Building Exceptional Value

“We should not doubt our ability to affect others in a positive way.”

-Sharla Ellis

Building Exceptional Value

Annie was sitting in the black leather seat next to me.  She had her computer open and was reading.  It reminded me of years gone by when I used to drive her to and from school.  We’d work on her homework because it was a long drive.   Both of us have fond memories of that time together.  I glanced over at her and came back to the present time as I saw that it was an all grown up version of Annie.

“What is your civic responsibility?” She said to me so I could listen to her give me the answer she was preparing to give at an upcoming scholarship pageant.

I heard another voice in my head.  “I feel as if I’ve been riding on a ticket that was paid for by others who came before me my whole life!”  My mentor, Rex Reeve said to me once.

He was a great teacher who accepted me as a teenager and then molded me into a man.  He was able to recognize valuable personal traits, that were hidden to others, and showed me how to use them so I could be of benefit to others.

“Are you paying attention to me?”  Annie said as she stopped my trip back to California in an instant.

“Yes.  What I heard you say was, ‘our community is only strong if we, as individuals, are willing to give our strength and talents to others.’”

“Right!”

“Good answer!”  I replied back.  “When a person begins to understand that they can make an impact as an individual, the world begins to change immediately!  The whole universe is based on individual growth and learning.”

“I like what Gandhi said about that!”  Annie shot back.  “Be the change you want to see in the world!”

My friend Sharla says, ‘We should not doubt our ability to affect others in a positive way.’ 

Sometimes we think we’re insignificant and can’t do anything about the way things are in the world around us.  But, the truth is that the best way for us to make a difference is to be good people.  Understanding this principle makes things much more simple.  Small things make a difference!

“Being a good neighbor is so easy!”  I said to myself as I remembered how one of my friends once made a big difference for me.  I was walking home one day when my feet hurt.  My friend Danny Idom was driving by and asked if he could give me a ride.

“Sure!” I said.

Then I marveled that he had no idea what a great thing he had done for me!  He had no way of knowing how much my feet hurt that day.  He just did it because he is a kind, gentle person.  And, he thought he was just driving his car!

My drive with Annie came to an end, but our shared relationship was about to get more valuable.  We walked into a building where we volunteered with friends to help people we didn’t know.

Helping others creates exceptional value.  But extraordinary things grow from ordinary, small things. You and I are exceptionally valuable to each other when we do small, genuine acts of kindness.

How's Your Vision?

“A College Admittance Application”

How’s Your Vision?

Most of what it takes to complete a college application on-line is time.  The time I’ve spent doing it has been time well spent; since it’s been with my daughter.  The other day she pulled out her computer and we sat down to answer a few questions together.

The questions we were answering were easy and we breezed along until we hit one question in particular. “What will you have accomplished within the next five years?”

“Why do they always ask such stupid questions?” my daughter asked.

My thoughts went back to interviews I’ve seen with small children.  Most of them don’t hesitate with an answer to a similar question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Their answers flow freely and confidently; a cowboy, a teacher, astronaut, doctor, firefighter, lawyer.

“I don’t have any idea!”

“Yes you do.” I replied.  “You’ve told me over and over again.  Would you like me to tell you what you told me?”

“Yes.”

I spent a few minutes listing the things she had told me in the past.  They were exciting and challenging things.  They were the things she has been spending the last few years working toward.

“I haven’t thought about those things for a long time!”  She said.

We spent the next few minutes writing, thinking about and crafting the vision of her future to complete her application.  It was a good exercise for us to go through.  We talked about the fact that this vision was the basis for her success in college and for her life as well.  It caused me to think about my own life and experience.

We were sitting in our house.  It is the house this girl has lived in virtually her whole life.  We have a photo of her standing in this same house, the winter it was under construction, in her snow suit with bare feet.  She has a huge grin on her face and when I look at the photo today I can still feel her exuberance.

“Had I not created a plan for this house, thought about it, worked to build it, would we be sitting in it right now?  The chances would be too small to even comprehend.  So is the future of my life any different?”

I’ve noticed that as I get older, my eyes don’t quite work as well as they used to.  Now I wish that was the only part of my vision that has been deteriorating!  Good thing I just finished a vision correction session with my daughter!

I’m going to spend some time making application for my future over the next couple of weeks.  It will take some time to create a plan, think it through and work to build it.  I’m sure it will turn out to be as comfortable and customized as the house I live in is. 

The truth is that we all live in our custom lives.  Is your life the way you want it to be, or do you need to begin a new set of plans?

 

Doubt Not and Believe in Yourself

Circumstance does not make the man, it reveals him to himself.

- Allen James

Doubt Not and Believe in Yourself

The world we live in can be filled with tragedy.  I was reminded of this over this entire week as my family dealt with the death of a loved one.  This particular tragedy was not unexpected.  We all knew it was coming and we did everything we could to plan for an easing of the way.  Still, even with all of our preparation, the finality of death takes its measure.

In a particularly difficult moment, I sat talking with my daughter Annie about personal power and what it means to possess power as we reasoned about the feeling of loss we shared.  I put my arm around her and felt her tear stained cheek against mine.  It was a time when all possible feelings of power seemed to be lost in the mist of emotional fog accompanying a terrible storm.  In fact, this moment took me back to a time when I was very young, on a day when the winds were howling from the mountains to the East. 

The wind hurled down the canyons with speeds toping seventy miles per hour.  I could feel the power of the wind and it made me feel alive and strong inside.  I wanted to incorporate that power into my being.  So, I unzipped my coat and leaving my arms in the sleeves reached down to the right and left corners of the fabric and hoisted it above my head as if it were a sail.  As soon as I did so, the wind seized its opportunity to answer my foolishness by making me nothing more than a piece of flying debris.  But I wasn’t only debris.  I learned two important lessons from this youthful storm experience.

First, I was more than just another piece of mindless debris.  I quickly saw my folly and released the sail so I could lie safely on the ground.  I was able to use my mind to regain control of my actions regardless of what was happening in a turbulent world.  What happens in the world outside of me does not need to control what happens within my inner world.

Second, my individual actions make an impact on what happens in the world outside of me.  External circumstances do not remove personal power.  Being human means having power; specifically, the power to accomplish whatever we want.  We only lose personal power by choosing to relinquish it.

I know you will face storms throughout your life.  I have.  But, one of the blessings of age is that experience has shown me that if I will use my mind and heart to control my own actions I will be able to impact the results I achieve.  Circumstances haven’t made me who I am or who I’ll become.  They simply reveal character.  You have the power to determine what kind of life you’ll live, how you’ll live it, and how you’ll react to the storms that swirl around you.  Doubt not, believe in yourself, and use your heart and mind to accomplish whatever you want.