You see, if you are not in motion you can not collect enough data to learn what works and doesn’t work. We have to be in motion and recognize that there are no failures, there are only lessons. With lessons we can make adjustments and with adjustments and persistence we will always accomplish our goals.

I know that you want to break free so get started, be willing to make mistakes and never give up. I cant wait to see what you are going to do next!! Join me, lets go change the world!

Change things up

A few years ago I had the dream of becoming a professional golfer. I wasn’t really sure if I wanted the lifestyle of a golf pro but I knew that I wanted to be able to shoot under par golf. A few years earlier I had been introduced to the Player family on a trip to South Africa. I met Gary Player and his son Wayne and we quickly became friends. I asked Wayne if he would be willing to mentor me and coach me to my dream. He agreed and we launched into a friendship that I am sure will last a lifetime.

Wayne proceeded to break me down take me from shooting around 82 to 102 in about 3 months. I was out of my mind and incredible frustrated with our results to say the least. He told me to keep working on it and keep trusting him and that eventually things would sink in and the results would come fast and furious.

One day we were down in Phoenix Arizona working on my game and watching Gary play in the US Senior Open. We were warming up on the driving range and suddenly I noticed a man out of periphery. I looked up and was amazed to see the greatest golfer of all time, Jack Nicklaus. Gary stopped what he was doing and chatted a bit with his old friend and then asked Jack a question. He said “Jackie, my friend Brad here is working to be a professional golfer what would you say is the single most important key to being a great professional.” Jack said that hard work and trusting yourself are the keys to doing what you need to do when you need to do it! Being in complete awe I let this experience settle deep into my memory banks and those words ring through my head to this day.

A few days later I was on my way to the airport and those words kept ringing through me head. Suddenly an epiphany hit me and I drove straight to the driving range. I grabbed my clubs and ran straight to the tee box. I thought about all the hard work I had put in, I settled down and decided to trust what I had been taught and freely swing like I had never before. Right down the middle again and again as my confidence grew with every strike of the ball. It wasn’t much later that I was shooting in the 60s, in fact I had 6 rounds in a row in the 60s at one point.

I learned some incredible lessons through this process that have reshaped nearly every aspect of my life. First of all if you want to get better you may have to get worse first. Secondly, hard work always pays off, as long as you have good coaching that is helping you make adjustments. Thirdly, if I am willing to change things up and trust the process of my mentors I can accomplish anything I set my mind to.

What do you need to change? Is there a process that you have been doing for a long time that is not working? Maybe you need to change it up a bit? Have you hit a wall? Change your routine and mix things up. Be creative and find ways to do things differently and see what happens. If you lift weights and are stuck, change your routine and then come back to it. If your stuck at an athletic level, change who you train with. Find someone way better than you and let their excellence drive you. If you are a distance runner, do some speed work. If you are in a marketing industry, change your approach completely. Use multi media or a unique presentation tactic. If you play an instrument, try blind folding yourself for 3o minutes and see what you can do. Hang in there with it and trust that a breakthrough is coming. Change of your routines and turbo charge your passion into a whole new level of velocity.

Don’t settle for gradual progress! Look for an explosion and pursue your dreams with everything you’ve got! Change it up, you might find a way that changes the world!

Shake the box

...

When I was a kid it seemed like the only thing I ate was box serial. I know it was different but that is how I remember it. We all had our favorites and took full ownership of them. I can remember making my choices based on the little prizes inside the serial box. Sometimes we would dig all the way through the box to find it first or we would wait till the very end and shake it out with the final bowl full. Every time we would go to a ball game we would get one box of cracker jacks and we could hardly wait to see what the prize was. The treats were good but it was the hidden surprise that we all anticipated the most.

I think that we are all like this, except the hidden treasure is in you! I think you would be surprised, if you shook things up a little bit, what you might find. If you have the courage, I would like you to challenge yourself to make uncomfortable demands on yourself and see what surfaces. A friend of mine took me up a steep incline the other day that eventually turned into a rock-climbing scramble. Suddenly I found myself in a position that going up or down was a very scary move. I was paralyzed on the side of this mountain but knew I had to find a way. I watched them as they went through this area with so much ease I soon found myself in motion. Needless to say I made it through and the fear was actually completely in my head and unnecessary. If you will take the plunge and shake things up a bit you will find talents and traits that you have never believed in before.

