Monthly Archives: December 2012

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How To Create A Life Plan Document

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This is the second post in a series on life planning. In this series, I am sharing with you the basics of a life plan and why you need one by going through the details of my own LIFE planning process. Neither my plan nor my process are perfect. In fact, they are evolving from year to year. My hope is that you can take what I do (or even just parts of it) and use it to create your own plan.

life plan

The Components

As I said in my previous post, there are many components that you can use as parts of your life plan. I can break my process into three main components – the Plan, the Dashboard, and the Technology. In this and the next two posts, I am going to describe each of these components in detail. In the final post, I will describe the process I use each year to review and update my plan for the new year.

Side Note: In case you did not notice, I use all CAPS when referring to my personal LIFE plan – it stands for Living Intentionally For Eternity.

LIFE Plan – Main Document

Let’s talk about the LIFE Plan first – the main document for me. This document consists of three parts:

    -Role Descriptions
    -Focus Areas
    -Goals

To create this document, I drew heavily from Stephen Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. In this book, Covey talks about the various roles each of us plays in our lives. For me, I am a husband, father, steward of God’s business, etc.. In each of these roles, my responsibilities and goals vary.

Role Descriptions

As a result of the material in this book, I based the structure of my LIFE plan on what I defined as my roles. Here they are, in order of priority for me:

    1. Sold-out Disciple of Jesus
    2. Intentional Individual
    3. Loving Husband
    4. Godly Father
    5. Faithful Steward of God’s Business
    6. Servant Leader at Church
    7. Compassionate Neighbor
    8. Loyal Friend

For each of these roles, I have written a brief summary description of what I believe that role looks like. Essentially, I used Covey’s Habit #2, Begin With The End In Mind.

I have cited the Scripture upon which these descriptions are based. I have written these descriptions in the form of positive affirmations to help me visualize my living out each role with maximum effectiveness. These role descriptions go beyond just the one year and represent what I want to look like at the end of my life.

Here is an example of one of these descriptions:

Example Role Description

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    Sold-Out Disciple of Jesus

    As a disciple of Jesus Christ, I love the Lord my God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength(1). It is my first and most urgent priority to seek to know God in a way that is real and that serves as my primary motivation in life. I believe in a true eternal life and therefore I live this life with an eternal perspective(2) at all times.

    (1) Matthew 22:37
    (2) Matthew 6:19-21; 1 Timothy 6:17-19; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

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Focus Areas, Goals

In addition to the role descriptions, I have decided on 3-5 main focuses for the upcoming year under each role. These focus areas could be areas where I need improvement. Or they could be areas where I need to start exploring something new. They may even be something I am going to stop doing!

For each focus area, when applicable, I have listed one or two clarifying goals. Here is an example of a focus area and goal:

Example Focus Area and Goal

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    Faithful Steward of God’s Business (role)

    Focus Area: Mentor & Teach
    This is something I believe God has gifted me to do. I will be more intentional about scheduling this time in 2012. I will focus mainly on the management staff and the Leadership Team.

    Goal: 25 Hours of actual teaching (not including prep time)

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Summary

In essence, these three parts (Role Descriptions, Focus Areas, and Goals) make up my entire LIFE plan main document.

So that you get an idea of what one full role portion of the plan looks like in its entirety, you can [Click Here] for a copy of my Godly Father role plan for 2012. You can also [Click Here] for the Title Page Summary I wrote for the beginning of the document. While it is not detailed above, it may help you get a clearer picture of my approach.

I have said it before and I will say it again. I am sharing my plan in an effort to get you started. Your plan may look very different. It may be more involved or less so. Either way is fine.

Seek God First

The important part is that you seek God and ask Him to impress on you what your plans and direction should be. You can certainly do this on your own, but I do not believe that is His desire for us. If we start with His plan (and stick with it!), we will experience the fulfillment for which we were designed.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to comment here or email me privately from the Contact Page. I am not an expert, but I will do my best to answer any questions you may have.

