Last week we discussed how a routine can help us get more done. Too many times, people drift through life without any plan. They neglect to take control of the things they can control.
I know how this is. I used to feel this way.
Early on I had big dreams. Then when they didn’t happen, I felt like my messy life was just what I was stuck with, and I gave up on my dreams.
I’d never been a reader, but while recovering from the concussion I began reading. Most of the books I started with were ones that were either written by or recommended by someone that I was listening to on the radio or podcasts. I admired these people and what they had accomplished or experienced.
This was a turning point in my life.
I began reading more and more. Then I began implementing the things from these books and their authors. I was taking back control of my life. This doesn’t mean that I can control everything. What it does mean is that I can control how I react and respond.
Here are twelve of the books that have had a major impact on my life and showed the importance of taking control:
Reading these books helped me to see what was possible if I was intentional and did something rather than just waiting for the next bad thing to happen. Part of what I learned was how a daily routine was a big part of taking control.
Having a routine helps control life.
My routine has been developing over the past fourteen years and will continue to do so every year going forward. The important thing to remember is that learning is something that we should do as long as we’re alive.
Taking control of my life and business makes me a much happier person than I was when I felt hopeless. Some things from these books are included directly into my daily routine, some are more peripheral.
We’ll go into more specifics of how these books are connected to my routine next week.
Over the past several weeks we’ve been going through the Hero on a Mission online course. This is one of the courses offered by Business Made Simple Universitydesigned by Donald Miller. These online courses are great for helping small businesses.
I’ve taken this course before, but to reinforce my business, I’ve gone through it again as a refresher. The Hero on a Mission course shows the importance of having a life plan and incorporating it into your daily routine.
Routines are regular procedures, chores, or duties done at specific intervals. We are creatures of habit and routines will happen to some degree (even if they are unplanned). The key is to not let your routines be unproductive or random.
A routine requires intentional action.
Too many people live their lives mired in regret. They leave things up to fate, wondering why their life feels so meaningless. We shouldn’t give fate control over our lives.
Having a life plan and routine for implementing that plan is how you can take control. An intentional, daily routine will help you focus and stay on track.
A routine can be as simple or as detailed as you want it to be. We’re all different and what works for one person may not work for another.
I’m a detailed person and I like having control, so my routine is a little too intense for some people. My routine is broken into three parts: morning, midday, and evening. The morning actions help me get a clear plan and focus for the day on the things that are the most important to me. The midday portion is a break from the chaos and a recentering. The evening is an opportunity to look back at the day and review.
I use a combination of an Outlook calendar and OneNote action lists for my daily routine.
My daily routine overview:
Morning routine – I start my day with making a pot of coffee and taking a shower to wake up. Then I read my Bible, have prayer time, read the Traveler’s Gift Daily Decision, journal, pack my lunch, review the plans for the day, check emails. Then I review the day’s action list, my calendar, and the action lists for business planning, administration, finances, production, sales, and marketing.
Midday routine – This routine is shorter. It involves eating lunch, watching or listening to something educational, reviewing the Scripture of the day, and journaling.
Evening routine – I review the weekly action plan, the day’s action list, the calendar, and the action lists for business planning, administration, finances, production, sales, and marketing. I read the Traveler’s Gift Daily Decision, check my emails, journal, and pray.
This is a brief overview of my routine. Next week, I’ll break it down into more detail, the tools I use, and how I use them.
Sometimes the changing seasons can be quick and serious. The weather here has been a bit of a roller coaster ride over the past several weeks. We’ve had temperatures ranging from below zero to seventy. Some of these swings have happened within days.
It’s currently seventeen degrees on midday Friday as I’m writing this. It’s predicted to be in the upper sixties by Monday. On the other side of this extreme, we had a low temperature of five degrees below zero this past Wednesday.
When the temperature gets down into single digits there is the concern of freezing water lines. This can lead to broken pipes and water damage. With proper preparation and planning these problems can be reduced.
This is where a home maintenance plan comes in.