I recently took a trip to Costa Rica where I realized that the only language spoken was Spanish. 20 years ago I studied Spanish in high school, but I was shocked at how much I could recall when I really needed to. Last week I was with my mom and she was having some computer issues. I was able to diagnose it and fix it all for her. I had no idea I knew anything about debugging computers but I guess I do.

We all have many hidden talents in us but perhaps we get stuck in doing what we know instead of digging for new ways. Most people get stuck in the familiar. Are you? Do you need to reinvent a few areas in order to break free? If you are a strong list maker why don’t you become an initiator and start doing instead of planning? If you are a very intellectual person why don’t you play dumb and work to accomplish things by connecting deeply with people instead? If you are a very serious person why don’t you focus on being really fun or if you are the life of the party why don’t you try being the serious one and see what happens? If you are dependent of others why don’t you try to be totally independent for a bit or if you are totally independent why don’t you switch it up and evaluate what gifts you might find?

There’s more in there folks, I guarantee it! Shake the box a little, get uncomfortable and develop new strengths. Snow board with your other foot forward, eat with your other hand, learn other forms of communication like signing or brail. Say hi to people you would otherwise walk by. Hug instead of shaking hands. Switch it up and see how alive you feel. Just the increase in your heartbeat and brain waves is worth the exercise in itself.

I am proud of you, expand your gifts, break free and lets go heal the world.

OUT IN OUT!

Nearly 20 years ago I was encouraged to start my own business and break out of the corporate rat race. I was good at the corporate game and had quickly ascended to management and was in position to be a partner in a few more years. There was no guarantee this would happen since it was based upon the decisions of other people. I learned that the best way to predict your future was to invent it. I took the chance and I am glad I did! My business became a multi-national success that has helped people all over the world. The co-workers that I was competing with for partnership are still waiting their turn.

I decided it was time to make my own identity and pursue life at the pace and style that best suited my dreams instead of letting someone else determine that path. I also decided to build the kind of man that I wanted to be. I had a good idea of the person I wanted to be and decided to invent those traits in my mind. I decided to shape my own mind in a way that would eventually dictate what I was on the outside.

We are all living a manifestation of what has been going on in our minds for quite some time. That is a fortunate or unfortunate reality for all of us! Our life really is an inside job that starts on the outside and eventually ends on the outside but must pass through our hearts and minds first.

I would like to encourage you to take some time to write down exactly the kind of person you want to be in 5 years. Be very specific with these answers. Think about your health, finances, relationships, faith, self-image and contributions. Once you have taken the time to write down 3 or 4 things in each of these categories I would like you to post them somewhere that you will look at every day. In doing so you will automatically and subconsciously go to work to make them a reality.

Our life is truly very predictable if you really think about it. The information we put into our minds dictates what we think about all day long. What we think about becomes the conversations we have with our friends and family. Typically the things we talk about become the actions we take throughout the ensuing weeks. Actions repeated over long enough time are called habits and our habits become our character. Character is defined by the things and thoughts that consume us all day long. Whatever this happens to be will ultimately determine the fruit of our tree. We move and gravitate in the direction of our most dominant thoughts.

So we start off with a dream on the outside, it then moves to the inside as we meditate on it and collect information that supports that vision. Our work eventually kicks in and sooner than later we begin to see on the outside what we have always dreamed. Out-in–out! Amazing but true! Put it to work my friends and I will guarantee you will see changes you once thought were impossible.

Move from smart to heart

Growing up I was blessed to have a Mom and Dad that loved me very much! They worked very hard to make sure we had an amazing childhood. My dad worked very hard to give us more than most could ever dream of. The only sad thing about all this success is that my Dad paid the greatest price. He was unable to enjoy most of our childhoods with us because he worked so many hours in order to bless all of us. As I became an adult this left a strong and passionate impression on me. I decided that I would do whatever I could to bless my kids with the same life but add to it he element of my involvement. I feel really bad that my Dad had to miss so much. He truly paid a great price but due to the work ethic that he embedded in me I was able to retire and be a full-time parent by the time of the birth of our first child.

