Hopefully you all know what my P.E.A.C.E. acrostic stands for.  Many years ago I simplified (for myself) what I thought were the most important activities involved in leading a successful life.  The EagleLaunch definition of a successful life is; “a continuous journey of setting and attaining worthwhile goals that will positively impact your life as well as the world around you.”

I believe in having a Plan, putting forth productive Effort, with an effective Attitude, with a willingness to be helped and to be of help to the Community of people we surround ourselves with; all while taking care of our spiritual, emotional and physical aspects of our being in order to have the Energy required to effectively carry out our plans.

Since I started this blog four years ago, you may recall how I often refer to my morning devotion time.  My morning devotion time involves my quiet time with God where I talk to God (pray) and he talks to me (through his scripture) and then I reflect on my day ahead as well as my roles and responsibilities.  It is during my morning time where I take a look at my goals and reflect on how I am doing.  Then I place everything in God’s hands and go off and hopefully do his business through me.

It is during my morning devotion time where P.E.A.C.E. comes alive for me.  It is where I ask God to live in all aspects of my P.E.A.C.E. acrostic.

We are starting our fourth week of 2012.  Maybe you are losing your edge in staying on top of your goals you set for the new year.  Try gaining the edge back by taking time to talk with God about your goals (sounds corny but it works).

God wants us to seek his help, he wants us to gain an edge so we can share with others where we get our edge from.

Thus, one of the primary purposes of my blog.

P.E.A.C.E.

Jay@EagleLaunch

Psalms 121:2, “My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.”

Are you leading and if you are, are you developing others?  Are you motivating those you lead?  Are you helping those you lead work through the pain of growth?  Are you listening to those you lead?   Do you truly care about those you lead?  Are you able to lead without becoming defensive?  Are you able to lead without taking things personally?

If you are a leader or want to be a leader you will need to be able to easily answer yes to the above questions.

Leadership is not about status, title, wealth, fame, fortune or control.  It is simply the effective handling of people.

P.E.A.C.E.

Jay@Eaglelaunch

Hebrews 13:7, “Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God.  Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith.”

Last year our pastor asked us on the day prior to the day someone predicted the world was supposed to end to reflect on what we would change if we knew what day the world, as we know it, would end.

I can remember thinking I had way too much in reserve.  I had stored up too much of my time, talent and treasure.

I’ve yet to hear news about anyone on their death bed wishing they had worked more, but I sure have heard stories of those wishing they had loved and given more.

My goal is to make sure the empire I am building is within God’s empire.  If I can do that I will know I will turn to dust with nothing left in reserve.

P.E.A.C.E.

Jay@Eaglelaunch

Luke 18:22, “There is still one thing you haven’t done.  Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.”

I don’t know if there is anything more difficult yet liberating than forgiveness.

It is quite draining and tiring to carry a back pack full of resentments and grudges every day.

Some acts against us are harder to forgive than others but Jesus calls us to forgive and if you proclaim  to be a Jesus follower yet do not forgive, where does that put you in the line at judgement day?

Forgiving the “unforgivable” takes work.  Try committing to a daily habit of praying for good things for whomever you do not want to forgive and pray to God for the willingness to forgive the “unforgivable;” he knows it can be done as he did it after watching his son experience the “unforgivable” for our sake.

Mark 11:25, “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

P.E.A.C.E.

Jay@EagleLaunch

Well here it is, 2012!  I am sure many of you have given thought to changes you want to make in the year of 2012.  No one is more goal oriented, driven, disciplined and focused than I am and if you think you are, I want to get to know you better so you can help me get better.

Over the past 20 or so years I have added one BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal–from Collins and Porras’ book Built to Last) on top of another, one year at a time, to where by the grace of God and His power direction and strength I feel blessed to be living a BHAL (Big Hairy Audacious Life–I think that is a newly created Jay Meyer acronym).

But…no matter how badly you want to grow and get better and stack one BHAG on top of another and achieve your dreams and goals, you will never consistently attain your BHAG’S, if you do not first get your own house in order.

Getting our house in order is pretty simple.  It involves a daily focus on personal improvement by becoming a better person, a better spouse, parent, child, sibling, leader and friend.  It takes place one-day-at-a-time by loving, forgiving, accepting and helping more than we hate, resent, judge and hurt.  We know our house is getting in order when we no longer are reliant upon people, places and things for our happiness.

A great book to help you with getting your house in order is The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, by Alcoholics Anonymous.  The 12 Steps have helped millions of people get their houses (lives) in order over the years.

You do not have to be alcoholic to benefit from this book about the 12 Steps.  You simply need to be a person with a desire to name your junk, claim your junk and dump your junk and in-turn get your own house in order.  You will also need to be willing to understand and accept the fact that in the middle of all of your problems is YOU!

Once again, please remember I blog from experience.

Make 2012 the year of laying the foundation for your BHAL and if you already have your house in order,  good luck in achieving another BHAG to add to your BHAL!

