Living Intentionally

Cant believe I let my blogging slip.

Its been a year which gives itself to that age old question, where has that year gone. 12 months, 365 days, 8760 hours. It doesn't seem five minutes since we were celebrating gold medals, looking forward to a new school year and bemoaning the British weather. 2013 we are celebrating winning the Ashes, still looking forward to another school year but looking at our tan lines from one of the warmest summers in a long time.
No doubt in 12 months time we will look forward to another school year, talking about the summer weather and possibly celebrating England winning the World Cup and Derby County preparing for life in the Premier League (ok slipping into the realms of pure fantasy there)

Summer is a great time for me personally to reflect but also to plan forward, hopefully 18 months at least, but here is the big issue, the problem if you will. What if we are in the same place, planning the same things, with the same issues and problems. Maybe some of the external details are different but the underlying trends are the same. What tends to happen in life is we have an automatic default setting which if we 'carry on as usual' will be the place we always end up in.

Here is my two penny worth of wisdom. Intentionality is the key. To purposefully change some things to ensure different results and a different position in twelve months time. I would encourage anyone reading this to set three goals, harder the better. Then ask the question, what do we need to do, to plan, to change to allow this to happen. Really simple stuff I know, remind me to email my Gran about the sucking of eggs, but its something really important if we are to avoid that feeling of being in the same place, doing the same things 12 months later. The only difference being the year seemed to go faster than the previous one.

Accountability is also helpful, share it with someone you trust, someone who can encourage or be helpful. Its amazing when we put goals into spoken or written words it gives more focus to walk the talk. Also, determination is helpful. Keep going back and remember why you are doing this, the real alternative to the actions are things will stay exactly the same. Thomas Edison is credited as saying 'Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

Finally, celebrate your successes. break your goal down into bite size chunks. If, for example its a weight goal, celebrate every half stone lost (not with a pizza, kebab or curry!!) I set myself a five stone weight loss target over five years. Now I have lost, and kept off two stone but need to kick on for the rest. Even if I fail in this goal, I am two stone lighter which I would not have been if I had done nothing.

So, I am determined to blog more frequently, but this time next year I am planning to be living at another level. Watch out for the 2014 summer blog!!!!

Hope this helps and encourages someone

Tim

Olympic Mythbuster

Its not the winning but the taking part

How many of us have heard the expression? This is commonly accredited to Pierre de Coubertin, who is the man who revived the modern olympic games in 1896. We use this phrase to console children and to be consoled. But is it actually right?

Now I am not advocating bad sportsmanship or bad losers as there is nothing worse. Tantrums, self justification and the vapour of sour grapes in the air is a most ugly scenario. But the idea that any sportsman goes into an event thinking its just the taking part that counts astounds me. A good example was the Australian Cricket team of 2005 who lost the Ashes. They were sporting, gracious and played the game as it should be played, but if you were to ask any one of them if they were there to win, you would only get one answer!!

You would think that the Bible would back up Coubertins basic ideal, but quite the opposite. 1 Corinthians 9:24 shows the apostle Paul saying 'run in such a way as to get the prize.' We should not compete for the experience, for a personal best, for the ego trip, recognition or the sake of competing. We should compete to win. In the Olympics, some badminton were sent home for not competing properly as losing would make their path to the final easier. There is something fundamentally wrong if we are competing not to win.

So, rant over, how can we compete to win- some quick points:

• Train well. Develop habits, lifestyle and things that will build into your life.
• Take it seriously. If you are involved in things that don't really matter to you, stop. Concentrate your efforts on those things that are important. 
• Invest time in a coach. Find people who want the best for you, bring out the best in you and believe the best of you. Although they may say things you don't want to hear, they are cheering you on.
• Surround yourself with winners. If all the people round you say you cant do it or tell you how they failed, do you know what, chances are you will fail. We don't go to bankrupts for financial advise or someone who has crashed three cars, in as many days, for driving lessons. Take advise from people who have been successful in the areas you feel are important. (see my two fathers blogs)
• Don't give up. Someone once defined failures as 'people who gave up not knowing how close they were to success'. After many years working with people, I have found that quitting is easier than competing. In sport, in finance, in career, in marriage, in education, in life!! No matter how bleak it seems at times, keep going and keep on keeping on.
• Celebrate achievement. Its easier to see the negative when we fail but lets change our mindset and celebrate regularly. All the gold medals in the Olympics are great to see and some athletes have been spurred on by the success of others. Set lots of small goals to take you to the big goals and celebrate them all. Its surprising how this will help you in tougher times and those around you.

Please hear my heart, life is for living, enjoying and bringing fullness to our lives and others. Its not to just exist or just to take part in the human race. Be encouraged, remember we are in a marathon not a sprint.

Enjoy the rest of the Olympics, when it finishes, football season starts. Happy days (but not for Jill)

Tim