I would like to ask you to go deep for a minute and ask yourself what you are truly passionate about! What stirs you deep enough that you would be willing to overcome the frustrations of making it happen. It is going to be up to your heart if you are going to make your dreams come true. Unfortunately this requires you to risk greatly. If you want to love deeply you have to risk greatly! When you deeply love someone or something you set free intense emotions that super charge your abilities. Your creative energies will explode and your endurance will push to a level reserved for super humans.

What has touched your soul? I have found that what you do is only half of the equation, who you do it with is the other part. Surround yourself with people you love. Do what you love, with people you love, for people you love who in return love you for who you are. If you are not in love with your dream it is very unlikely that you will ever see it come to be.

There was a time in my life that I guarded all of my emotions. I was afraid to truly let go for the fear of losing control or being deeply hurt. The sad reality is that without passion there will be very little purposeful action. The world often tries to steal of us our passions but we must resist this force. Hurting people hurt people! Remember this the next time someone hurts you. Answer with love and commit to stopping the cycle of revenge. Move from smart to heart and love everyone no matter what. Peace is our key. Love is the answer.

Work like a kid

I am not really sure what I am going to do when my kids grow up and move out of the house. Virtually everything we buy today comes with a 50 page manual in three different languages. If I didn’t have kids I don’t think I would know how to turn on my TV,Tivo, cellphone or latest computer gadget. I am one of those guys who love to buy every piece of new technology that hits the market but unfortunately if it takes longer than an hour to figure it out I usually shelf it and it never ends up being used.

Thank God I have kids who don’t ever read a manual and also don’t know that they don’t know how to use it. They just jump right in and start pushing buttons until they figure it out and then they train me. If we could all just learn to work like a kid we would be so much farther ahead. It is actually their willingness to fail that allows them to succeed. They are focused on the end result and look at failure as just part of the process required in order to achieve their desired goal.

I have watched my kids learn to snow board in one day while it took me nearly two years. They just knew they could and I operated from the mindset that I knew I couldn’t. How different is that! Kids just love the feeling of being in movement and are fascinated with the journey of learning while most adults are more worried about how dumb they look as the crash every 10 feet.

Most of us need to evaluate all the options and the “worst case scenario” before we will launch into something. We have to do research, measure our skills and see if we have what it takes in order to go any farther. We become completely consumed by our abilities or lack thereof, but children will just ask themselves one question. Do they want to learn this skill or achieve this objective?

I have watched my kids for years build what they call “experiments” in almost every restaurant we have been in. They start with a simple glass of unfinished beverage and add everything they can find on the table. It turns into some form or toxic waste I am sure! But this does not impede their desires to find the next solution to global warming or life threatening disease.

I would like you to consider taking off the governor that limits your explorations and free spirit. Common sense and logical precaution are always a good idea but I think most take that way too far. Live a little, break free and go do something way out of character. You may just find a new passion that unleashes greatness in you. Start pushing buttons and learn that failure, falling down and looking silly are some of the real treasures in life. Learn to laugh with yourself and allow others to share in these precious moments. Your transparency and childlike qualities are very endearing to all.

This world needs more children in it so lets all become childlike again! Laugh, love, dance and sing. It these things that help us heal and break free.

Respect your Potential

What does it mean to respect something? I believe it means to pay attention to it, to realize its capacity and be aware of its potential. Well then how much potential is in your potential? I would have to say that the answer to this would be infinite. There really is no limit to the potential of your potential. It feeds itself and builds on itself perpetually with every growth and learning experience.

Several years ago I coached a 12 year old baseball team that started off losing several of its first 10 games. I could tell that this team was either going to succeed or fold based on how they handled these early days. We discussed potential over reality. We discussed that we may not be winning many games now but that if we worked hard and were willing to persevere our potential would kick in and things would turn around. The boys all decided to stick together and get to work. We practiced for hours and hours every day, up to 8 and 9 hours on the weekends. There attitude and work habit became infectious and they began to win some games. We decided to enter a tournament in Las Vegas and match our skills up against some the best team on the West coast. We scraped by our first game and knocked off some of the doubt that had crept in as a result of listening to the rumors of how good everyone else was. We won our second game by a big margin and the confidence began to rise even hire. Our potential was building even more potential. Two days later we found ourselves in the finals against what was believed to be the best team in California. We pulled a meeting before the first pitch and discussed all of our hard work and all of the barriers we had overcome in the past few months. We talked about how far we had come and how this is just one more of those breakthrough moments for us. Two hours later we were lying in a huge dog pile, the champions of the Las Vegas Fall Classic! Truly one of the great memories of my coaching career.

