Exploring the Possibilities

How to Get Hired as a Giant Killer

by Andy Wood on April 4, 2009

in Ability, Enlarging Your Capacity, Exploring the Possibilities, Life Currency, LV Cycle

job-applicationSome of the rules have changed.

  • Time Magazine, in it’s provocative “Ten Ideas Changing the World Right Now,” reports that having a job is cool again.  Rather than regarding employment as a necessary evil to be escaped as soon as possible, jobs are now considered an asset.  (Nothing like losing something to recognize its worth, I guess).
  • Someone just told me about his father, who for eight years tried to make a go of his home-based business and now, in his 60s, realizes the need for an employer.  He’s finding it difficult.
  • My favorite job/career-hunting book, What Color is Your Parachute?, which has been updated annually since 1970, was back on the best-seller list in December.

So with the new demand for paying day-jobs and the shortening supply, I thought it might be helpful offer some strategies for improving your chances.  [click to continue…]

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The Slave Shepherd

by Andy Wood on March 17, 2009

in Enlarging Your Capacity, Exploring the Possibilities, Five LV Laws, Insight, Leadership, Life Currency, Love, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, LV Stories, Principle of Freedom, Principle of Legacy

shepherd-11Maewyn Succat.  Bet you never thought to hang that name on your son.  But Maewyn wasn’t from around these parts, and his name apparently suited him as he grew up in his native Wales.

Maewyn had a pretty respectable upbringing.  His granddaddy was a preacher, and his dad was a deacon – though rumor had it that Dad’s religious affiliations had more to do with tax deductions than spiritual passion.

In most ways, I suppose, Maewyn was your typical teenager.  Times were tough, but youth is a time to dream of something better.  No doubt this teenager had dreams, hopes, and plans to get there.

But all of that came crashing down when Maewyn’s family estate was attacked and he was abducted, placed in chains, and hauled off into slavery, far away from his home and his family.

What do you do when all you’ve ever known is ripped away from you?  How do you respond when your dreams, your hopes, your family, and your heritage become distant memories or painful reminders of a life that once was?

Some children encounter such things at very early ages, and never remember their heritage or parents.  Not Maewyn.  He’d seen too much.  Known too much.  Missed too much. [click to continue…]

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The Lemonade Stand

by Andy Wood on March 9, 2009

in Exploring the Possibilities, Five LV Laws, LV Cycle, Principle of Increase, Turning Points

lemonade-standIt all started with an idea in the mind of a four-year-old.  Cassie certainly wasn’t the first kid to set up shop as a lemonade business.  But she’d read about it or seen it on some cartoon or something, and she was inspired.

We were living in Birmingham.  Corner lot, pretty busy street.  But that didn’t deter Miss Entrepreneur and her twin sister.  They were out to make some money, and had just been given a sure-fire way to do it.

What do you say to a born dreamer, with stars in her eyes, and a plan for making her dreams come true?

“Okay.”

You say, “Okay.”

That’s what Mamma said, and she went about helping the twins prepare for their first business venture.  There was a table to set up, a sign to make, and, of course, a pitcher of lemonade and cooler of ice to prepare.

And there were the pigtails.  I’ll never forget the pigtails. [click to continue…]

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Vision – More Than Just Hope

by Andy Wood on January 6, 2009

in 100 Words, Exploring the Possibilities, LV Cycle

There’s more to vision than hopeful daydreaming about a desired future.

Yes, vision sees the goal, but it is aware of much more than that.

Vision sees the path from here to there.

Vision recognizes the need for decisive action.  It has a bias toward making the jump.

Vision also recognizes the risks and potential dangers that lurk on all sides, and prepares accordingly for them.

Vision then sees beyond the goal.  It recognizes the larger community, and the visionary’s place in the larger world.

Yes, vision sees the goal.  But true visionaries recognize that success is more than the perfect landing.

