Making Your Lock Screen Productive

January 21 2016

I have always admired people that seem to have a trove of quotes and scriptures stored in their mind, with the ability to retrieve them from memory at just the right moment.

I wanted to share a tip that has helped me in my desire to memorize more worthwhile quotes...

There is an app called "wallpaper maker". It is an easy way to save any quote directly to your lock screen on your phone, where you will see it several times a day.

On my mission I used to carry a 3x5 notecard in my front shirt pocket everywhere I went. On the card was written whatever scripture or quote I was trying to memorize that week. I have often thought back to that and wanted to do the same thing, but couldn't justify carrying around an actual notecard, that would definitely get beat up in my pocket, and likely just left somewhere by accident. I was happy to find that this way of doing it with my lock screen works really well.

The Miracle Morning Day #1

January 1 2016

     "Your level of success will seldom exceed your level of personal development, because success is something you attract by the person you become." Jim Rohn


As I was thinking about my vision for 2016, I was fortunate to come across this quote in one of the Audiobooks I was listening to. It is impactful to me, to think that instead of focusing only on metrics of "success" that I want to achieve, I should be thinking more about how I will better myself this year that I might attract success naturally.

I am a firm believer that the law of attraction is always in force. A couple days ago I was in a meeting at work when one of the guys I work with mentioned that The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod had been "life Changing." I bought the audiobook on the spot and have been listening to it since. No doubt it was the law of attraction that can be thanked for me being in that room, working with those people, which put in me a position to hear that recommendation. I can tell that the message of this book is the thing I was looking for to jumpstart my personal development in 2016.

This morning I woke up a little before 5:30 AM. I have had an awesome morning so far. The first thing Hal Elrod recommends is that you get up and walk straight to the bathroom to wash your teeth and splash your face with water. Next, you are supposed to drink a full glass of water. After that I got dressed in my gym clothes, spent some time praying and meditating, then went downstairs to study.

One of the best things I experience of my LDS mission was creating the habit of morning study. It is unfortunate that I have allowed periods of time after my mission to pass where my studies have been few. This morning I loved having plenty of time free of distractions to read the Book of Mormon, listen to some conference talks as I made breakfast, and read one of the many personal development books I am getting through - Broadcasting Happiness.

I'm headed to an Orange Theory fitness class at 7:15. Usually I am stumbling out of bed just in time to barely made it to the gym on-time. Today I have had two hours to feel completely awake, fed, and motivated.

In 2016 I am committed to becoming a better version of myself, so that I might add more value to my family and friends, and attract higher levels of success into my life!

Happy New Year

High Performance. Cars. Athletes. Moms. Dads.

Like many people, I have always been fascinated by anything that involves high-performance. I spend more time than I should watching YouTube reviews of the latest high-end cars being brought to market by different companies, because it is exciting to see people push the limits of what used to be impossible. Professional Sports in the US alone is a 23.5 billion dollar industry... Which says a lot about how much we love to watch high performance for entertainment.

I have a friend named Casey Baugh that drives a very high-end AMG Mercedes. He admits that he hardly ever does anything else in the car but drive an average speed to work and back. He loves however the fact that the car is CAPABLE of racetrack performance at a moments notice if we wants to punch the pedal. 

We love high perfomance so much that we will pay more than we should for a car, we will pay high prices to watch OTHER people play physical games at an elite level, but what emphasis do we place on achieving high performance in our personal life?

I am energized by the thought that I can aspire to reach elite levels of performance in EVERY aspect of my life, not just the ones that might most commonly be considered. I want to have a high performing marriage, a HP relationship with my kids, a HP attitude about physical fitness and about my role in my church, I want nothing less than HP habits in my profession of direct sales and managing sales teams.

I think oftentimes we find ourselves wanting do to different things than the things we routinely do in order to feel more of a sense of fulfillment and growth. While we should always be ambitious and willing to stretch ourselves with new endeavors, I am reminded of something I was taught by Craig Manning -an awesome coach and author of "The Fearless Mind"- We can get excited about achieving the highest levels of performance in our current responsibilities. In these season of life maybe you are largely occupied with being a husband/father wife/mother, student, employee, and you are looking 'out the window' at the next season of life with some anticipation. Consider that new stimulation can arise within the same things we are doing so often, when we look for the areas we can elevate our performance to an elite level.

It is an interesting challenge to ask yourself questions like..."What does HIGH PERFORMANCE look like in serving in my church calling?" or "What is HIGH PERFORMANCE in my role as a dad to two little kids that can't even talk yet?"

Setting Appropriate Goals

In Craig Manning's book, he talks about being task-oriented vs. Ego-oriented... the summation of this concept is that when we set goals for ourselves that are too big and broad, we feel a lessened sense of control, which leads to high anxiety, which leads to doubt, and ultimately poor decision making. Instead, if we can set goals that are "just beyond our reach" and then make clear and very specific action items on how we will attain the goal, we will feel a greater sense of control, and lower anxiety.