We had embraced our potential more than our abilities. “Hard work beats talent because talent often times wont work hard”. Your potential deserves more respect than your abilities. If you are willing to out-work the field you will often out-perform the field! Most people won’t work hard because they believe their limits instead of embracing their potential. Unfortunately this then hamstrings your work habit and the passion behind your efforts. The only way to insure that you will never miss a goal is to never set one. We have to be willing to set goals that are beyond our current beliefs! By the very definition of a goal we are required to set it beyond what we think we can do. They need to be something that has multiple obstacles to overcome in order to achieve the goal. How thrilling would it be to watch a sporting event if there was no defense? The greater the challenge the greater the thrill, thus calling up your supernatural abilities that lay dormant until passion, hope and adrenalin put them into action.

After all who really risks more? The person who sets huge goals and goes for it or the one who sets no goals and hits every one of them? Those that are willing to risk and then pursue with all their heart at least have a chance! They may just hit them or find something even greater along the way! But the one who risks nothing is guaranteed to get exactly what he strives for, NOTHING! Your only limits are based upon your own beliefs and what you are willing to attempt. Never forget that omission and commission are a decision. Commission gets the juices going and gives you a chance. Omission only fuels doubt and fear which will eventually kill all hope and terminate any actions.

So I would suggest that if you are someone who likes to avoid risks, to get going! If you do nothing you risk everything. If you set some goals and get going you reduce your risks and give yourself a chance to unlock the massive potential that is inside of you. We all have it but we must decide to step up, reach out and throw our hearts at our dreams. I cant wait to hear your stories. Please feel free to post hear and let me know of your personal breakthroughs. You will empower many and might just set someone free!

Deliver Me

I was on a road trip the other day to go surfing off the coast of Vancouver Island in Canada and this song came on. It penetrated my soul so I thought I should share it with you all. It struck me as a prayer that could be for me or for you or even for our entire world. I think most people would interpret the song as a love song from a woman to man, as it was sung by Sarah Brightman. But the more I listened to it the more I realized that to me it was a prayer to GOD asking him to please deliver me. Life can be cruel and we can be overwhelmed at any time. It is so easy to look at people and think that everything is going so well and assume that all is good for them.

Read these words, download the song if you want to feel them, and then close your eyes and ask God to deliver you. Surrender to his love and grace. It is a safe and gentle place where there is no more pain, no more sadness, no more shame and no more reasons to hide.

Deliver me, out of my sadness.

Deliver me, from all of the madness.

Deliver me, courage to guide me.

Deliver me, strength from inside me.

All of my life I've been in hiding.

Wishing there was someone just like you.

Now that you're here, now that I've found you,

I know that you're the one to pull me through.

Deliver me, loving and caring.

Deliver me, giving and sharing.

Deliver me, the cross that I'm bearing.

All of my life I was in hiding.

Wishing there was someone just like you.

Now that you're here, now that I've found you,

I know that you're the one to pull me through.

Deliver me, Oh deliver me.

All of my life I was in hiding.

Wishing there was someone just like you.

Now that you're here, now that I've found you,

I know that you're the one to pull me through.

Deliver me, Oh deliver me.

Won't you deliver me.

I hope that you will listen to the song and let it move you as it did me! Ask and ye shall receive!!! It is finished! Jesus is real and he is here to take away all our pains. Accept him and what he has done then invite him into your life.

