Defining Moments
October 28, 2010
Have you ever thought about what the defining moments of your life are? I’m talking about things that happen in your life and that define who you are and influence the way that you live?
Remember the story of the Apostle Paul? He persecuted Christians. Then he ran head on into the defining moment of his life. He came face to face with God and found the purpose of his life on the Damascus Road. From that moment on and throughout his life, he had a mission and a purpose and he didn’t waiver from it. He influenced the world greatly and made many people’s lives better forever.
We may not all have the kind of supernatural conversion that Paul had on the Damascus Road. But we all have defining moments.
Our defining moments may come from positive and negative experiences. If they come from negative experiences, it is our responsibility to turn them into something better and do something positive with them.
Do you know what the defining moments of your life are? If so, do you use them to create the best for your life?
Copyright Kevin Drum 2010
Permission is granted to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including this copyright information and it is attributed to
Kevin Drum
Titan Solutions, LLC
Focus and Power
October 25, 2010
Do you ever get off track? It happens to all of us in all different areas of life.
Businesses sometimes get off track. This happens in many ways. Businesses pursue additional opportunities and forget to take care of what they have. Or maybe they build their business and then start trying to squeeze more profits and forget how important their customers and employees are. I’m not implying that there is anything wrong with trying to be more profitable. It just needs to be done in the right way so as not to cause more harm than potential gain.
People get off track in their personal lives. Take the area of personal finance as an example. The phrase I heard over the years is that “people grow into their income.” As people get more money, they spend more and it starts a cycle where it takes more and more to maintain and grow their lifestyle. Unfortunately, too many get off track and forget to save for the future.
Proverbs 23:7 says “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he…” This proverb is often quoted to make different points.
I want to apply this to focus. When we really focus on something, we create the power to do something about it – whatever it is. We generate the power to create solutions and get back on track.
If you are off track in any area right now, consider doing the following:
- Step back for a moment and take a look at your situation.
- Evaluate where you are at.
- Determine what your focus is now
- Determine what your focus should be
When you want to get back on track, remember that there is power in what you focus on.
Copyright Kevin Drum 2010
Permission is granted to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including this copyright information and it is attributed to
Kevin Drum
Titan Solutions, LLC
One Destination To Avoid
October 21, 2010
Most experts say that if you want to achieve something, you should focus on what you want to make happen rather than avoiding what you don’t want to happen. I believe that this is good advice.
As an example, if you want to lose weight, you would focus on getting thin rather than on not being fat. If you want to win a game, you focus on winning rather than playing not to lose. Psychologically this is supposed to help you in pursuit of your goal.
I thought about this principle recently after I had an OK kind of day. It wasn’t really a good day or a particularly bad day. It was kind of mediocre. Although I don’t want particularly bad days, I don’t really care for mediocre days either.
With mediocre days it’s too easy to get caught up in the trap of being comfortable and getting lazy. For example, you get stuck in a rut at a job that you don’t really like. However, it isn’t bad enough to make you leave and go do something better.
There is a real danger with too much mediocre. If things were worse for a short time, we might get busy and go do what we really want.
But with mediocre, it is very easy to tolerate something and end up in a situation that sneaks up on us and gets unbearable. Once it becomes unbearable, we are likely to do something about it. However, the danger with mediocre is that since we let it sneak up on us the end result may actually be worse than if it was worse initially.
Whether we say it in a positive or a negative way, we need to be aware of the dangers of mediocrity.
We could say it like this – one destination to avoid is mediocre. Or maybe we could say – seek excellence!
Copyright Kevin Drum 2010
Permission is granted to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including this copyright information and it is attributed to
Kevin Drum
Titan Solutions, LLC
Adversity And Genius
October 18, 2010
“Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it.” – Horace
Do you see adversity as an opportunity to become your very best? What we learn and become when we overcome adversity helps us to live better.
It feels great when we overcome adversity. Prosperity feels great. But if all we ever had was prosperity, we would never grow.
I believe that we should strive to be the very best that we can be in life. Whatever our best is for each of us has to be “good enough.”
While we may not enjoy adversity, it may be the very thing that reveals our true genius. It may be what enables us to become our very best.
If you are struggling with anything right now, I hope that this gives you some inspiration and perspective.
Copyright Kevin Drum 2010
Permission is granted to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including this copyright information and it is attributed to
Kevin Drum
Titan Solutions, LLC
Adversity Himself
October 14, 2010
“Adversity introduces a man to himself” – Anonymous
Do you remember when you first learned to drive? Were you a great driver when you first began? For most of us the answer is no.
It took time and experience to get better. I remember helping my son with his driving. He was at the very early stages of learning with his driver’s permit. He was actually doing very well.