In my next post, I will describe my LIFE Plan Dashboard.

Is this what you were expecting?

Do you see the benefit of this kind of plan?

What one obstacle is keeping you from getting started?

Originally posted 1/24/12

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4 Questions About A Life Plan

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This is the first post in a series on life planning. In this series, I will share with you the basics of a life plan and why you need one. I will also go through the details of my own life planning process. Neither my plan nor my process are perfect. In fact, they are evolving from year to year. My hope is that you can take what I do and use it to create your own plan.

life plan

Why A Life Plan?

Why in the world do I need a life plan? Who actually does that anyway? I mean, isn’t it too stressful or time-consuming to go to all the trouble? I just take one day at a time and make the most of life. I don’t want to lock myself into anything.

For these and various other reasons, few people actually go as far as creating a life plan for themselves. We are certainly familiar with, and see the need for, planning when it comes to building houses or buildings, managing huge projects, and even weddings or careers. But when it comes to our lives, the only one we will ever get, most people simply “wing it.”

Does this make sense to you? We have more invested in our lives than we do in anything else. We have greater expectations from our lives than we do most any project we will work on, right? So if this is true, would it not make sense to spend some time planning for it? Would it not stand to reason that we should attempt to maximize the life and resources God has given us?

Okay, so you are beginning to see a potential need for a plan. You are not quite convinced yet, but you are willing to read a little further. Good! Let’s continue!

What Is It?

What exactly is a life plan? Effectively, a life plan is a map of how you want to live your life. It takes into consideration your resources, current position, your intended destination, and the impact you want to make along the way. It gives you a general path to use as you navigate the twists and turns life throws at you.

A life plan cannot guarantee you that life will or will not go a certain way, but it can give you a much more active role in determining where you go and how you end up. A life plan cannot assure you of specific results, but it can help you get the most out of your resources as you reach for your goals. Much like a GPS system in your car, it will not prevent unexpected course changes due to forces beyond your control, but it can help you get back on track as quickly as possible.

So, I hope that you are a little closer to making a decision to create your own LIFE plan. If you are, there are two more questions to answer.

When Should I Start?

The next question you should ask is “When” to start. Well, I have heard it described in this way:

The best time to plant an oak tree was ten years ago. The next best time is right now!

In light of that, I would recommend you start as soon as possible. Your first efforts at this process do not have to be perfect. You would literally laugh if you saw my first plan (if you could call it that)! Perfection is not the point. Progress is the point.

I encourage you to determine right now that you are going to do this. Do not worry about how it is going to look or what anyone else might say if they saw it. You are not doing this plan for anyone but you and Jesus.

Assuming you are ready to take the leap and get started, you only have one more question.

How Do I Do It??

How exactly does one go about creating a life plan? What are the steps? What are the components? In the next several posts, I will guide you through the answers to each of these questions. I will break down the components of my own plan, as well as the steps I take each year.

When we are done with this series, you will definitely have a better idea of what a life plan looks like and how to create one. You should also see the benefits to starting your own. You will even have resources you can use in your own process. As we go, please make sure to ask questions and get clarification on anything that is unclear.

What are your thoughts?

Do you see the need for a life plan?

If you already have one, have you seen the benefits?

This post was originally published 1/22/12

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Is A Yearly Audit On Your To Do List?

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I have been a C12 Group member now for over 6 years. For the past 6 years, our December meeting material has included one segment that has been the same every year. While you would think that might get boring after a couple of years, it doesn’t. This one segment is called the “Yearly Audit” and it is a very effective tool for a year-end review.

yearly audit

LIFE Planning

If you read my series of posts on my LIFE planning process, you will likely remember that I spend time at the end of every year reviewing that year and creating a game plan for the next year. I feel this process is a critical part of my job as a CEO, husband, and father, as well as all of the other roles I play throughout the year. One valuable part of this annual process is C12’s “Yearly Audit” segment.

I encourage you not only to read this segment, but also to incorporate it into your own year-end review process. If you do not have a year-end review process, then this is the perfect tool with which to start!

