An important WALL

I have been reading some in the book of Nehemiah from the Bible lately (it is a kind of Biblical version of a Seth Godin book). It is a great historical account of an amazing leadership and architectural feat.  In it, Nehemiah sets out to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. This adventure is met with considerable, violent opposition.

One of the common themes is, Nehemiah’s enemies are constantly trying to distract him from finishing his task. When his enemies can't defeat him they decide to use diplomacy and ask him to meet them at the local Starbucks.... "Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono."...ok not Starbucks but you get the idea.  Finally, in chapter 6, verses 2-3 he responds. Here’s what he says:

“But they intended to do me harm. And I sent messengers to them, saying, ‘I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?’”

I want to submit to you that you are doing a great work!  The challenge right now is to think that you are not, to think that because you are not a minister or a missionary or currently packing your bags for Africa that you are not doing a great thing, but you are. If you are kind to someone today and show them the love of God, you are doing a great work. If you have the chance to serve someone today or give them life because of your words, you are doing a great work. If you have the opportunity to be light in a dark world or salt in a world that needs it, you are doing a great work.

There will be attractive and even good opportunities that attempt to distract you from the great things you are called to do. In addition to the good things people are also going to throw rocks at you. The critics will come.....that’s OK. Don’t come down to their level.

You are doing a great work.

Don’t quit.

Don’t stop creating your art, music, writing your book, building your business, changing lives, impacting culture.

Keep building your wall one brick at a time!

The "Take ACTION Clock"

The "Take Action Clock" is a fragile glass object containing a digital clock that is not working; this "art" concept is designed to help you to come to a decision when you're stuck at a specific point in life.

Your choices are:

1.  Smash the glass, and the clock will start to work, leaving you with the broken object as a reminder of your dramatic decision and that you took action and started something.

2.  Leave the object as it is, and don't smash the glass and you remain out of time, having the beautiful object as a reminder of your resistance to change and making a decision to move forward. 

And if you don't smash the glass?

Now what is left?....you are left with;

What if? 

No matter how many times we ask ourselves questions that begin with those two little words regarding the past, there never seems to be a definitive answer, leaving us wondering what might have been.

Cornell University faculty members Thomas Gilovich and Victoria Husted Medvec explored this phenomenon in a paper about the experience of regret.  They came to two key concepts we deal with:

regrettable action: The things we have done that we wished we had not.

regrettable inaction:  The things we could have done but did not do.

Their research is fascinating and surprising, revealing that 85% of the things people regretted most were the things they could have done but didn't do...the regrettable inaction.

Why?

Gilovich and Medvec stated that “The consequences of regrettable actions are often finite: They are bound by what actually happened. In contrast, what is troublesome about a regrettable inaction is the set of good things that would have happened had one acted. The consequences of inactions are therefore potentially infinite: They are bound only by one’s imagination.”

So instead of getting concrete answers to our “What if?” questions, we create scenarios in our minds of what the result would have been had we acted.

This brings us back to our "Take Action Clock";

Do you have a glass 

"Take Action Clock" in your life?  

Do you have something you should do or feel compelled to start but just can't bring yourself to smash the glass?

This is where many of us get stuck and it becomes a vicious circle. We regret what might of happened so we can not move on to new things because we are living a life of regret about what we did not do and not a life of positive action or what we are capable of doing.  

So how do we move forward or get "unstuck"?

Perhaps by switching our perspective we can move forward by choosing to take a step of movement toward action and by also remembering the positive things that have happened when we did smash the proverbial "Take Action Clock" in the past that resulted in positive results for us.

Mark Twain had a grasp on this concept when he said:

“Life is short, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

And here is motivation from Paul in Philippians 3:13-15 (The Message)

By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back. So let's keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you'll see it yet! Now that we're on the right track, let's stay on it.

So my friends, let's stay focused and explore, dream, and discover all God has for us......go ahead smash the glass and start your clock now!

OBFUSCATION

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. 

~Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride

I had a friend tell me a great story this week about a marketing product launch that almost failed because it was making life easier:

A food processing firm in the early 1950's marketed a new thing, a cake mix which required that cooks add only water to produce a creamy batter and fine cake.  The company could not understand why the mix would not sell, until special research revealed the public felt uneasy about a mix that required only water.  It seemed it was TOO EASY!  So the company make it more challenging - they said you would have to make a bigger effort....you would have to add an egg and eureka the cake mix was a huge success.

