Yesterday in Part 1 of this review, I outlined briefly my experience with reading the Bible as well as the many heroes written in it to learn from.  This second part explores a few more areas I particularly valued.

Great Teaching Through Stories

I love storytelling and I know its a powerful way to teach and convey a message. This is definitely one of the reasons the Bible has as much impact on so many as it does, its full of hundreds of incredible short stories all weaved together in the greatest Love story of all time. That is of God sending his only Son to suffer and die on the Cross to pay for sins of all people through all of time. So of course that over arching story has deep meaning for me as a Christian, but most people will likely connect more with individual stories from the bible and what is taught in them.

When it comes to story telling, Jesus used stories and parables more than any other teacher and He did so with such a deep understanding, sometimes the message He sends with each story cannot be fully comprehended simply hearing it once. Some of Jesus’ stories and the messages He shared can really take years of study to fully understand. In fact, there are scholars and teachers still dissecting the meaning of each story today, 2000 years after the stories were originally told. Now I don’t know about you, but if I’m able to ever tell a story profound enough that even one person retells it I’ll be ecstatic, let alone millions of people teaching it 2 millenium later.

There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death; there is no discharge in that war.
Ecclesiastes, 8. 8

What Matters in Life

Another significant thing the Bible does like no other book is trigger many, many reflective questions about the things that matter most in life. Contemplating some of the stories and instructions from God does much to activate these questions in a hope to understand more of what mattes in our own lives in comparison to some of the heroes, villains and variety of people from the Bible. The example of how Jesus lived his live with servant hood and perfect obedience to God forces one to ponder if any of those same things matter in your own life. Are material possessions and temporary things on Earth getting in the way of you knowing and living the life you truly desire? What about the effort put into your relationships and serving others? Do you have a purpose and what is getting in the way of living it?

Personally, those questions really matter to me and so does the context of them. Of course its still a daily struggle to escape the undesirable and temptations I face, yet I find myself continually spiraling closer and closer to what always seems like a more defined purpose. Yet with each loop of this spiral it seems to morph into more of a funnel and I find the questions taking me deeper and deeper into the funnel. I’ve deepened my beliefs and faith in serving greatly by reflecting on all the stories and examples and by learning so much more through study. There are so many great references, teachings, messages and stories to ponder you can’t help but look at where applying that in your own life is valuable. Also, the moral foundation is so easy to apply to great relationships, true honesty, continual integrity and love for others.

Connections To Personal Development

All these beautiful ways to learn present a huge opportunity to improve oneself and that is where it connects deeply to most areas of personal development in today’s writings, teachings and courses. Many of the books, quotes and role models in personal development today have moral foundations, beliefs and a servant attitude that stems from the Bible. Whether its an intentional connection or not, much of what we study in personal development is a result of both old testament teachings and Jesus’ life here on Earth.

Whether your looking for examples of moral leadership, trust, integrity or friendships, its all here. From the beginning to the end (pun intended), its the Word of God. You’ll find nearly every area of personal development and a challenge to explore your own character to a level beyond what most would ever dare to start. Beautiful examples of the golden rule, servant hood, obedience, purpose and true faith are here in the one book nearly everyone has but seldom reads. It’s by far the best book I’ve ever read and is so profound I could put all other books away and just continue to learn by rereading this; the greatest book of all time.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12: 31-32

Posted by Mike King under Book Reviews | 20 Comments »

I read a lot of books and I write a lot of book reviews here at LearnThis.ca.  Nearly all of them are focused on areas I have interests and about things I want to learn more about.  As well, many of you know about my Christian faith and foundation and while I had continually been explorer deeper into many areas of personal development through books, I’ve only just started to explore more books about Christianity and faith.  So, I decided to challenge myself and so I embarked on reading the greatest book of all time.  The number one best seller every year with nearly 6 billion sold overall through time.  That’s right, I decided to read the bible start to finish within 6 months.

Reading The Entire Bible

So I started by picking a few books (of which there are 66 by the way) from the old Testament.  I’ve read all the gospels and the first few books of the bible many times before but never consistently read through many of the inner books except story by story or bit by bit.  I decided to start part way through and wrap back to the old testament to finish it so I started with Ecclesiastes.  It’s a wonderful book and actually one of my favorites now.  So many words of wisdom and things to think about I could likely read it 100 times and not understand half of what is said in it.  This is the thing that amazed me the further and further I read.  I understood far more than I ever have in reading individual stories and chapters or bible books before, but at the same time, I realized there is so much more depth and wisdom that I just barely scratched the surface of what can be learned.  There are countless passages of wisdom and things to learn from that other books really just don’t compare any more for me.  One man’s book on a subject couldn’t possibly come close to the sheer volume of things to learn in the Bible.  This is not to say I’m going to stop reading other books or value them less as they have their place as well, it just really demonstrated to me that most of the content I really love learning about in personal development roots back to the Bible and especially to Jesus by example in so many ways.  I’ve always known that but never read it first hand over and over like I did reading through in the past 8 months.  I started reading in March and finished 8 months later in October which I’m quite happy about.  I read a number of other books in between as well, especially through the summer with more vacation time and time spent out at the lake.

