Creating Memories

This week we are celebrating the eighteenth birthday of my grandaughter, Savannah. During a celebration meal, my wife, Barbara, asked the family to share with Savannah "18" memories from her first eighteen years. It was pretty amazing to listen to how quickly we were able to remember and rehearse together "Savannah moments". We laughed. We held back some tears. It was a really special evening. Savannah is a blessing to our lives to say the very least. She is a gift.

I couldn't help thinking in the midst of that experience how important it is to live life with purposed intention to create memories. Think about what eighteen, or twenty-five, or fifty-seven memories people could remember about you and your life. I am convinced that to not live life memorably is a waste. What do you think? I think I have wasted too much.

So, if we are going to live memorable lives, it seems to me that things might have to change. To begin with, it will be important to get started. I don't think it is ever too late to create memories. You can't do anything about what you have already not done. The past is just that, it is past. You can choose to begin now. You can have a new beginning and create memories the world around you will celebrate.

I also think it will be important not to take yourself too seriously. I have learned that from my grandaughter. In some ways she has the insecurities of any teenager. But, in more ways, she is a free spirit. She loves to laugh. She doesn't mind people laughing with her or even sometimes at her. She does some bizarre things just to see if she can do it. Like, creating her own language and convincing a store clerk that it was legitimate just to see if she could. I have never come close to doing anything like that in my life. I might have to give it a try.

If we are going to create memories, we really are going to have to seize moments. Awareness of opportunity in a moment is significant. Moments do present themselves. Being ready to grab them, create in them, and live in them is the key. Intention is everything.

Bob Hope use to sing, "thanks for the memories". I hope someday people will be able to sit around a table and think about some "Allen moments". I am going to do my best to create some they won't forget. How about you? Do well, my friends.

Insanity

Welcome to Tappe Talk, a Purposed Connection podcast by The Tappe Group. "If you always do what you have always done and expect something different is definitively insanity." With an ever changing market and to return to things you have done in the past or sticking to things you are doing in the present could be intellegence not insanity. Allen shares a few thoughts this week on change, and discipline.

• Don't Change just to be changing.
• Basica are not bad.
• Being stuck is never good.
• Signals need to be respected.
• Seek objective counsel.
• Approach every challenge with new energy.
• Stay fit for change.

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What Do You Have In Mind?

I am sure you have had this question ask of you before - What do you have in mind? The question signals interest in what you are planning. Typically, others would be asking you that question, but what if you were asking that question to yourself about today? What do you have in mind about living today? What do you really mean to be taking up space and air in this world? What is your purpose for living today, or any day?

It may sound pretty deep and it really is. However, it is the kind of deep water you really need to jump into. These times call for clarity. There is enough confusion all around you for you not to have clarity within yourself. There is enough depression living near you for you to not have a clear sense of direction within yourself. So, let's give it some thought.

To begin with, I hope you have recognized there is not another one like you in this world. You are a one of a kind. That, in and of itself, suggests, even to the most shallow thinker, that there is some reason for you to be living uniquely in this world. So, before you can begin to discover purpose, you must believe there is purpose intended for you. Check that off. You are purposed to live this life or you would not be here.

Have you noticed there are alot of other uniquely purposed people around you? They are all distinctively different from you. They don't think like you, look like you, or sound like you but they are all around you. What is that all about? Well, since you are no mistake and they are no mistake, it would seem that you are meant for one another. Your purpose begins with the relationships you create in this life. Your purpose is fixed in others and your relationship to them.

Now, before you begin to start getting all independent on me, it is important for you to get clear about the fact that your being here involved a relationship. It begins with the love of a Creator who put you here that flowed through a relationship, good or bad, between people who birthed you into this life. There really is nothing independent about you at all. You are an interdependent being. You were created to stand alone with your God and in love with the people in your world. Whether you know them or not, your purpose lies in your love for them.

So, here is the launching point. Your purpose and mine is to find someone to love today. When we do it, it's like being a fish in water and not floundering on some shore. When we do, we find wind beneath our wings like an eagle in flight. It really is deep but it is also real clear. You and I were created to love God and love one another. What a gig. Do well, my friends.

Let People Choose!

Welcome to Tappe Talk, a Purposed Connection podcast by The Tappe Group. Do you struggle in relationships? One of the greatest challenges Allen has faced in his life is the challenge of letting people make choices for themselves even when he believes he knows what is better for them. Allen shares a few thoughts this week on how we need people and they need us.

1. Whatever choice a person is making is perfectly logical to that person.
2. People need for someone to listen to their story.
3. People do need objective input.
4. People do want to know what you believe.
5. You need to hear from other for your process.

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Discretionary?

There are alot of great questions being tossed around today. None more important than this one - "What is discretionary in spending today?" By definition, discretionary refers to things that are "unnecessary" or "non-essential". In commentary, it would be more about things we "want" as opposed to things we "need". I do not believe it is an overstatement to say that everyone in this country is rethinking their wants and needs.

It seems to me that we are facing a new normal in our life experience where things that are truly discretionary will be looking to qualify for endangered species protection. There are many companies, and maybe even industries, that are in complete denial about this 21st century development. I think it is time to come out of denial before it is too late, if it is not already.

To begin with, there is every reason to believe that our future, economically speaking, will not be as positive as our past. One author recently has suggested that one day in our future as a nation we will be looking back to '07-'09 as being the "good ol' days". Now, I hope he is wrong. However, I am a positive realist. I believe we can deal positively with whatever we have before us. I do tend to agree, however, that the unprecedented abundance I have experienced as a boomer will not be the experience of my great grandchildren and maybe not even of my children and grandchildren. Normal is being redefined, fast.

I believe it is vital to our future for there to be a response to this reality. Companies need to reshape their corporate expectations to reflect true change, strategically speaking. It is not good enough to simply downsize, although for many that change was overdue. Nor, will it be good enough to have people working harder and expecting greater results. New focus must be made upon this matter of "discretionary" spending. Products and services need to become strategically focused upon meeting the needs of the consumer public both corporate and personal. Companies and industries choosing to stay focused on appealing to the "discretionary" wants of the people and companies they serve should at least prepare for a shrinkng market. I personally believe they need to adjust their focus to serve the demanding needs of the people they call customers.

I think the future is going to be bright for those who answer this question creatively. I believe truly professional relationships will be grown, if not birthed, for the first time. Denial is a bad strategy. Responsiveness with a spirit of urgency is the professional way. I believe we have good things to look forward to if we are fit to respond. Check out my book this week, The Power of Purposed Performance, and focus on the distinction between being a leader and being a victim. Choose well, my friends!

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!