Run to WIN

We all struggle.  

We all get tired.  

We all like our comfort zone. 

In those times we want to quit, it is imperative that we surround ourselves with encouragement and people who won’t let us retreat.  For me, my #1 fan is Jesus.  The word of God is so encouraging.  He is a God of hope and He is so rewarding when we endure and push through worldly hardship. 

These are some of my favorite verses when I need to hear Him cheering me on.  You have the loudest cheering section – you have all the angels and saints and those who have gone before us in heaven just wanting you to WIN!  And if on a certain day you can’t hear them, call me – I will make sure you get a big heavy dose of KEEP ON GOING!  I’m in your cheering section too…

What verses or words do you cling to in times of discouragement?

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1 Corinthians 9:24

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.

1 Timothy 6:12

Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

1 Corinthians 15:58

Therefore, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that the Lord your labor is not in vain. 

Matthew 24:13

The one who endures to the end will be saved. 

Hebrews 3:14

For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 

Hebrews 10:36

You need to perservere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what has promised.

James 1:2-4,12

Trials and tribulations come with both a purpose and a reward. “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him”

Hebrews 13:5b,6

I will never leave you, nor forsake you; therefore I can boldly say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear what man can do to me” Trials develop godly character. “…we exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character, and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us…

Romans 12:12

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

2 Chronicles 15:7

But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.

Isaiah 40:31 

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Deuteronomy 28

Blessings for Obedience

If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.  All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:

 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.

The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.

 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. 

The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. 

The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. 

The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of theLord your God and walk in obedience to him. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you. The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you. 

The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.  Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.

 

EXCITING – Peoria’s Rally Point Meeting Center Makes National News!!

 

 

 

 

The Rally Point, Peoria’s Original Creative Meeting Space was featured in Rejuvenate Magazine’s October/November issue as one of the top creative meeting spaces in the country.

More than banquet chairs and projector screens, The Rally Point is a meeting destination that focuses on flexibility, imagination, collaboration and teamwork.

Let us host your next business meeting, brainstorming, Board Meeting, strategic planning, offsite retreat or corporate get-together and see why we are making national news in the meeting industry.

 Call us today 815-993-8713 to book your next meeting event and take advantage of our Gratitude Sale.

Honored, thrilled and just dang excited….

Ami

Turtle or the Hare?

Some people quit due to slow progress, never grasping the fact that slow progress…

is progress.

DON”T QUIT!

WONDERMENT WEDNESDAY

After being stuck at home yesterday, eh, I mean after choosing to work from home yesterday while recovering from a root canal procedure I had on Monday, I found myself enthralled in the Science Channel’s program entitled “How The Universe Works”. I was blown away by how small my comprehension of space was.  But equally delighted in the realization of how big my God is.  Absolutely mindblowing.

My point for this WONDERMENT WEDNESDAY is this:

A light year is about (I’ve rounded off a bit) 5,878,786,100,000 miles. That’s almost 6 trillion miles that a beam of light travels in one year.

The distance from the earth to the Sun is 93 million miles.

The distance to the nearest star is 4.3 light years.

The distance to the Andromeda galaxy is 2 million light years.

The universe is a big place !

Given the fact that a human is probably smaller than the size of a sub-atomic particle/quantum particle in the entirety of the universe, puts our lives and experiences and worries and problems here on earth, in an extremely infinitesimal reality.  What is one thing you can do today, to let go of worry or anxiety and truly appreciate all the good in your life?

(I may be grasping at the connection I am trying to make, but my comprehension of space is smaller than a sub-atomic particle – humor me here.)

Wonderment Wednesdays

Introducing: Wonderment Wednesday

Every Wednesday The Rally Point will post a question for you to “wonder” about.

If we watch children we understand that they don’t just believe in miracles, they live in the realm of the miraculous. The world and their minds possess a sense of wonder, an “awe” type state of being. They not only understand the importance of the present moment, they live in it. And as we become older, life’s responsibilities and sorrows bury our childlike nature. We lose touch with everyday miracles, squander our curiosity on the lives of others, and lose our sense of wonder under the weight of our careers. We cannot actually become children again, and one should never strive to regain a child’s naiveté – but we can spend some time just imagining, dreaming, wondering.

So here is our first Wednesday question: How do you see yourself changing the world?

If you need some help, read this Forbes article  http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemaddock/2012/08/21/three-incredibly-simple-questions-the-most-successful-people-use-to-change-the-world/

Please comment below.

Too Much Self in Self Help

How to Win Friends and Influence People, Keys to Success, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, The Prophet, The Alchemist, Who Moved My Cheese?, The 48 Laws of Power, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Awaken The Giant Within, The Secret,  The 4 Hour Work Week, The Power of Myth, The Power of Now,  The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire, The Art of Happiness,  Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, The Tipping Point, The Four Agreements, The Aladdin Factor, Self Esteem, Unlimited Power, Better Than Good,  When Bad Things Happen to Good People,  The One Minute Millionaire, Learned Optimism

If how-to’s were enough, we’d all be skinny, rich and happy!!  Seriously!  Just go buy a book – there are MILLIONS of them on as many topics telling you all the things you need to change, not change, do, don’t do, think, not think, invest, not invest, eat, don’t eat…it’s maddening.