Too often we get busy with life and forget to prepare for seasonal changes when it comes to our homes. We are creatures of habit. We perform our daily routines of coming and going and rarely bother to look around. Unless a doorknob falls off in our hand, or there’s no hot water for our shower, or the sink gets stopped up, or the AC doesn’t work, or any number of other problems occur, we just go through life without giving any thought to the maintenance of our homes.
Maintenance isn’t going to prevent every big problem from happening, but it decreases the likelihood. Having a scheduled maintenance plan will also help you find the needed repairs before they become major.
Having an intentional plan is important, but it won’t work if you don’t use it.
With everything else going on in life, how can we remember one more thing? We don’t have to if we have a scheduled plan. First, you need to decide if home maintenance is important enough for you to bother with. If you’re okay dealing with big problems, then don’t worry about maintenance. You’ll know that the pipes are frozen when you don’t have water at the faucet or there’s water spraying out of the broken pipe.
Because I live in an old family home that was built in 1916, there are still areas that have no insulation. It so happens that one of those areas is where the plumbing is. This means that part of my maintenance plan includes – stacking bales of hay along the north wall of the house and having a thermostat-controlled heat lamp in the crawlspace. The point of this is that if I don’t remember to take the precautions and the weather gets cold, I’ll more likely than not, have frozen pipes. That’s why this is part of my home maintenance plan.
Routine maintenance is a good way to minimize costly disruptions.
Seasons happen every year and are a natural part of life. Each season presents different weather conditions and temperatures which affect your home in varying ways. Combining a calendar and a seasonal Home Maintenance Checklist helps minimize bigger problems. This plan is broken down into monthly, quarterly, and annually by season.
Just like it’s cold right now—but expected to fifty degrees warmer in a few days—the seasons are the same way. It will be Spring before you know it and there are things that will need to be done.
Get your free Home Maintenance Plan and start taking care of your home maintenance today.
You’ve probably heard the saying, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks“. This means that it is very difficult to teach someone new skills or change someone’s habits, especially when they’re older. This phrase is often used to express the challenges of altering deeply rooted behaviors or learning new concepts. It is not typically about actual dogs, rather it reflects human experiences concerning change.
We’ve been talking about how to build a better construction business and the tools and systems to make that possible. The importance of knowing who you are and your core values. This can seem like a lot of work. Especially with the limited time available in the construction industry.
Younger construction companies get a rude awakening when they find out how much they didn’t know about running a business.
I thought I knew everything I needed to when I started my construction business over forty years ago. Boy was I wrong!
I got to a point where what I thought I knew … I didn’t. I gave up and accepted that this mess-of-a-life was just the way things were. I needed to accept it and just continue through the rut. And I did, until I was smacked upside the head.
This event changed my life.
There were nudges that I became aware of before the accident that were a part of this change. I was listening to talk radio programs that were speaking to what I was feeling. These included things like Dave Ramsey, Michael Hyatt, Donald Miller, Andy Andrews, etc.
These guys seemed to have figured out how to get out of the rut and I was intrigued. One of the things these guys all had in common was…
The importance of reading.
I had never been a reader up to that point in my life. I saw it as something that required time that I didn’t have. But after the accident, I felt as though I had been given a second chance. Listening to them and what they were sharing resonated with me.
It’s like they knew what I was going through and had a way out of the rut. And the way out was learning. And a big part of learning is reading. It was clear to me. If I wanted things to change I needed to learn, and learning required me making a decision to do it.
Before then I had given up on learning. Learning was for kids in school. As an adult there wasn’t anything else that I needed to know. Boy, was I mistaken!
I’ve learned more since I decided to read than ever before. Learning is something that should never come to an end as long as we are still alive.
Learning is a choice!
Learning will lead to a better business and a better life.
Don’t become an old dog. It’s never too late to learn. If you would like to learn how to BUILD a better business and life for yourself, schedule consultation to get started.
What is treasure? Treasure is something that is valuable. This means different things to different people.
