Wisdom-Trek © - Archive 2

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. Today is Day 506 of our trek, and it is Wisdom Wednesday. Every Wednesday along life’s trails we dig for the nuggets of wisdom that are found within the book of Proverbs. Today we will explore the 1st half of Chapter 26.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. As with most businesses, the week between Christmas and New Year’s is slower and less hectic, which is why Paula and I use this week for planning. Our goal for this week is to completely plan 2017 – for both our personal life and business. This involves planning our entire calendar for the next 12 months as well as our financial budgets for the year. There will be some changes during the year, but this gives us a very good foundation from which to work. We feel that it is very wise to plan as much as possible while realizing that God will ultimately direct our steps as we follow Him each day. The opposite of being wise is being foolish.

On today’s trek, we will explore several situations that a fool is caught up in. One of the ways to know if a person is a fool is that they continue their foolishness. This is equated to what a dog does, which is our title for today…

Let’s start our trek as we explore verses 1-14.

1 Honor is no more associated with fools

than snow with summer or rain with harvest.

Just like we would not expect snow during the summer and rain is rare in the fall, a foolish person should not receive honor for his foolish actions. In our overly sensitive environment of today, we are too quick to honor those who do not deserve it.

2 Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow,

an undeserved curse will not land on its intended victim.

If you have ever observed the flight of a sparrow or how a swallow darts back and forth, so it is with someone who is cursed without cause. That curse will not have an effect on the unintended person.

3 Guide a horse with a whip, a donkey with a bridle,

and a fool with a rod to his back!

Just as a whip or small bit in a horse’s mouth will guide the horse wherever it needs to go, the only way to direct a fool on the proper course is through discipline and correction because he is too foolish to correct himself.

4 Don’t answer the foolish arguments of fools,

or you will become as foolish as they are.

5 Be sure to answer the foolish arguments of fools,

or they will become wise in their own estimation.

While these two verses appear to contradict each other, they have to be analyzed in their original intent. You never want to argue with a fool based on his foolish arguments, or you will just be a fool yourself. If a fool wants to argue, counter only with wisdom and truth. In doing so, you will squelch the fool’s argument because they will not know how to effectively refute it.

6 Trusting a fool to convey a message

is like cutting off one’s feet or drinking poison!

A foolish person is not reliable and usually cannot be trusted. When you try to rely on them, the results will be ineffective. It is the same as handicapping yourself or drinking poison and expecting it to make someone else ill.

7 A proverb in the mouth of a fool

is as useless as a paralyzed leg.

A proverb is a short wise saying, and when it comes from the mouth of a foolish person, it is of no use because it does not impact the person who is saying it. It would be as useless as someone attempting to walk on a paralyzed leg.

8 Honoring a fool

is as foolish as tying a stone to a slingshot.

Here is another verse about giving honor to a foolish person. It is not valid and will not have any more impact than trying a stone in a slingshot. It will only come back to hurt the one who is giving it.

9 A proverb in the mouth of a fool

is like a thorny branch brandished by a drunk.

Once again, a wise saying or proverb coming from a fool is of no use because he is dull or numb to the potential impact of the lesson. The analogy compares someone who is drunk and does not realize that he has grabbed onto a thorn bush that is puncturing his hand.

10 An employer who hires a fool or a bystander

is like an archer who shoots at random.

When you hire a fool, or someone that you do not know, to provide work, your results will be questionable at best. Just like when shooting arrows at random, you may hit a target, but it is unlikely that the results will be satisfactory.

11 As a dog returns to its vomit,

so a fool repeats his foolishness.

If you are familiar with dogs, you know that when they vomit, many times they will return to it and consume the vomit to clean it up. In the same way, a fool will vomit foolishness throughout each day and continue in his foolish practices.

12 There is more hope for fools

than for people who think they are wise.

As frustrating and ineffective as a fool may be, there is something that is even worse. That is a person who thinks they are wise when they are not. A fool will usually fall into this category also. A truly wise person knows that they need to continually gain wisdom, insight, and understanding in many areas of life.

13 The lazy person claims, “There’s a lion on the road!

Yes, I’m sure there’s a lion out there!”

We now switch our context from a foolish person to a lazy person, although a person may be both lazy people and also foolish. The extremes that a lazy person will do to justify their laziness knows no ends. In this verse, this person is so lazy that he fears going outside. While most of us do not have to deal with actual lions being outside our house, many people come up with fears that are just as ridiculous.

14 As a door swings back and forth on its hinges,

so the lazy person turns over in bed.

A lazy person is so predictable in his laziness that the analogy in this verse is that of a hinge on a door. The hinge allows the door to swing back and forth, but the door does not move beyond those bounds. The bed allows a lazy person to flop back and forth without making any progress.