Here’s a thought.

You are OK and more than enough, right where you are right now!!  If we’d all just accept that, know that, live that – imagine the amount of trees we could have saved – tears we wouldn’t have shed, lies we wouldn’t have believed and time we could have re-invested.

I’ll say it again.  You’re perfectly ok right now, right where you are.  It’s ok.  Let it sink in.

Take SELF out of it.  You’re left with HELP.  Go do that.

 

Suit Up, Show Up and Shut Up!

I know, it sounds harsh, but I kindasortareallymaybe mean it to be.

I’m tired of the whining. Moaning. Groaning. Complaining. Resenting. Blaming. Self righteous attitudes.  Ya’ know?? You feeling me?

You have probably identified the culprit.  You know exactly who in your office I am talking about right now.

Guess what?  I’m talking to you.

Whoa.  Sorry, had to be said.

So ok, we all have our days when we just have to vent.  It’s part of being human and not being able to separate ourselves from others in the workplace.  But we can learn some Emotional Intelligence.  Oh gosh.  Yes, I went there.  Emotional Intelligence.  Seriously?  Let’s break it down.

Simply, in a nutshell EI  is about understanding our emotions (and the emotions of those around us) and learning to manage the way we handle them – in the worlplace and the rest of our lives. Oxymoron? Perhaps in some work places I’ve seen, but there’s hope.

1.  Suit Up – Learn to Ignore your feelings.  Kinda ridiculous sounding when I am trying to make a point about EMOTIONAL Intelligence, so let me rephrase that.  Learn to ignore ACTING from your feelings.  More days than not, I don’t FEEL like doing the things I need to do (anyone tells me that they truly FEEL JOY when faced with making cold calls and I’ll punch them in the face – but that wouldn’t be emotionally intelligent – I digress)

2.  Show Up – it’s in choosing to do the right things that our emotions catch up to our choices.  I don’t feel like going to work.  I don’t feel like sitting in this meeting.  I feel like I want to tell him off.  When you react from your feelings it often results in a very poor outcome. Choose activities because it’s the right thing to do, not because you feel a certain way at a certain moment.  Feelings come and go quickly, consequences from making the wrong choice can stay with you forever.

3.  Shut Up – Stop the negativity. Stop the complaints.  Stop the finger pointing.  Stop the gossip.  It’s all about “what goes around comes around” and I’ve said this before:  You are either part of the problem or part of the solution, but you can’t be both.  Choose to be the latter.

Ok, pretty straight forward on this post.  But that’s how we like it – Short, Sweet & To the point.

Do You Need To Go To Your Happy Place?

Your co-workers, family and friends will thank me for this!

You know you’ve said it to someone else… “Go to your happy place…” hoping that they would some how magically transport themselves there and never come back.  We are constantly surrounded by people who get frustrated- a lot- and never seem to be able to get a grip, or find any kind of positive perspective.  

And what about you?

How often do you need to take a mental vacation?  

Stop right now and count how many times today you have criticized, sighed, moaned, rolled your eyes, grunted, hurled an expletive, became emotional on any level about something minor…

Ahuh, not pretty.  I know, I know!  Our work environments and our lives are filled with constant frustration after frustration.  So how do you manage it and when possible, dispense it all together?

1.  Quit Trying To Change People
I love the saying that  says “Until your own door step is immaculate, don’t try sweeping mine.”  Need I say more?

2.  Quit Wasting Your Emotional Energy
Ok, so the pencil sharpener won’t work!  Does it REALLY deserve that much of a reaction??  Really?  It’s such an investment in something you can’t control AND it won’t change the outcome AND you’re bothering everyone around you AND your blood pressure just went up AND it’s never really the pencil sharpener anyway is it?? 

3.  Quit Juggling
I have never in 20+ years working with teams met someone who was good at multi tasking.  Prioritize for productivity, PLEASE!

4. Quit Trying To Be Perfect
Aim for growth. Aim for better. Aim for improvement.  You will live in a constant state of frustration if perfection is your goal – and you will never achieve it. 

5.  Quit Comparing Yourself To Others
It can lead to motivation, but typically, it doesn’t so tread carefully and run your own race.

6.  Quit Being Impatient
Stop trying to be Donald Trump by next Tuesday.  It amazes me the years and years we spend behaving a certain way (physically, financially, spiritually, emotionally) and yet become angry that we aren’t on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swim Suit issue two weeks into the diet. Be realistic!