“Please God come into my life and be my personal Lord master and savior”. AMEN

You Are a Healer

I was on the phone tonight with a close friend of mine talking about helping people through painful events in our lives. One of our conversations was wrapped around why so few people show up to help when someone is clearly hurting. About two years ago a friend of mine asked for some personal time to address a character issue that he was dealing with. I was very sad for him because clearly he had deep remorse, shame and a sense of doom over his future. We talked for hours and discussed Gods sovereign grace and some things he could do to start building new habits that would take him on a new path for his life. It seemed as though the time was a good investment and I felt like he was definitely going to be off to a fresh start. Tonight we had another long conversation and it didn’t go as well. He had felt that I had somewhat abandoned him and not followed through on what I had promised him during his recovery stage. I felt really bad and realized that I had made an error in judgment of what he really needed from me. It was painful to hear but also helped me to realize how important our time and words are. What I learned tonight through both of these conversations is that we all really need to reach out a lot more than we think we do when it comes to people that are hurting. I had stated that it is really ridiculous and insensitive that so few people go out of their way to reach out and help the hurting souls of the world. I seem to often take this personally as I go through things as well. Have you ever heard the quote “you may think you are just one person in this world, but to one person you may in fact be THE world”. Well I think this is really the key to what my friend was telling me. We often think that we are really nothing important. We don’t realize how helpful our little comments really help the hurting! We think that “well, who am I” “I am just one little person in this big persons life. Surely my thoughts don’t matter and there is nothing I can do to help this person. I hope we can all deeply embrace the knowledge and discipline to remind ourselves of this fallacy. Every one needs to be loved and nurtured. You may be the only one that reaches out, or you may be the perfect friend they need at that time. You may finally find the reason for your testimony. To really be able to reach out and touch a sole as a result of the pains in your life is truly one of the most therapeutic things you will ever do. You really do count. Please take the extra time on a frequent basis to reach out to the hurting and fragile. Make the time and take them to lunch or find a way to bless them with love and kindness. As I was in the turmoil of my recent life change my good friend Phil Kirschenmann came up and took Braden and I to a Mariners game. That was actually the first time out in the public in 30 days. Amazing but true!! It took the prodding of a good friend to bust me out of the safe confines of my home. So I would like to leave you with a little advice and challenge. I want you to think for a bit about all the people in your life that are probably hurting for any reason and either give them a personal loving phone call or take the time to go be with them in a way that will help them heal. If you are the person that is hurting or feeling a bit forgotten then I would encourage you to not take it personally. My friend is right, and if not this is still a healthier way to think, your friends are either giving you space, making an innocent mistake or don’t realize how important they are and how healing your reaching out to them could really be. My challenge to you all is to make a list of your hurting brothers and sisters, post it in a private but visual space and take the time to either call them or be with them at least once a week until the issues have clearly passed. Thank you my friends you will save a life out there and it might just be your own. You are loved, you are forgiven and you are worthy!! “To one person you may think you are just one person in this world but to another person you may be the world”. please make that call!!

Persistence Pays Off!

For the past 6 years I have been blessed with the opportunity to coach baseball in the NorthWest. Many of our players are now getting the opportunity to play college ball and a few are getting professional offers. It has been really amazing to watch these boys grow up into fine young men. I have always believed that it is more important to learn life skills than it is athletic skills. However, sporting environments can be one of the best ways to keep kids attention while quietly teaching them about life.

One of the primary focus points of my coaching is that hard work beats talent when talent won't work hard. That talent is never enough! We have invested years into these boys teaching them that there work ethic will take them much farther than their natural abilities. Persistent and consistent work will always take over and carry you to your ultimate destiny.

One of the boys I have worked so hard with is my sons best friend Chris Clarke. He was criticized most of his teenage years for not being very motivated or willing to work hard enough to get the job done. He got a pretty bad rap and was treated unkindly by so many people. I watched and coached him for years and could never really understand why he was treated so unfairly. He never missed a practice, was never late and never left early. He may have lacked in hustle but I believe he was just a little afraid to fail as a result of the constant criticism. But this kid never gave up. He had a dream of playing quarter back for the Mt Si Wildcats football team. He went to every practice, every meeting, weight lifting classes, summer clinics and anything else that was ever available. He quietly worked harder and longer than anyone else. I don't think anyone but his family and few of us ever gave him a chance at being the starting quarterback for one of the best High schools in the state. A school with nearly 2000 students and talent from Senior to Freshman year after year.

Well, with great pride in my chest I am happy to announce to you the starting quarter back of Mt. Si High school is Chris Clarke!! I have tears in my eyes writing this message to you all because I remember all those years of criticism and frustration. I remember him battling injury after injury and standing on those sidelines for three years only taking a handful of late game snaps. Last night he carried his team to a 42 to 6 victory with nearly 400 yards of offense of which 52 of them came on the very first play of the game where Chris launched a bomb to strike first on the way to their playoff clinching performance. He is so humble and I am truly so proud of him.

