Structure is the Answer!

Welcome to Tappe Talk, a Purposed Connection podcast by The Tappe Group. We simply have to get better, become more creative, produce greater results, and respond more urgently and effectively. In order for those things to happen, we have to create more structure for our lives. This week Allen shares a few thoughts with us from The Power of Purposed Performance.

1. Create a more focused and effective beginning and end.
2. Create a plan.
3. do the more challenging things first.
4. Improve your presentation.
5. Know your numbers.
6. Get accountable.
7. Celebrate your success.

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Inevitability?

I read an article this week by Charles Swindoll that really caught my attention. It was entitled "Stop the Revolving Door". In the article, he chronicled the rise and fall of civilizations from the Babylonian Empire to the Athenian Republic. The article suggests that there is historical evidence to suggest that there is a certain "inevitability" to the ultimate decline of human efforts. The evidence is compelling. Here is the course of decline Swindoll quoted in his article:

From bondage to spiritual faith

From spiritual faith to great courage

From great courage to strength

From strength to liberty

From liberty to abundance

From abundance to leisure

From leisure to selfishness

From selfishness to complacency

From complacency to apathy

From apathy to dependency

From dependency to weakness

From weakness back to bondage

As I read this description of human decline, I couldn't help but be taken by the sense of inevitability in the flow. Yet, I wondered if it really has to happen this way. Isn't there room for something distinctively contrary to this commentary upon history? Swindoll's article concludes with a plea for individuals to take up the challenge and he suggests, rightly I believe, that it is only through the power of personal response that the tide can be turned.

So, I want to issue a challenge to those who have ears to hear and who will take up the challenge of writing new history into the future. What if we moved ...

From bondage to spiritual faith

From spiritual faith to great thankfulness

From great thankfulness to personal humility

From personal humility to spiritual discipline

From spiritual discipline to personal blessings

From personal blessings to blessing others

From blessing others to greater abundance

From greater abundance to greater thanksgiving

From greater thanksgiving to greater faith

From greater faith to greater humility

From greater humiliy to greater spiritual discipline

From greater spiritual discipline to greater blessings

From greater blessings to greater blessings for others ...

Why couldn't that be the way the story goes? I just believe it could work that way. I think the key lies in staying anchored in a humility that only faith can produce. Arrogance will forever be our fall. And yet, it is not our inevitable conclusion. We have seen it lived differently before and for over two thousand years we have been invited to follow His lead. I for one believe His way to be the answer to the this question of inevitability history seems to demand. I personally choose to follow His lead. Do well, my friends. Our future depends upon it!

Maximizing Our Resources

Welcome to Tappe Talk, a Purposed Connection podcast by The Tappe Group. This week Allen encourages us to give some serious attention to maximizing our resources. So, we start by evaluating our unused resources.

• Make a list of all of the resources you have at your disposal
• Create an analysis for how you are using those resources available to you
• Change your life response to maximize the resources you have been given
• Journal the difference the change makes in your life and work experience
• Spend time giving thanks for what you have been given and for what they mean to you
• Invest time in helping others understand what they are leaving on the table

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The Responsibility of Presentation

Do you give much thought to how you present things? You will if your read Nudge by Thaler and Sunstein. In this book, the authors do a great job of helping us see how easily people can be influenced simply by the arrangement of things presented to them. In the midst of reading this book, I began to think about the subtle balance between influence and manipulation. It has also caused me to think about how I go about presenting things passionately and yet responsibly.

To begin with, I do believe it is important to be reminded of the power we all have as human beings. We have the power to influence the choices of others simply by the way we communicate ourselves to them. It happens everyday. It is happening to us and we are happening to others. I don't believe most people believe they have that kind of influence but the truth is always there in potential. So, on one hand, it is a terrific thing to realize. I have power to influence. So, how am I using it or am I using it at all?

You see, I believe the realization prompts both opportunity and responsibility. I have the opportunity to influence people every single day in some way. I can influence the way they think and the choices they make simply through they way I present myself and my thoughts. It would seem then that clarity becomes pretty important. Am I influencing people with confidence and purpose? It gives me reason to give more thought to the way I approach each day. I have great potential in everyday and I can't afford to waste it because of personal confusion.

At the same time, I have significant responsibility for what and how I present. Manipulation happens when I remove the freedom of choice from others because of the way I present. So, on one hand, I have the responsibility to present my passion and convictions about products or services or thoughts because they deserve to be heard. People don't know what or how I think unless I present it to them. At the same time, what they think needs to be respected and protected in the process. There really is an art to achieving that delicate balance.

So, take the time to think about your presentation today. Make it with passion and purpose. Present others with the opportunity to hear your perspective. It can change the choices they make so approach them and life responsibly. Just give them a nudge. Help them choose. Do well!

To comment on this blog, click on the COMMENTS link located directly below. I would love to hear your thoughts!

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Welcome to Tappe Talk, a Purposed Connection podcast by The Tappe Group. What do you say to yourself? Allen encourages us this week to create something new with powerful words. So, here are a few thoughts about the prophetic power we have.