Treasure is often thought of as monetary. Like gold and jewels hidden by pirates or on their sunken ship. They can also be things that hold value that aren’t monetary. For example, it might be something from your childhood that triggers fond memories. Or a person that is loved and valued. Or maybe it’s a place that sparks feelings that you treasure.
A treasure can be any or all these things.
Your treasures are the things that are important and valuable to you.
In Matthew 6:19-24, Jesus tells us to be careful about what we chose our treasures to be. Treasures that are of this world are not eternal. They will only last for a limited time. If our focus is on worldly treasures, we forfeit the eternal ones.
He concludes this point by telling us we can’t serve two masters. We will hate one and love the other.
We need to be clear on what is the most important thing to us.
Jesus does not tell us that earthly treasures are bad. Or that our money and possessions are unimportant. We are called to be good stewards.
It’s about prioritizing and putting the most important thing at the top. In verse 24, we’re told that we can’t serve two masters. We need to align our priorities with God’s.
Last week we discussed doing things for the right reason and how the world turns things upside down. We can choose to make our treasures worldly or heavenly.
What is most important to you?
It can be hard to separate worldly from heavenly. After Jesus concludes telling us what kinds of treasures to store up, He goes on in verse 25 and tells us not to worry.
This is the peace that comes with having our treasures prioritized the same as God’s.
Pick the right treasure and make the right choice.
Last week’s post was about using lists and calendars for making plans. We talked about how your planning is up to you, but if you do nothing … nothing will get done. You can have the best laid plans, but life happens.
You can choose to do no planning and just take things as they come. This haphazard process gives control of your life to others. Or you can plan with so much detail that when things do happen that aren’t part of your plans, everything falls apart. Flexible rigidity is where planning and change can work together.
Calendars and lists are two separate things with two separate purposes.
A list is a place to keep track of things so that you don’t forget them. It’s a good place to prioritize tasks. Lists can be on paper or on the computer. I prefer lists on my computer. I find it easier to modify than paper. Not to mention that I always have my tablet and phone close by. Using OneNote for lists allows me to easily move things up or down in importance as situations change. I can also check things off when they’re done.
I break big goals down into smaller, first next step things. Then I move the small, first next step things to this week’s list and then from that list to today’s list. After doing this from a variety of different lists I now have a list of things that I want to do today to stay on track.
Okay, now we have a list of things to do. If time wasn’t a factor, we could just start going down the list in order…
But time is limited.
This is where the calendar and a clock come into play.
Like lists, I can choose what I put on my calendar and when I schedule it. The difference is the limited time. I can’t be in two places doing two different things at the same time.
A lot of people view a calendar the same way they view a budget. It’s restrictive and restraining. I, on the other hand, see both as freeing. The same way a budget gives you control over your money; a calendar gives you control of your time. There is a limited amount of time, and you need to spend it wisely.
If you take care of the minutes, the hours will take care of themselves. It is a choice.
My calendar is on my computer for the same reasons that my lists are. It makes it easy to move things around and I always have it close by.
A good example of the ease and simplicity of rescheduling something on my computer calendar happened this morning. I had a meeting scheduled with a concrete contractor this morning at 11:00. The job site was 30 minutes away, so I had travel time scheduled at 10:30. I expected the meeting to take 30 minutes. So, I scheduled travel time back to the office at 11:00.
I got a text from the contractor at 9:40 AM. He was waiting on concrete to be delivered on the project he was working on. He needed to move our meeting to tomorrow at 10:00 AM.
With three simple drags and drops, the travel and meeting were rescheduled. I know that this can be done with an eraser and a pencil on a paper calendar, but it’s not as simple.
One thing I like most about a computer calendar over a paper one is the audible reminders. Granted, sometimes these can be a pest, but isn’t that the point? If we don’t want to be bothered … why even put it on a calendar or a list in the first place?
Ultimately, all of this is a choice. You have the power to control your own life.
