Posts tagged as:

Time

Hell in the Hallways

by Andy Wood on September 8, 2008

in LV Cycle,Waiting

The LifeVesting Cycle

1.  Allocate your resources.

2.  Explore the possibilities.

3.  Follow your passion.

4.  Execute your plan.

5.  Protect your investment.

6.  Enlarge your capacity.

7.  Wait

It’s one of my biggest fears.

I’m standing face-to-face with the God of heaven to account for my life.

My sin is covered, but God is looking at what I did with the life He gave me.  And he holds up a thumb and index finger, one inch apart.

“Andy,” He says, “you were this close, to seeing it happen, and you quit.  The blessing you were looking for was just around the corner.”  No wonder he’ll wipe away every tear from our eyes.

Many a wonderful idea started well, but never came to fruition because somebody pulled the plug too soon, and refused to wait.

Just for the record and the sake of full disclosure, I hate waiting.  I hate being told that waiting is the solution to any problem or situation I’m facing.  I believe traffic lights will be in hell, and I hate waiting at them – particularly when nobody’s coming from the direction of the green light.  I hate waiting in line and loathe waiting on hold while listening to a computer on the telephone (which will also be in hell).

That said, and my flesh notwithstanding, there is no substitute for time.  And the larger the investment, the longer the wait.  It takes 40 days to make a squash, and 40 years to make an oak tree.  How long do you suppose it takes to make a man or woman of God?  I heard of a recent controversial study that suggests it takes 26.5 years to make an adult in the U.S.  Makes sense to me.  Jewish tradition held that it took 30 years to make a rabbi.  (Yes, that’s why Jesus waited.) [click to continue…]

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From Hoarder to LifeVestor

by Andy Wood on May 16, 2008

in Five LV Laws,Hoarders,Life Currency,Love,LV Alter-egos,Money,Principle of Increase,Time

Hoarding MoneyHoarding’s back. 

I’m sure it never went away, but it’s been back in the news over the last month.  Banks are hoarding money.  People worldwide are hoarding rice.  Myanmar officials and residents are warned about hoarding aid.

People are scared, and when they’re scared, they hoard.  OR, somebody else hoards and looks to make a killing off the really scared people.

In a previous post, I mentioned that there are four alter-egos to LifeVestors – consumers, hoarders, gamblers, and codependents.  Hoarders are the most unique of these.  While consumers live as if there is no tomorrow, hoarders live as if there is a tomorrow, and wherever/whatever it is, it’s gonna be ticked off.  Hard.  Terrible.  And we have to plan for it today.

It’s one thing for literally starving people to make sure they have something to eat for the next few days.  It’s another to live with a spirit of fear, even while you’re being wonderfully blessed.

It’s one thing to save and invest for retirement or a rainy day.  It’s another thing to create an ongoing bunker mentality based on fear of the future.

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From Consumer to LifeVestor

by Andy Wood on April 3, 2008

in Consumers,Life Currency,LV Alter-egos,Money,Time

Scarlett“I can shoot straight, if I don’t have to shoot too far.” 

“I can’t think about that right now. If I do, I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about that tomorrow.”

-Scarlett O’Hara, “Gone With the Wind”

Everybody is fascinated with Scarlett.  But nobody wants to admit how much like her we can be.

One way to understand LifeVesting is to define it in terms of what it isn’t.  LifeVestors have four alter-egos:  consumers, hoarders, gamblers, and codependents.  Today I’d like to introduce you to the first.

While in the purest economic sense everyone is a spender, the Consumers I’m talking about are takers.  They spend their money, their time, their relationships on today’s wants and needs.  Their primary focus is on themselves – though not always in an intentionally selfish way.  They come to church for what they can get out of it.  They spend their time and money in ways that, when spent, are gone forever.  For them, there is no other moment but now.  Tomorrow will take care of itself. 

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The Simplest Budget in the World

by Andy Wood on March 27, 2008

in Leadership,Life Currency,Money,Time

BudgetThere are four things – and only four things – you can spend your money on.  Like me, you may keep up with your finances with computer program that has a vast array of categories.  You may be a day planner diva, able instantly to analyze what occupies your time.  But it still comes down to just four things.

Are you a leader, or a leader wannabe?  There are four – and only four – directions of leadership.

There are four – and only four – foundations of wisdom.

Same goes for other LifeVesting Currencies – esteem, love, words, and abilities.  There are four sources or directions for each:

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Seven Ways to Recession-Proof Your Life

by Andy Wood on February 12, 2008

in Ability,Esteem,Insight,Leadership,Life Currency,Love,Time,Words

Financial NewsRecession.  It’s the word on everybody’s mind these days.  Congress, in an election year, is scrambling to give people some of their money back in order to avoid it (which begs the obvious question…).  All the media, the experts, and the average Joes are all talking about some aspect of it.  Somebody did a poll a couple of days ago, and it seems the average American believes if we’d just get out of Iraq, the recession would get better.  Uh, OK, I guess.

What most of us are interested in is, can I keep what’s happening in a national and global economy from happening to me?  Yes!  But first it’s important to understand that economists are measuring only one thing.

What to recession-proof your life?  Get a bigger definition of the word, “economy.”  Try this one as I first heard it from Jack Taylor:  Economy is the exchange of all the commodities of life. 

If you’re finding yourself a bit short on cash, or if you’re worried about it, why not try a different kind of currency?  Here are seven ways you can be wealthy, with or without money:

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How Nice People Come Across as Insensitive Jerks

by Andy Wood on December 5, 2007

in Allocating Your Resources,LV Cycle,Time

insensitiveTake a look in the mirror. There you’ll see somebody you hope comes across as decent, caring, and human at least. Godly at best.  Imagine, however, that you could look through the veil at the thoughts of people around you. Chances are, sometime over the last several weeks, you walked right past them. Absorbed in your own world, you dissed ‘em. And though you were clueless, they caught it.

You jerk. [click to continue…]

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