Success in Balance

One of the books I am currently reading is Joel Osteen’s Your Best Life Now and while I could probably read it all in one day (it is an easy read), I am taking my time to let some of what he says sink in. I have seen Joel and his wife Victoria on Larry King Live and CNN’s Paula Zahn each time he is asked about being to “soft” or being “power of positive thinking.” Each time I hear this I have to ask myself, is he? Is the book really correct in what it is saying? And each time I come to the same conclusion, Joel is 100% consistent in what he is saying and while he is very positive, he appears to be very on target. While the majority of his book is positive, he does make it clear that there are some down sides and we can get off track.

I have found the book to be very refreshing and inspiring. My plan is to take the next few days and post some of the things I have learned/re-learned. Hopefully others will find this information useful as well.

On another note, you may have noticed that there are some new ads to the right…. particularly the Audible.com ad. I decided to take advantage of a 2 books free promotion from Audible and have thoroughly enjoyed my purchases. I am excited about getting 2 new books each month to help me to continue to maintain Success in Balance with the rest of my life. I have created CDs of each book that I listen to in the car and I have added them to my MP3 player, so I can listen while working out, surfing the net, mowing the lawn…I even listened to one while relaxing on the beach/by the pool while on vacation. The new Audible offer is for 3 free books and I would highly recommend checking it out. This alone will increase the number of books I digest each year because I can work them into other arts of my life where I can not read (not a good thing to do while mowing the lawn

Well, I am not one to force something on anyone and the reason I have started SiB and Digital Stakeholders was to be an extension of my interests. So should I worry that only a few people are checking out these pages? No, because that is not why I started. However, while others have not used these pages, I have learned a lot. So I think I will use the pages to share what I have been learning and then perhaps others will jump in. Who knows, a month from now this might be a vibrant community or it may take years. But at some point someone will learn something and it will all be worthwhile

Right now I seem to be on a mission to reinforce many of the things I have learned over the past few years. I am in the midst of reading three books. Yes I said three. They all seem to compliment each other.

Read more… The first two are by John Maxwell, Thinking for a Change and The Success Journey. I just recently purchased Thinking, but Journey I purchased years ago. In addition I have been reading Joel Osteen’s “Your Best Life Now.” All three books are reinforcing in me the need to think positive, to fill my mind with good thoughts, to have a plan, and to take steps each day towards my goals.

Many people have commented to me that I am one of the most motivated people they know. A good friend who has known me for years commented recently that I am much more goal oriented than he. But as I look back I realize that is really not the case. So you may ask, Paul how can that be? With three degrees, a family, etc. how did you make all that happen without goals? Well it is simple, one step at a time. But each step was taken to avoid the most conflict and to move in a direction, but honestly I have just sort of ended up here. I know, a weird confession for a site called Success in Balance.

For me it has been a journey and I am very blessed that more things did not turn out wrong. For a large part, I am lucky. Most of my life has been spent focusing on “urgent” things (think Covey), but I have arrived at a point where urgent is no longer the driver, important is. But I have never mastered important. So I am having to go back and relearn what I already know. To help me put things into perspective and truly focus on the important.

Well that’s enough confession for now. Perhaps some of you will join me and we can start a nice community to help each other along

Grace & Peace

Paul