Categories
Attitude Book Reviews

Is the Obstacle the Way?

Before I read The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday, I thought of obstacles as something to overcome. I imagined life as an obstacle course. When I’ve watched, American Ninja Warrior, I pictured all the challenges along the course as situations in life. They were something that got in the way and must be overcome.

https://www.amazon.com/Obstacle-Way-Timeless-Turning-Triumph/dp/B00K5JUNSU/ref=sr_1_1?crid=38OCAEX8DE4LO&keywords=the+obstacle+is+the+way+by+ryan+holiday&qid=1550627586&s=gateway&sprefix=the+obstacle%2Caps%2C142&sr=8-1

Ryan Holiday’s book challenged me to look at obstacles in a different way. Stoicism is a philosophy I heard about when training for a marathon. When I got the chance to read it, the book made me ponder so many questions.

  • What if, instead of looking at obstacles as the enemy, they were your friend?
  • What if an obstacles is just what you need to achieve your goals?
  • What if how you viewed an obstacle was more important than figuring out how to eliminate it?

Life is full of struggles and hardships. This book made me realize that it is not foolishness when people willingly take on a project that will have obstacles. Small businesses would never start if that was the case. Missions to help others would never launch. I am thankful for a new perspective on challenges and obstacles. Yes, they can be the way to success.

Categories
creativity motivation

Why it is so Important to Shake Things up

Illustration of a happy girl with a tea cup, sunflower hat, bathing suit and swim flippers

We get complacent too easily. At a certain point, and at a certain age, it can be tempting to just go with the flow. You wouldn’t want to rock the boat anyway, would you? No need to draw attention to yourself. Why let things lie? After all, you’ve been successful. Sure! You can always improve, but why not just coast along life?

About four years ago, my wife and I were faced with a decision. We could stay in a town we love with a church that supported and appreciated her and a workplace I valued. I had just received a promotion. Our youngest child was about to graduate from high school. Why not just kick back and coast?

Instead, we felt called to a church out west. We sold our house. I resigned from my job. We left everything cherished and familiar to try something new. Why shake things up like that? Why make such a change?

  • Because faith without taking a risk with works is dead
  • Because creativity isn’t doing the same old thing
  • Because to stay young, you need to act young once in a while
  • Because it’s better to try and fail than wonder if you ever would have made it

Creativity comes from shaking things up a bit and trying something new. It has a lot in common with walking by faith.

Categories
Business Business Cartoons

Should There Be Compassion in the Workplace?

Cartoon of a tree in a receptionist's office

For several years, the mantra in business has been that its only responsibility is to maximize shareholder value. It didn’t matter how much resources it used as long as it generated a profit. Milton Friedman was famous for this theory:

There is one and only one responsibility of business: to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game.

Milton Friedman

But this frame of thinking can deplete resources if it goes to the extreme.

  • If you treat people like cogs in machinery, they will take no responsibility for quality and excellence.
  • If you deplete natural resources, they become scarce and more expensive.
  • If you are only concerned about the sale and not service, the consumer has no incentive to come back to you.

Short-term profits can end up sacrificing the long-term well being of a company. Compassion for people and the environment gives people incentives to care about you beyond the fast sale.

Categories
motivation

Don’t Just listen, But Do What it Says!

Listening and learning are very important. However, if we do nothing with our newfound knowledge, do we deceive ourselves?

What if my trash company lets me know they will be picking up my garbage early due to a holiday? Now I have some knowledge. Does it do me any good if I just do what I’ve always done and not get my trash to the curb early? No, I’ll just have an overflowing, smelly trash can I’ll need to put up for an additional week.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

James 1:22 NIV

Learning is great. But knowledge without application becomes trivia. I can learn how to start a business, write a blog post or be kind to my neighbor, and do nothing with that knowledge, I’m just deceiving myself.

Let’s learn something new today… and do something with it. You never know. It may change your situation or even the world.

Categories
Business Cartoons

Happy National Coffee Day 2019!

Cartoon of two men talking in a kitchen: "My Major disappointment from working at home is I have no one to blame for a bad cup of coffee."

O coffee, coffee, how sweet the brew!
Caffeine to me, oh thus you imbue.
It brightens me on the way to church,
Your sweet bitters, I do always search.

Happy National Coffee Day! I plan to celebrate with friends in children’s ministry and the lobby this morning. As my cartoon demonstrates, it is better to share it with friends and coworkers than all by your self.