Today on our Wisdom Trail we continue to explore a series of Solomon’s Proverbs that were assembled by King Hezekiah. These proverbs provide us with more wisdom, insight, and understanding. Regardless of where you are in your faith walk, if the precepts in Proverbs are followed, your life will be rich and satisfying. Take them and plant them in your heart so that you will reap a harvest of wisdom. I would challenge you today to take just one precept that we learn today in Proverbs and commit yourself to applying it to your life.

Tomorrow we will hike another short trail of Wisdom Unplugged where we will discover an inspirational wisdom quote. So encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along with us tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our trek for today. If you would like to listen to any of our past treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is day 505 of our trek, and it is Tuesday and time for our 3-minute mini-trek called Wisdom Unplugged. This short nugget of wisdom includes an inspirational quote with a little additional content for today’s trek. Consider this your vitamin supplement of wisdom for today. So let’s jump right in with today’s nugget.

Today’s quote is from J.M.L. Monsabre, who said, “If God would concede to me His omnipotence for twenty-four hours, you would see how many changes I would make in this world. But if He gave me His wisdom, too, I would leave things as they are.”I believe we all have in the back of our minds that if we were God, then we would certainly structure life differently both for ourselves and for the entire world. Many of us even have somewhat of a God complex where we think we know what would be best. What we are lacking is God’s wisdom, insight, and understanding of our lives and how they are integral to all eternity.

Since we are confined to space and time while we are alive, it is impossible to know or understand God’s purpose and plans for us as it fits into His eternal plans. As we come to the end of another year and are looking forward to 2017, let us do what we can to prepare and plan but ultimately realize that God is in control and trust Him to guide and direct us. We are certainly fortunate when it comes to our salvation through Christ, that God’s wise plans prevail as we are told in 1 Corinthians 1:24-26, “But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength. Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you.”That’s a wrap for today’s Wisdom Unplugged. If you enjoy these quotes, I have created and published a searchable database of over 10,000 quotes that I have collected for many years. If you would like free access to my database of inspirational quotes the link is available on the main page of Wisdom-Trek.com.

Please encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most importantly your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow for Wisdom Wednesday!

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 504 of our trek, and today is Motivation Monday. Every Monday we explore a quote that will encourage and motivate you to live a rich and satisfying life this week. Today let us hike the trail called Finish Each Day Well.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. If all goes according to plan, we will finish up the leaf harvest this weekend, just in time to relax and celebrate Christmas. I have always enjoyed the celebration of Christmas and focusing on the fact that God, through Jesus Christ, became human so that we can be made right before God through Him.

Since this is the last week of 2016 and we are finishing up another year, let me ask you, how was your year? Are you looking forward to 2017? The way to guarantee that 2017 is better than this year is to…

The quote we want to explore today is from Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, “Finish each day and be done with it…you have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it well and serenely.”

The only way to make sure that each week, each year, and indeed, your entire life will be rich and satisfying is to live every hour of each day well. That means you must live life to the fullest. To live with integrity, with honor, with kindness, and most important with love both for God and for everyone that you have an impact on. Live in such a way that when you lay down to sleep at night, you can rest knowing that you have lived well for that day.

Realize also that at the end of each day, regardless of how you lived and how it turned out, that the day is finished and tomorrow is a new day, a blank slate to start over again even better. Begin each day well so that you will have an opportunity to finish each day well. Doing well in the small things of life will allow you to do well with more. As Matthew 25:21 tells us, “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’”

As we finish our trek for today, let me ask you, what can you do today to both start and finish well?

On tomorrow’s trek, we will explore another wisdom quote. This 3-minute wisdom supplement will assist you in becoming healthy, wealthy, and wise each day. Thank you for joining me on this trek called life.

Encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy. If you would like to listen to any of the past daily treks or read the daily journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy podcast. This is Day 503 of our trek, and today is Philosophy Friday.

Every Friday we ponder some of the basic truths and mysteries of life and how they impact us in creating our living legacy. Currently, we are in a multi-week trek as we explore the teachings from some of my virtual mentors, such as Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, and Earl Nightingale. The core of our current trek is based primarily on Jim Rohn’s book called The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle. I have learned a considerable amount from reading and re-reading this book on my own trek of life, and I trust that it will benefit you also. Keeping with the continuity of Wisdom-Trek, I will be adapting it to The Five Trails on Life’s Trek.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. As we approach the Christmas weekend, let us choose to take some time to relax and reflect on the true meaning and purpose of this blessed celebration in remembrance when Christ our Savior, who is God’s Word or the voice sent to us. We read in John 1:14, “The Voice took on flesh and became human and chose to live alongside us. We have seen Him, enveloped in undeniable splendor—the one true Son of the Father—evidenced in the perfect balance of grace and truth.”

