I was a reluctant to post this because it puts the focus on food, football, parades and shopping, when I’d rather the focus of Thanksgiving be on giving thanks to God for his goodness and provision.  So, have some fun with these Thanksgiving facts and figures. Then give thanks for what really matters today.

Check out this video by Taylor Mali.  Not only does he do a hilarious job of describing and demonstrating the way a lot of people speak today, but he makes a great point about the importance of speaking with authority.

I could not stop laughing! But upon further reflection, I also felt a bit convicted because I’ve let some of these patterns fall into my speech as well in an effort not to offend people and give them permission to disagree with me.

There’s a middle-age Hispanic-looking woman who I see standing at the bus stop outside my neighborhood most mornings when I run. I usually waive and say, “Good morning!” She usually smiles back.

Yesterday morning as I was running past she started talking to me, so I stopped and strained to listen. I picked up a few words but after several sentences I realized I had no idea what she was saying.

“No comprendo,” I said. “No hablo Espanol.”

“You speak Spanish?” she replied.

Straining to remember something from my 2 years of high school Spanish I replied, “Muy poco.” (“very little,” I think)

She replied, “I don’t speak Spanish. Romania is my country.”

LOL! I don’t know if there’s a lesson in that – maybe something about the assumptions we make. If you see one let me know.  I just thought it was funny.

Tomorrow I’m going to try to remember to say, “Buna dimineata” which is good morning in Romanian.

Since I don’t blog on the weekends, I want to give an early shout out to all the dads out there. Being a parent is the most important job in the world and the most difficult. It requires a lot of time, energy and self-sacrifice. So, props to all you dads who are engaged in your kids’ lives, who live intentionally to help your children develop into adults who have good character and will make the world a better place.

This video is for you:

Share this video with the dads in your life and give them something to laugh about.

What advice do you have for the dads reading this who want to live intentionally?

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! Nothing says “I love you” like posting a hilarious Mother’s Day video (or 8 ) on Mom’s Facebook wall.

1) Mom Spam Get a lot of junk email from your mom? Return the favor this Mother’s Day.

2) Mr T. I pity the foo who doesn’t treat their mom right by showing her this “classic!”

3) The Mom Song The Skit Guys each have their own way of express their love for mom.

4) Barats and Bareta Mom’s love pics of their kids, right?

5) Barats and Bareta – the lego version You really know a video is great when someone creates a lego version of it, right?

6) Muthahood Anita Renfro goes “street” with this rap about the challenges moms endure.

7) Mother’s Day Rap Awwwww…

8 ) Texting Mom Mom may not be up to speed on all the latest technology, but that’s ok; we love her anyway.

Which are you gonna share with mom? Know of any other good Mother’s Day videos?

I love this video from an appearance comedian Louis C. K. made on Conan last year.  Not only is it hilarious, but it points out how good we have it living in this time in history, and how most of us take things for granted.

Of course, I’m most thankful for God, family, and friends, but some of the things unique to our time in history that I’m thankful and have a tendency to take for granted:

• I can talk to pretty much anyone anywhere at any time with my cell phone.
• If I get sick or injured, I’m 5 minutes away from incredible emergency medical care. Or they’ll come to me.
• I’m here in Safety Harbor, FL discussing ideas on this blog with you, who are probably hundreds or thousands of miles away.

How about you? What are you thankful for that you tend to take for granted?

As a kid I spent hours and hours playing building Legos contraptions with my brothers and friends.  They provide a great opportunity for kids to exercise their creativity.  I may be biased, but in my opinion they’re the best toy ever.

I also spent hours and hour as a kid playing soccer.  So, what could be better than a replay of Saturday’s England vs USA World Cup match created with Legos?

I’m amazed with how creative and meticulous the video is. Check it out!

]]> http://www.liveintentionally.org/2010/06/15/video-england-usa-world-cup-match-replay-legos/feed/ 4 http://www.liveintentionally.org/2010/02/04/the-secret-formula-for-success-is/ http://www.liveintentionally.org/2010/02/04/the-secret-formula-for-success-is/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:53:46 +0000 Paul http://www.liveintentionally.org/?p=793

Earlier this week Brad Ruggles posted this funny video, How to Report the News, to his blog.  In it, Charlie Brooker describes and takes shots at the formula a lot of TV news stories follow.  Have a look.  (Pardon the F-bomb at the 25-second mark).

