Tuesday I wrote about why “do everything with excellence” is hogwash.

I didn’t mention it in the post, but I wrote it in reaction to this post by David Foster which I read Monday.

I think we’ve mistaken excellence for something unattainable, more like perfection than what might reside within the reach of the average man or woman.

You can define excellence this way, and it’s achievable to anyone who wants it.  Here it is:

Excellence is doing the best I can with what I have where I am in the time allotted.

I have a lot of respect for David, but that definition of excellence just doesn’t work for two reasons.

1) Results matter.

Giving your best effort is important.  But if your best stinks, it’s not excellent.

We may want to evaluate ourselves based on effort, but the truth is we expect results from everyone else.

Not convinced?  Why not buy some beach front property in Louisiana?  BP made a great effort to cap and contain the oil spill.  Or maybe you’d like to listen to a collection of love songs by Leonard Nimoy (aka Spock).  He put quite a bit of effort into them.  Or maybe you’d like to use the first pick your fantasy football draft on Betty White.  I’ve heard she’s a hard worker.

Steve K posted a comment on Tuesday’s posts that reflects the views of a lot of people have about excellence:

The process (effort) and the product (effect) are to be considered separately… ‘Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men’ – that, to me, is excellence.

We do need to honor God with our best effort.  But let’s be honest, more often than not, focusing on the effort instead of the result is just an excuse to justify a poor result.  That’s because…

2) We can influence the time, effort, and resources that go into any task.

When a person says, “I did the best I could with what I had in the time allotted,” he’s really claiming he had no influence over the resources or time put into the task.  That is almost never true.

If you’re doing poorly on a work project, as a spouse, as a parent, as a volunteer, as a wind surfer, or whatever, you always have the option to put more time into it, spend more money on it, or ask someone for help.

It’s going to cost you something in some other area, but the first step is to recognize that you are not powerless.  You get to choose.

The second step is to consciously choose to allocate your time and resources according to what’s most important to you (as opposed to what you’ve always done or what other people think is important).  The third step is to have confidence in those choices.

Instead of making excuses for why some of the things we do don’t produce excellent results, let’s take ownership of choices we make.  Be confident in the choice to do some things with “averageness,” so you can put your time, effort, and resources into doing other things with excellence.

Do you agree that excellence is more about results or effort?  Why?  Give some examples.

A lot of people are trying to “raise the bar” on excellence these days.  Excellence is important, but the idea that we should do everything with excellence is an impossible goal.

Excellence means exceeding expectations.

Unless you are blessed with a talent that enables you to naturally exceed expectations, to exceed expectations in any endeavor you are going to have to put extra time, extra effort, or extra resources into that endeavor.

Your personal time, energy, and resources are limited.  If you put extra time, effort, or resources into one thing, you have to take it from something else.  It’s impossible to be excellent in your career, an excellent spouse, an excellent parent, an excellent PTA member, an excellent home owner, have an excellent body, and be an excellent golfer all at the same time.

Sure, there things we can do to raise performance and productivity across the board and we should, but there are still limits to what we can do.

Ultimately, excellence is a matter of choice.

Intentionally or unintentionally, we all choose what we want to do with excellence, and what we are OK with doing OK.  We make that choice when we decide what we to put extra time, effort, or resources towards, and what we’re just going to do as well as we can with less.

I want to be an excellent husband, parent, follower of God, and leader at work. While I often fall short of excellence, I do my best to put extra time, effort, and resources into those things.

On the other hand, nobody is every going to confuse me for a model or a pro athlete, so I’m content to exercise for 30 minutes 5x a week with some cast-iron weights and an $80 bike I got at Wal-mart.  My house is never going to be in Better Homes and Gardens, so I spend time and money on the weekends with my family rather than on home improvement projects.  I usually help coach my son’s baseball and soccer teams, but I’m not out to win a national championship, so I don’t put time and money into researching the best methods, training videos, and equipment.

What do you want to do with excellence?  Have you made an intentional choice to put extra time, effort, and resources into those things? If so how?  If not, what adjustments are you going to make?

I’m going through 31 Days to Build a Better Blog with 60+ other bloggers.  Today is Day 6.  The e-book lesson includes 27 articles of blogging tips and tutorials, which we’re supposed to read, digest, and discuss.

It’s a bit much, in my opinion.  As I wrote in a comment, it’s a bit like drinking from a fire hose.

Generally speaking, I’m not big on memorizing a lot of little things.  I much prefer to learn some general principles and then apply those principles to specific situations.  So, as I was reading through all these tips, certain underlying principles started to emerge.

