Foundations for Eternity, Personal Improvement

Priorities

Posted on

Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least. — Goethe The 80/20 principle states 20 percent of your actions are responsible for 80 percent of the positive results in your life. Likewise, the other 80 percent of your actions are responsible for the remaining 20 percent of the positive results in your life. This means that 80 percent of our activities are not very valuable while 20 percent of our activities are extremely valuable. As we identify and focus on the most valuable 20 percent of our activities, we can see dramatically better…

Children & Youth, Foundations for Eternity, Ministering

Lift Where You Stand

Posted on

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. — Theodore Roosevelt On April 11, 1970, a Saturn 5 rocket carrying the Apollo 13 mission crew launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Their mission was to travel to land a second time on the moon. However, three days into the mission during routine system testing, one of the oxygen tanks on the lunar module exploded. In the moment, what had been a mission to the moon immediately changed into a mission to bring the Apollo 13 crew home safely. The Apollo 13 crew along with the supporting…

Children & Youth, Faith, Foundations for Eternity, Personal Improvement

Your True Potential

Posted on

No matter what the level of your ability, you have more potential than you can ever develop in a lifetime. — James T. McCay When you think about your future, what do you think is your limit? What are the best possible outcomes you think you can achieve? What things in life to you feel like you could never do? Now, stop and say to yourself, “Those limitations are lies.” No really — say it. “Those limitations are lies!” Despite what limitations we think we have, we are wrong. For most of us, when we were young we had gigantic…

Children & Youth, Foundations for Eternity, Personal Improvement

The Extra Mile

Posted on

Do your work, not just your work and no more, but a little more for the lavishing’s sake — that little more which is worth all the rest. — Dean Briggs Handmade. Artisanal. Bespoke. Luxury. These terms are all used to express a level of quality. A higher tier of product of service. Typically, these labels are used to identify products that are crafted with a higher level of expertise or precision. But how does something become worthy of being artisanal or luxury? What sets it apart from the rest? The difference can be rooted in the quality of the…

Children & Youth, Personal Improvement

Stop Waiting for Motivation

Posted on

The world is full of people who are waiting for someone to come along and motivate them to be the kind of people they wish they could be. The problem is that no one is coming to the rescue. These people are waiting for a bus on a street where no buses pass. If they don’t take charge of their lives and put pressure on themselves, they can end up waiting forever. And that is what most people do. — Brian Tracy You are an expert at being who you are right now. So am I, and so is everyone…

Children & Youth, Foundations for Eternity, Ministering

The Power of Kindness

Posted on

There is not a single conversation that kindness cannot make infinitely better. — Cloe Wade We live in an increasingly divisive and combative world. So much of our thought, news and public discourse seems intent on dividing people into categories and then pitting those groups against each other in endless debate over who is right and who is wrong. One of the many problems with this is that it encourages us to view each other through generalizations that ignore all the things we have in common. People have always had — and will always have — different opinions and viewpoints….

Children & Youth, Faith, Foundations for Eternity, Personal Improvement

Learning to Sail

Posted on

I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship. — Louisa May Alcott Have you ever heard of the 10,000 hour rule? The 10,000 hour rule was popularized by Malcolm Gladwell and states that to become a master at something requires 10,000 hours of practice. The problem with the 10,000 hour rule is that it doesn’t give the whole story. Simply doing an activity is not enough to become a master at it. Consider learning to play a sport like tennis. You may learn to play at an acceptable level and then play regularly…

Children & Youth, Foundations for Eternity, Personal Improvement

Under Construction

Posted on

Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they’re finished. — Daniel Gilbert Who are you? Who do you think your really are on the inside? If you are like most people, you just feel that you are you — the same you, you have always been. But, deep down, you know this is not true. When you take time to reflect on who you were one, five or ten years ago, you can see the changes — often dramatic changes — that have experienced. Your tastes and style, your preferences and hobbies, your virtues and hopes all change…

Children & Youth, Foundations for Eternity

Strengthening Children and Youth

Posted on

Over the past year, we have all faced many challenges. We have seen the way we participate in work, school, and church change dramatically. Our lives have been turned upside down and old habits have been flipped upside-down. Before the home church, home school, home work and quarantine time of last year, many of us were actively involved in starting to adopt and implement the Church’s new Children and Youth program. At the time I had written about 12 Tools To Guarantee Success With The Church’s New Youth Program. But for my family and many others, our efforts to move…

Atonement, Faith, Foundations for Eternity, Personal Improvement, Testimony

Boulders, Pebbles and Fear

Posted on

I do not know why we have the many trials that we have, but it is my personal feeling that the reward is so great, so eternal and everlasting, so joyful and beyond our understanding that in that day of reward, we may feel to say to our merciful, loving father, “Was that all that was required?” I believe that if we could daily remember and recognize the depth of that love our Heavenly Father and our Savior have for us, we would be willing to do anything to be back in Their presence again, surrounded by Their love eternally….