PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

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Boost Your Leadership Skills By Disciplining Yourself In The Way Of The Question Mark
by Brent Filson

I’m often asked to come in to organizations and give a motivational speech to their employees. I reply that I’m not a motivational speaker. Never have been. Never will be. Don’t want to be. I do something else. I teach their people how to become motivational leaders. That’s a far more productive endeavor.

The concept and application of motivation are misunderstood in most organizations. The motivational industry is based on a fundamental contradiction; because the focus of motivation is misplaced. After all, leaders (salespeople included) should be motivated. If they aren’t, they shouldn’t be leaders.

Here’s where the focus should be: not on the leaders themselves but on the people they lead. Can those leaders transfer their motivation to other people so those people are as motivated as they are about the challenges they face?

Furthermore: Can those people who “catch” the motivation of their leaders then go out and motivate others — and those others go out themselves and motivate still others … and on and on?

Finally, can people at each phase of this “cascading of cause leaders” translate motivation into action that achieves results — and not just average results but more results faster on a continual basis?

I have written many articles on motivation and how to transfer your motivation to others.

But there is another way of transforming your motivation to others that doesn’t take much explaining. It’s surprisingly simple, easy to use, and effective. Yet few leaders I’ve encountered use it, and those who use it, don’t use it well.

It’s the Way of the Question Mark. A “way” is a course of life one undertakes to advance in a particular discipline.

So it is with the Way of the Question Mark. It is not simply a technique; you’ll find it is actually a disciplined course of life. (I’ve been using it for years and am still a long way from mastering it. Because the question mark is often particularly appropriate in a highly charged emotional situation. However, in such situations, when strong emotions are getting the better of me, it takes practice and discipline to step back, gather my thoughts, and ask a question.)

Practicing the Way of the Question Mark can enhance your relationships with the people you lead so you get a lot more results as a leader.

From now on in all your leadership endeavors, make a conscious effort to put a question mark at what would otherwise be declarative sentences.

Asking the question rather than using a declarative is usually more effective because it gets people reflecting upon their situation. We can’t motivate anyone to do anything. They have to motivate themselves. And they best motivate themselves when they reflect on their character and their situation. The question prompts people to answer, and when they are answering, they may engage in such reflection. You may not like the answer; but often their answer, no matter what it is, is better in terms of advancing results than your declaration. Also, their answering the question may prompt them to think they have come up with a good idea. People are less enamored of your great ideas than they are of their ideas, even if those ideas are simply average.

For instance, your organization needs to have people to from point A to point B. An order leader might say, “Go from A to B.”

Practicing the Way, one might ask: “Tell me what you think about going from A to B?” or “What’s the best way for you to go from A to B?” or “Tell me how I can support you going from A to B?” or “How will you take leadership of others going from A to B?”

Mind you, I’m not talking about pandering to people’s whims. I’m talking motivation, motivating people to get more results faster on a continual basis. (In fact, you can’t order people to get more results faster continually. Only motivated people can do it.) I’m talking about challenging people to undertake extraordinary things, to be better than they think they are.

The question mark, as opposed to the simple declarative, opens up a world of results-producing possibilities. And it’s a world predicated on their choices.

Make the Way of the Question Mark your way. Discipline yourself to ask questions rather than make statements. You’ll start getting more results.

2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson’s recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. – and for more than 20 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: “49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results,” at http://www.actionleadership.com

Source: High Quality Article Database - 365articles.com

I have spent many years trying to develop my inner self. It has not been easy. Overcoming my fears, inhibitions and inertia was difficult, but the effort has been worth it and I believe I live my life to its full potential. But how can I teach my child to live life to the full?

The search for self improvement is full of self doubt. I have spent years exploring many avenues and techniques; not all lead to anywhere meaningful. However, some things I learnt have helped me enormously. But I’m not confident that I have found the right answers. Other people I know have found great benefit from techniques and practices that were of no help to me. Likewise, what I find beneficial, others may not.

Meeting and falling in love with my wife was the best thing that has ever happened to me. The birth of our son brought us great joy. But as we settled into parenting, I became more and more worried about my ability to teach my son about the right approach to live life. I didn’t want him to spend years, in later life, searching, as I had done, for answers as to how best to live life. I didn’t want his life constrained like so many people’s lives are today.