P.S.  This blog thought came to me yesterday as I was passing a funeral home in the village I live in.  I noticed a group of people slowly walking up the sidewalk wiping tears from their eyes and that is when I said to myself, “life is so short and there are so many people that just don’t get that concept.”

Hoping you got that concept and wishing you the greatest year of your BHAL ever in 2012!

P.E.A.C.E.

Jay@EagleLaunch

Knowing I need to get some gift certificates for a friend’s Christmas present, I figured it would be time-effective to sit at the bar of my friend’s favorite restaurant, woof down some chow and be in and out in less than 30 minutes with gift certificates in hand.

When I sit down at the bar I see a young lady coming my way and as I attempt to make eye contact with her to tell her I know what I want to order, she looks down and away.  So I’m thinking “the bar is obviously not her territory” and I wait for my server.

Here comes another young lady and once again just as I’m trying to make eye contact with her she looks back into the kitchen and tells the chef he messed up her order.

Then 5 seconds later a server who was waiting on her food from the kitchen turned and looked…right through me.

Then I see the manager coming with, I am assuming, a new trainee and as he is talking to the new trainee they walk right by me…once again looking right through me.

The cycle I just described didn’t happen once or twice but three times and after 7 minutes of this nonsense I got up and left.  I also did not buy any gift certificates.

So now I am hungry and angry (50% of the way to a place alcoholic and addicts need to stay away from), the other two are lonely and tired.  HALT=Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired.  (I will save this acronym topic for another blog.)

As I’m pulling out of the parking lot of  the restaurant that could have cared less whether or not I was alive or not, I see the sign for another chain restaurant establishment known for their unbelievable customer service (at this particular location.)

So I stopped, ate, had a wonderful customer experience and was in and out in 17 minutes.  BTW…the manager was walking around with a set of reindeer antlers on his head and greeted me as soon as I walked through the door, he also asked me twice how I was doing during my meal and said “Merry Christmas” to me as I walked out the door and the restaurant was jam packed.

Back in my days of running a business the team and I lived, breathed and slept customer service.  I would stress over and over the importance of not only shipping the right product to the right place at the right time with the right price, but to do all of the “rights” with the right attitude.  “After all,” I would stress, “anyone can get the right product to the right place at the right time at the right price, but it takes a special organization to do all the rights  with the right attitude.”  Did we get all the rights-right all the time?  Absolutely not.  Did we try our best? Yes.  But even when we failed on the other rights, our attitude would help soften the impact we would feel from customer backlash.

I am not a Harvard MBA grad nor am I the brightest businessman in the world but I know enough to tell you customer service with the right attitude is and will always be the difference maker when it comes to any business that involves human beings.  Human beings like to be treated right.

It is also important to note customer service and the right attitude starts at the top of any organization and if you are at the top of your organization or department within your organization you need to look in the mirror at least once a day and ask yourself whether or not you have an attitude that can turn a craving for a Grilled Chicken Salad into a craving for Chilli-Cheese Coneys.

That is what my good friend and all of his teammates at Skyline Chilli did for me tonight all because of their right attitudes.

P.S. In the business world the customer’s perception of reality IS reality.

P.E.A.C.E.

jay@EagleLaunch

My August 4, 2011 Thought For The Week; “A person in constant conflict with others is a person in constant conflict with himself,” came to me as I was observing some Facebook posts the other night.  I love Facebook and try to use it as a medium to keep up with family and friends and to also share positive messages with others.  One of my pet peaves of Facebook is when people air their “crap” to the world and take cheap shots at others.  Of course in the grand scheme of things doing that is no different than people airing their “crap” about other people secretly behind other people’s backs.

I used to get into crap stirring and was pretty good at it.  But, like you’ve heard me tell the story; when you are 28 and 1/2 years old going through horrible withdrawals in a drug treatment center from an opiate and barbiturate addiction and facing several felonies, and the only future you see for yourself is the hope of spending minimal time in a minimal security prison and you realize your decisions have caused you to lose almost everything you’ve worked for…well…you quit worrying about peoples’ crap and you begin to look much more deeply inside yourself and lo and behold you find you are so full of CRAP that any time spent getting into other people’s crap only lends to adding more dung to your pile.  Dang I wish they would have let me write this way in high school English .  But it is the absolute truth!

People who are in constant conflict with others are in constant conflict with themselves.

This is why I love the 12 Steps and the 12 Step community.  When you read the scripture verses above, ask yourself, “am I doing this or am I at least trying to do this?”  If the answer is yes, good for you.  If the answer is no, it is time to get to work.

When I decided to follow Jesus back in late August of 1987 while sitting alone late at night in Greene Hall Chemical Dependency Center I was anticipating an instant change and a miracle and it didn’t happen.  You see I had accumulated so much crap over the years that it was totally covering the light (Jesus) inside of me.  Jesus was in there but it was up to me to find him.  So I began using the 12 Steps as my “crap digger” and slowly but surely things started to change.  I can remember going to AA meetings every day for almost 3 years.  My AA meetings served as another form of digging through my crap and I cannot tell you how many times someone would say something, and they probably had said it a dozen times before, but because my pile of crap was getting smaller, I could finally hear it.  Sayings like, “live and let live,” “let go and let God,” “we’ll love you until you can love yourself.”  But my favorites were:  How important really is it? and GET OVER IT!

