Search This Blog

Part III: Effective Communication

3/31/2011 *Sara-Marie* 0 Comments

*Nuggets of Wisdom - Part III: Taken from the book The Richest Man Who Ever Lived, by Steven K. Scott. This is by no means an attempt to plagiarize, just taking note of this amazing teaching!*

I haven't had time to post lately, but as I wait for Mark to come out of his LASIK surgery I thought I could continue with the chapters on COMMUNICATION. Sorry if it doesn't format correctly as I'm using email functionality!

Anyway, the significance of communication:

- What we say, and how we say it, can have a life changing impact on others. 

- Your communication can extinguish anger or escalate it. Proverbs 15:1 "A soft answer turns away wrath but grievous words stir up anger."

- Your communication can wound others or heal them. Proverbs 12:18 "There is he that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health." 

- Your communication can infuse life into a person's spirit. Proverbs 15:4 "A wholesome tongue is a tree of life." 

- Your communication can save a life or take a life. Proverbs 18:21 "Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love urbanely eat the fruit thereof."

- Your communication can bring delight to others. Proverbs 25:11 "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." 

Solomon's Keys to Communication

1. Speak in such a way that you make others want to listen. (Proverbs 15:2)

2. Learn to become persuasive. (Proverbs 16:23)

3. Listen before speaking. (Proverbs 18:13)

4. Be slow to speak and guard your words carefully. (Proverbs 29:20)

5. Never tear others down - rather build them up! (Proverbs 12:18)

6. Stop while you're ahead. (Proverbs 10:19) 

7. Share genuine wisdom. (Proverbs 10:31)

8. Always speak truthfully. (Proverbs 10:18)

Communication is so much a part of who we are, let's pay more attention on how and what we communicate! 

XOXO,
SM


0 comments:

Nuggets of Wisdom - Part II (Vision & Hope)

3/11/2011 *Sara-Marie* 0 Comments

*Nuggets of Wisdom - Part II: Taken from the book The Richest Man Who Ever Lived, by Steven K. Scott. This is by no means an attempt to plagiarize, just taking note of this amazing teaching!*

"A VISION is a precise, clearly defined goal with a detailed plan and timetable for achieving that goal." (Page 33)

Proverbs 29:18 - "Where there is no vision, the people perish."

How to Gain a Vision for Your Top Priorities (You'll need a few separate sheets of paper!)
  1. Write a clear and precise description of your most important dreams in any given area.
  2. Create a "Goals Page" for that specific dream. Make a list of the specific, intermediate goals that need to be achieved to fulfill that dream.
  3. Create a page for each goal and label those pages "Goals to Steps" and list the intermediate goal you want to achieve and then list the steps that need to be taken to achieve that goal.
  4. Next, take any complex step in your list of steps that requires the completion of more than on task and create a "Steps to Tasks" page. List the specific tasks that need to be completed to take that step.
  5. The final step in this process is to assign completion dates to each task and step.
MY TOP 5 PRIORITIES: My relationship with God, my marriage, my future children, my family, and my health. (It's interesting how my top 5 priorities didn't include my career!)

"HOPE is a well-founded and confident belief that a specific vision (goal, desire, or promise) will be achieved or fulfilled within a specified amount of time." (Page 42)

Proverbs 13:12 - "Hope deferred makes the heart sick: but desire fulfilled is a tree of life."

"When hope is put off, you lose your emotional energy and your motivation. Your creativity and productivity begin to plummet. You withdraw. Sooner or later, you give up on the vision or dream altogether. Give up too many dreams, and living becomes little more than just getting by." (Page 43)

BUT like Proverbs 13:12 says, "desire fulfilled is a tree of life!"

Our power source should be vision and our fuel should be hope!

0 comments:

Nuggets of Wisdom - Part I (DILIGENCE)

3/11/2011 *Sara-Marie* 0 Comments

*Nuggets of Wisdom - Part I: Taken from the book The Richest Man Who Ever Lived, by Steven K. Scott. This is by no means an attempt to plagiarize, just taking note of this amazing teaching!*

LEARN THE SKILL OF DILIGENCE

"Diligence is a learnable skill that combines: creative persistence, a smart-working effort rightly planned and rightly performed in a timely, efficient, and effective manner to attain a result that is pure and of the highest quality of excellence." (page 12)

The Rewards of Becoming Truly Diligent

You will gain sure advantage.
  • Proverbs 21:5 - "The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage"
You will be in control of your situation, rather than have the situation control you.
  • Proverbs 12:24 - "The hand of the diligent will rule, but the slack hand will be put to forced labor."
You will experience true fulfillment.
  • Proverbs 13:4 - "The soul of the lazy man desires, and has nothing; But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich." (As in so contented and fulfilled that you crave nothing)
You will attain the respect and admiration of those in authority.
  • Proverbs 22:29 - "Do you see a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings."
Your needs will be satisfied.
  • Proverbs 28:19 - "He that tills his land shall be satisfied with bread, but he that follows vain persons is void of understanding."
You will experience ever-increasing success.
  • Proverbs 13:11 - "Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished but he that gathers by labor shall increase."
Your efforts will be profitable.
  • Proverbs 14:23 - "In all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty."