Below is the introduction to the segment by C12 founder Buck Jacobs.

Yearly Audit

[box]It has become a year-end tradition in each of our C12 groups to take a uniquely Christ-centered retrospective look at the results of our past year’s activities, focusing on the eternal perspective.

Taking such an inventory is, of course, a very normal thing to do in the economic dimensions of our businesses. We’re all familiar with such metrics as net income, profit margin, ROI, market share, and sales growth. We’ve devised numerous ways to measure our financial effectiveness and it’s important that we use them well.

This segment, however, is entitled Working ‘On’ my MINISTRY in God’s Business and in it we focus on an entirely different set of criteria. In many ways it’s much more difficult to measure our results in the ministry or spiritual dimension of our business lives. The whole idea of using our business as a platform for ministry can sometimes seem bewildering as it’s not nearly as well ‘codified’ as such routine business processes like filling orders and tracking financial profit or loss.

In terms of what’s eternally important to our lives, the spiritual dimension is much more — even infinitely more — important to us. So, with apologies to none, we are now going to offer some thoughts on how we might take a year-end audit from a uniquely Kingdom-oriented perspective.

What is it that we should be looking for as we examine ourselves and our spiritual lives in relation to the ministry in our business? Is it only souls won to the Lord, or dollars given to support His work, the number of Christ-honoring events we’ve hosted, or the number of tracts distributed? Is it only those things that we can quantify?

No, of course not. While we know that all these things are an important part of the fruit of our ministry which need to be quantified and recorded to help us measure progress in these areas, we also know that there’s another set of criteria.

It is these personal criteria that we’ll examine today. These criteria pertain to growth, the kind of growth that will lead to fruit…much fruit! We offer these criteria as indicators of growth which we can all use to measure what kind of a year we really had in our Master’s eyes.

For those who were members a year ago, we recommend putting the prior year’s ratings alongside for comparison purposes, as each of these areas deserve long-term focus. For each of the following 10 dimensions, rate your year from 1 to 10, with 1 being Low, 5 Average and 10 High as measured against your potential or opportunity.

– Buck Jacobs[/box]

Yearly Audit Download

Now that you know what to do, CLICK HERE to download the “Yearly Audit” in .pdf format. I encourage you to begin in prayer, asking God to prick your heart in any area that He wants to get your attention.

I hope you find the process of going through these questions to be as fruitful as I have. If you approach it with the right heart, I am sure you will see the benefit.

Are you currently doing a self-evaluation at year end?

If not, what other ways are you planning for effectiveness?

Do you see how this “Yearly Audit” can help you focus?

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Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays?

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Merry Christmas! Christmas is here. Just look around! In fact, in many places, you have probably seen the commercial hints at Christmas since just after Halloween! Each year it begins earlier and earlier. It used to be that you did not see decorations or hear Christmas carols until after Thanksgiving. Now you can observe both much earlier.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays?

If you are a Christian, you have likely been involved in the debate over whether you should say, “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays.” If you are a Christian business leader, then you may have faced this issue with your customers as well.

Before you get your feathers ruffled either way, please know that I am not judging anyone on either side of the debate. I am not going to fight with someone over this any more than I would over red or green carpet in the church sanctuary. You can have your opinion and I will respect it. As long as you have thought it out and have your reasons, I respect your position.

Christian ministryIn fact, this post is NOT about the debate. I am NOT telling you to say, “Merry Christmas” or not. That is up to you. This post is actually my first in a series I introduced in my post “How To Do Christian Ministry in Business” that highlights various ways our company attempts to integrate our Christian faith into the business. This post is simply a description of one of these practices.

While I am not telling you which way you should fall, I choose to fall on the side of saying Merry Christmas. I choose to do this as a reminder to myself and others that Christ is to be the central focus of the Christmas season. In doing so, I become more aware of the times and places where it is not said.

