Soul Food Revolution

My wife and I were cooking dinner for our family last night and doing our usual exchange of, “So, how was your day?” I began telling my wife about running into a friend of mine who has his hands in many little startup companies and is really embodying the entrepreneur’s spirit. She shook her head, smiled, and gave a bit of a chuckle, implying that my friend has bitten off more than he could chew.

photo credit: Licht in Sicht

And then it occurred to me: doing business and coming up with (and executing) new ideas is a lot like archery. Now I haven’t picked up a bow in many years, but hear me out. Let’s say you have a quiver of arrows on your back, and in your lifetime you only take one arrow and shoot it down range, fully expecting a bulls eye. Slim chance unless you’re an expert archer and marksman. What’s wrong with being the type of archer who is grabbing multiple arrows and taking lots of different shots, sometimes at different targets? Which archer is going to have a better shot at the bulls eye. That bulls eye could be the next big thing.

Whether you apply this to business or even spending time doing something new with your family, I think we should shoot many arrows. Many will be a hit, some will be a complete bust, but at least you had the courage to try.

Scott Knauer is a web and graphic designer based in Clovis, New Mexico. Scottdot.com is his personal blog & website.

Today’s principle, the third in our series highlighting author Andy Andrews is called “I am a person of action.”

Beginning today, I will create a new future by creating a new me. My future is immediate. I will grasp it in both hands and carry it with running feet. When I am faced with the choice of doing nothing or doing something, I will always choose to act! I seize the moment. I choose now. I am a person of action. I am energetic. I move quickly. I will create a habit of lively behavior. I will walk with a spring in my step and a smile on my face. The lifeblood rushing through my veins is urging me upward and forward into activity and accomplishment. Wealth and prosperity hide from the sluggard, but rich rewards come to the person who moves quickly. I am a person of action. I inspire others with my activity. I am a leader. Leading is doing. To lead, I must move forward. My activity will create a wave of success for the people who follow. My activity will be consistent. This will instill confidence in my leadership. As a leader, I have the ability to encourage and inspire others to greatness. It is true: an army of sheep led by a lion would defeat an army of lions led by a sheep. I am a person of action. I can make a decision. I can make it now. God has given me a healthy mind to gather and sort information and the courage to come to a conclusion. My constitution is strong and my pathway clear. Successful people make their decisions quickly and change their minds slowly. My decisions come quickly, they lead to victory. I am a person of action. I am daring. I am courageous. Fear no longer has a place in my life. I have exposed fear as a vapor, an impostor that never had any power over me in the first place. I do not fear failure, for in my life, failure is a myth. Failure exists only for the person who quits. I do not quit. I am courageous. I am a leader. I seize the moment. I choose now. I am a person of action.

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For the next 7 day’s I’m going to do something out of the norm for me. I don’t usually ‘re-use’ another persons work but sometimes we find jewels that are just too good not to share. I was recently given a book. In fact it was as recent as Thursday. Saturday night I finished this 207 page book. It’s a very easy read. Most importantly, a very engaging read. Even more importantly, if one will apply the principle’s of this book, it’s a life changing read. Within this book are 7 principle’s. To be more accurate in the description, they are actually 7 decisions. Decisions that if you will meditate upon and apply them, your life will change…..drastically. For the next 7 days I will reveal one decision daily. As you read the new decision, add it to the others. Each day meditate upon the decisions twice. Do this for 30 days and you will be well on your way to drastically enhancing and changing your life. After the first 7 days, I am going to give you some other applicable ways to apply these decisions to your everyday living. Receive the 7 principle decisions. Apply them. Finally, be creative in how you use them. Your life will be opened to a whole new realm of opportunity.

I invite you to share these 7 decisions with everyone you know, then share your experience with our growing online community. Lastly, I invite you to purchase a copy of the book we are highlighting, entitled ‘The Traveler’s Gift’ by Andy Andrews, by following the link at the end of each passage. And now for the first decision: Continue reading

“We can’t depend on ourselves.” This statement was made in a recent interview by Michael Osterholm, the head of the Center for Infections Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. This statement was made in reference to what America would do if a true pandemic came about. “We can’t depend on ourselves” he said.

The funny part of this story to me is that pandemics occur everyday in some form or another. They happen through the recent rising climate of job layoffs. They happen through divorce or death. Through addictions and poverty. Through debt and acts of hate. A pandemic occurs every moment in all the world. So really the answer to the question is given everyday. It is given in the way we handle stress. It is given in the way we treat one another. It is given in the way we sacrifice for someone. It is given in the way we live. And Mr. Osterholm is right, ‘we can’t depend on ourselves.’

If this statement is true, then who or what do you depend on? You cannot live life alone. You cannot survive alone. You cannot overcome hardships or celebrate victories alone. So if we can’t depend on ourselves, then who or what do we depend on?

Paper: pretty cool invention isn’t it? It’s interesting to look back at the history of paper, or other forms for that matter. To me, what’s most interesting is how that tree made of unbelievably hard wood can become something so thin and fragile. It honestly blows my mind. I want to invite you to do something–take out a sheet of paper. It could be from a notebook or simple printer paper. Take it and just set it on the desk next to you. Take a long, hard look at that sheet of paper. Go ahead, I’ll wait… Continue reading