I also had the opportunity to stand next to his Dad during the game where I was able to see that wonderful God inspired spark of love and pride well up in his eyes. Warren has always believed in him and has done everything a father could do to help Chris become the young man that he is! I cant even tell you how many times I have heard the echo of "CHRIS" as Warren would walk through my house yelling his name in order to pick him up and take him to another practice or training session of some kind. Warren is truly a great Dad that lovingly guided Chris to be the young man that he is today. After every play my ears would ring from the shreeks and shrills of Jennifer who has to constantly fight back tears when she watches him play or talks about his climb. I think there is a special place in Heaven reserved for the Moms of high school and college quarterbacks. They hold their breath every play and live and die with every success and failure. Thats her baby and she just cant help it! Even though chris is 6'3" and nearly 200 pounds he is still her baby and you will never convince her differently.

So here I sit telling you this story of a young man who never gave up. hope to encourage you to fight for your dreams. There is nothing you cant do if always do your best, be faithful to the process and never give up on your dream.

I am so proud of you Chris and honored to be able to watch you overcome, grow and now live the fruits of your persistence. We can all learn something from this young mans journey. Where are you now? On the bench, are you injured, are you overlooked, are you being criticized? Or are you in the weight room, training, studying, praying and working as hard as you can with the faith that dreams do come true to those who are willing to do whatever it takes?

I love you and I am willing to stand with you!!

Revenge Is a Trap!

I can only guess that you have all noticed the radical increase in tension in our society these days. Clearly the economic challenges we are facing today are adding up and we are reacting in ways that are not our true character. Fear is a powerful force in our world and causes many people to say and do things that they would not normally do. The unfortunate result of this is a huge increase in the amount of unfair and unkind conversations and actions taken toward our fellow brothers and sisters. This can be a trap because we can all be in bondage to human justice. All of us are susceptible to seeking revenge or justice when wrongs are done.

For those of us that share the Christian faith we are told in the book of Romans to not avenge ourselves, but rather give place to wrath, for it is written, ”vengance is mine, I will repay”. Now I am not clear on what that means God will do, but I am clear that we are not to seek revenge. Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. Rom 12:17 I think it is safe to say that Jesus removed any gray area about grudges. In fact he teaches that we are to be so far removed from avenging ourselves that we willingly risk being taken advantage of again. WOW. When we refuse to forgive we are carrying out a form of revenge. We are not to judge!

Now this is really easy to say but much more difficult to carry out! I have experienced that the justice/revenge double standard is the one that gets most of us. One of us could have failure in our lives or could be perceived to have failure in their lives and immature Christians choose to pass judgment or gossip and add to the pain. Then in return the one who is hurting and is being judged turns around and judges those that are passing judgment on them, consequently committing the exact same sin. We can all say it is wrong to judge but for some reason we allow ourselves to judge the judger. Obviously this is a trap and one we all want to avoid. James 4:12,5-9 “there is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge is standing at the door” WOW!! When we set ourselves up to correct the wrong done to us we set ourselves up as a judge! Be careful, judge not less ye be judged.

I will say it again “don’t put yourself into the bondage of human justice”. Our hearts are like soil and they will only produce what we plant into it. If we plant the seed of anger, resentment, unforgiveness or judgment the root of bitterness will spring up in the place of the love of God. If roots are watered and fertilized they will grow stronger and deeper to the point that they will quickly be very difficult to pull up. Then we run the huge risk of seeing the harvest of deep anger, jealousy, hatred, strife and discord!! St. Paul told the collosians “ even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do” and to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as god in Christ forgave you”. I believe that if we do not pursue peace by releasing offenses we will eventually become consumed by anger and bitterness. Read the story of King Saul and David then his son Amnon and Absalom in the book of Samuel if you really want to see a very clear path to follow and avoid!!

Who is the judge- you or the Lord? Remember that if you sow strife you will reap it. Please, let’s all be willing to examine our hearts. Lets not be afraid to allow our own consciousness reveal any unforgiveness or bitterness. The longer we hide the stronger it will become and the harder our hearts will grow. We cant help to heal the soul of the universe if we are full of issues that sabotage love and grace.

“Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God forgave you” eph 4:31-32

I love you all and I forgive you all! Many great things are being thrown around these days and many hurtful things are being said by people. I love you! I forgive you! I hope you can do the same for me and all your fellow mankind!

Peace is found in grace!!