So I want to explore as with any book I read, some of the things to learned.  In this case, I can only begin to mention the things I learned and really its more about the general methods that I learned from, not specific elements since there is just so much content to take in.  I know I will be reading this incredible book many times over after such a great experience this time.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1–2

Learning from Heroes

Everyone loves heroes and there are no shortage of them in the Bible.  There are a significant number of them in fact and they have so much to teach through their actions.  Everything from great acts of faith, fantastic leadership, servant hood to acts of desperation from suffering, despair and heartache.  These heroes aren’t like your everyday Pixar movie heroes though, they’re real with real scenarios, struggles and in most cases quite an amazing journey.

One of my favorite heroes is Jeremiah.  The depth of his character, his integrity and emotion portrayed is simply wonderful.  Jeremiah faced delivering a message of despair to the people of Judah due to their lack of faith in God and distance the commands of the Lord.  Of course he was rejected by the people of the land and expressed deep emotion to the pain and hardship that was brought upon him, yet all the while, he obeyed every command from God.  He was imprisoned, beaten, tossed aside, hated and wanted dead by many who knew him.  His faith kept him alive despite the harsh emotions and laments he expressed in his time of solitude. Jeremiah’s strength showed by him being completely real and expressive about his emotions and relationships.  He expressed his disappointments, his questions, his burdens.  He was authentic.  Genuine.  We don’t live an honest life like Jeremiah did, we fake our feelings, we tell little white lies to hide our true feelings and expressions.  Why can’t we be genuine like Jeremiah while still holding onto a faith in God, a hope that cannot die regardless of the suffering and despair we come across on this short earth life?  We ought to learn from Jeremiah to remember God’s compassion, seek him and wait for his grace and love.  Anyone who can exult the Lord and follow God in spite of these great grievances heart ache is a hero if you ask me.

Click here if you want to listen to a 32 min sermon and story about Jeremiah.

I’ll finish up with Part 2 tomorrow looking specifically at how The Bible teaches through storytelling, makes you look at what really matters in life and then how this relates to personal development.

Posted by Mike King under Book Reviews | 17 Comments »

The Starting Point of Great Companies

Author: Nikos Mourkogiannis

To brilliantly match the title of the book, there is a single strong message through this book, that is: for companies to be successful, they must have a purpose that drives the strategy and values through all levels of an organization.

Purpose is explored with a moral avenue far beyond that of the typical mission and value often on display in companies.  It is presented by looking at four specific examples:

Discovery: Adventure’s Challenge

Mourkogiannis explores the way companies can make purpose and morality rooted in the adventures that they take through intellectual curiosity.  It ties closely to innovation and I love how the author relates discovery to a choice that enables freedom and opportunity to discover a new world.

Company example: Tom Walton’s IBM

Excellence: Virtue’s Fulfillment

Excellence means holding up high standards and great expectations of performance both internally and in the community of the business.

Company example: The Economist, Warren Buffet

Altruism: Empathy’s Justification

When a business exists primarily to serve its customers beyond the normal expectation or obligation tied in by a contract.

Company example: Sam Walton’s Wal-Mart, Hewlett-Packard, Nordstrom

Heroism: Power’s Effectiveness

Heroism is when a company can demonstrate great achievement and success despite the challenges and setbacks it faces.

Company example: Henry Ford and Microsoft

Final Thoughts

While those are the four themes carried through the book, it is done well with many segments of practical advice and guidelines for discovering purpose and especially for turning that into strategy.  The third part of the book explores the areas that I was most captivated by.  It looks at purpose from each of these perspectives:

• Morality
• Innovation
• Competitive Advantage
• Leadership
• Action

These wrap up the implementation of purpose into strategy very well and give the reader a lot of food for thought on their own business strategies.  There is plenty of wise advice throughout this book and one that you will certainly enjoy if you are planning strategy and guiding any significant portion of a company.  There is certainly a lot of wisdom for an individual perspective as well, even for entrepreneurs, but it is never really explored in that sense within the book, which is something I would have liked to see more of as I think it is much more common with that segment of business on the rise.

Posted by Mike King under Book Reviews | 9 Comments »

Image by orvaratli via Flickr

Jay over at InnerNoodle has a great perspective and discussion on the search for Life Purpose and how it’s not as difficult as it’s often made.  He elaborates on his journey in this and I figured I’d prefer to write a bit more then a short comment on the subject and here’s the result.