(This extraordinary picture of Oberstdorf, Germany as reflected in the goggles of Japanese ski jumper Noriaki Kasai is one of many that can be found here.  PHOTO:  Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach)

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Is it Time for You to Fly the Plane Differently?

by Andy Wood on January 5, 2009

in Exploring the Possibilities, Leadership, Life Currency, LV Cycle, Protecting Your Investment, Tense Truths

Tense Truth:  There are no solutions to problems that do not require some kind of change.  And there is no change that doesn’t create problems of its own.  The solution is not to avoid change or eliminate problems.  Rather, it is to anticipate future challenges with a solution-based mindset, even while we attack the problems of today.

John Miller, in his book, QBQ, The Question Behind the Question, tells the following story:

When Stacey was 12 years old, she and her father, a pilot, took off on a Sunday afternoon joyride in their single engine Cessna.  Not long into the flight, and about a mile up over Lake Michigan, the joy of their father-daughter adventure came to an abrupt halt.  Stacey’s father turned to her and in a calm, reassuring tone he said, “Honey, the engine has quit.  I’m going to need to fly the plane differently.”

Like Miller, I love the phrase, “fly the plane differently.”  It speaks of how problem solvers (read “leaders” here) approach changing conditions and frame crisis situations.  He didn’t look for somebody to blame, bail out of the plane, or give up on the laws of aerodynamics.  He also didn’t magnify the fear of the situation.  He didn’t try to fix the engine!  And most importantly, he didn’t stop flying.

He simply changed in response to a new set of information and a new horizon of challenges.

Tony Robbins on Problems

On a recent video blog, Tony Robbins said: [click to continue…]

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The Day After Christmas

by Andy Wood on December 26, 2008

in Exploring the Possibilities, Insight, Life Currency, LV Cycle

This is one of the strangest days of the year.  The Christmas tree is still up, but there are no presents beneath it.  The trips have been made, and people are starting to settle back down to “normal.”  All the cooks have declared a holiday, and the Great Gift Exchange has begun.  And in our culture, we’re preparing for another phenomenon:  the end of one year, and the start of another.

Sort of like they did on the first day after the first Christmas.

Take a look, and maybe we can catch an insight into how we can extend the wonder of the season past all the gifts and food.  And I think we can gain some principles that will also help us prosper in the coming year. [click to continue…]

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The Language of Surrender… and Freedom

by Andy Wood on December 1, 2008

in Enlarging Your Capacity, Exploring the Possibilities, Five LV Laws, Hoarders, Insight, Life Currency, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, LV Stories, Principle of Freedom, Principle of Legacy

I don’t have to win.

I don’t have to lead.

I don’t have to debt.

I don’t have to worry.

I don’t have to be first.

I don’t have to survive.

I don’t have to give up.

I don’t have to overeat.

I don’t have to be right.

I don’t have to succeed.

I don’t have to be afraid.

I don’t have to get angry.

I don’t have to be served.

I don’t have to look good.

I don’t have to be noticed.

I don’t have to cradle pain.

I don’t have to have things.

I don’t have to be offended.

I don’t have to be stressed.

I don’t have to feel rejected.

I don’t have to procrastinate.

I don’t have to resist change.

I don’t have to be depressed.

I don’t have to defend myself.

I don’t have to always say yes.

I don’t have to spend all I earn.

I don’t have to hide my failures.

I don’t have to control outcomes.

I don’t have to get instant results.

I don’t have to hide from the truth.

I don’t have to hide from intimacy.

I don’t have to harbor resentment.

I don’t have to feel sorry for myself.

I don’t have to judge others’ motives.

I don’t have to blame myself or others.

I don’t have to be thanked for what I do.

I don’t have to take counsel of my fears.

I don’t have to crave words of affirmation.

I don’t have to repeat destructive behavior.

I don’t have to compare myself with others.

I don’t have to criticize weakness in others.

I don’t have to envy the blessings of others.

I don’t have to live in the shadow of my past.