As we ponder this verse, let us consider those who we associate with on a daily basis. We will continue the theme from the past couple of Friday’s on today’s trek on the Attitude Trail. Let us explore both the value of limiting associations with some people and the value of expanding associations with others.

If you have missed the past few Philosophy Friday treks, it would be good to go back and review them to get caught up on our progress so far. We have a lot of ground to cover today, so let’s break camp and continue on the second trail of this extended trek as we cover…

Another option for protecting your attitude is limiting your association with certain people. You cannot avoid talking to co-workers or refuse to visit with certain relatives for the rest of your life. You can limit the time you actually invest with these people, and in so doing, limit their ability to influence you.

There are some people with whom you can invest a few minutes, but not a few hours. There are some with whom you can invest a few hours, but not a few days. Not when your mindset and the achievement of your dreams is at stake.

Excessive influence is undue influence. You can sometimes avoid having to end a relationship with a friend whose negative influence is affecting you by carefully limiting the amount of time you invest with that individual. You must be very careful even with the limited association. Occasional influences are very subtle because they can have an accumulative effect that is difficult to see. You must always remember that failure is the slow and imperceptible accumulation of small errors in judgment repeated on a daily basis over a prolonged period of time.

In your personal and business worlds about 80 percent of the people with whom you associate, the vast majority, will account for only about 20 percent of the results you achieve. Conversely, about 20 percent, the clear minority, will produce 80 percent of the good results.

Here is a strange but valuable insight to go along with that interesting fact. It is the 80 percent group (who only produce 20 percent of the good results) that will try to capture 80 percent of your time. The 20 percent group (who produce 80 percent of the good results) will receive only 20 percent of your time.

The challenge here should be clear. You should discipline yourselves to invest 80 percent of your time with the 20 percent who are helping you to produce 80 percent of the results, and 20 percent of your time with the 80 percent who are producing only 20 percent of the results.

This is not an easy assignment. Often those in the larger group are masters at gaining access to those who are striving to do well. They have the capacity, if you are not careful, to steal away about 80 percent of your valuable time. If you allow it, they will be like the camel who pokes his nose under the tent. Left unchecked, the camel will slowly inch his way inside the tent, and you will soon find yourself on the outside.

If you desire a successful, rich, and satisfying life, you must become aware of how the 80 percent group operates. Most are good people, but they are caught up in the search for the how of success and have not yet captured the importance of the why. They do not know that reasons come first and that answers come second. They have not yet discovered that when the human mind locks on to a personal obsession, it does not need a book of instructions or a training class on how to take advantage of opportunity.

Most are good people, but they are caught up in the search for the how of success and have not yet captured the importance of the why.

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In this world of opportunity mixed with challenge, there are those who want to know so that they might see, and there are those who think they see even though they do not yet know.

There are those in the great multitude whose attention to progress and personal development has been greatly neglected. If you were fortunate enough to have discovered gold, and sought a few close friends with whom you wished to share your discovery, some would likely disappoint you.

If you asked for their assistance and their labor in exchange for part of your fortune, some would find fault with the terms of the offer. Some would complain about the splinters from the cheap shovels and the blisters brought about by their labors. Some would complain about the distance from the comfort of their homes and the location of the gold mine. Some would complain about how bad the tax bite will be after all the work is done and how unfair it all is. Still, others would complain because someone else was getting more than their fair share. Others would condemn you for showing favoritism to certain friends.

Personal growth is not always an easy matter, but the worst days experienced by those who choose to give attention to the affairs of self-development are better than the best days of those who do not.

You must not delay your commitment to finding your own personal “gold mine” in life simply because of the opinions of others whom you deem to be worthy and deserving friends, but whose impact on your attitude and your self-confidence steals away too much of your spirit and dampens too much of your desire. You are obligated to limit or remove the undue influences of those who are having the wrong effect on you. Otherwise, you risk losing your own vision due to the pessimism of those who do not share your desire to experience the rich and satisfying life.

Another choice you can make regarding your associations and their potential for impact on your feelings and connected attitude is expanded association. Very simply, this means finding people who have value and arranging your life to be able to invest more time with them.

Even a small amount of time can make a great deal of difference when it is invested with the right people. These people will educate, encourage, inspire, and assist you in moving in the right direction.

It is better to invest a little time with the right people than to spend a lot of time with the wrong people. By expanding your association to include more of the right people, and closing the doors to exclude or limit more of the wrong people, you expose ourselves to new and better sources of influence.