I had so many questions about the correct ‘life coaching plan’ I should use. How old should he be before I began teaching him techniques that I had learnt? What approach should I take? And were the techniques and practices I had learnt suitable for him? Did I have the ability to teach others?

It was my wife who provided the answer. Actually, we had a row. I was fretting, as usual, about our son, when my wife screamed at me to ‘give it a rest!’ When I retorted that I only wanted to help our child, she replied that it was me who wanted help and that our son needed no help at all. In fact, she said, if I continued like this, one thing was certain: our son would certainly spend many years as an adult, trying to sort out his life.

She was right of course. From that point on, I began to really observe my child and I began to realize that he had ‘no issues’ to sort out, no inhibitions, inertia, or self doubt. He’s a dynamo, who is constantly exploring the world around him. He’s always himself; he’s in touch with his real, inner-self.

I have nothing to teach him. Sure, I can teach him to cross the road, walk down stairs holding the hand-rail and how to ride a bike. But I have nothing to teach him on how to live life. He’s doing it all by himself. He’s my teacher, and a good one at that.

Robin O’Brien is founder and editor of http://www.selfimprovementtechniques.com and http://www.winchester-tourist-information.com

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PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

Word count: 1082

A Leadership Secret: Replace Goals With Processes Using The Shared Dream
by Brent Filson

I bring leadership processes that help leaders get more results faster continually. The results will come in a specific length of time. The results will go beyond what the leaders are achieving now. The results can be measured, validated, and used as springboards for even more results. The results can be translated into money saved/earned. The results can’t be achieved without the help of Leadership Talks. And yet …

Yet … getting this big jump in results scares many leaders and can lead to burn out in the people they lead.

You’d think leaders would welcome such results. No such luck. Here’s why: They see results as a point not a process.

Seeing results in this way prevents you from getting the more substantial results you’re really capable of. Look, results are limitless. Those who don’t know that don’t know much about leadership. Those who believe that must believe in the process-reality of results.

Let’s look at the difference between a goal and a process. You’ve been dealing with goals and processes your whole career, but it’s important to your success to see the difference in leadership terms.

A goal is the result or achievement toward which effort is directed. A process is a continuous series or actions or changes. A goal can hinder results. (The word goal derives from an Old English word, “gaelan” meaning “to hinder.”) A process can multiply them.

I worked with the head of the head of manufacturing of a global company. Responding to relentless cost cutting pressures, he was continually setting formidable quarterly stretch goals on quality and productivity.

The line workers were meeting the goals; but upon reaching one summit of goals, they inevitably faced another (the next quarterly goals) and were getting burned out.

I suggested that to avoid this burn out, they look at the results not in terms of quarterly goals but in terms of processes. I gave him a two-step process to do it.

(1) Define your goals. The manufacturing division had to deliver numbers to corporate, productivity increases, quality advancements, etc. Those numbers were goals they had to absolutely meet. Meeting them was vital to their jobs and careers.

Viewing them as the right goals and adhering to their commitment to meet those goals are necessary first steps in translating those goals into processes.

2. Apply the Shared Dream. The Shared Dream can be one of the most powerful tools in leadership. Yet few leaders I know are aware of it, if not in name at least in activity.

Leadership processes are the best processes, and the Shared Dream is one of the best of the best. Because it is one key way we can translate results into processes.

Translating results into processes involves:
*a team effort; it cannot be done simply by fiat.
* the ardent commitment of all parties concerned, people can’t be left out or left behind.
*continual and systematic support, evaluation and monitoring of the processes.
*the application of the Shared Dream.

What is the Shared Dream? It is simply the uniting of your vision as a leader and the dream of the people you lead then using the union to get great results.

For instance, the manufacturing division was supposed to get 3 to 5% reduction in costs per year, irrespective of inflation.

To make the yearly goals, the division had to meet quarterly benchmarks. The problem was that the cost reductions were the division’s and the company’s vision, not really the line-workers dream.