The video is hilarious.  But it is also eye-opening for me.

I never thought about the elements of a TV news story before.  But now that I’ve seen the formula, it makes TV news seem so disingenuous, so calculated, so boring.

I hardly ever watch TV news anymore, and this is probably at least part of the reason why.

Formulas are amazing and seductive…

We love to take things that are successful, analyze them, and condense them down into simple steps that we can follow to repeat those successes over and over without thinking.   I know I do.

I’m guessing you love formulas, too.  You clicked to read this post, didn’t you?

That’s cool, because in many situations formulas are great.  It’s hard to find fault with 12 step programs, cookbooks, and instructions for assembling a kid’s bike.  (Though, my appreciation for the latter has been known to wane on Christmas morning.)

But in other areas of life formulas can get us in trouble.  The financial formula that worked so well for someone else can bankrupt us.  Copying someone else’s formula when it comes to things like music, web design, leadership style can make us look like cheap imitations.  Using a formula or “standard procedure” can leave other people feeling like nothing more than a number.

Repeating the same formula in your church service or business meetings can start to feel like watching an episode of Scooby Doo, where the plot is predictably the same in every episode and they “would have gotten away with it if it hadn’t been for those meddling kids.”

So, when is it good to use a formula, system, or process and when is it not?  How do you decide?

]]> http://www.liveintentionally.org/2010/02/04/the-secret-formula-for-success-is/feed/ 6 http://www.liveintentionally.org/2009/04/17/your-business-card-is-crap/ http://www.liveintentionally.org/2009/04/17/your-business-card-is-crap/#comments Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:52:58 +0000 Paul http://www.liveintentionally.org/2009/04/17/your-business-card-is-crap/

I don’t know if this video is true or not, but it’s hilarious.

In addition to being funny, there’s an important marketing principle in there. If you want to get people’s attention you’ve got to stand out from the crowd. To often I see people (and organizations) who think they can be successful by mimicking what successful people (and organizations) are already doing.

They want to have a cool website so they look at other cool websites and make theirs like the others. Everyone is is blogging so they blog about the same stuff. Everyone is twittering so they twitter about the same stuff.

And to be honest, all to often I find myself doing the same thing.

When we do something that’s average, mediocre, or like everyone else, it’s probably boring and will be unsuccessful. Either kick it up or kick it out.

So, what makes you remarkable?

What makes you stand out?

It doesn’t necessarily have to be something you do better than everyone else (thought being #1 at something will make you stand out), just something different.

What mediocre things do you need to stop doing?

]]> http://www.liveintentionally.org/2009/04/17/your-business-card-is-crap/feed/ 8 http://www.liveintentionally.org/2009/03/23/my-7-year-old-daughter-has-a-job-offer/ http://www.liveintentionally.org/2009/03/23/my-7-year-old-daughter-has-a-job-offer/#comments Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:22:54 +0000 Paul http://www.liveintentionally.org/2009/03/23/my-7-year-old-daughter-has-a-job-offer/

For 7 long years my daughter, Ainsley, has been a free-loader.  My wife, Jennifer, and I give her her own room, 3 meals and day (plus snacks), clean clothes, etc and we’ve never charged her a dime.  Well, that’s all about to change as Ainsley has gotten her first job offer.  So, now we are going to put her to work.

Here’s the email she received the other day:

Dear Ainsley,

We would like to know if you would be interested in working from home in
your spare time writing short articles for us. You will be paid USD 25.00
- USD 45.00 per hour writing these articles.

We will also pay you $12.00 – $50.00 per hour for posing in blogs, and up
to $450 for each fiction or non fiction story we ask you to write.

Press here if you are interested:

You have a 48-hour window to claim a position before we fill it.

Press here to begin and learn more:

All my best,

Freelance Home Writers Network

In a few weeks with any luck, Jennifer and I will be the ones playing in our rooms or outside all afternoon.  What do you think?

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