As 3 John 11 tells us, “Dear friend, don’t let this bad example influence you. Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do good prove that they are God’s children, and those who do evil prove that they do not know God.”

We are deliberately taking our trek slowly on The Five Trails on Life’s Trek as we continue to hike on the Trail of Attitude. Today we learned how to limit our time with those who hold us back and invest more time with those who will help us succeed. Next Philosophy Friday, we will finish the Trail of Attitude as we explore new and better sources of influence and come to better understand that attitude is everything. Join us next Friday for additional insights. I know you will find these insights interesting and profitable in living a rich and satisfying life.

Our next trek will be Motivation Monday as we explore more trails of how to get and stay motivated to bring value to your world. So encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along on Monday for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

If you would like to listen to any of the past daily treks, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you on Monday!

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is day 502 of our trek, and it is Thursday and time for our 3-minute mini-trek called Wisdom Unplugged. This short nugget of wisdom includes an inspirational quote with a little additional content for today’s trek. Consider this your vitamin supplement of wisdom each Tuesday and Thursday. So let’s jump right in with today’s nugget.

Today’s quote comes from Tao To Ching, which says, “If a country is governed wisely…people enjoy their food, take pleasure in being with their families, invest weekends working in their gardens, and delight in the doings of the neighborhood.”A government that is built on wisdom and integrity will provide a societal structure that is peaceful and allows for personal freedom for its people. When people are able to live in peace and have an opportunity for economic expansion, the outcome will be beneficial to the government overall. The people will then have adequate resources to take care of themselves, purchase food and other necessities, take care of their families, work hard, and take care of their personal properties as well as community property.

When the governmental environment is structured to allow people to flourish, most will thrive, work at self-improvement, and provide overall stability of the nation.  Regardless of the government structure that you may live under, if you are a Christ follower, you have a higher calling yet as Titus 3:1-2 tells us, “Remind the believers to submit to the government and its officers. They should be obedient, always ready to do what is good. They must not slander anyone and must avoid quarreling. Instead, they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone.”That’s a wrap for today’s Wisdom Unplugged quote. If you would like access to my database of over 10,000 inspirational quotes, the link is available on the main page of Wisdom-Trek.com. As you enjoy these nuggets of wisdom, encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy. Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most importantly your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow for Philosophy Friday!

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. Today is Day 501 of our trek, and it is Wisdom Wednesday. Every Wednesday along life’s trails we dig for the nuggets of wisdom that are found within the book of Proverbs. Today we will explore the 2nd half of chapter 25.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. We are still waiting for an opportunity to finish up the leaf harvest. We received a replacement engine for the leaf vacuum, but we were shipped the wrong one. The company was very good about shipping out the correct one promptly, and we shipped the incorrect one back.

The weather has been a bit uncooperative also with a lot of rain and cold temperatures. We will try and wrap up the process this weekend if possible. Life does not always go smoothly or as we would like it to, but we need to continue on each day with the reality of life as it is and not how we wish it to be. Wisdom, insight, and understanding helps us to see this and handle the unexpected events of life properly. Patience is one of those attributes that is a sign of Godly wisdom. One verse we will explore today tells us…

Let’s start our trek as we explore verses 15-28.

15 Patience can persuade a prince,

and soft speech can break bones.

A patient person is truly wise and a person of strength. With that strength, leaders can be persuaded to take action. Through patience and controlled speech a person can break through the toughest of opponents without violence.

16 Do you like honey?

Don’t eat too much, or it will make you sick!

17 Don’t visit your neighbors too often,

or you will wear out your welcome.

Anything in excess is not good for you, even if it is enjoyable. The first example is honey, which both tastes good and has health benefits. When you eat too much of it all at once, it will make you sick. The second warning is not to visit someone too often, or they will become sick of seeing you.

18 Telling lies about others

is as harmful as hitting them with an ax,

wounding them with a sword,

or shooting them with a sharp arrow.

When you tell lies about others, it is as bad as a physical injury. It can cause emotional damage or emotional death to those on the receiving end of your lies.

19 Putting confidence in an unreliable person in times of trouble

is like chewing with a broken tooth or walking on a lame foot.

We all know that person who we cannot rely on for keeping their word or being on time. It is painful to deal with, especially when you need them most, and is like having a physical injury that will impede the progress that would otherwise be expected.

20 Singing cheerful songs to a person with a heavy heart

is like taking someone’s coat in cold weather

or pouring vinegar in a wound.

When someone is grieving that is not the time to try and cheer them up. It is better to console them, to empathize with them, if possible. Otherwise, you will cause more pain than the grief that is already experienced.