Many Businesses Dropping “Merry Christmas”

Many businesses, in an effort not to offend customers, have made the change to “Happy Holidays” in their Christmas (or Holiday) cards, advertising, and other communications. They send Holiday cards and put up Holiday trees. Some companies go as far as telling their employees that they are not allowed to say, “Merry Christmas” to customers. Others will allow it if the customer says it first.

In an effort to take a position on this, I made a decision that our company would not take this route. I do not dictate what any of our employees are to say to our customers, but I do make sure that any official communication from our company says, “Merry Christmas.”

Painting Our Windows

One of the ways we do this is to paint up our showroom windows within a day or two after Thanksgiving. We have done it for years in an effort to get into the Christmas spirit and move our customers that way as well. I have had the same guy painting these windows every year for as long as I can remember.

He does a really good job and is very dependable. Every year, he calls me the day after Thanksgiving and asks if I want the windows painted again. There is very little conversation because we have done it the same way for so long!

The Assumption

Well, the first Christmas after making my decision to turn our business over to God, I was walking through one of the buildings shortly after Thanksgiving and noticed he was busy at work painting the windows. But then I stopped and stared. I suddenly realized he was halfway through the “Happy” in “Happy Holidays!”

I was stunned. Not angry, just surprised. I walked straight over to him and asked why he had chosen to change the wording. He said that he had just been asked by most of his clients that year to change the wording away from Merry Christmas so they would not offend anyone. He just assumed I felt the same way.

The Correction

After I explained my position, he was so grateful! He said it killed him to make the change to “Happy Holidays,” but that he was simply honoring the clients’ wishes. He proceeded to honor my request, going back to “Merry Christmas,” and thanked me for allowing him to do so!

Now, every year he calls me and asks if we want the windows painted again. He then follows right up with, “…and we are still doing ‘Merry Christmas,’ right?”

The Results

So what are the results of this decision? The ACLU has not shown up to force us to remove the signs. No one has sued us for discrimination. No one has complained that they are offended by our painted windows. (Of course, that does not mean no one has been offended, just that no one has spoken up.)

Our employees have made various comments over the years that affirmed this decision. Our window painter was certainly excited about our decision. Finally, in a small way, we have made a statement about where we stand.

I hope this small example encourages you to do something similar. At least, I hope it causes you to think about what you are doing (or not doing) and why!

Originally posted 12/9/11

Do you have an opportunity to take a similar stand?

What obstacles do you have in your mind that are holding you back?

Have you prayed about this?

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Why Acknowledge Christ In Christmas?

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acknowledge ChristIn a couple of recent posts, I have been giving examples of how to acknowledge Christ in business – especially during the Christmas season. I told you about how we let our light shine by painting “Merry Christmas” on our showroom windows. I also described how I first started to acknowledge Christ through gospel presentations at the company Christmas party. While I have another example to share, I first want to explore the “why” behind our actions.

What Does the Bible Say?

As is a habit of mine, I want to go to the Bible to find direction in this area. Let’s take a look at the words of Jesus.

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
– Matthew 5:14-16

Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
– Matthew 10:32

What Does This Mean?

What does this Scripture mean to you? I am sure you have likely heard it before…have you ever taken the time to really think about what it means to you? Have you considered how this may apply to you and your business? How are you to acknowledge Christ before others?

I think these verses are very clear. We are not to keep our faith to ourselves. We are to let our lights shine, not hide them! While this idea can be executed in various ways, it is up to us to do something.

Marketing?

I will go on the record that I do not think it is good for us to “market” our faith as a reason for consumers to patronize our businesses. I know there is a fine line here. What I may do, thinking I am not “marketing”, others may consider as going too far.

I do not know of any hard and fast rules here. This needs to be according to your best judgment after prayer. If you know of any Scripture that would help to answer this question, please share in the comments area.

How to Acknowledge Christ

Christian ministryThere are as many ideas on how to acknowledge Christ in your business as there are translations of the Bible! We will continue to explore many of these opportunities through this blog as we go. However, Christmas brings especially good opportunities to acknowledge Christ. I have discussed a couple of them in prior posts.

