Make It Happen ~ Life Lessons from Yoda

Do. Or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

In case you missed the news this week, Disney now owns Lucasfilm, which I suppose makes Leia an acceptable nomination for the next Disney princess. Whether or not you are a maniacal Star Wars fan, elements of the movie have made their way into your life as they seeped into our culture over the last forty years.

The above quote from Yoda is one of those things.

I've heard it, I've used it, and I'm guessing you probably have to. If you haven't, then you've at least seen Nike's version at some time in your life, Just Do It.

The mentality behind both of those famous statements is that "trying" makes failure an acceptable option. By saying "I'll try" you are saying that part of you thinks you won't actually succeed. Yoda and Nike both think that's a recipe for failure.

Think of something you've always wanted to do. How many times have you started? How many times have you quit?

I've been thinking about this a lot this week as many friends of mine gear up for NaNoWriMo.

If you've ever wanted to be a writer but aren't sure if you have it in you, I encourage you to tackle NaNoWriMo. You're only a day or two behind right now, so there's no excuse not to jump in. The idea is that you write a 50,000+ word novel in a month.

It's doable. That is what got me started writing (though I did it in June, not November, but still). Because if you nail your butt to the chair and hammer out 50,000 words, you can look at it and say, "I did it. Now is it any good? Is it something I want to pursue?"

If you never get those 50,000 words down? Well, you don't have the option of moving forward.

(One note here, if you do hammer out a novel this month, DO NOT assume it's ready to go come December. The only way you can throw down 50,000+ words in a month is if you ignore editing and rewriting entirely. Please don't assume a publish-ready book will spill from your fingers in 30 days unless your name is Nora Roberts. I think she spits books out in her sleep.)

I'm not in a position to write a new novel this month, but I have other things I want to do. So I'm making November Anti-Procrastination month for me. I have friends doing NaNoWriMo, so I intend to utilize and join in the encouragement but with some slightly adjusted goals.

Won't you join me? Throw try out the window and let's get it done. Where do you want to be on December 1. Break it into mini-goals - one for every day of the month of November. Not do them. No try, no maybe, no we'll see.

I think it's time we all take advice from a small, wrinkly green muppet in swoosh decorated sneakers. Let's do it.

This month I'm getting back into my favorite jeans and finishing some book proposal submittals that have been sitting on my desk for a while. What are you going to tackle this month?

Background Stress ~ Life Lessons from a Mobile Phone Battery

Mobile phones have become essential to many people's daily lives. Many people have even stopped home phone service because their mobiles have become the only phone they use. Now, smartphones and expansive data packages have increased the amount of attention we pay to our phones.

See how far phones have come in this display of Ericson cellphone. Picture from Wikimedia Commons

The first cell phone my family got was actually a car phone. It was semi-permanently mounted in the car. Taking it out required a large battery compartment that you carried around in a bag. Now my phone is semi-permanently attached to my body.

It's caused me to notice something recently.

The battery life has suddenly decreased dramatically.

Phones are so much more than phones now. I play games, check email, text, control my computer remotely, listen to music, use it as an alarm clock, read books, and, oh yeah, make phone calls. All of that means my phone is, or at least feels, essential to me. When it dies, I feel very lost, so this shortened battery life is very concerning.

I set out to discover why my battery was suddenly dying in the middle of the afternoon instead of making it well into the evening. It turned out two applications I had recently loaded were doing some extensive work in the background. Even when I wasn't using them, they were sucking up my phone's resources.

Life is like a phone. When we're young, life seems so much simpler. Most of the time there was only one thing to focus on. Our most difficult decision in a day might be whether Barbie wanted to ride her horse or drive in her car. The older we get, the more hats we put into our repertoire.

I look around now and realize I'm a wife, a mother, a writer, a minister, a daughter... the list goes on and on. I'm not sure I could even make a comprehensive list of all the roles I play sometimes.

Wikimedia Commons

What I've noticed is that sometimes these roles will drain my strength and energy even when I'm not focusing on them. I could be playing a game with my children and part of my mind is thinking about an upcoming church event. Or I'm working on my book and have to stop to write an email to a family member that just keeps niggling at my mind.

A game I play once every other day or so was taking up so much of my phone that at times I couldn't make a phone call or take a picture because the battery had gotten so low. Stress, worry, and a host of other issues related with stretching yourself through life can pull at you until there's nothing left to give whatever is in front of you at that moment.

In 1 Peter 5:7 God commands us to cast all our cares upon Him. God's battery is unlimited. He is uniquely able to carry all of your issues without losing strength, hope, or focus.

What is it for you? Are you thinking about work instead of focusing on a conversation with your spouse? Is waiting for test results (whether your own or a family member's) affecting your ability to worship?

I've changed the settings on that game so that it only runs when I'm actually playing it. What settings do you need to change in your life?

God Provides ~ Life Lessons from a Barbie Doll

We're filling shoeboxes at my house this week. If you haven't heard of Operation Christmas Child, it is a ministry of Samaritan's Purse. They collect shoeboxes filled with toys, hygiene items, school supplies, and other goodies and distribute them to children in poor countries. Children that have likely never seen a Christmas present before.

As a lover of everything Christmas, I adore this ministry. I love that I can be a part of bringing a piece of Christmas to a child that otherwise would not see any of it. And with each shoebox, they distribute the Gospel message, bringing hope that lasts far longer than the boxes contents.

This year, we are having each of our kids fill a shoebox for a child their own age. My oldest, Bean, is so excited about it that she's about to bust at the seams.

Earlier this week we went shopping. We hit the discount store and the dollar store, snagging some great stuff to put in our boxes. Bean wanted to put a Barbie in her box. I told her we would get one at the dollar store, since the recipient wasn't likely to know or care about the brand of the doll.

I didn't know that the dollar store doesn't carry Barbie-like dolls anymore.

When we left the dollar store it was too late to go back to the discount store. We told Bean we'd pick the doll up later in the week.

She started to cry.

Now it's always hard to listen to your child cry, but it's especially hard when she's crying because she wants to do something for someone else and doesn't think she's going to get to. (As a side note, she has also cried when we forget to bring our food bank donation to the church. I love this girl's heart.) Between sobs, she choked out phrases like, "But I want to get it for her." and "I know that little girl would love the doll!"

As we drove home, I remembered something. Several months ago I received a coupon in the mail for Kohl's. I used it to buy a Barbie doll to stick in the gift closet for Bean's next birthday party invite. There was a doll - a nicer one than Bean wanted to buy - waiting at home.

My husband was talking to my daughter, telling her that God would make sure the little girl got everything she was supposed to get. Finally, my daughter calmed down and remembered the faithfulness of the God she loved. She said that God could do anything. He could even make her a Barbie.

At home I went to hunt down the Barbie doll and Bean hit her knees by her bed, praying that God would make sure that the little girl got the doll she was supposed to have and could He please bring it soon because Bean was really worried about it.

I'll never forget the look on her face when I laid the doll in front of her on the bed.

It's a ballerina with brown hair. Just like my daughter. It's like she's sending herself in the box to that little girl on the other side of the world.

As I sit here, recalling the evening, I am struck again at how God works. He had a plan for that doll. What I thought was just an act of frugality and forethought, He was going to use to teach my daughter, and me, about His faithfulness and love.

Our church is collecting the shoeboxes this weekend. When I see it packed away, I know a piece of my heart will go with it. And I'm okay with that. There's a little girl somewhere in the world that could use that extra dose of love so that she can learn about the God that never fails to provide what His children need most.

Even when it's a Barbie doll.

Moving On ~ Life Lessons from a Bandaid

My middle child has sensitive skin. She also has a tendency to scratch and pick at her scabs. Disgusting, I know, but she is three so I try to cut her some slack.

She had one boo-boo on her forehead that she wouldn't leave alone, so I put a little square Band-aid over it. (Yes, it was an actual brand name Band-aid. :) ) Because I didn't want her to keep re-opening the wound, I left the Band-aid on for a couple of days.

When it did come off, the skin underneath the sticky part was all broken out. We had left the bandage on far longer than it really needed to be there.

Life is like that a lot.

We take certain measures because circumstances at the time require it. These things are intended to be temporary measures to solve a temporary problem. Unfortunately they become permanent fixtures in our life and those temporary measures eat away at our mental, emotional, and sometimes even physical health.

Some things, like a family having to move into their parents' basement, are harder to accept long term. Small, and sometimes big, things keep the fact that the situation is far from ideal at the forefront of our minds. At the same time you get into a routine and eventually things don't seem so bad. Instead of looking for an apartment as soon as its feasible, the family may decide to delay a few more months so they can save some extra money, or put a down payment on a house.

Other things, especially emotional bandages, also tend to stick around far longer than they should. Perhaps you are feeling wounded and raw from a fight with a friend. Sunday morning comes along and you feel like you both just need some time to cool off before you talk it out, so you skip church.

Wednesday comes along and you figure that a week's sabbatical will really help your equilibrium.

There are times and situations where a respite, a cooling off period, could be needed. But it is all too easy to let this temporary fix become an ingrained habit. The next Sunday you might be too embarrassed to go to church. Everyone will ask where you were all week and then you might have to explain the fight. So you skip again. In another week everyone will forget about it.

The next thing you know you haven't been to church in five months.

Habits are hard to break, especially when they were created out of necessity.

I could have taken my daughter's bandage off the next day, knowing the bleeding had stopped and the wound was nearly healed. Instead I left it on because it seemed easier than teaching her not to pick at it. Now I'm having to medicate the entire area as the skin heals.

Are there things in your life that were supposed to be temporary but became permanent fixtures? Do you need to work on getting they out?

Or maybe you've already ripped off your bandages. Did you have some mess to clean up from your fix? I'd love to hear about it in the comments below.

If You Can't Say Something Nice... ~ Life Lessons from Buying Tap Shoes

My daughter is in dance class this year. Both of them are actually.

In my efforts to be prepared and efficient, I made sure that both of them had all the shoes and other paraphernalia they needed for class about a week before it was scheduled to start.

On the day of their first class I discovered that my younger daughter was missing a tap shoe. She went to her first tap class in ballet slippers. I turned the house upside down and sideways looking for the shoe. Nowhere.   Our best guess? My son liked it and either hid it somewhere or threw it away.

She went to her second tap class in ballet shoes.

After another week of searching, I gave in and said we'd replace them, but I'd try the used bin and the dance studio first. They didn't have any small enough.

She went to her third tap class in ballet shoes.

So suffice it to say, I simply had to go get her some tap shoes before her fourth class which was this week. There are a few important things to know about the purchasing of the tap shoes.

The shoes.

1. They had to be tan. 

In case you are a normal person and don't have a daughter in dance class, let me explain the import of this statement. It means you have to go to a dancewear specialty store because places like Wal-Mart, Academy Sporting Goods, and Payless sell black tap shoes.

2. Her foot is tiny.

Which means that not every dancewear store is going to have shoes small enough.

3. There aren't many dancewear stores around me.

In fact, there's really only one. I usually drive to one near my parents' house about 45 minutes away. There's a super nice lady there, she gives me a discount, and my mom swings by to help watch my other children while the one getting shoes is fitted. I didn't have time to do that this week.

4. Dance shoes are a bit finicky in how they fit.

So I couldn't just order a pair off the internet. Which is painful. Because I order almost everything aside from food over the internet. Sometimes I even get food.

5. The dancewear stores that are around me have funky hours.

Even my normal one by my parents. It doesn't open until 2:30 which makes sense as most of her customers have, you know, school. That doesn't make it any less frustrating.

So my mission, which absolutely had to be accomplished, had a lot of difficulties.

Monday was labor day. My husband had it off so I thought we'd go get tap shoes Monday.

The store near me is closed on Monday. It's actually always closed on Monday, not just labor day. But on Tuesday (which, by the way, is dance class day) she's open from twelve to six.

So I think, not a problem. My two youngest usually go down for a nap at noon, but we can delay long enough to run down the street and get tap shoes. Shouldn't be a problem.

There was a problem.

Image: www.morguefile.com

I pull in the parking lot and see a sign on the door that the credit card machine is down so they can only take cash and check right now. Don't have my checkbook or enough cash on me, so I run down the street to the Publix ATM (which charges a fee, but it was ten minutes closer than my nearest bank branch).

I get cash, come back, it's 12:30. Get the kids out of the car, go up to the door. And it's locked. No movement inside. Nobody's there. The store isn't open.

Not getting tap shoes is not an option.

So we pile back in the car, my son is VERY not happy about this, and I'm so frustrated I'm about to cry.

And this is where I make the key mistake in this whole nasty business. I called the store's phone number, just to see if she was in the back and had forgotten to unlock the door or something like that. No answer. In my frustration I leave a polite but not anywhere near nice message about how she should be open when she says she'll be open and I guess she won't be getting my business.

As soon as I hang up I think, "This is going to come back and bite me."

We get in the car and I head toward a big sporting goods store about twenty minutes away. It's my next best shot. I have my mom call around while I'm in route in case there's somewhere else I can go. Well, the sporting goods store only has black shoes and the other dance stores don't open until after school which means I don't have time to get to them and get back in time for dance class.

As I turn around to drive home, I realize I'm going to have to check the first store again and see if it's open. Because I pass it on my way home. And not getting tap shoes isn't an option. By this point my daughter is in the back crying because she thinks she's going to tap class in her ballet shoes again. Not good.

image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Sure enough she's open now.

We go in. It takes me five minutes to get up the courage to confess that I'm the meanie who left the nasty message and I'm really sorry.

She hasn't checked her messages yet. Which, in a way, is a good thing, because when she hears it she'll know I apologized.

We got our shoes.

She gave me a discount because of the earlier trouble.

I felt like dirt.

Why do I tell you this story? Because it just goes to show that the old adage is right. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. You never know when it will come back to bite you.

The Power of Stress ~ Life Lessons from Procrastination

Have you ever had one of those moments where someone makes a casual remark and it hits in just the right spot? Suddenly their off-the-cuff sentence has opened up a world of understanding about yourself.

This happened to me the other day.

I've been busting tail for the last two weeks to finish a project for a friend of mine. I've had it for a year. I didn't touch it until two weeks ago. Oops.

As I was running around the house crying and freaking out, because over the course of a year I'd lost an essential piece of the project, I wondered how my life ended up in this situation so often.

I always seem to be one step from the edge of the crumbling cliff. Miraculously everything meets deadline, but I'm nearly dead by the time it gets here.

photo from Wiki Commons

So I complained to my husband. That's what he's for, right? (Just kidding, honey!) He calmly continues what he's doing (which, coincidentally, is helping me look for the missing item) and says, "I think you just like stress."

My gut reaction was, "I do not! Who in the world wants stress?"

But then I started thinking about it. The honest answer was, "I do."

I think it's the sense of urgency, the dare of the deadline, and my desire to be as lazy as possible that make stress such an integral part of my getting anything done.

And I don't like that about myself. I don't think God cares for it either. Crying jags, loss of sleep, and shredded nerves don't add up to life more abundant.

Is stress a necessary factor in accomplishing your goals? So many authors write to the deadline - letting that be the thing that finally turns on their juice, whether it's creative or desperate. It's the essential requirement for sitting your tail in the chair and getting it done.

If that's you, I invite you to join me. The post is shorter than normal today because I'm getting up and doing something. Today I shall do something well before it's deadline is on the horizon. I am laying the groundwork for productivity to come easier later.

Today I am changing my life. Because I don't want to crave stress.

Are you joining me? Put your anti-procrastination goal in the comments below. You can do this. And so can I.

Waiting For The Best ~ Life Lessons from A Fast Food Drive-Thru

Confession time! I know, I know that happens a lot around here.

Photo by Wiki Commons

My family eats too much fast food. We eat it at least twice a week, frequently three, and occasionally more. Part of it is because we have such a long drive to church (It takes at least 45 minutes but we always have to allow an hour.)

On Wednesdays, we not only eat fast food, we eat it in the car. (Remember.... 45 minute drive...) All this means I've gotten very familiar with the fast food drive thru line. And I've noticed something.

They're slow with the straws.

Because of the way things are set up in drive thru lines, you get your drink almost immediately. Sometimes they hand them to you before you hand them your payment, which can be really awkward when neither of you has a hand free to actually receive what the other is trying to pass you.

So your drink is in your hand (or your cup holder) and it's all cold and yummy and you're thirsty because you spent the past hour running around putting kids on shoes (or shoes on kids, depending on your viewpoint) and gathering Bibles and other church goodies and such. And there in front of you is the wonderful, if unhealthy, cure for your thirst.

But they didn't give you a straw.

I don't really follow the football much, but have to take this moment to cheer on my alma mater. Go jackets! Sting 'em!

You see they've started putting the straws in the food bags. I guess this is so they don't forget them. But it means they hand you your drink and don't give you a straw. So the cup sits there, mocking you. The cup starts sweating because there's cold deliciousness inside but you don't have a straw.

Now I understand that a straw is not a requirement for drinking a drink. I could take the lid off and sip it that way. But there are many problems with this:

1. I'm clumsy. I've dropped a cup in the car more times than I care to admit and been very thankful for that little piece of plastic keeping most of the liquid where it belongs - in my cup.

2. I'm going to have to replace the lid so I can put the straw in to make it drinkable as I drive down the road. Because I can't be tipping my head back with a cup in front of my face as I truck down the interstate. So why take it off because...

3. I always seem to break the lids when I remove them. It's a special talent. I thought about trying out for America's Got Talent, but I couldn't see me making a whole Las Vegas show out of that skill.

What this all means is that, in my case at least, it's better to just let the cup sit and wait for the straw. Sometimes I'll get lucky and they hand me the straw with the cup, but that is becoming more and more rare. Most of the time I have to wait for the better way to drink my drink.

Life is like that.

I love this picture. I know nothing about it but it looks like these two women are waiting on something important. One is content to sit and wait, possibly dreaming about whatever is coming. The other is looking to get out or hide. It's pretty cool. Photo from WikiCommons

Sometimes we know what we want. We can see it. We're so close we can almost taste it.

But we don't have the necessary means to get there yet. There's a quicker option but we run the potential of spills and mess and damage to a part we might need later on.

I can really relate this to book publishing. Right now, there is a lot of discussion about traditional vs. self publishing. A variety of hybrid models have started coming out too.

Let's say you have a book (I do) and it's great (I like to think so.) and it sits on your computer, asking you what you intend to do with it. Most authors want their book published. It's sort of the natural culmination of the book writing process.

You can get to it immediately by publishing it yourself, and for some people this works amazingly well. For others, drink gets spilled everywhere until there isn't a need for a straw because there's nothing left in the cup.

Your other option is to wait for traditional publishing. It's a little slower, but you have less risk once you get it. IF you self-publish the editing, cover art, everything is on your shoulders. There's no advance, no safety net, no nothing.

I'm not trying to get a self vs. traditional war started here. (Believe me they can be ugly.)

What I'm saying is that sometimes in life, the thing that's better requires a little more wait. There are times when the shortcut just isn't worth the risk.

Have you ever experienced that? Have you ever taken a shortcut and ended up with a giant mess on your hands?

The Communal Crayon - Life Lessons from School Supplies

My oldest started school last week.

It's hard to say who was more excited about school starting - her or me. One of the reasons I've been anticipating my kids starting school is for the excuse to go Back To School Shopping.

Seriously. I'm addicted to office supplies. I love them. Pens, pencils, rulers, notebooks, paper clips, index cards, all of those wonderful things in the stationary aisle at Wal-Mart are a total draw for me. I've mentioned this before when I talked about my total obsession with sticky notes.

So when my oldest was headed to kindergarten I was clapping with glee in anticipation of getting my hands on her school supply list.

Until I actually got it.

Maybe it's because of this weird thing I have with new office products, but I always loved the trip to buy school supplies. My mom probably didn't because I distinctly remember one year having to go to four different stores before we found the five subject spiral notebook with pockets on the dividers that my brother was supposed to have for school.

We would gather all of our things, meticulously crossing off colored pencils, notebooks, crayons, pencil box, and clipboard. I remember the clipboard. (It was to keep our loose leaf paper contained, in case you were wondering.)

Once we got home, we would pull out the paint pen and label everything. My mom turned the clipboard into a work of art with my name in the middle of a big vine of flowers. It was awesome. I think I still have it in a box in the attic.

All of those beautiful new school supplies with my name on them. Every year I vowed to treat them well and keep them looking new. It would last for a while, and when the notebook was squished on the corners or the paint chipped off the clipboard or the pencils started to look a bit run down and chewed on, well, I had no one to blame but myself.

My daughter doesn't have that option.

This year I sent a bag full of crayons and gluesticks to the school for her whole class to use in the classroom. Every supply on the list is communal property in her classroom.

I confess to struggling with this.

The rant to my own mother went on for a while. "What if some other kid in there breaks crayons? Is my daughter going to have to use his mistreated crayons?"

Notice how it's obviously not going to be my kid mistreating the crayons despite the state of our own crayon box at home.

I was greatly concerned that nothing I sent to school was going to be hers. And now I wonder why.

There are some valid reasons such as wanting to teach her to take care of her things and learn that responsibility, and not wanting to have to buy four boxes of crayons when she herself might only need two through the whole year if they were simply hers.

But she has things to take care of at home, so there's another way to learn that lesson. And having to utilize a communal bucket of crayons will teach her to share and work with others, so that's a good thing, right? Plus I don't have to buy a school supply box and argue over the color of paint to use on her name.

So I have to wonder at this drive to have things be just hers. As I look around my life, I see other areas of possessive behavior.

I won't share my sticky notes with my kids. I make them use the free ones from a college job fair that were shoved in the back of the drawer.

My problems and issues are just that - mine, and my wrath may fall down on you if you try to take them away from me. They might make me miserable, but they're still mine.

And what I'm coming to realize is that it's not always a good thing to have your name painted across every aspect of your life. I'm not saying everyone should go live in a commune where everything from the toilet paper to the minivan is up for free use, but my grip could be a little looser.

In the end, it's not really mine anyway. It's all on loan from God and He should be able to use it however He wants to.

So I'm starting to realize that I don't have to control everything. That it's okay for someone else to run with certain things, to have a little bit of control. Maybe by sharing the responsibilities and the struggles, I'll find myself working better within the team, whether the team is my family, my church, or life in general.

And if someone else gets to use the new box of crayons before I do? Well, I'm going to have to learn to be okay with that, too. Sometimes someone else gets the reward.

How are school supplies done at your kid's school? Do you struggle with wanting your name painted over every aspect of your life?

All photos from WikiMedia Commons. 

Highlights and Lowlights ~ A picture of life's struggles

The Olympics are drawing to a close. Soon the flame will be extinguished and all the the athletes will return to their own countries and resume their lives.

For some that life will be the same. They'll work, practice, strive to be better and faster while dealing with the other family and survival stuff that life requires.

For many others, life has been irrevocably changed. Some will have the glow of accomplishment pushing them to new heights, new experiences, and abundant opportunities. Others will start a new life without relentless athletic pursuit, but with the satisfaction of a job well done.

Then there are the ones who didn't quite succeed, at least not by some standards. The ones who have to decide whether or not to pour four more years of blood, sweat, and tears into their sport. Can they get closer to their dream? Is it worth it?

The Ups

One of my favorite thing about the Olympics is seeing the great accomplishments. Some of my favorite moments from the London games:

May and Walsh in Beijing Olympics Wikimedia Commons

       - Great Britain's gymnastics men winning the bronze medal.
       - Missy Franklin's first gold medal
       - Women's gymnastics team gold including that amazing vault by McKayla Maroney.
       - Aly Raisman's gold on the floor event finals - stunning routine!
       - Grenada's first medal ever - and it was gold!
       - Mo Farah winning the 10,000m run with his US training partner in second.
       - The double amputee from South Africa making the semi-finals in the 400m race.
       - Walsh-Jennings and May-Traenor winning their third gold medal.
       - The handful of women from countries that had never before sent women to the games.
       - Great Britain's celebration after coming in first and second in the two-man white-water canoeing
       - Phelps. 'Nuff said.

Not all of these moments were golden moments, but for the people living them they were accomplishments beyond anything they'd dreamed of before.

The Olympics are full of moments like that. People who are thrilled just to be there. Athletes who do their personal best, even if that wasn't enough to make the finals.

The Downs

McKayla Maroney Wikimedia Commons

Unfortunately, when there is a winner, there is also a loser. And while there are people ecstatic just to get on the podium there are many athletes that had golden dreams, a desire to hear their national anthem played for millions because they had excelled.

Some of the hardest moments to watch in these games?

       - Jordan Weiber missing the all-around, though points for coming back and busting it out in the team finals!
       - McKayla Maroney landing on her backside in the vault finals.
       - The USA men losing in the beach volleyball semi-finals
       - The woman from Qatar pulling up injured in the 100m prelims
       - All of the other people for whom injuries kept them from even finishing their Olympic moment
       - The US men falling apart in the gymnastics finals
       - The disqualified badminton players



The Olympic Spirit

But that's part of the Olympics. The ups, the downs, and everything in between. The disappointment would not be so bitter if the reward were not so sweet. The history, the legend, the mark left on your particular sport that the Olympics allows people to achieve.

Phelps made incredible, potentially unbreakable history. Though the argument could be said that Missy Franklin has set herself up for the potential to bust his new record.

While your day to day victories might not gain national media attention or garner a small fortune around your neck, there is something to be learned from the Olympics.

Triumph is not always easily won or expected, but it should always be celebrated.

Defeat may be hard to swallow but sometimes you have to "buck up" as my dad says as get the next job done.

There is pride in the fact that, even if you didn't finish, you still beat everyone who didn't start.


What were some of your favorite or most poignant moments of the games?

The Excitement of Enduring ~ Life Lessons From The Olympics

Two of my absolute favorite moments over the weekend came from the most unexpected events.

I've never been thrilled with the really long races in either the pool or on the track. I guess I want more action  than that. I want to wonder who's going to win. Frequently in endurance races, the outcome is clear well before the race is actually over.

Saturday, I didn't care.

Did you watch Katie Ledecky win the 800m freestyle? Incredible. Absolutely incredible!

100m freestyle in 1912. Swimming has come a long way since then. Photo from Wiki Commons.

The best part was hearing the announcers saying she was messing up for going so fast. They said that even her coaches were talking about how she needed to let up for the first few hundred meters, save her energy, let the veterans set the pace.

Sometimes it's great to see the people who "know" get proven wrong. It was clear well before she touched the wall that Katie Ledecky was going to win the gold medal, but that didn't make it any less exciting to watch. Fifteen years old and saying to all of those who think they know better, "Just watch. I know what I'm doing."

And then the men's 10,000m run. Never would I have thought I'd be gripped by a group of men running in circles for six and half miles. Watching Farah win, knowing the importance of his race to the country, and then his US training partner coming from behind to take second. It was wild.

The race was so close. Watching them sprint for the finish you would have thought the race had been 400 meters instead of 10,000.

I don't think I had ever appreciated the skill of endurance more than those two moments.

Mo Farah running for Great Britain. Photo from Wiki Commons.

Maybe it's because I'm older. I appreciate the fact that sometimes it takes longer to accomplish things. I look at how long most authors have to endure before they get published, and I realize that it's a race that requires staying power and longevity.

Life requires staying power. Losing weight, learning a new skill, obtaining a degree or promotion, all of these things take time and are done little by little.

Ledecky didn't jump into the pool twenty meters before everyone else. She just slowly built her lead until her triumph was awesome, even to her competitors. Farah didn't lead until the very end, but he kept at it, knowing what he was capable of, knowing that it wasn't who led for 9,500 meters, but who crossed the finish line first.

Are there things in your life that require endurance? Long term goals that require short frequent steps to reach? Don't give up. Hang in there and you can do it.

For the Love of the Game ~ Life Lessons from the Olympics

Swimming is drawing to a close in the Olympic games. Of all the incredible athletes and stories, Missy Franklin has caught a great deal of my attention.

What I find most incredible is that she has turned down sponsors and endorsement offers in order to maintain her eligibility to swim with her high school swim team.

Not Missy Franklin, but a kid that looks very happy to be swimming. ;)

Can you imagine? Lining up on the blocks at a high school swim meet and seeing an Olympic gold medalist to your left would be incredibly intimidating.

Most likely Missy has many years of swimming prowess to cash in on, but to turn down potentially millions as a teenager boggles the mind. It's possible, and even probable, that after the Olympics she won't swim her senior year swim team, but the fact that she did it last year is enough to show her love of the game.

She still has plans to turn down endorsement offers in order to swim in college.

So often we look at what's in it for us, or we think, my skill level is higher/lower than the other people involved, so why should I contribute? Sometimes we need to just do it because we enjoy it.

Have you ever loved something enough that you just wanted to participate as much as you could?

Should You Quit While You're Ahead? ~ Life Lessons From The Olympics

Phelps with one of his Beijing Gold Medals

Have you been following the Olympics? If you have then you saw the unthinkable happen in the pool Saturday. Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, head to head in the 400m IM (That's the one where they go back and forth four times with four different strokes.) Phelps and Lochte were expected to duel it out for gold and silver, leaving everyone else to chase the bronze.

That isn't what happened.

Instead, Phelps barely scraped into the finals and didn't manage to make it onto the medal stand at all.

Does that less than spectacular showing take anything away from his stellar performance four years ago?

Or consider Nastia Liukin, the winner of the gold medal in women's gymnastics individual all around competition in Beijing. She attempted to make the team again this year and was unsuccessful.

Nastia Liukin at 2008 National Championships (Photo by TheBostonianLonghorn)

Do people now think less of her as a gymnast because she was unable to achieve the same thing she had four years prior?

Unfortunately, for some people it does.

I was sitting next to my brother when Phelps touched the wall fourth in his race. He remarked, "Well, there goes Phelps."

Two of the most amazing athletes of the past decade and their memory could be forever marred by the fact that their last attempts were not as incredible as their most successful one.

That begs the question, should you quit while you're ahead? For most things, I think no. If you're a person who gambles, however, it's probably pretty sound advice.

Personally, I applaud Liukin and Phelps for continuing in their sports. Why should an incredible accomplishment mark the end of a career?

What if JK Rowling never wrote another book? What is George Lucas and Steven Spielberg had stopped making movies after their first big hits?

No one expects actors to stop acting just because they won an Oscar, so I'm not sure where this idea that athletes should stop at the height of their game came from. I don't think we should ever stop doing what we are passionate about and what we love.

What do you think? Has Phelps diminished in your view because of his loss? Do you think people should stop while they're ahead, leaving the last impression as a spectacular one?

Turns Out Freud Was Right ~ Life Lessons from Public Restrooms

While Freud may have stretched logic and been a bit of a nut job about some things, it is certainly true that things you see and experience as a child stick with you and shape who you are as an adult. Sometimes without you even realizing it.

My Public Restroom Rule

Had someone asked me, and I really stopped to think about it, I'm sure I would have realized my public restroom usage issues a long time ago. As it happens, it didn't really come to light until my oldest was potty training.

No, I don't have an issue using a public restroom. Unless the seat is, um, wet, or something inherently gross like that, I don't even get the willies about the actual using of them.

My hang up has more to do with the establishment in which the restroom is housed. I have to be a customer. I must buy something while I'm there. It's a compulsion. Be it a gas station or a fast food restaurant, a purchase must be made or I find it physically impossible to walk back out to the car.

The first time I took my daughter into a gas station to relieve herself, I came out with a pack of those miniature powdered donuts for my husband. After several minutes staring at the donuts, he just looked at me and asked, "Why?" To me, the answer was simple, "Because we used their restroom." To him, I was just weird.

The Exceptions To The Rule

After that, I started paying more attention. Curiosity prompted me to consider if there were times I could use a facilities restroom and not make a purchase. I was surprised to learn the many exceptions to my self-imposed rule.

1. "Shopping" Stores
Generally speaking, unless you're a teenager traveling with your youth group, you don't browse a gas station. You don't stroll the aisles, casually shopping. You go in, get what you want, and get out.

Lots of stores are the opposite. Department stores, for example. Plenty of people go in, look around, and leave without making a single purchase. I have no problem using the restroom without making a purchase in these stores.

2. Rest Areas
Not a single compulsion to hit the vending machine. I don't even feel a need to use the water fountain.

3. Large Stores
I feel a bit of a twinge when I go in a grocery store, but it is easily suppressed and I can go in, do my business, and get out.

4. Busy Stores
This one, I think, surprised me the most. If a fast food restaurant is six or seven people deep in line, I can use the restroom and leave without a care in the world.

All of this got me thinking about why I end up with stockpiled Starbursts and drink cups in my car.

It's All My Dad's Fault

See? It's getting Freudian here. Turns out, it all goes back to my dad and stories he told about growing up. For a while, my grandfather owned a service station and my dad would often work the counter.

He really hated watching people come in, use the restroom, and leave without buying anything. That meant that he didn't go anywhere without being a customer. Normally, we would be purchasing gas or food anyway so it wasn't an issue, but somewhere along the way it sunk into my psyche and I am now physically incapable of using the restroom in an establishment where someone can see that I didn't patronize the store.

It's weird, but there you have it.

The Benefit of Knowing Why

Now that I know why I feel this way, I can manage it. I select my establishments with better care. I consider my purchasing options as I pull into the parking lot. I know all the cheapest items at our usual locations. (Our second is recently potty trained. We have to stop at least once a trip and there's no telling her to "hold it".)

While this is a funny example - my husband laughs at me for it all the time - it shows that digging down to the root of our idiosyncrasies can sometimes help us manage them.

Do you always have to sit in the same spot at church? Can you only park in pull-through spots? Does everything have to be clean before you can leave the house?

These compulsions are not always a bad thing. It's not a bad thing to be the customer of a place where you are using the restroom. However, anything that you can't control about yourself can haunt you or hurt you at a later time. For example, our budget is really tight and we really don't need to spend $10 a month on candy and drinks.

Many times things that are ingrained to the point of compulsion will take a lot of digging to find the root cause. But it's worth it to know that you can take back control of your decisions and your life.

Even if it is only in the area of public restrooms.

What about you? Do you have any strange compulsions? What created them?

Photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Would I Do This If.... ~ Life Lessons from Chemistry

High school had a lot of chemistry. Sometimes we even learned about it in the classroom.

Like most people, I took a chemistry class that had a classroom portion and a lab portion. One of the more interesting things I saw in lab was litmus paper. When litmus paper is dipped in acid it turns red, when it encounters a base it turns blue. It's a simple test to help you identify what you're working with.

Life Needs More Litmus

We need litmus tests in life. Ideally, we'll hold everything up to the Bible Sometimes that's easy. There are verses that pretty clearly speak out against going on a drunken bender or sleeping around. Other times is can be difficult. God didn't have Paul write a letter to the future church about how to drive or what books to read or what to watch on TV.

This is where I think litmus tests are valuable. Gauges that we use to keep us from crossing a line. These can be determined ahead of time, when our thinking is clear, instead of in the heat of the moment, when that movie looks really appealing and we have to decide whether or not to watch it.

Selecting A Test

When selecting your Life Litmus, it needs to meet the following criteria:

1. It needs to be important to you. If the test doesn't mean anything to you, it won't be strong enough to grab your attention when you need it to.

2. It needs to be simple. Litmus paper is either red or blue. Yes or No questions work best as litmus tests. If your test is too complicated, it's easy to justify your way around it.

3. It needs to hold you accountable. If your test includes consequences such as disappointing looks from (enter your chosen celebrity here) and you don't actually know that person, your test is pretty invalid. Because the potential consequences are never going to happen.

4. It needs to keep you holy.  Select a test that's going to keep you as close to Biblical principles as possible. Avoid the world's standards.

An Example

When I was in high school, I developed a litmus test for my television watching. If I couldn't sit with my parents and watch a show, then I didn't need to be watching it. I remember a distinct moment when this test forced me to drop a show I had been watching for years.

I used to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Several seasons in, I was watching an episode with my dad and all I wanted to do was change the channel. The show had degraded (or I had matured... probably a bit of both) to the point that it no longer passed the test. I gave it up.

Now my test is my husband. Can I watch the show while holding hands with my husband on the couch? Would I take him to see this movie with me?

Why We Need It

Life is easy to get caught up in. We get distracted by our friends or forget to stop and think things through. We need a gut check, a way to keep ourselves on the right path.

Because life doesn't have a rewind button.

Suggestions for Litmus Tests

There are a few tests I think everyone needs. Think about your life, consider your priorities, and make some tests for yourself in these areas.

1. Media Television, movies, music, and other forms of entertainment are really easy to get swept up in. And you can't unsee/unhear anything. Once it's in your head, Satan can remind you of it at the least convenient moments.

2. Social Media Cyberspace is forever. Have a test you consider before you update your status or post that picture. Job opportunities have been lost because of indiscreet postings on facebook. Mine is leftover from the corporate world. When I worked for a large company, we had the New York Times test. Would it be okay if that email you're about to send got published on the front page of the New York Times? If not, don't send it. That one has worked really well for me.

3. Hangouts This can include companions and locations. Falling in with the wrong crowd will get you in more trouble faster than anything else. Have a test to keep you from falling in the first place.


Do you have litmus tests? Are you creating some? I'd love for you to share them in the comments below.

Pictures courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Something is Better Than Nothing ~ Life Lessons from Sunscreen

One of my boyfriends in college loved The Sunscreen Song. If you've never heard it, it's a collection of advice to young people (couched as a commencement address) that starts with the admonition to wear sunscreen.

Sunscreen is one of those things that we all know we are supposed to use but rarely do. It wasn't that I was opposed to wearing sunscreen or had a burning (pun intended) desire to acquire a tan. I suppose it was sheer laziness and the avoidance of the yucky greasy feeling it left on my skin. Even after I washed my hands, my hot dog bore traces of artificial coconut and whatever other overbearing scent they put in to try to make the stuff more appealing.

I was delighted when spray sunscreen made an appearance on the market. I brought home of can of Coppertone Sport, telling my husband that it was one of the best inventions ever.

Is it a worthy substitute? 

Now, I know there's a lot of discussion around whether spray sunscreen is better than lotion sunscreen. When I looked it up, the basic answer seems to be no. Both sunscreens are capable of protecting your skin from most of the harmful spectrum of sunlight.

However, nothing in life is ever that simple. The many factors of spray sunscreen - such as wind carrying excessive amounts off and people being unsure of where they've put it or how much they've really put on - can effect it's usefulness. There's also the question of whether or not breathing in little particles of sunscreen stuff is bad for you. And you are going to breathe them in. Unless you hold your breath while you spray and then run away breathing heavily out of your nose and mouth. Wouldn't that be a fun sight on your next beach trip?

It certainly beats the alternative. 

Here's what I know about my sunscreen usage:

By Kelly Sue DeConnick via Wikimedia Commons

- I go through five or six bottles of spray sunscreen every summer. And I mean big bottles. Bought them at Costco in a multipack kind of bottles.

- I threw away my last bottle of lotion-type sunscreen during a cabinet clean out three years ago. At the time is was nearly seven years old. At that age it was utterly useless as a sunscreen, but it does indicate the change in my level of usage.

Some of that increased usage is due to maturity and realizing that if I put on sunscreen I can enjoy my outing and not be miserable for the next six days. Shocking isn't it? But a lot of it is related to the fact that it is now easy and not yucky to put on the sunscreen.

So if my option is to buy lotion and not put it on and burn or buy spray and miss a spot or two and just have a couple square inches of burn... I'll buy the spray.

Same goes for Spiritual Sonscreen

Wow. That subtitle is really sad, in a cutesy kind of way. Think I'll keep it.

photo by www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Anyway, the same is true in our spiritual life. Yes, it would be fabulous if you read through the Bible entirely every year and spent a full hour on your knees before you started your day so you and God could be set up to commune for the next twenty-four hours. That's the ideal and if you can do it - more power to you. Literally.

But what if you can't? What if, despite every good intention you have ever possessed you turn off the alarm clock in your sleep or hit snooze until you're rushing to the car and scarfing down coffee on your way to work, hoping there will be donuts and bagels at the morning meeting because you missed breakfast. Again.

What if you finally find time to sit down and crack open the Bible, but it doesn't happen until evening and the kids keep popping out of bed for water or bathroom trips or scary dreams and over the course of an hour you read seven verses and a prayer that God helps you not to kill your children?

Something is better that nothing. 

photo by www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It's okay. Some days you'll get more in than others, some days you won't. But if you don't get anything in, then there will never be days when you manage to get full coverage, so to speak. If you've been doing nothing and you start by listening to a devotional podcast (I have several I can recommend, by the way) then at least you've taken a step forward.

You can build up to studying the podcast passage on your own over lunch or maybe even discussing it with your roommate or spouse.

The point is, that it's better to get a little bit than nothing at all.

What about you? Do you wear sunscreen? Do you have an easy time getting that daily God connection in or do you scramble to get minimum exposure?

Today, you can have a double dose of my savvy blogging. I'm also over on Regency Reflections today! 

The Only Gift You Can Give ~ Life Lessons from a Lollipop

Today's post is by guest blogger, Regina Jennings.


We encourage giving. All giving. If a can of soup shows up in an empty pantry, we consider it mission accomplished. After all, it doesn't matter how it got there or who gave it, does it?

The other day I witnessed an exchange that I've seen a hundred times, usually with my own children. I was at a bank and the teller offered the little girl in front of me a lollipop. She accepted and then piped up, "Can I have one to take home for my sister?"

Charming, thoughtful, and sweet. But just as I was about to congratulate the mother, she corrected her. "Honey, if you think your sister would like a sucker, give her yours. Don't take from someone else and call it a gift."

Was This Woman Crazy? 

It sure sounded like it. Who corrects their child when they are being nice to their sister? By limiting the girl to one lollipop the mother was almost guaranteeing that her other daughter wouldn't get one. What would it hurt to take an extra home?

But the more I thought through her response the more I appreciated the principle she was advocating.

If You Think Someone Should Have Something ~ Give Them Yours

We used to have neighbors who borrowed our pick-up and tools frequently and we were glad to help them out. Then one day they mentioned that our pick-up had gone to a town an hour away because their family member had a job installing windows and needed a bigger truck to carry the materials. One day we learned that the tile saw they were borrowing wasn't being used in their own house but had been passed on to someone at their work without our permission.

I'm sure they meant well, but was it right for them to take credit for the generosity when it cost them nothing? If they'd wanted to rent a truck for their brother, they were free to do so. If they wanted to invest in their own equipment and loan it to friends, they could have afforded it.

And I'm Just As Guilty

How many times have I told someone about a great cause before I'd written a check myself? How many times have I passed on prayer requests when I'd failed to pray over the situation that day? Sometimes it's hard to judge our hearts, but if the teller at the bank is only giving you one lollipop, what you do with it is a good test.

The Only Gifts You Can Give are the Ones that Belong to You

Maybe if we'd stop trying to get our hands in other's pocketbooks... if we'd stop waiting on the rich, the church, or the government to step in... maybe we'd see the potential of the resources God has trusted to us. Ultimately, that's what we're going to give an account for - what we gave ourselves, not what we redistributed between two other parties.

Do you agree? Would you ever stop a child from taking extra to give to friends? How would you apply this principle?

Regina Jennings is the author of the historical romance Sixty Acres and a Bride and Love in the Balance (a Winter 2013 release). She is a homeschooling mother of four and a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University with a degree in English and a history minor. She has worked at The Mustang News and First Baptist Church of Mustang, along with time at the Oklahoma National Stockyards and various livestock shows. You can connect with Regina at www.reginajennings.com.




photo credits by morguefile.com and freedigitalphotos.net

Handling Correction ~ Life Lessons from Moments of Moronity

Yes, I made up a word.

Lately I have been having a few of what I call "Moments of Moronity". Times when I do something and I feel COMPLETELY stupid when someone points out the very obvious solution. Let me give you two examples.

Example #1 ~ The Mysterious Air

I was driving home from dropping my daughter off at school. I was on the phone with my mom (hands free headset in place!) and I kept hearing this rush of air. I turned off the front and back vents, but I still heard it. None of my door open lights were on so I was beginning to get a little worried.

My mom asks if I have a window down.

Yep. Passenger window still down from where I rolled it down to talk to the secretary at the school.

Oops.

Example #2 ~ The Dim Headlights

I'm guessing this pic is from England. That or a WHOLE lot of people are driving on the wrong side of the road....

We were on a long drive. The sun went down while we were on the road. I'm driving along (Usually on long trips I do better driving than riding. I seem to have developed motion sickness as I get older. Yech!) and things just seem dark. (Some of you are probably already laughing because you have guessed where this story is going.)

I check my headlights and the switch says they're on but I just don't see them. I remark to my husband that my headlights don't seem to be working right. He reaches out and, you might have guessed it, takes my sunglasses off.

Oops.

The Common Factor

What these two hilarious but embarrassing moments have in common is that in both of them someone had to correct me for things that I had no excuse not realizing myself. I was so used to not having my windows down that I didn't even think to check them. My sunglasses had been on the whole time the sun went down so I just acclimated and didn't think to remove them.

Sometimes it becomes necessary for people we love to just bluntly point out the areas of moronity in our lives because we don't see them. It's difficult for both parties because you know it's going to be embarrassing and uncomfortable. You know that someone is going to be left feeling stupid or angry or defensive.

My examples are cute and, in retrospect, funny. But often we have things deeply embedded into our lives that aren't good for us. They are blinking neon signs to everyone else, but we are so used to them that we ignore them. How do we handle them?

Tips for the Receiver

Maybe because she couldn't see me, but the window thing didn't disturb me too much. I felt a little silly, but I got passed it. I almost cried about the sunglasses, I felt so ridiculous. So how should we handle when someone we love and are close to points out an obvious glaring flaw in our understanding.

Sometimes we just want to hide. Realize that's not going to fix things. Better to move on and deal with the embarrassment. At least when it's over, life should be a bit better.

1. Realize it for what it is. Dear Hubby did not set out to embarrass me. Had there been any way to remove my sunglasses without making me feel silly he would have done it. Eventually things boil down to the point where you just have to say it like it is. Realize the correction for what it is - someone who loves you trying to make your life better.

2. Don't get defensive. I could have gotten all huffy and said something insane like, "Maybe I like driving with my glasses at night." All that would have done is make me look, well, stupid. Why would I knowingly choose to make things worse on myself? Just to save my pride? Pride is not worth wrecking your life.

3. Accept the solution and move on. Some things are easier to do this with than others. Removing my sunglasses, easy. Trying to figure out how to stop yourself from constantly gossiping because it's ruining your friendships? Quite a bit harder. The point is, that if you realize the person is coming to you in love and you realize the problem and don't try to defend it, the next sensible thing to do is solve the problem. The person who loved you enough to say it is probably ready to help. Take them up on it.

Tips for the Pointer-Outer

Sometimes you are the person who sees the neon sign in someone else. What should you do then?

1. Weigh the significance of your relationship to the severity of the problem. Anyone could have pointed out my sunglasses without much backlash from me. My embarrassment would have been greater had it been someone else, but it wouldn't have been a huge deal. Other times, you have to decide if you are close enough to the person for them to see you are coming in love and not judgement. You may have to sit back and pray for a while or enlist the help of another trusted individual such as a pastor or someone MUCH closer to the person.

2. Don't judge. If you judge the person, they will have an incredibly hard time avoiding getting defensive. My husband took off the sunglasses and just sat there, not laughing until I started laughing. My mom never mentioned the window thing again once I confirmed that that was what it was. Everyone has Moments of Moronity. Don't judge someone else's because one day you will have your own. Examine your motives before you speak.

3. Be patient.You may see the problem for a long while, but wait for the right moment to bring it in. I think this usually happens when the other person notices some result of their issue. At that point, it is easier to point out the problem because they have already noticed the result.

Wrap Up

Some situations are much harder than others. Some have much more significant consequences than others. You will have to adjust things according to where you are and who the other person is. The point is that we all have those moments in life. Those moments when we just miss what is, sometimes literally, right in front of our face.

What about you? Have you ever had a Moment of Moronity? Who helped you fix it?

I Want To Make Someone Miserable ~ Life Lessons from A Sleepless Night

When you're starting out on a new venture, in the back of your mind there's always this niggling dream to be the next big thing. As a romance author there's the dream of being the next Karen Kingsbury or Francine Rivers. Or if I'm feeling ridiculously ambitious the next Nora Roberts.

By Danado0ona via Wikimedia Commons

A Christian musician might dream of being the next Chris Tomlin or want to cross over and be the next Adele. A computer programmer wonders is his pet project will be the next Facebook or Google. There are people aspiring to be the next Donald Trump or Stephen Colbert or Barack Obama.

My aspirations changed over the past week.


The Articles That Planted the Seed

Desmanthus4food, via Wikimedia Commons

Earlier this week, I came across this article by Jon Acuff. In it he talks about a band that many of you have probably never heard of. A group called Seryn. He went to two different concerts by this group - one with about 12,000 attendees and one with 60. The group gave the same effort, energy, and amazingness to both groups.

Last Friday, Laurie Alice Eakes wrote an article about avoiding pride and arrogance while promoting yourself and your books. The fine line between being prideful and being confidant is difficult to walk. What should our aim be? What should we strive for?

The Moment Of Agony

Also this week, a new book by one of my favorite authors came out. I have a lot of authors I like but only two are on what I call Auto-Buy. I pre-order their books just because it has their name on the cover. I know when they're released. I wait in agony for the Kindle download (or in this case the UPS guy because I accidentally pre-ordered the paperback version instead of the Kindle version).

Until recently there was only one author on my auto-buy list. For years I have looked for her book every summer. And I have yet to be disappointed. The problem is that every year it comes out, I buy it, and then I tell myself to read it at a normal pace.

I never listen. I stay up insanely late, telling myself "just one more chapter" until I either pass out from exhaustion or finish the book. The next day I'm tired, cranky, and miserable because I didn't get enough sleep AND I have to wait a whole year before I get to read anything new by that author. While I had every intention of savoring and drawing out the pleasure of reading the book, I devoured it in a matter of hours.

The author I recently added to my auto-buy has a book coming out today. I'm guessing another sleepless night lies in front of me. Both of them publishing in the same week - they're cruel.

A New Goal

While it would be great to be the next Karen Kingsbury (seriously, who doesn't want that many sales?) I've set myself a new goal. A new dream.

I want to make someone miserable.

I might not ever make hoards of people agonize over the release of my next book, but if I can make one person yearn for it, then it's worth putting my heart and soul in it. If someone is yawning at work the next day because they "just one more chapter"ed their way through my book the night before, that will be my trophy.

Lynn comments on nearly every blog I write. Lynn, you have no idea how it makes my day to see that email telling me there's a new comment on my blog. If she is the only one who reads it, then it's still worth putting all the effort and thought and time into these posts. I'm assuming she comments because she likes them and gets some benefit out of them.

Finding Your Goal

In whatever you do there is the apex goal and then there is the true reward. Figure out what the true reward is for you. Maybe it's having one person use your song as their alarm song. They want you to be the first thing they hear when they wake up in the morning.

Don't measure your success on it's size, but on it's quality. While it'd be wonderful to be the next Steve Jobs or Billy Graham, it's also great to be a manager that helps employees grow, the pastor of a small town church that's winning souls, or the singer on the corner that brightens someone's day every time they pass by you on the way to work.

Define your quality goal and then seek it. If fame and fortune comes with it, great. But don't make that your target.

Photo Credits: FreeDigitalPhotos.net