The Consequences of Not Being Diligent
(Same scriptures! Fascinating how each contains a blessing and a curse!)

You will always be at an insurmountable disadvantage.
  • Proverbs 21:5 - The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage. BUT everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty."
You will be ruled.
  • Proverbs 12:24 - "The hand of the diligent will rule, BUT the slack hand will be put to forced labor."
You will crave, but will find little solace.
  • Proverbs 13:4 - "The soul of the lazy man desires, and has nothing; BUT the soul of the diligent shall be made rich."
You will lack understanding.
  • Proverbs 28:19 - "He that tills his land shall be satisfied with bread, BUT he that follows vain persons is void of understanding."
Your wealth and security will dissipate.
  • Proverbs 13:11 - "Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished, BUT he that gathers by labor shall increase."
Your efforts will come to nothing.
  • Proverbs 14:23 - "In all labor there is profit, BUT mere talk leads only to poverty."

How can you bring true diligence into every area of your life?
"Solomon gives us four steps that anyone can use to make diligence a part of his or her daily life. However there's one giant roadblock...our inherent tendency to take the path of least resistance, our innate laziness." (page 20)

Recognizing the Root Causes of Laziness

Self-Centeredness
  • Proverbs 21:2 - "Every man's way is right in his own eyes..."
Conceit (Arrogance)
  • Proverbs 26:16 - "The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason..."
Ignorance and Irresponsibility (Foolishness)
  • Proverbs 24:30-31 - "I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down."
Laziness Results in More Laziness
  • Proverbs 20:4 - "The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing."

Solomon's Steps to Bring Diligence into Your Life

Step 1 - Wake Up to Reality
  • Proverbs 6:9-11 - " 'How long will you lie there,' he asks. 'When will you get up from your sleep?...poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man."
Step 2 - Define Your Visions
  • Proverbs 28:19 - "Without a vision, the people perish."
Step 3 - Effectively Partner
  • Proverbs 15:22 - "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."
Step 4 - Pursue Wisdom; Build Your Life Upon It
  • Proverbs 16:16 - "How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen above silver."
How great is this advice for every part of our lives? True diligence can help our careers, marriages, relationships, finances, etc!

Back to reading...XOXO

0 comments:

Coincidence? I think not!

3/11/2011 *Sara-Marie* 0 Comments

Good Morning!

So it's been a couple of weeks since the last blog post, but I just had to share some AMAZING nuggets of wisdom that I'm getting from a book I randomly picked up yesterday. Mark and I were driving to PA and stopped somewhere in CT for a break. In the shopping plaza that we pulled into, there was a Borders that was going out of business. Mark suggested that we take a peek and see if we could find any good books for cheap. I rush to the back of the store because I needed to use the restroom (the real
purpose for stopping in the first place!) and on a rather empty (and
messy) shelf there was a book standing perfectly straight up that immediately caught my eye: The Richest Man Who Ever Lived, by Steven K. Scott.

I was intrigued.

It turns out this book is about King Solomon and the Book of Proverbs. The author, who had serious trouble holding a successful job for many years, was given the following challenge:

"There are 31 days in the month, and there are 31 chapters in the biblical Book of Proverbs. Every day, at the start of each day, read the chapter in Proverbs that corresponds to that particular date. Read two chapters on the last day of months that have only 30 days. Do that every day, month after month, and I guarantee that within two years you'll be smarter than all of your bosses. Do it for 5 years, and I'll bet you will become a millionaire."

What an awesome challenge! The author accepted the challenge and it worked! Whenever he followed King Solomon's advice, he became extremely successful (the man's a millionaire now!) and when he acted against the advice in Proverbs, he failed miserably.

The book presents some of the biggest pieces of advice taken directly from the Proverbs and so far it's awesome! Why Proverbs you may ask? Well in case you weren't aware, here's a short summary of who King Solomon was:
*He was appointed King of Israel by his father, David, shortly before David died
*He was only 12 years old!
*He was terrified of ruling Israel because he didn't think the had the wisdom to do so
*God appeared to Solomon and asked him for what he wanted and he asked only for wisdom (1 Kings 3:9)
*Since Solomon didn't ask for riches, wealth, honor, etc, God was pleased with him and gave Solomon more wisdom, knowledge, riches, wealth, and honor than any king before him or any king that come after him.
*In terms of wealth, some have suggested that in today's dollars, Solomon may well have been a trillionaire!
*An even bigger example is when he began to violate the laws of living that he so wisely wrote in Proverbs--when he went against his own advice his success and happiness diminished.

Is it a coincidence that when we follow the same advice that God gave King Solomon to share, we are able to reach true success and happiness in our lives? Is it a coincidence that this book caught my eye during a random potty break in CT?

I THINK NOT!

As I go through the book, I will be sharing some of the nuggets of wisdom on my blog for two reasons: 1.) This is too good to keep to myself and 2.) I think it will help me remember what I read!

I'm also going to take the same challenge that the author was given. I challenge YOU to do the same!


0 comments:

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)