Searching for Purpose

I definitely agree with many of Jay’s points.  I feel too many people spend (should I dare say waste) time searching for what they wish to find as a life purpose and they ignore for years some obvious known life purpose at that time. Some people spend years of their lives searching for a life purpose.

I think they find many things that could be purposeful along this path, but they either refuse to accept it or simply want to find something that attracts them more.  Often people are so connected with their material world, the same notions bleed into their soul searching so the status and glamor of their purpose is highly important to them.  This ultimately leaves them searching, taking little action and ultimately feeling lost and inadequate from not being connected to something with meaning in their lives.

Living Your Purpose

The point that people are always searching for something that has some, “cool factor” is a massive roadblock to people taking action and simply living what they know best at that time. If you were asked, “What is your purpose?” and you have no response, I can assure you that is because you are thinking you have no response because you’ve trained yourself to wait for a purpose that you want.  Well, what if you purpose is something that you don’t know yet, or really don’t want?  Is that still a purpose?  Do you decide your own purpose or is it something you find by searching?  Is it something that is revealed through experience, through others, through God?  How do you live your purpose if you don’t fully know what it is.

My suggestion is this.  Instead of thinking that you don’t know your purpose, break the habit and develop a new belief that you will only find your true purpose by taking action on what you feel could be your purpose at this point in your life. Act on what you feel, don’t analyze it too much or criticize it, just explore.  Stop and let yourself examine those feelings and desires.

1. What are your strongest desires or feelings in your life right now?
2. What action can you take right now to explore that further?
3. With what you know right now, is it possible that this feeling ties to a purpose in your life?
4. Would it hurt anyone to follow your gut with this and see where it leads?
5. If this is your purpose, could you live it more fully right now?

This type of questioning can help you to explore new areas in safety by using just the imagination at first.  Visualizing yourself take on new actions and living in a way driven more by purpose can enable you to avoid the seeking and start living for what you know at this point in time.  It helps you open your mind to new possibilities of purpose and to discover new and more defined purpose than what you currently know. Getting out of that trap of trying to find a perfect, well defined purpose by living with what you know right now, will give you far more opportunities to know your life purpose, but to actually live it!

Purpose Does Change

I also believe you don’t have ONE set life purpose, your life purpose changes as does your life.  No life is static, nor is any purpose.  If you actually do something for what you feel in your gut at any point in your life instead of just thinking, dreaming, and hoping to discover something greater, then your life purpose will change as you do.  It is something that grows with you and it is something you discover along your journey of life.

Purpose is connected deeply with your spiritual centers and most people seek out purpose to a point where they can find a morally accepted purpose.  To me, this is driven entirely by your connection to God and your faith in that allows you to experience the joy of purpose, with hope for returns outside the worldly temporary things so many cherish in life.  This is exactly why I think so many people struggle to find a purpose, they don’t have the faith or spiritual beliefs that let them connect to a moral purpose, separately from the material temptations.

So, I encourage you to let your heart and mind wander.  If you follow your heart, believe in your ability to find happiness in purpose and accept the journey of discovery, it will lead directly to the purpose you have been seeking.  Just make sure you get your mind out of your own way!

Posted by Mike King under Life | 12 Comments »

This article is part of a series called, "Maximum Productivity " in which I’ll explore the topic of perspective.

See the rest of the series here:
Intro: Maximum Productivity: Series Introduction
Part 1: Maximum Productivity: Perspective
Part 2: Maximum Productivity: Attitude
Part 3: Maximum Productivity: Focus
Part 4: Maximum Productivity: Persistence
Part 5: Maximum Productivity: Adventure
Part 6: Maximum Productivity: Connections

I guess the first point to understand is what is productivity?  While productivity as a definition is simply producing readily and abundantly, that itself leaves a huge gap for what you are producing.  And that is where I will start things off in this series by looking at life, tasks, work and everything people do and wish to do from a perspective that matters or has some purpose!  Being productive is useless if it’s not on the things that matter to you.  So perspective is first.

Perspective

Perspective is really about looking at where productivity can be applied in your life.  It’s about taking a step back to analyze your situations and environment to see what it is you want to be productive at.  This allows you to put more efforts and productive work towards the things that are in some way meaningful to you.  To gain that perspective there are a number of things you can do to change your normal perspective and realize what does matter.

• Explore your passions
• Discuss and even debate with others
• Read books that question or expand your views
• Ask others for their opinions and stay open minded
• Write your will or obituary for yourself
• Explore and understand the legacy you want to leave
• Imagine yourself in other people’s situations and challenges
• Look at how your creativity can change your perception
• Study and learn new things to gain new understanding
• Ignore your gut or instinctive response

All of these things can help you to step back from what is normal in your life and analyze new situations from a distance.  It’s critical to CHANGE and EXPAND your views on every subject without limiting yourself to your old beliefs.  It’s often those new areas that will truly let you see not only what you can do to be productive but also why that is important!