I don’t have to spend money to impress others.

I don’t have to see every (or any) expectation fulfilled.

(I’m sure there’s plenty more I’ll discover.  How about you?  What does your language of surrender/freedom sound like?)

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Your Glory Story

by Andy Wood on October 24, 2008

in Esteem, Exploring the Possibilities, Life Currency, LV Cycle

Somewhere in the back story of the drama that is your life, you are rehearsing a Cinderella story.  One that transforms you from zero to hero, from reject to regal.  You imagined it as a kid in ways that were unique to you.  This dream may have been fed by caring parents, or it may have been an escape from the harshness of your world.

Simply put, you dreamed of glory.

Not vainglory, mind you.  Something more.  An image that said you mattered.  Belonged.  Were wonderfully adequate for the role you’d been chosen – for your quest.

Then came the collision.  Dreams were broadsided by disappointments.  You never quite figured out how to translate that high school stardom into a career or a destiny.  Or worse, you actually found your place in the world, but stared in the mirror at a fraud.  Maybe you got what (or who) you’d always wanted, and you bombed.  Maybe you just settled into paying the bills and keeping house, and woke up a generation later wondering what happened.

Sometimes I think our greatest fear or vulnerability isn’t the evil we’re all capable of.  What we most dread or most grieve is that we’re just so ordinary. [click to continue…]

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The Thoughtful Spot

by Andy Wood on September 16, 2008

in Exploring the Possibilities, Insight, Life Currency, LV Cycle

As you can probably tell from here and here, I’m a big fan of Winnie the Pooh.  I pretty well ignored him during my first childhood, but in my second – with my own children – he and his friends became some of my favorite characters.

There in the Hundred Acre Wood, Pooh is a model of contentment.  He helps his friends, enjoys the outdoors, doesn’t fret about his weight, and never loses his patience.  He loves his honey, and his only real worry is seeing to it he has a plentiful supply.  His friends are high-strung (Rabbit), insecure (Piglet), maternal (Kanga), and playful (Roo), gloomy (Eeyore), egotistical (Owl), and irresponsible (Tigger).

Winnie the Pooh?  He’s just proud to be here.

I think I may have found the secret to the chubby cub’s contentment.  Just outside the hollow tree where he lives is a log that is used for sitting.  Beside the log is a sign that reads, “The Thotful Spot.”  Being a Bear of Very Little Brain, Pooh must think hard, and think often.  Whenever there is a problem or a confusing question, or practically any occasion that requires a brain, he returns to the Thotful Spot to think.  He doesn’t always come up with the right answers.  But he always comes away with an idea.  And he always comes away happy.

Everybody needs a Thoughtful Spot.  [click to continue…]

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15 Gateways to Your Future

by Andy Wood on August 31, 2008

in Exploring the Possibilities, LV Cycle

My friend Kevin, who is also an elder in our church, is a professional idea generator.  He drives a “Dream Taxi,” whose mission in life is to help individuals, couples, ministries, and organizations achieve their goals with excellence and bucketloads of creativity.

While I can’t hold a candle to his idea-generating genius, I thought I’d take a stab at it.

In the previous post, I looked at the first stage of the LifeVesting cycle, Allocate your Resources.

Here’s the second:

2.  Consider the possibilities.

Back to the farming analogy, take a look at this familiar verse:

“He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed,
Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:6).

Interesting promise.  Especially when you understand that first-century agriculture was done in a way that we would consider backwards.  In those days, the farmer would cast his seed first, then plow it in and cultivate the ground.  Not very efficient by today’s standards, but the spiritual image is compelling.  Once the farmer had a vision of what he wanted to harvest, he was prepared to start casting the seed.  He didn’t do a lot of computerized soil samples.  He didn’t analyze it to death.  He walked to and fro, looking for opportunities to cast!

This stage of the cycle asks you to consider the kind of results you want to have by doing what our farmer did here. [click to continue…]

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