Lists and calendars are two different things that can work together. You can put as many things as you want on a list. This isn’t the same for a calendar.
You just need to figure out what works for you and do it. This comes down to being intentional and taking action. It isn’t going to be perfect, but if you keep working on it, it will get better.
If you are feeling lost with your lists and calendar and would like to talk more about how I do it you can schedule a consulting call here.
Getting Your “To Do” List and Calendar to Work Together
As is normal, early in a new year there is a lot of focus on being better organized. Looking for new ways to get more done. This has been a topic that has come up in several conversations over the past few weeks. At the same time, there can be a sense of despair, knowing that you’ve been trying to be better organized over and over without much success.
We all have way more on our to do lists than there is time to get them done. The days come to an end and there’s still things that need to be done and we feel like we’ve failed.
Last week, we discussed the importance of taking the first next step. It’s about breaking big, overwhelming things down into small, manageable pieces.
Ultimately, it’s not going to get done if you don’t do something.
I know this feeling of wanting to do more and not having enough time to do it all. Then we beat ourselves up, frustrated that we didn’t get more done.
The question is … what are you going to do to change this?
I don’t know what you’re going to do, but here’s what I do.
I have a long, long list of things that I want to do. This list covers big dreams I want to do someday like: remodeling and adding on to our home, keeping my truck in “like-new” condition, having a lifted 4×4 project truck, owning properties, having a second home in the mountains. Keep in mind that when these big things are broken down into more detailed lists, each list is pretty big.
Then there are the lists of everyday work and life. Like spiritual, family, vocation, financial, personal, church, community. Just like the someday lists, these lists are made of more detailed lists.
How am I ever going to get everything done?
For me the lists are great. It helps me to keep track of the things I want to do so I don’t forget something. This, however, does not get them done.
To get them done, I have to do something. But what do I do first? How do I know which things are the most important?
The answer to this question comes down to choice. You can choose what is the most important to you. This is where I align my thoughts with God’s. What is it He has put me here to do?
Now that I have a prioritized list, this still doesn’t mean there’s enough time to get everything done. We are limited in the amount of time we have.
For me, this is where the calendar comes in. People that see my calendar are shocked at how full it is, the detail, and the color.
I take things from the to do list and plug them into the calendar. I estimate the time I think it will take and schedule accordingly. Sure, things don’t take exactly the time scheduled, but it’s a place to start.
This is where being flexibly rigid comes in. This is the act of organizing the most important things around the unpredictability of life.
Next week, we’ll go deeper into the details of how my list and calendar work together.
Over the past several months we’ve been talking about building a successful construction business. We’ve compared it to an actual building. You need to know what it is you’re building, what kind of ground you’re going to build on, and why it is you’re building.
Clarity of what you want to build and having a plan is critical to success.
Then comes the hard part … if you’re going to get it built, you have to do something. Making a decision and then taking action is hard. Especially when it involves something as big and overwhelming as building a business.
This is the place where most people fail.
So, how does one move forward when faced with a large, daunting project?
You don’t focus on the huge, intimidating thing. Instead, you break it down into bitesize pieces. Then you start by taking the first next step.
I closed last week’s post by talking about how I chose to incorporate The Seven Decisions into my daily routine and how something as small as a butterfly moving its wings can lead to amazing outcomes.
I use my computer for keeping me on task each day. This next section is part of my daily routine. I use OneNote to organize and track these things.
After I read through the decision for the day, I read through the overview of all seven decisions.
Next, I step back and think big. Why am I here and what is it that I’m supposed to be doing?
Being a believer in Christ, I remind myself that it’s important to not be afraid to dream big (Mark 11:23-24) because nothing is impossible for God (Luke 1:37).
This is followed by the illustration below of how I can turn those big dreams into results:
DREAMS → VISIONS → GOALS →ACTIONS→ RESULTS
Start with Dreams – Turn Dreams into Visions – Visions into Goals
Goals are bitesize Visions
“A vision that is ready to go to work is a Goal”
ACTION – I can only do ONE thing at a time, what will it be?