What’s more, I noticed that a lot of the general principles for blogging well are actually derived from even broader principles for living well.  Here are 7 general principles that apply to blogging as well as life in general.

1) Be yourself. People are sick of spin, sick of sales pitches, sick of phonies, sick of people who act one way with one group of people and another way with another group of people.  It’s great to learn from other bloggers, but don’t try to act like someone else.  Be honest and authentic.

2) Serve others first. The best bloggers write to help their readers.  If you’re primary reason for blogging is to make money, promote your own agenda, become popular, or express yourself it’s probably not going to work.  That means blogging posts that help your readers, responding to comments & emails, and answering questions.  This principle is true in most areas of life.  If your motives for starting a business, getting into a relationship, or even volunteering are selfish, you are much more likely to fail and be disappointed.

3) Think from perspective of the people you’re serving. As a blogger, it’s important to imagine things from the perspective of your readers.  Understand your readers’ backgrounds, education, spiritual beliefs, and politics may be different from yours.  Don’t use insider language.  Don’t talk down to your audience.  Understand that they’re busy and reading & discussing your blog posts are a very, very low priority.  Make it as easy as possible for them to engage.  Same is true with your business, church, non-profit, neighborhood organization.  In any situation where you are serving others, it’s important to understand the perspective of the people you’re serving.

4) Build relationships. Blogging really is all about building relationships – with your readers, with other bloggers in your niche, with people you can collaborate with.  Everything else is life is primarily about relationships too.  Great businesses build great relationships with their customers, their vendors, and their partners.  Great churches facilitate great relationships among their members.  And obviously great marriages, families, and friendships are all about building relationships.

5) Read a lot. As a blogger, it’s important to read other blogs.  This helps you learn from others, get to know others in your niche, provides new ideas for blog articles, and enables you to stay informed on the latest developments and issues.  Same is true in life in general.  Reading helps you learn, challenges you to grow, and often provides opportunities to develop relationships with others who are reading the same things.

6) Commit & do the work. You can’t develop a great blog if you write when you feel like or when you find the time.  You’ve got to be intentional about keeping a scheduled and writing a certain number of posts each week.  You’ll have to sacrifice some other things to meet your commitment.  Same is true in business, marriage, raising kids, volunteering, even playing golf.  If you want to do well, you have to commit to it.

7) Take risks. Bloggers that never take risk are boring, fail to connect with others, and fail to take steps to get to the next level.  Some risks you may be challenged to take:

• Reveal some personal, painful, or embarrassing things about yourself in order to help people who are facing similar circumstances.
• Write an opinion on something you know a lot of your readers will disagree with.
• Criticize someone or something you disagree with.
• Write about a topic that is taboo.
• Ask someone to guest post on your blog. They could turn you down.
• Try to raise money for a charity.  Your readers may not respond, you could fail miserably, and look like an idiot in the process.

Same is true in life in general.  You have to take risks to be successful, some of the same risks – authenticity, sharing an opinion, speaking up about something taboo, asking for help, going public with big goals.

Do you see a lot of similarities between what makes for a great life and what makes for a great blog?

Which of these principles resonates with you most?

Watch out!  You’re likely to see a lot of changes around here over the next month.  That’s because I’m going to blogging school.

OK, so not exactly.  But I am leading a group of 50 bloggers and counting who are going through Darren Rowse’s (aka ProBlogger’s) 31 Days to Build a Better Blog ebook over on the Christian Web Trends blog.

Each day for 31 days we are reading a lesson and doing an assignment that will help us to improve our blog and our blogging skills.  Additionally, there will be a blog post published to Christian Web Trends each of the 31 days where we’ll discuss the lesson and assignment.

I am tremendously excited about this because it combines two things I’m very passionate about: communication and helping people develop.

But that’s not all…

You’re Invited

If you’d like to not only learn how to take your blog to the next level but actually do it. And not just do it, but do it with a great group of bloggers who genuinely want to help each other get better, you still have time to read the details & sign up.

Monday was day one, so you’ll have a little catching up to do, but you can do it.

Speaking of Day 1

Day 1’s assignment was to write an “elevator pitch” for your blog.  Describe your blog in a way that will give them an idea of what it’s about and make they curious enough to want to know more in the in the time span of an elevator ride, about 30 seconds or 100 words.

In the process of doing that, I also wrote the About page for this blog.  Something that was missing for the first 3 years of this blog.