The employees dream, we found out through a number of facilitated on-the-site meetings, was predominately job security. (That was a pretty obvious finding but one we needed to nail down with interactions with the employees.) Lower cost overseas manufacturing was cutting into the company’s margins. The threat was real that they would close shop in the states and take the manufacturing overseas.

So, there was a gap between vision of the division leaders, constant cost reductions, and the dream of the division workers, job security.

Of course, you might say that cost reductions were in fact all about job security. But the employees didn’t see it that way. “That’s the malarkey the suits feed us,” said one worker.

The idea was to have them move from being goal-oriented to being process-oriented. That change of viewpoint needed a change of commitment.

Without a Shared Dream, with the goals not transformed into processes, people were getting burned out, going through the motions, anger, suppressing, tired, wanting out.

The division leader got together with the employees in a number of on-the-job meetings and talked about their dream. They came up with the idea that if their manufacturing was competing in the world market place, the best way to compete was to become “world class” manufacturing enterprise.

The people researched the requirements of being world class manufacturing, using top world manufacturers are benchmarks. They came up with eight quantitative measures that defined “world class.” These measurements included continual productivity and quality increases, speed of throughput, etc.

By the way, when I say “people” I mean this came from the rank and file. Representatives of workers groups participated.

Together, the leaders and rank and file, put together action programs to meet those targets. Those action programs were processes. In essence, they put together a Shared Dream. They changed results into processes.

“Let’s meet those targets together!” is a Shared Dream if they and you want it badly. It’s not a Shared Dream if it’s your vision — you have to get quarterly decreases.

Your vision is not motivational unless it matches their dream. Just because it is your vision does not mean it is their dream. Don’t confuse your order for their dream. A gap between vision and dream handicaps organizations.

Here is the Shared Dream process.
– Define Your Vision
– Define their dream.
– Combine the vision and dream to get the Shared Dream.
– Test the Shared Dream.
– Describe the rewards and punishments of achieving or failing to achieve the Shared Dream.
– Make the final cut at describing the Shared Dream.
– Implement the Shared Dream as a trigger for turning goals into processes.
-– Monitor and evaluate the progress.

One might say, “That’s a lot of trouble to go through. Why don’t you just tell them what they have to do and make them do it?”

But that’s the point. Your ordering them is far different in terms of results outcomes than their motivating themselves to make it happen. And it won’t happen unless you go through the rigorous process of turning their goals into processes using the Shared Dream.

2006 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson’s recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. – and for more than 20 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: “49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results,” at www.actionleadership.com

Source: High Quality Article Database - 365articles.com

This article is a brief description of the spiritual path that I am walking upon.

I think for any path to be feasible there must be certain ways of increasing our understandings and realisations. In my case, I was taught how to interpret dream and meditation symbols.

Many other modalities, act as secondary supports along the journey. But the crux of the path essentially lies in consistent meditation and dream/vision interpretations. It is perhaps possible not to meditate, provided we remain sensitive to incoming-intuitions and other means of receiving insights and self-discoveries. Pendulum reading does play a part in filling some of the roles performed by meditational vision interpretation, but it is certainly not as flexible. This is because the readings that we get from pendulums are limited by the type of charts we use. In another word, visions can have infinite variations, whereas pendulum charts can only give us answers within their range of options.

Additionally, Reiki attunements helped in increasing my sensitivity to energies.

I simply cannot emphasize more on the role dream/vision interpretation plays in self-growth acceleration. It is very effective in deepening our understandings and in transforming ourselves. Prior to knowing how to interpret dreams, progress was slow for me. Dream interpretation significantly opened up new ways of receiving detailed information essential for my continued self-growth.

I don’t think there are any hard and fast rules to self-discovery. Living Life itself is the path. However, I do believe in practice and consistency, if we were to achieve any desirable results.

I have been a meditator for many years… It was about 5-6 years ago that I discovered that I am at times receiving visions/images/insights in my mind that educated me about certain things. Often these visions revealed only what was understandable by me at any given moment of my journey. It was at this beginning stage of vision-receiving, that I met a highly Enlightened Teacher who taught me the current method that included dream interpretation. I am truly grateful to that Teacher.