• New experience creates new opportunity
• Positive words have powerful impact
• Stay away from negative people, especially you
• Choose to put positive words and positive people in your life
• Put a song in your heart

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The Power of Confusion

Conflict is an unpopular word. In speaking to audiences across the country, when I ask them how they handle conflict the inevitable response is, "We avoid it." People hate conflict. At least in our part of the world they hate it. The Chinese culture on the otherhand has a different take on the word. In fact, to them, the synonym for conflict is opportunity. So, what do we do with this piece of confusion. If we follow the Chinese line of thought then we actually are repelled by opportunity. How does that make sense?

The truth is we hate what conflict represents and requires. We have created a culture where inconvenience and discomfort are avoided at all cost. We take pills to avoid the experience and escape the discomfort of pain. While that might be a wise course in acute and exceptional situations, it is not wise for those that are chronic. Furthermore, there are clearly times when pain itself is a great teacher and needs to be experienced.

We change relationships to avoid the discomfort of building them. Once we figure out that other people think differently than we do and might want to respond differently, we see it as a problem. In fact, diversity is a concept that has been legislated in this country in order to be experienced. Instead of seeing it as our greatest strength, we see it as a discomfort and an inconvenience that needs to be our right to avoid.

We build lifestyles around the need to avoid inconvenience. Many times we go into great debt to put ourselves in convenient places. We buy cars and houses and services to keep from having to embrace life's challenges. So, what is wrong with that you might ask. Only that somewhere in the escape of it all we have lost a vision for great value and opportunity.

Anything of real value emerges through the fire of conflict. It is forged. It is something that insists upon discomfort and inconvenience. What it creates, however, is more than worth the effort. Think about it. Relationships are nothing more than mere acquaintences until you live and work through conflict together. Jobs are only jobs until they are experienced as opportunity in life to grow and develop. Once you have successfully graduated from conflict's experience you will have built something that can last for a lifetime.

Living in challenging situations is not all bad. Many times the experience itself is worth it. Many people pay a lot of money and spend a lot of time looking for wilderness experiences and challenging situations. They have become a great value for which we are willing to pay for someone else to create for us. We yearn for opportunity to experience real life.

So, take some time and think about the things you might be working hard to avoid. It might just be that the great opportunity you seek is within your reach. Stop running from it. Reach through it. Do well, my friends

To comment on this blog, click on the COMMENTS link located directly below. I would love to hear your thoughts!

The Power of Clarity

Welcome to Tappe Talk, a Purposed Connection Podcast by The Tappe Group. Clarity is a powerful thing. With clarity, vision and focus become operative in your life. In this podcast, Allen helps you think about creating clarity in your life.

• Get clarity about where and who you are. Honesty is required.
• Look back at where you have been and how you got there. Remember humility.
• Reconnect with your connectors. Relationships are everything.
• Reflect on what you have learned. Celebrate your continuing education.
• Get back to your basics. Discipline yourself out of complacency.
• Discover your distinction. It is there for you to realize.

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Get Some Perspective

How challenging are things, really? I know there are those who have lost jobs, houses, and health. For those folks, life is about as tough as it can get. But, how about for the rest of us? What does tough mean to you and me?

I think it is time to get some perspective. This week, I am recommending Andy Andrews new book, The Noticer. It's a little book with a timely message written in the way that many of us have come to appreciate about Andy. He weaves tough messages into sweet stories. What many of us complain about as being challenges are really things for which we should be thankful. Think about it.

If you have a job, even if it is requiring more of you than in the past, don't you have reason to be thankful? If you have family, even when it gets messy and frustrating, don't you have cause to be grateful? If you are able to walk, and breathe, and eat, and talk, and see, don't you have a lot to celebrate? If you have freedom to pursue opportunity, don't you enjoy privilege that most people in this world will never know?

There is no doubt that we are living in a new chapter of life that is interesting to say the very least. Words like "reinvention" and "right sizing" and "global competition" are requiring us to face realities that we have never known. And, that is the point isn't it? We have more reason to pay attention and to be responsive and on our game. We are being challenged to be alive, awake, and alert. That really isn't bad news.

So, let's get some much needed perspective. Make a list of all of the reasons you have in your life to be thankful. Then, take a little time to talk to the One who makes it all possible and who can guide you through it all. It is great to have a Friend who knows the way!

To comment on this blog, click on the COMMENTS link located directly below. I would love to hear your thoughts!

What Does It Mean To Work Hard?

Welcome to Tappe Talk, a Purposed Connection podcast by The Tappe Group. Last week, Allen declared that it was time for a "new game" to begin. So, this week, Allen is going to spend some time talking about the challenges he faced in the process. Below are a few of his thoughts. Listen to the podcast to hear more.

• I started well.
• I wanted everyone else to get on board in my life.
• I felt the physical impact of changed habits.
• Many people around me didn't take it as seriously as I did.
• I faced distractions to my schedule.
• I got sick.
• So, now, it is time to recommit.

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To have this weekly podcast automatically upload to your mp3 player visit the iTunes Store and Power Search "tappe talk" and then subscribe

To comment on this blog, click on the COMMENTS link located directly below. I would love to hear your thoughts!