What do you think?

Today I’m reviewing, discussing and (thanks to the good folks at Thomas Nelson) giving away a free copy of John Maxwell’s latest book Everyone Communicates, Few Connect. Keep reading to learn how to win a copy for yourself.

John Maxwell’s new book, Everyone Communicates, Few Connect, provides insight into how to connect with people one-on-one, in a group setting, and with an audience.  We’ve all experience good communicators and bad communicators in all three settings.  We feel connected to good communicators.  We feel disconnected from poor communicators.  Maxwell believes that connecting with people is more skill than natural talent.  In this book, he helps the reader understand how to develop the skill to become a better connector and thus a better communicator.

My first impression of Everyone Communicates, Few Connect was that there’s really not much new in it.  Connecting with others comes from putting others first, finding common ground, confidence, energy, simplicity, authenticity, creating a memorable experience, and inspiring people.  It’s common sense.

But the more thought about it, the more I realized most people – including me – really don’t connect well with others.  For some people it’s because they lack the skills Maxwell describes.  For most us, though, I think it’s because we sell ourselves short.  Most of us don’t think we’re good communicators – we think we lack the natural talent or personality – so we don’t put in the effort, initiative, creativity, or thought to become better communicators.

If that sounds like you, if you don’t think you connect well with others or communicate well, I would encourage you to read this book.  I think it will inspire you and show you that you can become a better connector and communicator.

Favorite Quotes

• Connecting Increases your influence in every situation.
• “Nothing in life is more important than the ability to communicate effectively.” Gerald Ford
• Connecting is all about others.
• To add value to others, one must first value others.
• You don’t need to be gorgeous, a genius, or a masterful orator to possess presence and to connect with others.  You just need to be positive, believe in yourself, and focus on others.
• Words are the currency of ides and have the power to change the world.
• Connecting always requires energy.
• “Introverts can exhibit extroverted behavior – [however] it really drains us and we need to recharge sooner than an extrovert.” Laurinda Bellinger
• Connecting is more skill than natural talent.
• If I had to pick a first rule of communication… look for common ground.
• The measure of a great teacher isn’t what he or she knows; it’s what the students know.
• Connectors create an experience everyone enjoys.
• People connect with stories not statistics.
• Connecting isn’t primarily about learning to become a better presenter.  It’s about becoming the kind of person others want to connect with.
• Connectors inspire people.
• What they know + what they see + what they feel = inspiration
• The true test of inspiration is action.
• Connectors live what they communicate.
• When you make a commitment, you create hope.  When you keep a commitment, you create trust.
• You can learn to increase your influence in every situation because connecting is more skill than natural talent.

Personal Thoughts

I am somewhat introverted.  I’m also a pretty even-keeled person, not particularly emotional or dynamic.  That’s just the way I’m wired up.  Because of that, I’ve always thought I was not a particularly good connector or communicator (at least not in person) and I never would be.  I figured I just didn’t have the talent or the personality for it.

So, my biggest take-away from Everyone Communicates, Few Connect is… being a good communicator is ultimately a choice.

Maxwell writes, “Connecting is more skill than natural talent.”  If that’s true, then whether I connect well with others comes down to whether I choose to develop the skills to connect, and then whether I choose to use those skills.

Will I prepare for that person, group, or audience on my schedule (even when I’m not an official leader)?  Will I take the initiative to engage with people?  Will I focus on the other person (or people) and listen, ask questions, find common ground, and try to add value to them?

I must admit that in the past my answers to those questions was often, “No.”  I just didn’t feel like it.  Didn’t want to expend the energy.  I would wait for other to try to connect with me.  I could attribute that to being a low-energy, introverted person, and give myself a pass.

I can’t do that anymore.

After reading Everyone Communicates, Few Connect and reflecting on some of my interactions with individuals, groups, and audiences I realize in many cases I could have connected a lot better if I had chosen too.   Of course, I can’t change the past.  But I can – and will – choose to connect from this point forward.

Discussion

• Do you consider yourself to be good a communicating and connecting with other people?
• Do you believe that connecting with others is more skill than talent?
• What is your biggest hindrance from connecting with others?
• What could you do to overcome that hindrance and connect better with others?

Get a Free Book

If you’d like a free copy of Everyone Communicates, Few Connect, all you have to do is

1. Retweet this post or share it on Facebook, and
2. Post a meaningful comment to this post that contributes to the conversation (include your Facebook or Twitter usename in your comment so I can connect your comment to your share/tweet).