Identity

The way you see things is a big part of one’s identity so expanding that and exploring it deeply is done to really take a deep look at oneself.

• Do you know what drives and motivates you to do the things you do?
• Could you explain all of your actions to others and would you be happy to hear that explanation?
• Is the time you spend on things productive to you?
• Are you OK with that whether it is or isn’t?
• How much time do you spend productively?
• Can you change that and do you want to?

The things you consider to be productive should be the things you enjoy doing and want to do.  That is part of what drives you to do it and so of course this drive has to come from within to have any lasting impact.  That is why I encourage you to reflect on those questions above, answer them truthfully and look at what reveals itself.  It’s impossible to just become productive overnight and it is a slow process to change since it’s your identity, not just your productive actions, that must also change to shift to seeing that new perspective that is required in everything.  That perspective change will enable you to learn easier from new experiences and adapt quicker to changes.  This will make controlling your productivity much easier. Expanding and seeing with more perspective is also helpful to look for improvements, optimizations and ways to be more productive.  Instead of just thinking the current way is the only or best way to do something, you can accept suggestions, changes and help to increase your productivity.

Who Do You Do It For?

This concept of perspective applies not only in looking at productivity directly and seeing areas to improve that but also in why you do it.  What makes you want to those things and motivate you to improve.  To what end?  Do you have something to achieve in working at those areas?  Some people do it for approval, to be liked, to make themselves happy, to meet others.  Some do it for status, material things, health or longevity.  I personally look at productivity more from an angle of service to others.  I want to do things that are productive not only for me, but for others, for strangers, for family, for new friends, old friends, and for God.  Those are things that I highly value they motivate me to drive forward in creating more time, more productivity and more results in the areas that are service oriented.

So who do YOU do things for?  Can you say that you are working with a purpose, a mission and set of values?  I hope if you don’t that you stop to take a look at why you do things, what will leave you happy if you only had short time to live and that you are able to be productive with the things you want out of life.  That, my friends, is what perspective is for and I hope I’ve been able to shed a little bit of new light on this first article in a series for maximizing your productivity.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Colossians 3:23

Posted by Mike King under Life & Personal | 16 Comments »

Author : Zig Ziglar

A few years ago now when I was absorbed in a number of motivational books and audio cassettes, I listened to one by Zig Ziglar called, “You are a Natural Champion”.  Remembering that I enjoyed listening to it triggered me to buy this book when I saw it in a local book store.  I’m happy to say it is a great book and I didn’t even realize that both Ziglar and the book deliver a Christian message that I thoroughly enjoyed and agree with.  Ziglar covers a huge list of topics in life, all focused on how to live those areas successfully and have a lasting impact on others with a purpose behind it all.  He challenges you to see the areas you can live a successful life and he does it with personal stories, humor and great inspirational messages and quotes.

He covers well one of my favorite topics, passion. He helps explore how to use that passion along with inspiration to live successfully and get to peak performance.

Ziglar offers a path to success that involves God and spirituality along the way and he covers how it has come over the years in his life to now be the central theme and purpose he has to offer in his teaching.  He allows his life and he references the life of many other great leaders and teachers who have God and Christianity as their foundation to be an example of living “Better Than Good”.  He makes the point about how the education system has shifted entirely away from any spiritual teaching or even exploration and that has limited so many people from getting at least an introduction to a God based purpose driven life.  I definitely agree with him and think its a sad shift that unfortunately supports itself to occur more and more.  Luckily there are still leaders like Ziglar to counter this shift and still provide the teaching and life example needed for our young people today.

So, the book itself is definitely interesting and as intended, inspirational and motivating.  Ziglar challenges you to face every day events from a new perspective and look to find and use your passions to match your work, actions and beliefs together to get to peak performance.  I did find some of his examples of using the phrase, “Better Than Good” to be a bit repititive and they dragged on a little at the time of reading.  The funny thing is that now after reading the whole book, I’m glad that was all there because it set it into my mind and I’ve seen some of the same affects by using that simple phrase myself.  That phrase works great when you are responding to how you feel, how something went or even to give someone else feedback on their own work or help they’ve offered.  Let them know that you are “Better than Good” or that the work they did was “Better Than Good” and you’ll find that there is always an overwhelming response when compared to the more traditional “fine” or “good” that we find ourselves using so many times.

If you are at all interested in exploring peak performance I think you can learn a lot from Ziglar in his books. Those areas he teaches that none of use should ignore which are necessary for success are:

1. Passion
2. Peak performance
3. Purpose

Posted by Mike King under Book Reviews & God | 3 Comments »