Along my path, there were at times, what appeared to be past-lives feelings surfacing onto my conscious mind. These feelings were mostly traumatic, but realising them allowed me to understand the reason of my present life fears. Because of the potentially shocking and at times unpleasant experiences of past-life emotional re-living, I strongly feel that only one who is focused on progressing spiritually attempt to uncover past life experiences. Past life uncovering must be treated with respect.

Well, this is my system of practice in a nutshell. As you can see, the path is quite flexible in the sense that it is fully integrated into my life experiences and it does not really present itself as a separate endeavour. Also, each individual path will be unique and different from others. This is mainly because, each one of us, have different issues and areas that needed addressing.

I recognise that many different types of path can lead to similarly desirable results. Perhaps, the external expressions of different paths often belies similar dynamics under the differing facade.

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Your body includes the pelvis, abs, back and chest muscles. Your body core muscles provides stability, balance and flexibility.

Every movement you make brings the core muscles into play. Weak core muscles are one of the biggest causes of back pain. Once you develop these muscles, you may find your back pain lessening or completely eliminated. You will definitely find you are much more fit and better able to do every day activities.

One of the absolute best ways you can work out your core muscles is to incorporate an exercise ball, also known as a Swiss Ball, into your exercise routine.

Exercising on a Swiss ball provides instability to each exercise you do because the ball is round. While you perform your exercises on the ball your body core muscles are working to keep your balance so you don’t fall off. The exercises you perform on the Swiss ball work out your body more intensely, meaning you do the same amount of exercise and you get twice the results.

You may even find you can exercise for a shorter period of time and get better results than you got putting in twice the minutes.

Try this. Get your hands on an exercise ball. First do a regular crunch on the floor. Then lay back onto the ball with your legs in front of you, feet flat on the floor. In the beginning you may want to widen your stance but as you become use to the ball, bring your feet closer together for even better results.

Now do the same number of repetitions of the crunch you did on the floor; if you can. Notice how much more intense the crunch on the ball was?

Now, to put all doubts behind you, go into a pushup position with your hands supporting you on the ball. Begin doing a pushup, be carefull or you may fall flat on the floor. Your whole body is quivering. While you are doing a pushup for your upper body, your core muscles are working to keep your balance. Your ab muscles are getting a solid workout.

The result is you are achieving your goal much quicker without adding any additional exercises to your routine. Not to mention, most people find it more enjoyable to exercise on a Swiss ball. You can do a variety of exercise so you never get bored and the ball makes it more challenging and produces better results so you are more apt to want to keep exercising.

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Time management can be a big issue for stay at home moms that have many things going on in their lives. For mothers that truly want the best for themselves and their families, time management can play a major role as to their success. If you always feel rushed and you feel you can’t get anything completed during the day you might want to address your time management methods. If you have the feeling of not being able to focus on one thing at a time and not being able to handle distractions well, then you should take a step away from the action and relearn the basics. Time management is a simple concept: plan and organize your schedule to make your time as clear and productive as possible. However, as with most stay at home moms, we must accept that there will be plenty adversity during the day and we have to deal with it. If you are finding that you are pressed for free time or that you just feel too busy chasing your kids around, here are some tips to make your time more productive and find some time for yourself. Wake up a Little Earlier and Take Time to Take Care of Yourself Remember you have control as to when you wake up. Consider waking up a little earlier. I find that taking the first 30 - 60 minutes of the day to just think does wonders for my mental outlook. Take a few minutes to have a cup of coffee or tea and write down what you need to do for the day or maybe do absolutely nothing. If you want, write down any tasks you promised your family or yourself to do earlier and prioritize as to when you can complete them. If you really want to do something great take on exercising: wake up 60 minutes earlier than your family and work out. Movement is a great way to start the day and it clears your mind. There is so much to be said for exercising and living a healthy life style. The point is that you want to give yourself a head start. Again: you can control when you wake up. Take Control of Incoming Demands Children can be a very powerful distraction that can easily take your focus away. I have two young children (six and three years old) and it seems that they have a request every 30 seconds. Some days I’m reaching for the Excedrin by 9:00 am. However, you must embrace the fact that your family comes first. The best thing to do here is to try your best to teach your children to ask for things one at a time and also (if age permits) show them how to do things on their own. If you are doing something very important and it’s not a life and death request from your child, try to defer it until you complete the task. Your time can be well spent by teaching your kids to take care of a few things themselves when they ask for something. Keep a Note Book and Pen Handy Try to keep a note book with yourself at all times. As long as you are not driving or doing something dangerous, it is best to write down your random thoughts in a note book. This way you can decide what to do with the task when you are ready to review new information. This is a good way to decide if an idea is good enough to pursue. More importantly you can prioritize the idea. Writing down your ideas and forgotten tasks in a note book can be a powerful tool in dealing with distractions. If you are like me (with a mind going a mile a minute), a note pad and pen is essential to time management. Time management is necessary for almost anyone in this super busy world we live in. However, I feel it’s even more important for stay at home moms because we are responsible for keeping our families together. Our days are filled with running around for our children, working on multiple projects at the same time plus some of us try to juggle school or a home business. So time management skills are definitely needed and can really help. If you really want the opportunity to improve yourself, think about starting your own home business. We sell skin care products that made with the best ingredients and provide results for the people that use them. This opportunity is the "perfect" stay at home mom business. Please visit www.independentskincareconsultant.com now for more information.

