We are in the middle of a series entitled “We Are Here.” It’s an important reminder for us all when we think about our life, our purpose, and our calling. If we are here, we need to be here. To be present.

In the first episode, I talked about the power of your purpose and how your purpose is foundational to being present. In this episode, I am going to talk about why your presence matters.

The important thing to remember is that people are counting on you to bring that thing that only you can specifically bring. And while it may be something you say and/or something you do, it begins with your presence.Your Presence Matters!

On the way to winning the College National Championship in Volleyball, Coach Jamie Morrison gave a pre-game speech to his Texas A&M Volleyball Team with the theme of: We Are Here. He was inviting them to be present and bring their best to this moment.

Building on this theme, we are beginning a news series to kick off the year with the same title: We Are Here. The focus of this series is to inspire, encourage, and remind you that you are here. But only for a moment. The key is to be present and bring your best to this moment called your life. In this first episode, I talk about why purpose is foundational.  

One of the most important elements of discovering you is to know yourself at a deep, soul level versus just having a surface awareness of yourself. We are in a series entitled “Discovering You.” In this podcast episode of Monday Morning Moments, I share 3 tips on how to discover the depth of your being which begins with connecting with God who created you.

We are more connected today than we ever have been. Digital Devices, the web, and social media keep us in constant contact with updates, breaking news, and everyone’s latest activities and accomplishments. We are able to witness both the best and sometimes the worst of people, many of which we don’t even know.

And wile there are many benefits to being able to connect through technology, there are also a few devastating drawbacks including the cost of comparison!

We are in a series entitled “Discovering You.” The point and purpose of this series is to help you discover you – the real authentic you and the one God created you to be. In the first podcast episode, I talked about the essence of your identity including who or what we mistakenly tie our identity to versus where we should actually anchor our identity.

In this episode, we are going to cover the cost of comparison, and yes…there is a significant cost to be paid when we spend our time, energy, and emotions comparing ourselves to others. The cost of comparison is the thief of joy!

“The truth is I am my Father’s childI make Him proud and I make Him smileI was made in the image of a perfect KingHe looks at me and wouldn’t change a thingThe truth is I am truly lovedBy a God who’s good when I’m not good enoughI don’t belong to the lies, I belong to YouAnd that’s the truth”

Time

Mental and Emotional Energy

Unnecessary Anxiety

Misaligned Purpose

The Wrong Goals

Distracted Focus

Lack of Impact

Be grateful. Psalm 139:13-14 says that God created you, and you are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” We have been created with great care and reverence by God, who designed us with unique qualities and a specific purpose. 

We need to go to God first to gain clarity about ourselves. I love this quote from Louie Giglio in his great devotional book Grace and Glory:

“God made you with uniqueness and specificity. He knows your talents and gifting. He wove them into you. He knows your strengths and weaknesses. He wrote down all the days of your life in His book before you were born. He knows how you’re wired, what you enjoy, and what brings you to life because He made you in His image, and He invites you to be a daughter or son of His kingdom.

You don’t need affirmation or acceptance from others around you – you have everything you’ll ever need from your perfect and loving heavenly Father. You can willingly take up humility in every interaction around you.” – Louie Giglio, Grace and Glory

We need to trust God’s feedback and guidance. 

We need to embrace His love for us.Psalm 139:16 says: “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” God is the Creator of us and the maker of moments

We need to know His purpose and follow His path for us. We can seek Him and get answers to the key questions in life: Why am I here? Where do you want me to go? And what do you want me to do

We need to stop comparing ourself or our journey to other people and their journeys. This includes appreciating our strengths and our quirks. Change the words and your mindset from “If Only” to “I’m grateful”…and from “I have to” to “I get to.”

We need be faithful with our calling, even if others don’t understand it.

We need to ask for, surrender, and submit to God’s leadership in our lives.

We need to stay focused on the mission He gave us, not the one He gave to someone else.

We need to trust that the same God who created and called us…will equip us. Comparison can cause you to feel inadequate, but God will provide everything you need…to do the things He has called you to do and truly become the person He created you to be.

We are beginning a new podcast series entitled “Discovering You.” The intent of this series is to help you to discover you – the real and authentic version of yourself that God created you to be. We will break series up into 3 podcast episodes. In this episode, we will talk about the essence of your identity. In future episodes, I will talk about the cost of comparison and discovering the depth of your being. Over all of the episodes, we will consider 2 Key Questions: 

35,000! That’s how many decisions you will make today as cited in a recent study by Harvard Business Review. Decisions about what you will eat, what you will wear, and many other micro-decisions about your day. Many of these decisions are subconscious and become almost automatic for us. Other decisions are conscious and have greater importance like how you will show up to work or a game, what job or career to pursue, and how you will give your best and live life on purpose. We are in a series entitled “3 P’s to Peak Performance.” In the first episode, I shared the first P word and talked about the power of presence, or how you show up each day. In the second episode, I shared another P word that can help you perform at your best in sports, business, and life. And that word was Process. In this episode, I am going to share the third word that can help you perform at your best in sports, business, and life. And that word is Pre-Decide. We have conducted a lot of research on this word and have had a lot of experience in working with athletes as well as business leaders and entrepreneurs on the power of pre-deciding.  

We are in a series entitled “3 P’s to Peak Performance.” In the first episode, I shared the first P word and talked about the power of presence, or how you show up each day. In this podcast episode of Monday Morning Moments, I am going to share another P word that can help you perform at your best in sports, business, and life. And that word is Process.

Process is how you show out as some of my athletes like to say, or how you bring your best to the moment. We all want the outcome or to realize the goal, but the only way the goal is reached is through focusing on the process to achieve it.

What is the secret to peak performance in sports, business, and life? And is it really a secret, or are there some key success factors that you can apply in your life to be your best in any situation?

This is the first episode in a new Monday Morning Moments podcast series entitled “3 P’s to Peak Performance.” In this series, I will share 3 essential principles that can help you perform at your best in sports, business, and life. In this episode, I share about the power of your presence and why deciding how you will show up to practice, games, the office, and your home and community is so important.

What is a promise? A promise is something that will happen as a result of something that is said. Our words should mean something to the person we are speaking to. And when we speak to ourselves through our self talk, we should believe what we are saying, not just quote shallow cliches that have no meaning or impact in our lives.

Words not only have purpose and power but they also have promise for others and for ourselves. As leaders and people of influence and in our own self talk, we need to speak with intention and commitment. This is the third episode in our series entitled “Words,” and in this episode, I share about the promise of words and offer three things that the promise of words should nurture and generate for us and for others. 

What is the purpose of words? We are in a series simply entitled “Words,” and we are exploring the power, purpose, and promise of words. We use words every day both to talk to ourselves and to talk to others, but do we really understand why they exist and why it is important to use the right word in the right moment?

In the first episode, I talked about the power of words and how we need to think deeply about our words in order to have the best impact on the people you lead and influence. We also talked about how it is so important to choose the right words in your own self talk, because words have power to build up or tear down.

In this episode, I want to talk to you about the purpose of words.