If I’m going to accomplish the big things, I need to remember to break them down into small ACTIONS.
At this point, I read through a list that I call the “FIRST NEXT STEP”. This list starts my day off in a proactive mindset. By reading through this list daily, it helps me to incorporate these things when I start something new or switch from one project to another.
FIRST NEXT STEP:
Start with prayer
Get off my “BUT”, stop making excuses
Put it on the calendar
Don’t be afraid to ask for help (delegation / accountability / education)
Take goals seriously (create a sense of urgency early)
Maintain positive forward momentum
Celebrate wins
Don’t overthink it
Break the goals down into brick size pieces
Make goals about giving and not about getting
Review progress regularly, and be accountable
This process helps me make big things doable. Sure, it takes time to incorporate this into my daily routine. Ultimately, it comes down to making a decision. I can choose to do this or do something else. But for me the time spent is worth it.
The same process isn’t going to work for everyone. This is where you need to decide if you just want to roll the dice on the outcome of your business or if you want to take control.
Breaking big things down and taking the first next step makes big things doable.
Ultimately, it is up to you to do something different to get a different outcome. Or you can just keep doing things the way you are.
Last week we discussed my “aha” moment when I was recovering from a concussion. This revelation involved reading The Traveler’s Gift, a book written by Andy Andrews.
In the book, David Ponder felt like a failure at forty-six years old. He had lost his job as an executive at a Fortune 500 company. Then he lost his part-time job working at a hardware store.
He felt like a failure!
Until he had an extraordinary experience that revealed the power of decisions to succeed in business and life.
Before my accident I was at a place in my life that was nothing like what I had expected it to be. I had some big dreams when I was younger. I was going to be farming thousands of acres. Own a successful construction company. Have a nice, big, new home. Be driving new cars and trucks.
Then, thirty-five years later, none of these things had happened. I did own a construction company, but it wasn’t anything more than a minimum wage job. I had conceded that this was the life I had and there wasn’t anything I could do about it.
I had accepted the fact that I was a failure.
Then came the accident. I believe it was God’s way of getting my attention and telling me that things could be different. I really connected with David Ponder’s situation in The Traveler’s Gift.
I was where he had been. He took the lessons learned in his journey through time and the people he met and implemented them in his life. He had the power of choice, and he used it.
Here is an overview of the seven things he was shown and implemented that changed his life:
THE SEVEN DECISIONS
1. The Responsible Decision
I accept responsibility for my past. I control my thoughts. I control my emotions. I am responsible for my success.
“THE BUCK STOPS HERE.”
“If decisions are choices…and our thinking dictates our decisions – then we are where we are because of our thinking.”
President Harry S. Truman
2. The Guided Decision
I will be a servant to others. I will listen to the council of wise men. I will choose my friends with care.
“I WILL SEEK WISDOM.”
“God moves mountains to create the opportunity of His choosing. It is up to you to be ready to move yourself.”
King Solomon
3. The Active Decision
I am courageous. I am a leader. I seize this moment. I choose now.
“I AM A PERSON OF ACTION.”
“My future is immediate. I will grasp it with both hands and carry it with running feet. When I am faced with the choice of doing nothing or doing something, I will always choose to act!”
Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
4. The Certain Decision
I will not wait. I am passionate about my vision for the future. My course has been charted. My destiny is assured.
“I HAVE A DECIDED HEART.”
“Truth is truth. If a thousand people believe something foolish, it is still foolish! Truth is never dependent upon consensus of opinion. I have found that is better to be alone and acting upon the truth in my heart than to follow a gaggle of silly geese doomed to mediocrity.”
Christopher Columbus
5. The Joyful Decision
I will greet each day with laughter. I will smile at every person I meet. I am the possessor of a grateful spirit.
“TODAY I WILL CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY.”
“Our very lives are fashioned by our choices. First we make choices. Then our choices make us.”