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PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

Word count: 580

In Leadership, Results Are Limitless
by Brent Filson

Results are limitless. That’s not a supposition. That’s a fact. Leaders who don’t believe that don’t understand the power of leadership to achieve great results. Leaders who believe it and live by their belief have an unmatched advantage over those leaders who don’t.

To begin to understand how and why results-are-results are limitless, consider these facts:
* In 1878, Jean Bouillaud, member of the French Academy of Sciences, said upon hearing a demonstration of Thomas Edison’s phonograph, “It is quite impossible that the noble organs of human speech could be replaced ignoble, senseless metal.”

* In 1899, Charles H. Duell (Commissioner of U.S. Office of Patents.), urging President William McKinley to abolish his office, said,”Everything that can be invented has been invented.”

* An 1909 article in the Scientific American stated, “The automobile has practically reached the limit of its development is suggested by the fact that during the past year no improvements of a radical nature have been introduced.”

* Popular Mechanics stated in March 1949: “Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and perhaps only weight 11/2 tons.”

The point isn’t that experts are wrong. Experts, we know, have been wrong countless times. The point isn’t that things change. That’s obvious. The point is this: BECAUSE THINGS CHANGE, RESULTS ARE LIMITLESS. IN OTHER WORDS, WHATEVER RESULTS YOU ARE ACHIEVING, YOU CAN ALWAYS ACHIEVE MORE.

This may seem like a non sequitur. After all, leaders know that things change. But many leaders whom I have encountered don’t make the connection and fail to realize that results are limitless.

But there is a connection — a profound connection. And leaders who don’t make that connection, don’t live that connection, are giving short shrift to their leadership and the people they lead.

Living by the results-are-limitless credo can set you apart as a leader who consistently gets results, no matter what the challenge you face.

Start to take a small but well-defined step to manifest results-are-limitless leadership.

(1) Identify. Identify one thing you think is NOT BEING QUESTIONED. Make sure it is something people believe has “reached the limit of its development.” It may be a product or features of a product. It may be the way your organization is structured. It may be a successful engineering program.

(2) Question. Treat it as if it’s fundamental premise were false. Can you shoot holes in the logical reasons for its existence? If it ain’t broke, see what would happen if you break (change) it — with one end in mind, achieving more results.

(3) Change. See if you can come up with answers that will lead either to replacing what you’re questioning or improving it.

(4) Continue. Don’t look at this as an academic assignment. It’s not homework. It’s the beginning of making the credo part of the DNA of your leadership.

Repeat: This as a leadership endeavor. Determine who are the cause leaders you need to make the change happen. Talk to them about how they would take leadership to affect that change. You should not only have “What if … ” discussions but more importantly, “Why not … “discussions.

