The First Step in Rock Pushing is Vision Casting

Too often, vision casting is simply an exercise in viewing the future through a big telescope. You look to see where you want to end up achieving your business or personal success. In order to push big Square Rock uphill you must use your imagination and not only see where you want to go but how to get there.

I have been most successful when I can in-vision every element on the very steep hill that is standing between my efforts and success. For every idea I have had, only those where I can see myself actively engaged in have been successful. If you cannot imagine yourself in the daily grind towards success, you may be on the wrong hill with the wrong Square Rock. The successful entrepreneur must not only take the time to cast a vision for the ultimate destination, but also a plan on how to get there.

General Norman Schwarzkopf who laid out the blue print for the allied forces in the first Desert Storm battle in Kuwait and Irag, inspired me with his vision casting for the battle plan of the war. He said the vision was to win the battles, the difficulty was to in-vision all the different ways to get to the successful outcome. He said he tried to anticipate all the different moves the Iraq Republican Guard might make and be prepared to respond to them. The battle field is like business, the successful leader must adapt as changes happen real time. Nothing kills business momentum as quickly as having to stop pushing the Square Rock uphill because you have encountered a major obstacle in your path that you did not expect.

This concept has been around for thousands of years. Sun Tzu who wrote the "Art of War" said it a little differently but the end result is the same. He said' "The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his mind before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand."

By spending time each day on the vision for your company, project, or idea you are able to look at different ways up the hill. To often, we see only the prize and one way to achieve our goal. As the leader you must see things as a whole, which includes the daily grind of helping insure you team does not become confused by the obstacles they encounter on the hill.

I am able to close my eyes and role-play a variety of scenarios all with the intent of reaching the top of the hill. This is how I use the in-vision process to make sure I have evaluated as many possible directions and situations as possible. The exciting thing is when one of the in-vision role play actually becomes a reality. Just as General Schwarzkopf did in Desert Storm 1, I have practiced the reality in my mind and I am not surprised when or if it actually happens. Shame on the leader who only sees vision casting as a single final destination or single caculation. The successful Rock Pushers are always evaluating and recasting their vision to include as many possibilities as they can imagine.

Go out today and bring your vision casting from the top of the hill down towards the path you are rapidly approaching and see if makes it easier once you approach this part of you quest.

The Chief Rock Pusher.

If we have the Power of God living in us, why do we act like a bunch of spiritual wimps?

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

It drives me crazy to see fellow believers who are walking around with a timid, afraid attitude. It appears that we have a church full of religious wimps. Afraid to take any action due to the fact it might be misunderstood or offensive to those in the church and workplace. So these timid Christians quietly keep their heads down and go through the battle of life during the week and come to Church on Sunday to celebrate their Faith. To the non believers, why would anyone want to be a Christian, if it means becoming a wimp?

This verse give encouragement to men and women of faith and action. As a believer, I know I was not given a timid spirt. The Holy Spirit who lives in us is a Spirit of power that is balanced by love and self-discipline. I think the concept that best describes the combination of these three, power, love and self-discipline is MEEKNESS.

I define Meekness as strength under control. Meekness is going into any situation full of confidence and strength but keeping yourself under control. Jesus modeled meekness everyday. He had more power, more love and more self-discipline that any man who ever walked on the earth. Yet his attitude was that of meekness. He could have nuked the Pharisees at any point for any number of reasons but he did not. There was not one shred of timidity when Jesus ran the money changers out of the temple. As a believer we have power indwelling in us through the Holy Spirit, not timidity. This Spirit of Power should bring you incredible confidence as you push your square rocks of life uphill.

It is this attitude of meekness that keeps the power we have dwelling in us under control. The command of "love your neighbor as yourself" provides the important balance to power. Self-discipline is also needed to balance power as it focuses us on living in the Spirit where our power resides. Without self-discipline we always choose to live in the Flesh where we try to create "self power". Without God, we have no real power just the worldly power that is not sustainable. Power without Love leads to arrogance. An attitude of arrogance leads us quickly into sin and living in the flesh.

So go into the battle of life today knowing you possess a Spirit of power that is balanced with God's love. Our job is chose to be self disciplined by focusing our mind, body and soul on things of the Spirit not the Flesh. This combination will produce meekness which is strength under control and focused on showing the love of God to the "one another's" we encounter today.