I think a lot of people fall into this trap especially companies (and governments). The more difficult the process the better it has to be.....correct?
 

This is "obfuscation" which means to make obscure or unclear or to obfuscate a problem with extraneous information or processes.

This has prompted me this week to analyze how our company is processing information and  implementing systems.

Are we deliberately making things difficult because we think "it can't be so easy". 

I love this quote from Leonardo Da Vinci one of the great designer processing people of all time:

 

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. 

I don't think Mr Da Vinci means there are simple solutions to everything but we may be mentally and emotionally "adding an egg" when we don't need to because it makes us feel better about the work.

A list to GROW by......

•Apologize

•Defer to others

•Avoid shortcuts

•Tell the truth

•Offer kindness

•Seek alliances

•Volunteer to take the short straw

•Choose the long-term, sacrificing the short

•Demonstrate respect to all, not just the obviously strong

•Share credit and be public in your gratitude
 
Risking the appearance of weakness takes strength.-Seth Godin

LATEST NEWS and BIG moments!

It has been exciting with intense waves of development, production, and launching over the past couple of months here at in:ciite. I thought I would take a moment and share some of the things we have been doing with you.  Our team and the key people who help us, pour their lives into these projects and I am very grateful to be a part of the incredible products and ministries that are impacting the world. 

Here are a few highlights: 

BIG NEWS:  in:cast events!  We launched a new venture called in:cast events that will broadcast live events via satellite and webcast.  The new website is here: www.incastevents.com and our first event is with John and Stasi Eldredge (John is the author of Wild at Heart and John and Stasi penned the book Captivated together).  The event is called Love and War based on their latest book and is November 6th in Colorado Springs and if you would like your church to participate it is not too late!  Check the website for details.  

We love this addition to our family of businesses, it is  one of our core goals and in the mission of the company "create remarkable experiences through media products that are culturally and spiritually relevant".  More events are coming....next up:  Lee Strobel and Mark Mittelburg present The Case for Christianity, March 12th, 2011.

We were asked by Thomas Nelson and had the honor of producing an event celebrating Max Lucado's 25th anniversary in publishing and the launch of Outlive Your Life, Max's latest book.  We released our CD companion
product to the book also (see image below) and are very excited to be a part of helping spread the message, that we were created to make a difference in the world.  What a BLAST!! Thanks Max for inspiring us to love God and to love others and to make a difference!

 





We launch a project with Michael Boggs this month you might know Michael as one of the former Members of the hit group FFH. On 19th October we will be releasing Michael's 'More Than Moved' album. When FFH came off the road in the autumn of 2006, Michael stepped into the role of worship leader at a fast growing young adult gathering, Kairos, in Brentwood, Tennessee hosting nearly 1500 college students and young adults every week. He is now a regular guest worship leader at Max Lucado's church, Oak Hills, in San Antonio, Texas. Michael has also established himself as a successful songwriter writing songs for such acts as FFH, Diamond Rio, Big Daddy Weave, Anthony Evans and Josh Bates.  We can't wait for you to hear this project!  One of the songs from this project Said and Done, is on the Max Lucado Outlive Your Life CD and is the new radio single.

 Another project launching in November which I will go into more detail about as we get closer to launch is a new CD with renowned author and speaker Karen Kingsbury.  Karen's books are known worldwide and continue to make remarkable impact! This CD project: Songs that Inspire Karen Kingsbury has been a long time passion for her.  She has written thoughts and stories around the songs that bring each song alive in a new way because of her perspective.  I will tell you more about this as we get closer to release in late November.

Other news of note this month and appearances from our family of artists:

 Travis Cottrell will be appearing at Carnegie Hall on October 18th with Melinda Doolittle....if you are in the NYC area you don't want to miss this evening of music!

 Lenny LeBlanc will be at the National Worship Leaders Conference near Lancaster, PA tomorrow October 7th at LCBC Manheim Campus 2392 Mount Joy Rd. Manheim, PA 17545

Michael Boggs will be at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, TX on October 23-24

And last but certainly not least don't forget the lovely and talented Charmaine and the big news that Rock Band features Charmaine single “Run,” for fans to play, available on Playstation, Xbox 360 and Wii http://www.rockband.com/music/artists/Charmaine

I will tell you more later but for now.....You and I have paused here long enough and need to dive into the next BIG moment!