People…yes I am talking to my blog readers…life is too short to be in constant conflict!  I know today that at the center of every conflict I am in (oh yeah I still have my moments) is ME!  Let me repeat that…at the center of every conflict I am in–is ME.  You’ll know you are starting to get with the program when you are able to admit you are the problem and begin speaking phrases to yourself like “How important really is it? and Get over it!”  These phrases along with the 12 Steps, meetings and the help of others create a great crap cleanup system that will eventually take you to that place in Colossians 3:14, “Above all, put on love—the perfect bond of unity,” more than you ever thought possible.

Take a few minutes to sit back, relax, reflect, enjoy and watch this video that says it all.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4p8qxGbpOk

it’s easy…but some of us are so darn complicated

P.E.A.C.E.

jay@eaglelaunch.com

A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine sent me a text message and reminded me about a time in high school where I had included a less-fortunate schoolmate with a learning disability into our group.  The friend who texted me told me he remembered me telling our new friend he was cool and how he had never forgotten that moment.  Back in those days “retarded” was a common term and making fun of those who were handicapped was acceptable behavior.  (For my younger blog readers…I am talking 30-40 years ago…yes I am an old man).  I think my behavior towards this kid shocked my friend, because he knew I loved to joke and poke fun at people.  But with the people who were challenged and behind in life; I always had a place for them in my heart.  I thanked my friend for the kind text message and texted him, “I think God was preparing me for my future life with my son Jordan.”

Although God tells us it is our responsibility as Christians to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, and to ensure justice for those being crushed and to speak up for the poor and helpless; what he doesn’t tell us in this Proverb is the gifts we receive by taking care of the helpless.  I’ve had many great learning experiences in my life but I’ve learned the most and been blessed the most by caring for my son Jordan.  I’ve always struggled with selfishness and self-centered behavior and when caring for Jordan those behaviors cannot exist.  Jordan has become my ego deflator and for that I am blessed (EGO=easing God out).  I cannot count the number of times I’ve walked through the door of our house after a big victory at work and Jordan is standing there greeting me with a “deuce” in his diaper.

It is not “cliche” when I say, “Jordan is a blessing”…sometimes a “pain in the butt” blessing (tongue in cheek), but truly a blessing.  You haven’t “lived” until “normal” is combing two heads of hair, brushing two sets of teeth, showering two people, fixing food for two people, hydrating two people, being someone else’s eyes and ears, using your hands to protect another’s hands, preventing one from falling while you are walking and last but not least…wiping two butts.  After being “retired” for this past year with a goal of helping more with Jordan, I’ve figured out why my wife is so strong, selfless, humble, balanced and full of love.  She’s been living Proverbs 31:8 for the past 25 years, and living it with grace.

Jesus tells us in Matthew our treatment to the less fortunate is our treatment towards him.  Matthew 25:40, “…and I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me.”

If you are someone who battles with selfishness and a bigger than life ego and you really want to learn some things about life, get out of yourself and help those who can’t help themselves.  You will grow and be blessed in ways you never thought imaginable.  But more importantly you will actually be caring for God as he reminds us in Matthew.

…nice plan God!

This ends my daily Proverb writings for the time being.  I hope this has helped give you a desire to read the Proverb for the day on a daily basis.  King Solomon is considered the wisest man to ever live, but in spite of his wisdom, he fell to sin with the best of them, but he arose and through his faith in God became one of the most frequently read and respected writers in the Bible.

P.E.A.C.E.

jay@eaglelaunch.com

Life is so much easier to live when we focus on what we can control and I’ve pretty much narrowed the “controllables” to our faith walk, our attitude and effort.  Most of the unhappy people I know are usually lacking in understanding what they can and cannot control.  These people also seem to be in the middle of quarrels and disputes more often than not…been there done that.

Constant fighting and quarreling is nothing more than an energy drain and the devil’s playground.  Try controlling what you can control and you will find energy you never knew you had.

P.E.A.C.E.

jay@eaglelaunch.com

Ask anyone who helps the poor and they will tell you the blessings usually come back ten-fold.  Even though we don’t give in order to receive, God always blesses us when we give.  It is important to note that the blessings do not necessarily come in the form of money or material things. 

The biggest blessing from giving comes through the transformation that takes place in our heart.  The more we give without contingencies and expecting anything in return; the more our heart transforms into a heart of contributing instead of a heart of consuming. 

When we develop a heart of giving, we are developing the heart of God and He blesses us by giving us even more to help others with…it is why we we lack nothing when we give.

As my friend Bill often says; “great plan God!”

P.E.A.E.C.

jay@eaglelaunch.com