When an archer misses the mark he turns and looks for the fault within himself. Failure to hit the bull's eye is never the fault of the target. To improve your aim improve yourself. Gilbert Arland

We live a a culture of "its not my fault".  It is from this culture that we must pull ourselves out of this mindset and then move on to those around us.  A culture of of "it can't be my   fault" leaves us all mired in mediocrity. We have nothing to make us better. At the very center of many of the issues we are dealing with as a nation, is the  mindset of our leaders its not my fault the target must have moved.  

For the archer to become better he needs to examine what he did wrong and work to fix it so the next time he strikes the center of his target.  The same is true for all of us as we push the square rocks of our lives uphill. If we can develop a mind set of introspection of ourselves and our actions then we are on the way to improving our aim.  

After each encounter with someone that did not go well, push the replay button and examine what you could have done better.  After a failed business meeting, its easy to blame the other side and say "it was not my fault".  But what if it was?  Without a quick replay in you mind, how do you know?

Every day we  hit the replay button on our DVR's, DVD's, voicemail, and Ipods to make sure we got it right and heard it clearly.  Why not take a minute to replay those events, conservations, emails, and meetings to see how you might have aimed a little differently. Show me a person who has a "its not my fault attitude" and I will show you a person who has chosen not to improve their aim.

It always easy to blame the targets, its not as easy to self evaluate the archer when we miss the targets we are aiming for in life, in business, and in our relationships.  

Imagine the power of an organization if all the archers are constantly looking to improve their own aim first before trying to fix or blame a missed target on others.  There will be massive, positive change in that organization. 

Loving God, Loving my Neighbor and putting "ME" last, does that sound fair?

"Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39)

If you are pushing your rocks uphill alone, it may be time for attitude check.  Is it always about you?  Jesus said make it about God and your neighbors, not yourself.  

As a believer we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit. It is only through the power of God in us can we love the way God intended. First, we need to be right with God. The love described in this verse is a complete yielding of myself to God. Jesus tells us me I have to Love our Lord, my God with ALL my heart, with ALL my soul and ALL my mind. I fight a battle each day within myself of who wins the battle of my attention my flesh or my spirit. Generally Satan and the flesh wins. It is not possible for us to love completely and yield completely when we are focused on ourselves not God.

Too many days I intently push my square rock uphill with all my heart, soul and mind for myself and set aside my focus on God. I am so very busy, so important, so self consumed that I never seem to have time for part two, love your neighbor as yourself. I am so busy loving myself, and taking care of my self that there is nothing left to give to my neighbors.

Thats why Jesus said, love the Lord with everything, make it about God and not about you. Only then, are you able to show this selfness love to your neighbor. So according to Jesus, its about loving God, then loving your neighbor and finally if there is anything else loving yourself.

Remember we serve an "Always" God, if He is directing your life, time is not an issue. Have confidence and Faith today that by giving all you have to God, he will direct your path to both your neighbor and yourself. You see the verse includes "US" in this love, it just not make "US" the priority. For me that's what it means to get your priorities in order. Too often mine have been reversed with a self focus. Until we focus our love on God, our flesh will always want our full attention. Go out into the world today, with a confidence that the God you love is in control and actively look for ways to show your neighbors and the "one another's" God's love through you.  By the way, did I mention that many times you will need your neighbors and the "one another's" to help push your square rocks uphill.  No Rock Pusher has ever made it uphill alone.  

True success pushing rocks is achieved with the guidance of God and the assistance of those you engage to join you.  If you make it about your success, few will want to join you on the hill. Make it about your neighbors and the one another's and you will create a lot momentum for you and your rocks. 

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD"

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:11-13)

There are so many rich concepts in these three verses. First, God knows what he has planned for you and I. I try to ask God each morning, where do you want me to go today? When I push my rock into a black hole on the hill of life it us usually because I am trying to go a direction that God does not have planned for me. Have you ever wondered why sometimes your square rock  seems so easy to push? I believe that when we let go of control of our lives and yield it to God, we create momentum because God is pushing our square rock with us.

I have asked myself this question many times, can I really have more in this life than God has planned for me. When God says he will prosper us, I do not think its about growing our checkbook. God views prosperity a lot different than society does. Prosper might mean we have more opportunities to serve God in our daily activities. We have more opportunities to show people the love of God through our daily actions. In any case, its about what God can do for us, not what we can do for God. God can prosper me however he chooses.