One person will be randomly selected the morning of Wednesday 4/7 to receive a free copy.

Growth requires change.

There’s no way around it. If you want to grow personally or if you want your business, church, or non-profit to grow, you must change.

Change creates chaos.

Again, there’s no way around it. If you want to change yourself, it’s going to impact the people around you. Some of them won’t like it. They’ll push back. They’ll try to keep you from changing.

If you’re going to change your organization, it’s going to impact the people within your organization. Many of them like the way things are. They’re comfortable. They’re afraid change will negatively impact them. If you try to change your organization, some of them will resist. They’ll complain. They may even leave.

The only way to avoid the chaos of change is to not change. But not changing leads to death. Dying creates chaos too.

So, would you rather experience the chaos that comes with growth or the chaos that comes with death?

I’ll take the chaos that comes with growth.

Fortunately, there are ways to minimize and navigate the chaos that comes with change and growth. Scott Wilson, senior pastor of Oaks Fellowship has written an excellent book called Steering Through Chaos, which helps pastors and church leaders navigate the chaos of change. I posted a review Monday. I’m giving away a copy at noon today (Wed 3/17), so as of the publishing of this post, you still have time to click over to the review and win a copy.

In what ways do you want to change yourself or your organization but have been holding back because of fear of chaos?

My daughter Ainsley is in 3rd grade. Here in Florida that means it’s day 2 of FCAT testing for her.

For those not familiar with FCATs, a student can’t move on to 4th grade without passing it.  Additionally, schools are graded and part of their funding based on their students’ performance on FCATs.  So, there’s a lot of pressure on everyone – school boards, principles, teachers, parents, and students – for students to do well on them.

Few will say it out loud, but at every level there is a palpable fear of failure.

I have never been anxious or fearful of tests.  I think it has a lot to do with my attitude towards them.

Whether you’re a student or a parent here are 8 positive things to keep in mind that will help to reduce your anxiety about tests.

1) Tests provide a goal. “Is this going to be on the test?”  Students ask this all the time, because we learn what we’re tested on.  Tests tell us what we ought to know.

2) Tests provide motivation for learning. Most of us wouldn’t study much at all if it wasn’t for tests, hence the popularity of cramming.

3) Tests provide an assessment. Facts are our friends.  Passing a test affirms that we’ve learned what we ought to have learned.  And as much as we hate to fail tests, it’s better to know what we don’t understand so we can go back and try again to learn it.

4) Tests provide guidance. Ultimately, the world is best served when each of us is doing what we’re great at. People who are great at their work are also happier.  Tests are a good indicator of what we’re good at and what we’re not so good at.  They can help point us towards a fulfilling career.

5) Tests prepare for bigger, future tests. A lot of people stress over tests, but let’s face reality – the tests we face in the classroom are nothing compared to the tests we face in the workplace.  Nurses, firemen, teachers, pastors, CEOs, engineers, artists, and accountants all need to learn how to perform under pressure.

6) Book smarts do not equal success. I think Republicans and Democrats would both agree that George W. Bush is not the smartest person on the planet.  That’s not intended as an insult.  Presidents are rarely the smartest person in the room.  Success is as much a product of determination, perseverance, emotional and relational intelligence, work ethic, and character as it is knowledge.  A person’s test scores – good or bad – are not a great indicator of success.

7) Tests do not indicate the value of the person. If you fear tests because you’re afraid of failing, remember… Every person is a human being, loved by God.  Test scores don’t make one person better than another.  They don’t make a person more or less valuable.

8 ) God is in control. Few things are a disappointing as failing a big test.  Failure could mean repeating a grade, going to summer school, or the end of a dream like getting into medical school.  It may sound cliché, but I often say, “Do your best, and trust God for the rest.”  All you can do is you’re part, right?  When the results are heart-breaking, trust that your heavenly Father loves you and wants what’s best for you.  Often God has to close one door, to get us to move towards a better one.

If you were looking for tips like get a good night’s sleep and eat a good breakfast or study techniques, I hope this didn’t disappoint you, but I believe having the right attitude about tests is even more important.

What are your thoughts and attitudes towards tests?

[image by rzganoza]

Yesterday, we kicked off a 5 part series based on the book Worldliness by C.J. Mahaney.  With each post, we’re giving away a copy of Worldliness.  Congrats to Lee Buford who is the winner of the first copy.  We’re giving away another copy today, with details at the end of the post.