As we approach the end of the year I get excited because it is time to reflect on the goals that were set at the beginning of 2014, and to now write down goals for 2015.

"Potential plus training, minus interference, equals high performance." 
Dr.Craig Manning 

"Excellence is mundane. It is achieved through an increase in quality of the little things we do each day." Dr. Craig Manning

"The Key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." Stephen Covey

Marriage- Building Our Eternity

Today is the second anniversary of my marriage to my wife Abbie. Just thinking about how fast the time seems to have gone, hints that before I know it we are going to be looking back on decades of marriage and see the marriages of our kids and grandkids.

It can be a hard thing to ask yourself what kind of spouse you really are. If the spirit is present I think that several areas of needed improvement can be quickly illuminated in the mind. My perspective of marriage is like that of a builder, constructing a large beautiful home. Instead of reviewing the past time of my marriage to see if it is "holding up", I feel instead like I am looking to see how far we have come in the construction of a solid foundation that will shoulder our future, our eternal future.

It is apparent to me that the sturdiness of the foundation we are laying in every way will affect the lives of our children and children's children.  The same way that sloppiness in the details of building construction will inevitably lead to problems both in appearance and function of the building, the same is true with unchecked moments of rudeness and selfishness in marriage.

"Serious marital difficulties often begin in seemingly minor ways. Fleeting moments of rudeness, unrepented of, may become more frequent. Poor communication may allow spouses to drift apart. Unresolved frustrations can heat up until they boil into anger and even abuse Nurturing a Love That Lasts -Liahona 2000."

The higher law taught by The Savior tells us that it is not enough to just go avoid carrying out acts of rudeness, selfishness, or immorality but we are charged to "Suffer none of these things to enter into [our] heart 3 Nephi 12:29."

I am a proponent of marriage, especially Christ-Centered Marriage. I believe in redemption, forgiveness, and mercy. These are things that no marriage can last long with out. At least not in a form that will endure the test of time, let alone eternity. But then again marriage is supposed to be a lot more than enduring. A marriage should be the most rich, refining, exalting union we experience on this earth. A marriage is supposed to be as much about our relationship with Christ as it is with our husband or wife. A true marriage can bear the deepest pain and sense the most ecstatic joy. 

I am committed to my covenant to be fiercely loyal to my sweetheart. I am so thankful.

The Light of Christ VS The Holy Ghost

The Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit and a member of the Godhead. Elder Joseph Fielding Smith taught that “the Holy Ghost should not be confused with the Spirit [the Light of Christ] which fills the immensity of space and which is everywhere present. This other Spirit is impersonal and has no size, nor dimensions; it proceeds forth from the presence of the Father and the Son and is in all things. We should speak of the Holy Ghost as a personage as ‘he’ and this other Spirit as ‘it,’ although when we speak of the power or gift of the Holy Ghost we may properly say ‘it.’” ¹Brent Bulloch, instructor at the Tempe Institute of Religion adjacent to Arizona State University.

The more I learn about the Light of Christ, the more I understand where the writers of the Nicean creed got their definition of God. The commonly accepted description of God, more accurately hits the definition of the Light of Christ.

Drink

The Scripture that is in my mind right now is found in John 7. The Savior is giving a sermon in the temple either during or after one of the Jewish feasts. He makes a reference to the Holy Ghost that I find thrilling.

" In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man ^athirst, let him come unto me, and ^bdrink.

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

(But this spake he of the ^aSpirit, which they that believe on him should receive: ^bfor the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) "

I understand thirst, I have felt it. Prolonged thirst can cause the malfunction of key organs and eventually death. Im thinking about being spiritually dehydrated, and how I go about quenching such a thirst. Can I 'read' the scriptures without drinking of this water spoken of? I think so. The image in my mind is that of a 2 year old trying to work the drinking fountain at church.. The water is just going everywhere but in his mouth-his shirt, his eyes, his nose. I need to truely absorb, internalize, drink deeply of the Holy Ghost.

Today is such a a beautiful fall day. Evidence for Heavenly Father's love for us is easily found in days like today.

Since my study yesterday morning, my mind has been occupied by a question. The questions needs to be proceeded by reading Ether 3. As I read this chapter again I tried to let my mind expand a little further than it has before in trying to understand by the spirit the significance of all that happened to the brother of Jared. I found the story thrilling, and it really made an impact on me throughout the day, and into today.

The specific question that came to my mind after reading the chapter was this: How would my view of the world, my actions, and my desires change if I were to experience what was experience by the Brother of Jared?

Allow yourself to open your mind to imagining kneeling before the living Lord Jesus Christ. How would that feel? Then Imagine having your spirit filled with intelligence concerning all things, as was the Brother of Jared's.

Such a cool thought.

How differently would I feel walking into work today after that?

How differently would I feel coming home to my wife after that experience?

How different would it feel to be sitting in a class at school with that memory in the back of my mind?

"And when the Lord had said these words, he showed unto the brother of Jared all the inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would be; and he witheld them not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth." Ether 3:35

How would I view people I see each day having seen them through the Lord's eyes in vision?