We are given a clear operating manuel. I am to call on God, go to God and pray to him, and we have the eternal promise that God will listen. We must be committed to God, looking always for him and we are promised to find him when we seek with all our heart. Its the "with all our heart" that causes me trouble. There are times when I know if I seek Gods will and plan for my life that it might conflict with the fleshy plans I have for my self.

Yet this passage clearly tells me that 1. God knows the plan for my life. 2. He wants to prosper me, protect me, give me hope and a future. My job is is seek to follow God's plan through daily prayer knowing that the has promised to listen. (notice it does not say agree with my prayer) Then be prepared to go directions that I might not have gone in the fleshly side of my live simply because I define prosper a little differently than my Life Leader does.

We are all pushing square rocks uphill, imagine the momentum we will create if we yield to God and follow the path up the hill of life he has planned for us.

Sharing lessons learned from an Eternal Rock Pusher

For almost twenty years I have lived the life of a serial entrepreneur. After spending the first half of my career with fortune 500 companies I have started five different companies.  In all of these business endeavors I equate my life to pushing square rocks uphill.

I have managed to stay married to the same wife, raise two kids, pay for a very expensive  wedding, continue to pay for college and have watched the birth of my first grand child.

I have witnessed first hand the difficulty in birthing an idea into a product and taking that very precious concept into the market.   It does not matter if you work in a large company, an small company, you are a leader or a follower, you are involved each day in pushing either your rock or someone else's uphill.

I hope the stories of my success and failures will enlarge your vision of who you can be and how you can be more effective leader of men and women in all areas of your life. 

Over the years I have achieved great success, experienced total failure, and yet always continued to climb the hill in front of me.  I have tried to capture the essence some of the most powerful concepts that we tend to ignore in business.  As I present these concepts to you, I want you to consider that anyone can use the principles.  

The first key to successfully pushing rocks uphill is the envisioning process.  You see we all start at the bottom of a very steep hill with a very big flat rock. Without an envisioning process it is highly likely the Rock will back over on you at some point in your journey. For those impatient Rock Pushers, take a deep breath and figure out what route you will take up the hill.  More on this later. 

How is your retirement plan looking on the steep hill called life?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

What can you say about the most quoted verse in the Bible, yet there is great encouragement for rock pushers. In business,  I spend hours each day in the quest for the golden ring. You know a big salary, bonus, power, recognition, achievement and a great retirement package. Those valuable things that everyone wants but few get.

Love does not have a lot of time to enter my day as I strive for the things I do not have. I did not realize that back on November 6, 1963 I won the equivalent of a golden parachute. My reward for life I had not yet lived. I became a follower of Jesus Christ. 

That day, I got my ticket punched for an eternal life to live in a mansion in heaven where the streets are paved with gold. I get to spend my eternal retirement with God, Jesus and all the other believers. I defeated death and will live forever. All of that was too much for a nine year old new believer to comprehend. I still had to conqueror life on earth.

How did this happen? It happened only because God loved me, nothing more. 
How did this happen? It happened because God gave Jesus his only son as the substitute sacrifice for my sins. How did this happen? It happened because I simply believed, nothing more. I was made pure and blameless in Gods eyes. Because of this I have a great retirement plan, and eternal in heaven with the creator of life.

Looking back to the age of nine when I decided to follow Jesus, I wish I had really understood what I had not earned but been given as a gift of grace. I have spent most of my adult life pushing square rocks uphill, trying to achieve, trying to grab the golden ring when I already had it securely in my procession; eternal life. I had already achieved the ultimate success and the most valuable gift ever given, because of the 26 words in the third chapter of the book of John. 


“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.


So today be encouraged. No matter how steep the hill, no matter how heavy your square rock may seem you have a great retirement plan at the end. You also have a powerful ally in pushing your earthly rocks uphill. You just have to decide to allow him to help, but thats another thought for late

Did you know you have a Hall of Fame Marriage?

Pushing the relationship rock up the hill of life is not easy.  There are times when we wonder if we can navigate through all the black holes to success.  Then you may ask yourself, how do you define success in a relationship?

Too many, simply staying married a long time is success. Others may say, how can longevity be defined as success when there are many days we do not even get along.  Here is another way to look at success in relationships.

In baseball if a player has a lifetime batting average of .333 in usually means that the player has demonstrated great success in hitting the ball. Based on this career they generally are elected to the baseball hall of fame from this success.

If you break down this "success" it means that the player got a hit 3 times out of ten. That means that 7 times out of ten they failed to get a hit.  Yet the baseball world honors this success.  In sales if a sales person made three sales out of ten attempts they would be a superstar.