Another idea came to me just last weekend from a business acquaintance, Chris Zikakis, owner of Lompoc Honda in Lompoc, CA. He had his advertising agency, Radio Vision, Inc, produce a simple TV ad. The ad encourages the viewer to acknowledge Christ as “our most precious gift” and “the very Son of God” in a Christmas setting.

Once I saw the ad, I knew I had to share it with my readers. I emailed Chris to ask his permission. He responded that he would love for me to even go as far as having it modified for our dealership to use. He said his goal was to get the ad in front of as many dealers as he could in the hopes that they would use it as well!

I contacted Joe Pollaro at Radio Vision and asked if he could produce the ad quickly enough to begin running it the week before Christmas. Incredibly, Joe was able to make it happen! Below, you can take a look at the resulting ad.

I personally love this ad because it does not ask for anything from the viewer relating to business. It is not an effort to sell cars or anything else. It is simply a way to acknowledge Christ before others!

What are your thoughts about the ad?

What can you do in a similar fashion through your business?

What obstacles do you need to overcome in order to make something like this happen?

Originally posted 12/19/11 – The TV ad is updated for 2013.

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To Teach Or Not To Teach?

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When I was being trained for the use of personality profiles in our business (and to teach others), I learned about certain personality types that run into frequent conflict in their personality. At times, they battle in their minds between (1) doing things exactly right and (2) making progress. It is called “Progress vs. Perfection Conflict” and it causes them to be ineffective in both cases.

teach

Conflict

A similar kind of conflict appears in many Christian business owners and leaders. This conflict comes from two opposite views in their mind. Let’s take a closer look at each of these perspectives.

To Teach Requires Full Knowledge?

The first idea is that we really should not teach on a topic if we are not fully educated in that specific area. There is nothing more frustrating that to be forced to sit through a seminar or class on a topic that you know more about than the instructor!

Because we know this, we decide that we will never step out and teach unless we are experts on the topic. While this mentality comes from good intentions, it can be carried to an extreme.

Full Knowledge Not Possible

If knowledge about almost all subjects is constantly expanding, then it is less and less likely that you will ever feel like an expert on any subject. As a result, it is just as unlikely that you will ever decide it is time for you to step out and teach on any given subject.

Is that actually a good thing?

Before I go further down this path, let’s take a look at the other end of the conflict.

We Are To Teach

As Christians, we have learned that we are to make disciples wherever we go. We are to baptize those disciples and TEACH them all that Jesus told us to do. This is central to our faith and any true disciple of Jesus will recognize this as part of his or her responsibility.

In our eagerness to fulfill this calling, we may volunteer to lead a small group study at work or we may decide to take on a children’s Sunday School class. Maybe we are really bold and we take on an adult class or go the other direction and simply take on one individual and serve as their mentor.

Teach Without Confidence?

Regardless of the extent of our teaching, we do not feel we are being the disciple we are supposed to be if we are not at least attempting to make disciples. We are not sure our teaching is completely accurate or fully backed up by our own walk, but at least we feel we are meeting our obligations.

Is this any better than the other extreme?

No Clear-Cut Answer

Like I said earlier, this is a common conflict and there is not necessarily a clear-cut answer. It is true – we should not teach on a subject with which we are not familiar. Neither should we teach something we are not attempting to live out ourselves.

Paul could confidently tell us to follow his example as he followed the example of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). We need to be able to do the same.

Grow To Teach

If we are going to teach something, we need to be working especially hard to better understand it ourselves. We need to be growing in that area if we want to be able to lead others.

On the other hand, we do not need to wait until we are experts on a topic before we try to teach others. We are commanded to make disciples and we must obey this command. We simply need to be wise about the topic.

Pick something God is teaching you about. Start with something that you are familiar with and trying to live out yourself.