2006 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson’s recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. – and for more than 20 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: “49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results,” at www.actionleadership.com

Source: High Quality Article Database - 365articles.com

I always know when April makes its yearly debut without consulting the calendar because my wife usually says, “Let’s clean out the garage today.” Trust me on this one, it is no April fool’s joke, but someone gets fooled. And believe me, I’m just not anybody’s fool. I’m my wife’s fool.

Somehow, her “let’s” has a funny singular ring to it and we had, if I remember correctly, a double ring wedding ceremony. Hers is on her left ring finger while mine somehow ended up in my nose.

For some reason spring brings to women, wives in particular, an uncontrollable urge to clean something. It doesn’t matter what that something is, it has to be cleaned. Moreover, it does not matter how clean or dirty that something is or when it was last cleaned, it must be cleaned again.

This represents a basic philosophical difference between men and women. In the beginning, man was perfectly at home with dirt, then along came Eve and introduced spring-cleaning.

We have no idea how long it was between Adam and the time Eve came onto the scene, but it was long enough to get the entire Garden of Eden dirty, necessitating a thorough cleaning.

Thus began the yearly ritual known as spring-cleaning. This tradition has been handed down from mother to daughter since the beginning of time. As far as I can ascertain, no father on record has handed down to his son any way of putting a stop to this nonsense. And don’t think I’m not just a little upset about that.

I think our forefathers could have found a fifth father to help come up with a workable plan to get rid of this yearly onus.

But, it is spring and the time-honored ritual has come to our domestic den. Spring is in the air and spring-cleaning is on the agenda. I, on the other hand, had other plans, which did not include soap and water. So much for my plans. A husband’s plan is always subject to his wife’s rescheduling.

Every year I asked the same question. How in the world does spring get so dirty? And, more important, why do I have to clean it? I didn’t mess it up.

I believe Mother Nature ought to clean her own spring and not push this responsibility onto husbands like me who have better things to do with their time.

One year I got confused and cleaned my spring in the fall, which screwed up my whole winter wondering what I would do when spring actually arrived and it was already cleaned.

Spring-cleaning would not be so bad if I could use my definition of clean rather than my wife’s. One man’s clean is his wife’s “when are you going to clean that?”

At the least, it would be helpful if spring-cleaning only came on leap year, which would give me an opportunity to hop out of the way before my good wife could spring into action.

In our house, the annual spring cleaning focuses on the garage. When my wife gets it into her head to clean the garage, I get it into my head to get clean out of her way. In the scheme of things, how important is a clean garage anyway? It’s not as if Martha Stewart is going to make a surprise visit.

As a veteran husband (with the scars to prove it), I have discovered one thing in my house. Behold, a greater than Martha Stewart lives at my lodgings.

My philosophy is simply, a dirty garage is a happy garage. It just doesn’t make my wife happy and when she’s not happy neither am I — so I am willing to live with an unhappy garage. These are the compromises enabling husbands to survive generation after generation. At least, enabling this husband to survive spring-cleaning one more year.

I have no idea what my garage does during the winter to get so dirty, but I wish it would stop it, or at least clean up after itself and not cause me so much grief.

When the idea of spring-cleaning comes up, I take one gander at the object of the endeavor and try to duck out as quickly as possible. I usually run into my wife standing at the door and realize my goose is cooked, usually to a nice golden burnt.

My idea of cleaning the garage is opening the garage door and the back door and let nature take its course. However, when I suggest this, an ill wind blows my way, if you know what I mean.

Garage cleaning invariably leads to garage sales. Garage sales are amazing.

Instead of donating my worthless junk to the neighborhood dump, I sell it to my neighbors, who will put it in their garage sale next year. This keeps neighborhood junk in circulation for years, and then some antique dealer buys it and starts the whole cycle again in New York City.

One man’s junk is another man’s antique.

My wife insists cleanliness is next to godliness. If that is so, why did God create so much dirt?

God is also in the cleaning business and you can be sure His is the ultimate leaving nothing unclean.

The Apostle Paul explains, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” (Titus 3:5 KJV.)

When God says, “Let’s clean out your life today,” trust Him to do a thorough job.

Source: High Quality Article Database - 365articles.com