To recap… Worldliness challenges Christians with the words of Jesus found in John 2:15, “Do not love the world or anything in the world.” The world is full of things that attempt to seduce and distract us from our primary calling to love and serve God. Surveys show the lives of American Christians are not noticeably different from those who are not Christians. Whether that’s true for you or not, it’s clear that all of us battle the temptations of this world on a daily basis.

Two areas the book examines are media and music, which we’re going to take on together today.

Media is Everywhere

In today’s modern world, media constantly surrounds us from the clock radio that wakes us up, to the radio in the car, the billboards along the street, magazines, newspapers, and MP3 players.  For the last 50 years TV has been the most influential medium.  In the last few years, the Internet has surpassed TV for many people.  Now we are on the cusp of a media revolution.  Broadband mobile devices will ensure that the entire Internet is always at the tip of our fingers.

Media is Powerful

Our culture has conflicting views on the power of media.  Most people say TV, music, and commercials have little impact on them.

But our actions say otherwise.  Advertisers spend $215 billion a year just on TV commercials – because they work.  When we make presentations at work, we usually include video or Powerpoint.  Most medium and larger churches have media teams.  When we want to have a romantic evening with that special someone we carefully select the right music to set the mood.

Television has greater power over the lives of most Americans than any educational system, government or church. – Kent Hughes

The Old Battle with Media

Christians have been battling media for decades.  However, the focus has been rather one-dimensional.  It’s been primarily about trying to stay away from offensive material.  How many times have we been warned of the evils of sex and violence on TV, in the movies, and in music lyrics?

I’ve heard the warnings so many times, that as soon as I even think someone’s headed down that road my instinct is to think, “Here we go again” and tune them out.  (That’s probably a warning sign in and of itself.)

The New Battle

But the temptation of worldliness is not primarily the temptation to choose evil over good, but rather to choose that which is temporary and meaningless over God.  This is true for our media consumption as well.

6 Ways Media Moves Us

I invite you to join me in examining how the media we consume moves us in these 6 ways.

1) Values. Does the media you consume support or insult your values?  Do the shows you watch make gossip, lying, and insulting people look cool?  Does it make fun of people of faith, chastity, fathers, or stay-at-home moms.  Does it glorify self-centeredness or independence?

2) Time. Is your media consumption keeping your from doing more important things?  Do you spend lots of time watching TV or online but struggle to consistently spend time alone with God?  Are you serving others?  Helping the poor?  Spending consistent time with your spouse and kids?  Or is your media consumption getting in the way of that?

3) Heart. Does the media you consume help you focus your thoughts on God?  Or do the ads and commercials cause you to daydream about what you’d like buy?  Does that TV show or website ignite lustful thoughts?  Do those love songs or romance novels stir fantasies?

4) Focus. Does having radio, TV, or computer on keep you from being able to fully focus on your work, listening to the people in the same room with you, or hearing from God?  Are there times, when you just need to turn everything off?

5) State of mind. Does your desire to keep up with your TV shows, Facebook, or Twitter stress you out?  Do you feel anxious if you don’t have your mobile phone on you?  Do you feel like you have to play Farmville, or Webkinz, or Twitter or blog every day?  Do you agonize over how others might perceive a Facebook update or tweet?

6) Pride/Humility. When you’re posting to Facebook or Twitter are you doing so just to get attention?  Are you being disingenuous in order to make yourself look good.

Discussion

Revising the poorly drawn diagram from yesterday what direction is your media consumption taking you?

Of the 6 ways media moves us mentioned above, which is the greatest struggle?  Where are you seeing the most success?

Action

Reflection and discussion are important, but they won’t change your life or redirect you more towards God . What if any changes are you going to make to your media consumption?

Get a Free Book

If you’d like a free copy of Worldliness, all you have to do is

1. Retweet this post or share it on Facebook, and
2. Post a comment to this post.

One person will be randomly selected to receive a free copy of Worldliness.  If you don’t win today, don’t worry, there are 3 more posts yet to come. If you  tweeted/shared/commented yesterday, yes, you need to tweet/share/comment today to have a chance to win the book today.

[image by oddharmonic]

EDIT 2/25 9:40 AM: I’m going to wait until tomorrow (Friday) morning to post the next article in this series (on Worldliness and money/materialism) and draw the winner of the second of 5 books.  So, anyone who shares/retweets & comments today and before 8 AM tomorrow can still win.

Thanks to Crossway Books, I’m giving away 5 copies of Worldliness over the next two weeks.  Keep reading for details on how you can get a copy.