Teaching Example

For example, my wife has recently been leading a class on parenting teen-agers. Has anyone in the history of mankind ever mastered that topic? No way! At the same time, the group has drawn from each other’s experience and all have benefitted in one way or another – my wife included!

She knew going in that she was not an expert. Sure, she was nervous about that, but at the same time she knew there is a point when you have to step out in faith. That is what she did and she was rewarded for it.

Step Out!

Whatever your situation, I encourage you to step out. Step out and begin allowing God to work in your life and teach you. Begin spending time in His Word and becoming a better disciple yourself.

Then, as you get a little confidence, begin looking for opportunities (equal to your maturity) to teach others what you have learned. Don’t wait until you are an expert…that will never happen.

You need to be a work in progress, but you also need to be comfortable with being a work in progress!

Have you dealt with this conflict?

What do you need to do to move past this conflict?

Who else do you need to encourage to step out?

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Pruning The Fruitful Branch

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Have you ever read or heard a specific Scripture many times before, but then one day something entirely new jumped out you – from that very same Scripture? I read something in my quiet time this week that stopped me in my tracks. It was about becoming more fruitful and I want to share it with you. Hopefully, you will see it to be as meaningful as I did.

fruitful

Fruit At Work

The book I was reading is called Fruit at Work, by Chris Evans. The Scripture that he referred to was John 15:1-8. In this passage, Jesus is talking about how He is the vine and we are the branches. He produces the fruit and we bear it. Without Him, we cannot produce any fruit of our own.

In the past, I have read and listened to Bruce Wilkinson’s Secrets of the Vine. This book has a great explanation of this same passage about the vine and branches. I was significantly impacted by Wilkinson’s book and wanted to be more fruitful.

Becoming More Fruitful

In going through this book, I learned in depth about how important pruning is to the production of fruit. Though painful, pruning makes the branch more fruitful. I could easily identify times of pruning in my own life.

In Fruit at Work, there is a similar quote from Evans on this same idea:

Even a well cultivated tree will only produce sparing fruit if left on its own. The way a gardner coaxes the most fruit out of a plant is by pruning. Pruning is a process of cutting back part of the plant, sometimes severely, to allow the plant to focus its nutrients in fewer places. Our master gardner does the same thing.

A New Perspective

I have read this John 15 passage literally hundreds of times, before and since. I have often thought about the process of pruning and becoming more fruitful. But what I do not know that I have ever recognized from a different perspective was one verse in particular. In verse 2, Jesus says the following…

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

What I do not remember from Wilkinson’s book is the following idea from Chris Evans. If this idea is in Wilkinson’s book, then I apologize. Evidently I was not ready to hear it then! Take a look at the quote from Evans:

As you bear fruit in your life, be aware that the areas where you are bearing fruit are subject to pruning. This may mean that a job you start to do well is replaced with another job that will challenge you to produce more fruit.

While this is uncomfortable, God knows what he is doing. You should see this pruning as encouragement that God is caring for you and is taking an active role in your growth.

More Specific Pruning

My understanding of the pruning process before did not get very specific. I just understood that I was going to undergo pruning to become more fruitful. As a branch in Jesus, I wanted to bear more fruit and knew that pruning would be a part of that process.

What I had never considered before was that God would prune in particular areas of my life, setting those areas up for a greater multiplication of fruit in the future!

Does that make sense to you?

While this is not a “salvation” epiphany, I do see it as having huge implications in two ways!

Implications

First, if there is an area in which you are bearing fruit, God is more likely to prune in that area so that you can be even more fruitful. This means you will certainly encounter difficulty and disappointment (symptoms of pruning) in your passion areas – like your Christian business! Expect it. Embrace it. Endure it.

Second, when you DO experience this pruning, take it as a sign that God is indeed caring for you and “taking an active role in your growth.” That should be extremely encouraging! Do not let the enemy whisper lies in your ear about failure. Thank God that He is working in you!

Have you experienced pruning in specific, fruitful areas of your life?

Have you recognized this process as being designed to make you even more fruitful?

Do you draw encouragement from this idea?