Then it dawned on me that he was doing well while things were going well. If anything were to go wrong, I didn’t know how he would respond. I was there to help him. But any adversity would be a big challenge. He simply didn’t have any experience to draw from.
This is the same for all of us. We generally don’t try to deliberately create problems for ourselves to deal with. But we learn by doing things and overcoming our adversities.
Adversity is an important part of life. We all face it. Do we let it defeat us or do we let it “introduce us to ourselves”?
Copyright Kevin Drum 2010
Permission is granted to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including this copyright information and it is attributed to
Kevin Drum
Titan Solutions, LLC
Education From Adversity
October 11, 2010
“There is no education like adversity” – Benjamin Disraeli
Adversity comes into all of our lives. Human nature is for us to want the adversity to pass quickly so that we can get back to good times.
Adversity teaches us a lot about ourselves. We can learn a lot of lessons from adversity if we pay attention. This doesn’t mean that we have to like adversity. But we can learn from it. There have been many times when I wished that I was a faster learner. That way I wouldn’t need the current adversity to learn whatever I needed to learn.
Have you ever watched how others handle adversity? Most all of us have dealt with fair weather friends at one time or another. I believe that we can tell a lot more about people by how they conduct themselves when things are not going their way.
We also need to look at how we handle our own adversity. I know that we can tell a lot more about ourselves by how we behave when things are not going our way. It’s important that we maintain our sense of values when we face adversity.
Do you observe your own life? Do you pay attention to your life and learn the lessons that are available to you? Do you use adversity as a learning experience to improve your life?
Copyright Kevin Drum 2010
Permission is granted to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including this copyright information and it is attributed to
Kevin Drum
Titan Solutions, LLC
Necessity and Invention
October 11, 2010
There is an old saying that “necessity is the mother of invention.” The origins of this are generally attributed to the Greek philosopher Plato from thousands of years ago.
In my previous blog I talked about how currently many people are finding it more difficult to find opportunities in the current economic environment. If you are struggling with this right now, maybe you can find some inspiration and ideas in the saying above.
In general, basic things that were true back in the days of Plato are still true today. We certainly live in a different time and setting. But we still need and want many of the same things that people wanted thousands of years ago. We need food and shelter. We still need to work to survive. Back then people wanted to live and love and to be happy and successful. Most of us still want that today.
Are your struggles putting you in a situation where you have to invent new ways of doing things? We aren’t the first ones to face struggles. We aren’t the first ones to learn that “necessity is the mother of invention.”
What challenges do you have to overcome right now? Are there opportunities right under your nose if you find, create, and invent them?
Copyright Kevin Drum 2010
Permission is granted to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including this copyright information and it is attributed to
Kevin Drum
Titan Solutions, LLC
Seizing Opportunities
October 7, 2010
Many people are finding that economic opportunities are harder to come by during these difficult economic times. How about you?
Are you seizing all of the opportunities that come your way? What worked in the past for many people isn’t working right now. Many are working harder and longer for fewer results.
Are you seizing all of the opportunities that are there? Are you willing to get up early, stay late, talk to more people, try different things outside of the comfortable routine, take on additional work, invest more in your own self development, or do what is necessary to achieve your best results?
Everything that we earn has a value to us. It also has a cost since we have to invest our time and effort into it. It is important for all of us to make good choices. Right now are you making good choices to put in the extra effort needed to seize the opportunities that come your way?
Copyright Kevin Drum 2010
Permission is granted to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including this copyright information and it is attributed to
Kevin Drum
Titan Solutions, LLC
Momentum
October 4, 2010
Have you ever wanted to do something and you couldn’t get going? Have you ever got up in the morning and you couldn’t get ready for work?
Have you ever tried to lose weight but gave up because you couldn’t make any progress? Have you ever tried to get in shape by exercising more and then got derailed because you caught a cold or pulled a muscle
How about saving money? Have you ever tried to save money for something like a house or an emergency fund and then got derailed because a bigger emergency came up and took all of you money for savings?
All of these scenarios are part of life. I’ve either experienced them or talked to people who encountered all of these things. These problems don’t always have easy solutions. But if they are important to you, it’s important to find the solutions that work for you.
When you run into obstacles like these, is there anything that you can do to create some momentum? Can you do something to get going in the right direction? Can you get moving and then keep going and even pick up speed?
Think about a sporting event. Suppose one team isn’t playing well. Then they get a spark from a good play. Then someone else makes another great play and the whole team turns things around and comes back to win the game. They got some momentum and kept it going.
If you are struggling to get something going, can you do something to create that spark? Can you get moving and then build some momentum?
Copyright Kevin Drum 2010
Permission is granted to reprint this article provided it is reprinted in its entirety including this copyright information and it is attributed to
Kevin Drum
Titan Solutions, LLC