So how do I really change my life? This is the daily historical spot gas with Anthony van Gheenenen. If I get an axe, John Maxwell relates. And I go to this particular tree.
I hit it in this one spot, five times, one, two, three, or five. I drop that axe, and I do what everybody else does. Eat, drink, be merry. The next day, however, I get that same axe.
I go to that same tree. I hit it in the same spot with that axe, five times, one, two, three, four, five. And then I drop the axe, and then I do what everybody does. Eat, drink, be merry.
And then the next day, I get up again. I get the same axe, go to the same tree, hit the same spot five times. And eventually what's going to happen to that tree, not the axe. The axe will have to be sharpened at one point, but the tree will fall.
But only if, only if I consistently got that axe and hit that one tree in that same spot, five times a day. And Maxwell leads to this challenge. What is the five things that you do daily that distinguishes you from everybody else? Because the change that will happen to you will be in that unique habit in you.
How does one change? First you got to be, you know, this code before you can do. First you got to do before you can have, what are your five things? I don't recall Maxwell's five things, but I know one of them is reading regardless.
It's writing. It's filing. It's praying. And he challenged us when he shared this as I organized his visit to the Philippines years back.
What is your five things? And I came up with my own five. The five habits that have actually changed my life and I hope is continually changing that life. The first is I pray and then I engage with the people that are closest to me.
This is a daily thing. I add value to a client because that's what I do as a change will solve them. I step back and reflect something I have not done for a good part of my life. Step back, reflect and process so that I can work smarter and serve better.
And then I learn. I learn as I teach and I learn as I listen P-E-A-R-L, the pearls, the five pearls of my life. As a man thinketh, so is he from the book of proverbs and you need to believe that good change is needed and that it is needed in your life. Intentionality increases probability, guys.
Dentativeness sadly leads to nothingness. Okay, let me declare this here and now. I've spoken about it, but I've never declared it. I will run the marathon that my daughter Hannah invited me to participate in and run with her in three months.
Whoo-hoo. It's her first marathon. And for me, probably my last. This declaration will change what I do every day, every week, every month until I run that 42,000 meter race.
It'll change my routines as it has almost been three years since my last marathon. What will change? My sleep patterns, my priorities, my body, it'll change me. Now let's look at that word pearl.
One more time, if you want a handle, okay, a framework for what it takes to change. May this be helpful. May this add value to you. P, the people who will inspire you and hold you accountable will help you change.
E, the efforts that you put, of course, to make it happen. A, the aim, the goal, the target, the vision for you can only hit what you're aiming for. P-E-A-R, you want to change that happen? Resentment, I'll say it again.
Resentment, for what you will be if you stay where you are without changing. And finally, El, the Lord, that fills all gaps and makes all things work for your good, as his beloved child. Let me quote, Rumi, as I close, today's disturbance, yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.