Worldliness by C.J. Mahaney is a book written to challenge Christians with the words of Jesus in John 2:15 – “Do not love the world or anything in the world.”  Mahaney defines worldliness as “to gratify and exalt oneself to the exclusion of God.”  And the book delves into how that verse applies in 21st century American life.

Specifically, Worldliness focuses on four areas where American Christians

• Media consumption
• Music
• Consumerism
• Modesty

It then wraps up with a chapter about how Christians should love the world.

Mahaney goes to great lengths to make it clear that he is not promoting legalistic guidelines nor is he advocating Christians separate, hate, or hide from 21st century American culture, though I’m sure many will accuse him of those things anyway.

Instead, Worldliness challenges Christians who genuinely want to follow Jesus by asking soul-searching questions and providing practical suggestions for how to live lives that more resemble that of Jesus than the world today.

Favorite quotes from the book:

• If we are honest, we too may have to admit that we have a Bible of our own making – a metaphorical one, perhaps, but a cut-and-paste job just the same. (p15)
• Today, the greatest challenge facing American evangelism is not persecution from the world, but seduction by the world. (p22)
• Do you relate to God as if he exists to further your selfish ambitions or are you convinced that you exist to glorify him? (p28)
• The evil in our desires often lies not in what we want, but in the fact that we want it too much.- David Powlison (p30)
• What should consume our thoughts and affections is not resisting worldliness but the glory and grace of God revealed at the cross. (p35)

There are lots of other good quotes from later in the book which I’ll include later in this 5 part series of posts.

Personal Thoughts

Surveys show that the lives of Americans who claim to be Christians are not noticeably different from those say they are not Christians.  American Christians are just as likely to divorce, lie, get even with someone, and help the poor as someone who is not a Christian.  Additionally, the spending habits, media consumption, and time-usage of American Christians are not noticeably different from general population either.

If you are a Christian, let me ask you one of the question C.J. Mahaney asks in this book: is your lifestyle obviously different from that of your non-Christian friends, neighbors, and co-workers?

It’s a question I just can’t get past.

In some ways I know my life is different.  But many times as I go through my week it seems just like any other American’s week… 5 days a week getting up at the crack of dawn, working my butt off all day at week to meet goals and expectations, come home, eat, help the kids with their homework, ball games, and extra curricular activities, then watch some TV before bed.  I get more and more tired as the week goes on, and then on the weekends I just want to have rest or have fun until it’s time to do it all over again.

Forward or upward?

The thing is that most of the things of this world that we fall in love with are not necessarily bad.  There’s nothing wrong with watching TV, buying stuff, working hard to be successful, or being admired by our friends.  Those things aren’t inherently bad like murder or stealing.  The problem is when worldly things begin to crowd out the godly things in our hearts and our lives.

As Christians, our goals should be higher than pursuing our own success or pleasure while “not doing anything wrong.” Our goals should be to follow Jesus and live a life that exemplifies His love towards others.

Let’s say you’re in Nashville, TN and you want to get to Chicago.  There’s nothing wrong with driving due east to Knoxville.  You’d still be about the same 8-hour drive away from Chicago.  But in the process you would have wasted 3 hours and about $20 of gas, and you’d be that much more tired than when you started.

That is how many of us live their lives, putting most of our time, energy, and resources into pursuits that aren’t evil but don’t take us any closer to the goal.

Mahaney challenges us with this question:

What are your goals? Do the drive you forward – to financial security, more friends, successful kids, a certain position at work, learning a craft or trade? Or do they drive you upward- to obeying and glorifying God above all else?

Upward or forward?

Maybe you give some money to church and help others, and you volunteer here and there.  On the diagram above you’re not going straight horizontal towards worldliness but perhaps a 10-degree north of that.  Are you content with putting 10% of your time, energy, and resources towards the goal while squandering 90% on worldliness?

Worldliness is not about legalistic rules or trying to shut yourself out from the world.  If you genuinely love God and want to honor Him with a life that is noticeably different the world, this book can challenge you and help you do that.

Get a free copy

If you’d like a free copy of Worldliness, all you have to do is

1. Retweet this post or share it on Facebook.
2. Post a comment about worldliness or your own struggles with worldliness.

One person will be randomly selected to receive a free copy of Worldliness.  If you don’t win today, don’t worry.  I’ll be doing 4 more posts on topics addressed in the book – media & music, consumerism, modesty, and how to love the world – and giving away a copy of the book with each post.

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?