7.  Quit Relying On Other’s to Get You There
It’s great to have support and encouragment from others, but be personally accountable for your own results.  Don’t be totally reliant on others to get you there (where ever “there” is) 

Stuff happens.  And we can’t always control it, but we can control ourselves.  Ready to return from “your happy place”?  I hope so.  The trick is to make right where you are more peaceful.  Although an occasional mental trip to Turtle Island isn’t a bad thing….

Make Your Meetings Memorable

According to surveys by Wharton Center for Applied Research, managers report that only 56% of their meetings are productive – and that 25% would have been more effective as conference call, memo, or voicemail.  Conclusion: the cost of misguided meetings is high.Meetings are the window to the soul of your business or team.  If developed and managed correctly, meetings can give you insights, ideas and direction that can propel your goals and objectives into another realm.  So how do you keep our meeting from becoming a universal joke about useless and ineffective meetings?  Here are 4 tips that will help and, create results you’ll love!

1.  Let Them Contribute
This is the one thing that will  make or break a meeting.  It’s so hard to do and absolutely must be a rule you follow to keep ideas flowing and to allow people to contribute in their way without a filter being applied or any kind of judgment on their ideas.  You shouldn’t moderate anything in an effective meeting and really anything goes.  All ideas.  Weird, difficult, unrealistic and any other ideas must be allowed.  These, in fact, allow people to be comfortable with the creative process and you want to promote and encourage ideas, not instill fear of blurting out a dumb idea.  There is no reason to have any criticism in a meeting (or anywhere else for that matter) and if you see that happening at any time, put an end to it and reinforce that you welcome weird, and what even seems like bad ideas.

2. Let Them Talk To Thy Neighbor
Encouraging participants to idea build during your meeting can substantially increase outcomes.  NO IDEA IS OFF LIMITS (see #1 above) and all thoughts should be received well and listened to.  You never know when that magical moment of playing off each other’s idea is going to spark the next big swing in direction your team moves in – so squelch the Shhhhhhhh’s and watch the creativity fly!!

3. Let Them Think Ahead  
How many meetings have you attended that started out with the meeting facilitator passing out a ream of handouts or projecting a PowerPoint slide for discussion.  The mere thought makes me cringe – it’s uber frustrating!  A group read along is hardly productive for goal accomplishment.  For MAX productivity and assurance of results – send all participants the PowerPoint deck 48 hours before the meeting time and let them prepare AHEAD for your discussion.  Allowing your participants to do pre-work on charts, graphs and reading material is a sure fire way to gain maximum engagement in your meeting and will hands down give you the “Best Presenter of the Day” award.

4.  Let Them Focus
When at all possible, get them out of their natural office surroundings.  THINK DISTRACTION FREE!  You may think that being “close to home” is the way to go and will cut the cost of your meeting, but email, phone calls and co-worker interruptions COST YOU AND YOUR MEETING PRODUCTIVITY more than a day at an offsite.  Find venues that know how to cater to your meeting objectives and agenda.  Those venues are worth their weight in gold.

Meetings aren’t going away (we don’t think they should).  They are a necessary part of our every day work life.  Creating effective meetings however, take time and a little creativity to improve morale, increase productivity and substantially increase engagement.  When those three benefits happen – you’ll never go back to that boring old PowerPoint deck again (Thank goodness!!)

The Whole Is Much Greater Than The Sum Of The Parts

There’s a saying: “I prayed for God to protect me from my enemies, and all my friends disappeared.” I know this sounds harsh, but surrounding yourself with negative, draining people regardless if they are friends or family, raises no one to another level. Let them go, or severely limit your time with them and love them from a distance.  Jim Rohn (mentor to many of the personal development greats such as Tony Robbins and Darren Hardy) said, “You become the average of the five people you spend the most time with in all areas, mood, outlook, finance, character, body shape and importantly, your health!”  Who are you spending time with?

Success can only flourish in the realm of possibility.  Negative people can quickly deflate, demoralise and rain on your parade. And they will – to make themselves feel better about not reaching their potential.  Don’t ask them to be excited for you, help you, or even understand your excitement about success.  They aren’t capable of it and will only try to magnify your doubts.

Early on in my first entrepreneurial adventure 21 years ago, a mentor gave me the above advice and it took me a long time to heed it.  It felt mean, uncaring and disloyal to those I thought were my friends.  When an misunderstanding happened and alienated me from them (their doing)  I was devastated.  I realise now, ending our friendship was the best gift they ever gave me, and I have since soared!! When I see them periodically, they are still talking about the same pathetic issues they were talking about 21 years ago.  I cannot fathom, that had they not severed ties, would I still be in the same place right along side them?  Are you?

Surround yourself with people who make you feel good about yourself, who allow you to grow, flourish, blossom and affirm you as a winner. Choose people who have similar goals and aspirations and spend time with them. Something magical happens when you do this, the energy grows bigger as the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts.