Our world is full of temptations. Last week we described what can be called the greatest temptation we will face, the temptation to compare ourselves to others. In our own silent world of comparing ourselves to others, we lose our own identity.  Over time, we struggle to find direction and we often miss our true purpose and passion to reach our full potential.

As we continue on our journey to be our best for those we care about most, we want to share Part 2 of this message around comparing ourselves to others. The other area of comparison that can be the foundation for unproductive stress and conflict in the home, at work and in the community is in our concern about everyone doing their “fair share” of the effort.

When we make the choice to serve a cause bigger than ourselves, we should be prepared to do more than our fair share to make a positive impact. Whatever statistical analogy we wish to reference…whether it is the Bell-shaped Curve on effort and performance or the Pareto Principle calling out the 20% that drives 80% of the result etc., the truth we all need to accept is that if we want to make an impact in the important areas of our lives, we need to be prepared to do more than a “fair share.”

As we get our minds off of ourselves and fix our energy on serving a cause bigger than ourselves, whether that is on the home front, at work, or in the community, we should be prepared to do more than our fair share and minimize the harmful temptation to compare our efforts to others perhaps not pulling their weight…it is not about us or them, it is about the cause we are serving.

When we spend energy on comparing everyone’s “fair share” of effort, we have a tendency to go to the negative and think someone is just selfish, vindictive, foolish etc. if they are not putting in the effort, time, or commitment. The fact is they might be those things, but most often they are likely just under-resourced, feeling inadequate about their ability to contribute, or just a bit anxious and overwhelmed about where or how to jump in and help. However, when we get stuck in comparing a “fair share” of the effort, we typically get a negative story going in our minds and waste energy in an unproductive manner.

The pursuit to be our best for those we care about most at home, work, and in the community is not easy or fast, but it matters. When we expend our limited amount of energy on the harmful temptation of comparing our fair share of the effort, we hinder our ability to fully support the cause we serve. As we continue to exercise the discipline to focus on the cause we serve and not everyone’s fair share of the effort, we build and strengthen our character and Character Creates Opportunity for us to reach our full potential and have the positive impact we desire.

How can I help you today? My mobile is 269-370-9275 and my email is david@harvesttimepartners.com  

Please download some FREE resources at www.harvesttimepartners.com  I hope you will find them helpful in your journey to be your best for those you care about most.

Our world is full of temptations. The temptations of fame, fortune, and friends with benefits are all around us. There is a world of temptations to relieve the pain of physical ailments, the emotional trauma of difficult relationships, and the anxiety developed out of today’s hyper-stressed pursuit to “have it all.” Many of these temptations and the individuals who get overwhelmed by them are well documented in the media or in kitchen table conversations in our homes.

However, the most harmful temptation is the one we keep to ourselves. The temptation that is the genesis of so much heartache, pain, and personal struggle is the temptation to compare ourselves to others. In our own silent world of comparing ourselves to others, we lose our own identity. Over time, we struggle to find direction and we often miss our true purpose and passion to reach our full potential.

As we continue on our journey to be our best for those we care about most at home, work and in the community, it is important that we address what can be called the greatest temptation we will face, the temptation to compare ourselves to others.

Despite how many billions of people inhabit the earth, there is none like you or me. Whether we believe in the scientific rationale, a faith in an all-mighty God, or both, there is no denying the fact that we are uniquely created. There are no two people in this world that are the same.

It is not just physical differences, but our experiences and how we see the world as a result of those experiences, which makes us unique as individuals. A practical example is to look at individuals growing up in the same household who experienced many of the same things. There are often some major differences in the points of view between the first born, a middle child, and the youngest.

There is no value in making a judgment of better or worse about these experiences and points of view. There is tremendous value in acknowledging and valuing our own individual differences and the differences of those around us. When we give in to the temptation of comparing ourselves to others, we begin to diminish the strength of our uniqueness.

1. When we silently judge our self-worth based on a relative scale of those around us, we diminish the strength of our uniqueness.

2. When we silently rate our home-life based on what we see in the homes of others (or on their social media posts), we diminish the strength our unique family environment.

3. When we silently assess our career based on others, we diminish the strength our unique learning journey.

One of our biggest risks in this world is that we fall short of our potential. Becoming overwhelmed with the temptation to compare ourselves to others is the gateway to a life that falls short of our potential.

When we give in to the temptation to compare ourselves to others, we chase a moving target as opposed to remaining fixed on reaching our own unique potential. We would be much more effective in setting a bar high based on our own individual goals and then working hard to achieve them. As we continue to exercise the discipline to “be me and not you,” we build and strengthen our character and Character Creates Opportunity for us to reach our full potential.

How can I help you today? My mobile is 269-370-9275 and my email is david@harvesttimepartners.com

Please download some FREE resources at www.harvesttimepartners.com I hope you will find them helpful in your journey to be your best for those you care about most.

Do you remember hearing your parents cheering for you from the bleachers when you were a kid playing a game, a band concert or some other major event?

Encouragement has always been a source of energy to continue fighting the good fight in any endeavor.  As kids, it always gave us a helpful boost to our efforts.

Even though we are not kids anymore, encouragement still has the same effect on our efforts to keep moving forward on the important things in life as adults.

As we continue on our journey to be our best for those we care about most, one simple step we can hard-wire into our daily routine is to send some “cheering from the bleachers” just like the good old days to those we care about most who are playing today on a different field or a different stage. Encouragement helps in a few critical ways:

1. Research in this area would say we experience a great deal more negativity and apathy than encouragement from interactions throughout our daily routines. The large proportion of negativity and apathy can have a significant impact on our overall well-being. As we become more intentional about providing some encouragement, we can be the catalyst to help change someone’s outlook…and they may need that today.
2. When we reach out with an encouraging word, touch, or connection, we tell someone they matter to us which is one of the most heart-warming acknowledgments that we all seek. Someone close to us may need to know that today.   
3. Sharing some positive energy in the form of encouragement has been shown to actually transform our own outlook as well. We all could use a boost to help pull ourselves out of our own valley that we will occasionally find ourselves journeying through. We may need that boost today.

We play an important role in helping others to keep moving forward in pursuit of their hopes and dreams. As we send some “cheering from the bleachers” we will build and strengthen our character and Character Creates Opportunity to have a positive impact on those around us and reach our own full potential.

How can I help you today? My mobile is 269-370-9275 and my email is david@harvesttimepartners.com  

Please download some FREE resources at www.harvesttimepartners.com  I hope you will find them helpful in your journey to be your best for those you care about most.

I am sure we can all relate to the strategy of cramming to study for that big end of semester exam. We kind of paid attention throughout the semester, but in the end, we believed an all-night session of studying will be an effective option to make up for a semester in which we did not give our full attention.

More often than not, we probably found that despite all the warnings of how ineffective the cramming strategy was to learning, we experienced that cramming for an exam seemed to result in the outcome we needed for the moment in that we passed the test and the course. 

We set ourselves up for some life-long problems when we continually employ the cramming strategy we learned in school to solve many of life’s pressing challenges. We cram in a great deal of catching up on relationships with that much needed date night and family vacation to shore up those critical, close relationships in the home. We provide the all-encompassing life-skills speech as we prepare children to leave the home for summer camp, college, or to move out on their own. We have that upcoming reunion, wedding, or annual health check-up and we figure we can starve our way into losing that much needed weight in the last few weeks before the event.  

As we continue on our journey to be our best for those we care about most, it is important that we face the reality that we run the risk of falling well short of our full potential if we deploy the cramming strategy to the really important things in life.

• Building and sustaining a healthy relationship is not built on that one weekend get-away to rekindle love and caring.
• Preparing children for life outside of “home sweet home” is not accomplished in a 15-minute send-off speech prior to that all too sudden good-bye.
• Maintaining optimal health is not accomplished with the occasional crash diet and two-week exercise routine.
• Achieving financial freedom is not established through that one great idea for a get rich quick scheme.

The really important things in life will always be judged by one of the most important guiding principles of life, the Law of the Harvest. Simply, we reap what we sow.  

The law of the harvest, in the natural world, is as true as the law of gravity. If we want to reap an abundant harvest of corn or soybeans, there is only one pathway to follow: The Law of the Harvest. If we asked any farmer 2,000 years ago or one today in the fields of Nebraska, we would get the same general response. There are no shortcuts to an abundant harvest. 

We cannot vacation in the spring and summer and then deploy our cramming strategy for an entire growing season into September. The natural law of the harvest will always be our judge. Just like the law of gravity governs our eventual return to the ground no matter how high we jump, the law of the harvest not only governs our ability to produce our most essential food sources for life, the law of the harvest governs our ability to reach our full potential in the most important areas of our lives.

A helpful first step in reaching our full potential is to acknowledge the reality that our cramming strategy will not work as we look to be our best for those we care about most at home, work and in the community. Once we accept that reality, we can then make a thoughtful and sustainable plan. As we take meaningful steps overtime to deliver on that plan, we will build and strengthen our character and Character Creates Opportunity to reach our full potential and have a positive impact on those around us.

How can I help you today? My mobile is 269-370-9275 and my email is david@harvesttimepartners.com  

Please download some FREE resources at www.harvesttimepartners.com  I hope you will find them helpful in your journey to be your best for those you care about most.