Anne Frank
6. The Compassionate Decision
I will forgive even those who do not ask for forgiveness. I will forgive those who criticize me unjustly. I will forgive myself.
“I WILL GREET THIS DAY WITH A FORGIVING SPIRIT.”
“Forgiveness is a secret that is hidden in plain sight. It costs nothing and is worth millions. It is available to everyone and used by few. If you harness the power of forgiveness, you will be sought after and regarded highly. And not coincidentally, you will also be forgiven by others!”
Abraham Lincoln
7. The Persistent Decision
I will continue despite exhaustion. I focus on results. I am a person of great faith.
“I WILL PERSIST WITHOUT EXCEPTION.”
“Great leaders – great achievers – are rarely realistic by other people’s standards. Somehow, these successful people, often considered strange, pick their way through life ignoring or not hearing negative expectations and emotions. Consequently, they accomplish one great thing after another, never having heard that something cannot be done. God may have been waiting centuries for someone ignorant enough of the impossible to do that very thing!”
Archangel Gabriel
The experience David has on his travels helped him to connect with and understand these decisions. The same thing happened to me as I read the book.
I realized that I had the power of choice. I could make decisions.
Decisions are something that we too often reject or ignore. We let other people or situations make decisions for us. Then we find ourselves stuck in a rut, thinking there’s no way out.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We have the power of choice. We can make the decisions if we choose to make them. But we have to make them. This is where success starts. The question is…are you going to make them?
Building a business is like building a construction project. You need to know what you want the end product to be. You need to know what you have to work with. You need to have a plan for building and then build accordingly.
Who you are is like the ground you build on.
Just like building on sand is different than building on clay. You need to know who you are and then build the business so that you will be able to support it. Your why is the thing that supports everything else. This is who you were made to be.
Next comes the foundation. This is your core values. The things that you choose based on what you believe. These can be different for different people.
Just like foundations can be different depending on what they’re built on, there are some things that are required regardless of what the ground is like. The foundation is more flexible than the ground it’s built on. It can be modified and improved.
Now that you have a solid foundation built on solid ground you can start framing.
This part is where it’s really important to have a plan. There are a lot of different styles of building, and you need to have clarity.
I know that when I started my construction business, I thought I knew what I was doing. Then after several years of struggling, I decided that what I was doing wasn’t working. I concluded that this mess was just how construction and my life were going to be.
I was aware of the problems but didn’t know what to do.
Then I had an “aha” moment. It involved being smacked upside the head.
In December of 2012, I was literally hit in the head with a board. It was a pretty big one too (a 14’ long 2×12 plank).
We were installing wafer board boxing to the second-floor wall of an addition. I was standing on the plank approximately 8’ above the ground when it broke. Luckily, I don’t remember any of the ordeal from the time I was measuring until I woke up in the hospital three days later. Based on what I was told, I fell, I hit my head on one of the ladders, then on the concrete slab, and then the board hit me in the head.
It sure is good that I have a hard head. Seriously, I was fortunate that I came away from this accident with only a concussion.
The reason I’m telling you this is that while I was recovering I read The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews. I really connected with this story and where I was.
Forty-six-year-old David Ponder feels like a total failure. Once a high-flying executive in a Fortune 500 company, he now works a part-time, minimum wage job and struggles to support his family. Then, an even greater crisis hits: his daughter becomes ill, and he can’t afford to get her the medical help she needs.
When his car skids on an icy road, he wonders if he even cares to survive the crash.
But an extraordinary experience awaits David Ponder. He finds himself traveling back in time, meeting leaders and heroes at crucial moments in their lives—from Abraham Lincoln to Anne Frank. By the time his journey is over, he has received seven secrets for success—and a second chance. The Traveler’s Gift offers a modern-day parable of one man’s choices—and the attitudes that make the difference between failure and success.
After reading this book I realized that if things were going to change, I would have to do something. I was the one who had control. I had the power of choice.
Next week we’ll look at the Seven Decisions presented to David Ponder and how I incorporated them in my life.
You can incorporate them in your life too.
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