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We kicked off season two with an episode on January 6th - Building Your Ladders.  You were encouraged to think BIG! To come up with awesome ideas of who you would like to become, and then identify big year long goals that would certainly prove that progress.  We talked about how you break that down into ladder rungs, monthly rungs, and work you way through the year.   However, many have tried that approach and failed.  Why?  In short, because they are losing weeks while trying to win the month.  If you learn how to Win the Week, using daily momentum and progress, to work toward greater goals, then you will be unstoppable!  God has set up a beautiful seven day cadence for your life.  Listen in to learn how to use that to your advantage, maximizing time usage by working daily frogs and highlights on a weekly cycle.

- How do I reach monthly checkpoints with no stress

- Why do so many people fail to reach their yearly goals

- What is so special about a single week

- How has God set me up for success in a seven day cycle

- Why is frog eating and daily highlighting crucial to winning the week

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Welcome to Season 2!  Last year we collected 82 episodes designed to help you grow in faith, deepen relationships and get the most out of the life God has given you.  Now, we head into this New Year ready to use all of that experience to reach new heights!  Firstly, you have to decide who you want to become.  What does a better you look like?  Secondly, you must be specific, in terms of a goal to reach that proves that commitment.  Then, you pray for God to provide the pieces that you need to get there.  Finally, if you can build a successful, stress free, month of progress, and repeat 12 times:  you will be standing on that new and higher platform by year's end!  Let's discuss how all of that works, and get moving into a beautiful year to Excel Still More!

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This is the last episode of season 1.  We started on January 24th and today is October 31st.  I hope you've grown and feel stronger and more hopeful.  We will return, Lord willing, on Monday, January 6th, for season 2!  But there are two important months in between now and then.  There will be lots of obstacles to growth with the holidays and various activities.  You may not take huge steps upward in your walk, but let's not fall victim to the opposite:  losing ground.  So many people hit the pause button on progress during the holidays, and it amounts to incredible setbacks and mistakes.  Then, in January, the resolutions are more about digging out of a recently dug hole, than actually reaching new heights.  We can put together a much better plan!  

- How to hold your ground in November and December

- Are we supposed to "Just Get Better" or "Hold Our Ground"

- Why do people suffer setbacks during the holiday season

- What is the right attitude for standing firm from now until the new year

- How can we show people who we have become and are becoming

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We are all learning all the time.  Spiritually, we learn when we study, when we worship, when we have discussions, or when we listen to podcasts.  Does it ever feel like information overload?  Maybe we think we should be learning less, since implementing it all seems so daunting. Well, there's a much better strategy than that!  Learning and listening and reading stores up information in your mind you can pull from later.  But how can you get all of that working for you?  Simple: Just Pick One!  Choosing one concept or idea or passage or principle for the day, or for a given situation, will make all the difference in the world!  You can go through several things in a day, but one at a time, and only one per situation.  Let's discuss how to do this and how journaling can help!

- How do I process all the things I am learning

- How can I put knowledge into action when it seems overwhelming

- What is the best strategy going back to The One Thing

- How can I Just Pick One lesson and really grow in it

- How can daily journalling help me focus in on one thing at a time

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Are you the kind of person who takes too many things personally?  Maybe someone gives you a look or says something and you just assume:  they are mad at me.  Well, there is a much better and more peaceable way to live you life.  In fact, with just a few adjustments in your thinking you can see all of your relationships improve.  The key is in a philosophical statement called "Hanlon's Razor."  This will help you not see problems where there are no problems and instead be more compassionate to others, instead of insulted.  It's awesome!

- What is Hanlon's Razor

- How to think less maliciously about the actions of others

- Why is it important to assume ignorance and how should you respond

- How to find greater peace and less stress in virtually all relationships!

- How to determine if there is an actual problem in a relationship 

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Imagine if, right now, there words appeared in the sky in fiery letters:  Seven Days Left!  And imagine that for the next 24 hours everyone on the earth saw it and investigated it and couldn't explain it.  Then, it changed to Six Days Left.  What would you do?  Well, when the impending urgency of some heavenly event fell upon our world, there would certainly be three types of reactions:  Dumb, Smart and Wise.  Which one would you be?  The answer may say something about the life you are living right now and how well prepared you are for the future, even BEFORE urgency is plugged into the situation. 

- What would you do if you knew the world was ending in seven days

- How would most people on our planet react

- What would be the smart thing to do

- How would wisdom be more valuable than smarts when it comes to end times

- What can you do now to live a life of wisdom, prepared for whatever is coming

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It is great to celebrate achievements.  Reaching goals feels great.  But beware, present position is only that:  a fleeting moment of stature and accomplishment.  While position can indicate good behavior, it is not a behavior of itself.  But direction, now that's all together different.  Direction isn't focused on where I am, but where I am going.  Direction isn't about stopping to take a picture, it is about moving forward to something greater.  When we focus on who we are today, even in the best of times, it can become discouraging, but if we wake up each day determine to JUST GET BETTER, there is always hope and something to celebrate.  And it isn't a goal reached, but a life journey undertaken.  Listen in today to see why it is important to focus on DIRECTION not position.

- How to assess your position and celebrate progress

- How to STOP assessing your position as a celebration of progress

- Why is Direction infinitely more valuable than position

- How to find joy and purpose in change every day,  instead of accomplishment

- How to assess your relationship with God by reaching forward, not standing tall

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"The purpose of education is to know God and make Him known."  Do you believe that?  I think when it comes to spiritual education, like Bible reading and sermons, we would say so.  And there are important applications of this phrase upon how you and I are using the things we learn in study and at a church.  But would you say this phrase holds true with schools?  Is the purpose of science and english and math: to know God and share Him?  Well, it used to be.  Schools were founded on this purpose.  Things have changed.  But we can recapture the purpose of education on a family level!  Also, even beyond school we grow in knowledge every day, don't we?  Why are you learning new things and how are you using it?  Let's do all of this in the God Box, and relate all new growth to His work!

- What is the purpose of education 

- How does that purpose live in our spiritual education

- Can we apply this same principle to secular education

- How can we use Science and English as tools to know God and make Him known

- Are you using all new learning to the glory of the name of God.  How

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When we live our lives with behavior aligned with beliefs:  peace happens.  We get to have this tremendous peace in Jesus Christ, when we believe in His word and live like it.  But when our behavior departs from our beliefs, the peace is taken away.  In its place are things like anxiety, stress, worry, discouragement, hopelessness and fear.  God does not want his people to live that way!  Let's talk about how this dissonance happens and the easy steps we can take to make sure we live with unity in our lives in mind and body.

- What does it feel like to do things you know you should not be doing

- Why do people get stuck in that loop and what does it do to peace

- How is the message of Jesus a message of hope to those struggling with sin

- What can we do to flee sins of commission and restore peace

- What can we do to overcome sins of omission and live a more consistent life

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The island of Icaria is an amazing place!  Not just because of its beauty, but because people there "forget to die"!  Yep, that's a quote from a resident there.  This small island in the Aegean sea has the highest percentage of residents living on into their 90's and beyond!  A full 1/3 of them do so.  And they live fun, active, involved, and joyful later years! The island boasts much lower rates of cancer, heart disease, and cognitive issues than any other place on the planet!  I tried to move there, but couldn't convince the wife.  So, instead, let's study how they have build this amazing culture and be more like them!

- Why are people living so long on the island of Icaria

- How can we be more like them

- Why is longer and happier living important to the Christian

- How to create a culture for excellence in your family

- How to implement 5 tips to a better, happier, longer life