So in your marriage, if you and your spouse get along 3 days out of seven you are batting .428. That marriage batting average is terrific.  You will have a hall of fame marriage with 3 days out of 7. But remember, that would mean you have 4 strikeout days.

We live in a society where when we have some bad relationship days we decide we have to move on and try to find someone who can "make more hits".  There are people every day who throw away Hall of Fame marriages thinking that they have to achieve perfection.

In most areas of life a .333 success rate is to be cheered. Take a minute to evaluate your relationship batting average.  if your close to .333 then be encouraged, you have "hall of fame" written all over you and that relationship.

It is from this new perception of success that you will find encouragement as you push the square rock of relationship uphill.

How to Deal with the Rock of Misunderstanding

“To be great is to be misunderstood” Emerson

Misunderstanding, It is a roadblock that most of us will never see coming. It is a powerful force that can be intentionally and unintentionally used against us in our quest to push our square rock uphill.

Misunderstanding can be a real momentum stopper, most times it forces us to stop and fix the misunderstanding before we can move forward. There are numerous examples of misunderstanding in the Bible.

• Consider Joseph in Genesis 39: He was thrown into jail because of a major misunderstanding.
• Consider David, He had to flee when Saul misunderstand his honorable intentions.

David’s example is probably the hardest for me. On those rare occasions when I do something for someone without any thought for what it could do for me and its thrown back in my face, I do not handle it well. Satan uses that the most to give us the attitude of, “I’ll never do that again, or, see if I open myself up to help like that again.”

• Consider Jesus. From birth to death here was a misunderstood Man, and a misunderstood God on earth. You can barely make it one chapter to the next without Jesus being misunderstood.

There are several types of several types of misunderstanding that we have to deal with as believers 1. Genuine Misunderstanding which generally means your actions or words are confusing.
2. Agenda driven Misunderstanding which means you and your actions were very clear but others want to use them to their advantage. This may or may not affect you.
3. Third party misunderstandings, generally are caused when someone else restates your position or intentions and others do not get your full meaning or intention.
4. Intentional Misunderstanding, when YOU try to confuse the situation to your advantage.
5. Family Misunderstandings, generally are exacerbated by emotions and the history of baggage

We see in the first chapter of John that Jesus was going to be misunderstood.

John 1 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.In the follow verses we will see Jesus encounter a variety of different circumstances of misunderstanding. When combined with the examples listed above, they will give us a good roadmap on how to identify and reduce the damage to momentum these issues cause. Unlike other roadblocks,

Misunderstanding can never be eliminated, only damage controlled.

Some thoughts to help to get you through misunderstanding!  Before you react in the flesh. Turn to the Holy Spirit to guide you asking these questions:

• When misunderstood ask WHO?
• If misunderstanding continues ask WHY?
• When misunderstanding is resolved ask WHAT did I learn?

You will encounter misunderstanding each day of your life. When we try to handle it ourselves with our flesh is when we fall into Satan's trap.  Stand strong in the Spirit and and do not quickly lash out when you feel the attack of misunderstanding.   

"The real difference between men is energy. A strong will, a settled purpose, an invincible determination, can accomplish almost anything; and in this lies the distinction between great men and little men." - Thomas Fuller

This difference was further illustrated by Andrew Carnegie who said:  The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stand on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%.

Do you want the world to stand on its head for You?  Then you must have energy.  Too often today we have too many things we want to do and not enough energy to do them all well.  What we need is focused energy to the task at hand and a determination that will not wavier until success is achieved.

Many times the reason we only give 50% is the remaining 50% is the hard part.  This is where a strong will and determination have to kick in or a mediocre success may be the result.

Too often we can look at someone and see they have no energy. This lack of energy is not due to age it is primarily due to lack of desire and effort.  Creating personal energy is not easy but it is something where you control life's accelerator.  Too many of us have become complacent to setting the cruise control and coasting down the road of life. When did coasting ever help you climb a steep hill?

Are you willing to sell out for your passion, your dream, your company, your idea?  The energy created by those few who have purpose, determination and a strong will is so powerful that you can feel it across a room.

It is those energetic  few that others choose to listen to and follow up the hills of life.  Imagine if you led an group of hill takers where everyone had real energy, it has the power to transform organizations.

Choose today to be known as a person of energy giving 100% of yourself to achieve greatness.