I hope………

…..everything gets better.

…..she gets over it.

…..I get a job.

…..I don’t die from a heart attack despite my poor exercise and nutrition.

…..the world changes for the better.

Hope, is not a strategy.

You may or may not know that the years from 1990-1999 were very financially successful in America, and the U.S. stock market performed well. Conversely, the years from 2000-2009 were economically difficult and the U.S. stock market sucked big time. Not long ago I ran into a stock market expert. He is kinda big time. He’s a Certified Financial Planner and has a nationally-syndicated radio program. He manages a very large practice with hundreds of millions of dollars under management. His son has a major league baseball contract. He’s doing well in most areas of his life.

As we did that “talk about the weather and sports thing” that guys do when they run into each other our conversation drifted to our work in the field of finance and he said “Barry, I just hope the next ten years (2011-2020) are like my first ten (1990-1999).” When I asked what he saw on the horizon or in the economy to give him confidence he said “Nothing. I just hope.”

Hope?

Hope??

Is that all you got?

People in Hell HOPE that someone will bring them ice-water.

Hope?????

Many people live their lives in a soap opera version of Fantasyland called Hope. They hope their marriage improves, but they aren’t doing anything to make it better. They hope the economy improves so maybe they’ll get a raise, but they aren’t giving any extra to help their company exceed the competition. They hope their kids turn out all right, but they won’t shut off the TV, talk, listen, and teach. Instead, they sit there and just hope—-as if the world just “does it” to them and they have no control over anything.

Here’s a principle for you: As a man sows, so shall he reap. It doesn’t say “As a man hopes, so shall he reap.” If it did, those folks in Hell would have ice-water.

You are not so weak minded as to believe that hope is an effective strategy for success.

Should you have hope? By all means! And it should rest on a foundation of right thinking, sound decision making, proactive planning, effective habits, and intentional living all bathed in prayer and thoughtfulness. If you’ve got those things happening, then it’s not hope, it’s faith: the evident expectation of a thing not yet seen.

I’ve thought alot about the topic of Abundant Living. It has captivated me for years. Jesus said “I came that you might have life, and have it more abundantly.” I accept that. But in truth, I’ve not felt that I was living abundantly, and didn’t really know much of anyone who was—my vast regiment of Christian friends included.

A couple of years ago we adopted “Living Abundantly” as a core value within our company. We didn’t know what that meant, but somehow thought it worthy of our embrace, if not outright pursuit. Periodically I’ve taught on the topic, usually defining it by what’s its not. I’ve always known that abundance wasn’t measured in bank accounts.

Abundant Living is the ultimate byproduct of right thinking as I teach it in the Enhancing Your WORTH (Wheel Of Right THinking) seminar God gave to me and that I’ve begun teaching our team, will be rolling out to my small group this winter, and will take on my first Latin American teaching road gig in the Spring. When you think rightly about God, Self, Purpose, Future, Relationships & Behaviors you become a well-balanced person and abundant living is the natural product you experience.

Yet what is it? I think I am beginning to understand.

2010 has been a very difficult year. It started (as they all do) with robust plans for “world domination” (or maybe partial control of my life), and then began to come loose in a few areas. Confusion in the capital markets has provided for challenges in both the financial and real estate sectors—the exact intersection at which I live my economic life. An executive with our company who I trusted so much that I gave him signature authority over every aspect of our business surprised me by proving to lack character which ultimately leaked into his poor performance and the imbedding of critical problems within our company that would have sunk it if I hadn’t pulled the plug on him when I did. Months later our trust is severely damaged and we’re still cleaning up his messes. Meanwhile another big-talking, executive-level, employee similarly proved himself to be “all hat and no cattle” in execution of his responsibilities; another mess the more competent and under-rewarded few had to resolve. Amidst it all: my wife’s father continued his slow descent and died just last month.

2010 has been a hard year. It seems like we’ve been “inside of the ten yard line” for months, but can’t manage to put the ball across the goal line; lots of activity on the drawing board but very little production actually being “shipped” by the factory. Argh! That gets old.

That said, it has also been a great year. In many ways I have never felt better. I told my business partner last week that “I’ve never felt stronger.” My health is good. I haven’t lost all the weight I wanted to by this point, but my level of fitness has increased tremendously. I can kick butt. This morning I spent two hours working out HARD including running significantly UPHILL between the front gate and my house (about 1/3 of a mile down and back) six times. That’s nothing by Chris Ballard standards, but two miles with half uphill is big for a fat guy staring down the barrel of 50. Sitting here in my sweat as I write this, I smell bad, but I feel good.

In the midst of everything I’ve found myself marveling at how good I am doing. I’m kind of amazed really. I’m well. In some ways a lot of Hell has broken loose around me, and I smell a bit like smoke and my hair is singed, but I am well.

As I sat on the porch this morning drinking my coffee, petting my attention starved Border Collie (who thinks I am God) and praying, I told God how thankful I was for how He had helped me and stood with me during difficulty. It occurred to me that this contentment, peace, confidence—call it what you will—in the midst of the storm is living abundantly! Life happens. People get sick and die. People let you down. People hurt you. Economies change. People wrongly accuse and attack you. Sciatica sets in. Business models shift. And in the midst of the chaos, there is peace. It passes all understanding.

I still don’t know much about Abundant Living. But I’ve had a glimpse of it. And I like it.

May you have some, too!

My mentor, Lee Brower says “The fastest way to build trust is to make small, frequent commitments, and then deliver on them immediately.”

Stolen from Craig Groeschel……

Instead of always knowing “what” is happening with a project, what we really need to know is “who” is covering the project. If we have the right “who,” we shouldn’t have to worry about the “what.”

If we have the wrong “who,” then we need to know the “what.” If you always need to know the “what,” you have one of two problems:

1. You are not an empowering leader.
2. You have the wrong “who.”

Either way, the problem needs to be fixed.

I find there is a direct correlation between the right “who” and my own level of confidence. There’s also a correlation between my level of worry and eventually figuring out the wrong person is on the bus.

So, its all about the people. The right people.