21 If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat.

If they are thirsty, give them water to drink.

22 You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads,

and the Lord will reward you.

We should treat all people with kindness, including those we may consider to be enemies. It will soften their hearts toward you and help them to realize the love that you have. God will reward those who show kindness to others.

23 As surely as a north wind brings rain,

so a gossiping tongue causes anger!

We are usually pretty good at interpreting the signs of weather. We know that winds coming from the north indicate bad weather. We should also realize that our actions such as gossiping will bring out anger in those we are gossiping about.

24 It’s better to live alone in the corner of an attic

than with a quarrelsome wife in a lovely home.

As we have read before in Proverbs, there is nothing quite as miserable as living with a complaining, arguing spouse. It is better to be all alone in a small space than to continually put up with this situation. We should take care that we are not the offending spouse, or the cause of the problem.

25 Good news from far away

is like cold water to the thirsty.

As refreshing as cold, clear water when you are experiencing thirst on a hot summer day is good news that you have been waiting for. It refreshes the soul and spirit as water refreshes the body.

26 If the godly give in to the wicked,

it’s like polluting a fountain or muddying a spring.

It is a travesty to see good, godly people fall prey to the influence of those that are wicked. It is the same as contaminating pure water with filth or mud. Once the water is contaminated, it is ruined and unsuitable for its intended purpose.

27 It’s not good to eat too much honey,

and it’s not good to seek honors for yourself.

Just like eating too much honey will make you physically sick, if you are bragging about yourself to others it will make them sick of you.

28 A person without self-control

is like a city with broken-down walls.

Self-control is so vital to maintaining a godly and proper lifestyle. When you lose self-control, then you will easily be destroyed both from external influences and internal weaknesses.

Today on our Wisdom Trail, we are exploring a series of Solomon’s Proverbs that were assembled by King Hezekiah. These proverbs continue to provide us with more wisdom, insight, and understanding. Regardless of where you are in your faith walk, if you follow the precepts in Proverbs, your life will be rich and satisfying. Take them and plant them in your heart so that you will reap a harvest of wisdom.

Tomorrow we will hike another short trail of Wisdom Unplugged where we will discover an inspirational wisdom quote. So encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along with us tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our trek for today. Just as you enjoy your daily dose of wisdom, we ask you to help us grow Wisdom-Trek by sharing with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person and inviting them to come along with us each day. I would also like to challenge you to take just one precept that we learned in Proverbs today and commit to applying it to your life from this day forward.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is a special milestone for Wisdom-Trek as it is our 500th day of our trek. Thank you for coming along with us, whether you have been with us every day, or you have just joined us for a few days along life’s trail. I trust that our daily trek has been helpful in assisting your life’s journey some small way. If there is anything that I can help you with, please contact me at [email protected].

On today’s Wisdom Unplugged mini-trek I would like to focus on gratitude. I am so thankful to you that you have invested the time to trek along with me. This short nugget of wisdom includes an inspirational quote with a little additional content for today’s trek. Consider this your vitamin supplement of gratitude for today. So let’s jump right in with today’s nugget.

Today’s quote is from Bob Dole, and he said, “I think one of life’s great milestones is when a person can look back and be almost as thankful for the setbacks as for the victories. Gradually, it dawns on us that success and failure are not polar opposites. They are parts of the same picture, the picture of a full life, where you have your ups and your downs.”

I think this quote is so applicable to the Wisdom-Trek concept and mantra. Life is full of steep uphill climbs to the top and precarious downhill slopes back into the valley. We do not actually invest much time on the flat plateaus of life where we can lie down in the soft grasses on a warm sunny day and rest. When you think about it, though, that is okay.

The thrill that results from overcoming obstacles and hardship is so much more rewarding. It makes the time of rest and leisure that much more precious. Be thankful for everything that comes your way. What may seem like a difficult time in life may also prove to be the most rewarding. A fully lived, rich and satisfying life, is one of both pleasure and pain. If we never know pain, then we will never understand the bliss of pleasure. As we read in I Thessalonians 5:18, “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”That’s a wrap for today’s Wisdom Unplugged. Thank you once again for coming along with me on our Wisdom-Trek each day. If you enjoy these quotes, I have created and published a searchable database of over 10,000 quotes that I have collected for many years. If you would like access to my database of inspirational quotes, the link is available on the main page of Wisdom-Trek.com. So encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy. Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most importantly your friend as I serve you in through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow for Wisdom Wednesday!

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 499 of our trek, and today is Motivation Monday. Every Monday we hike the trails of life that will encourage and motivate us to live rich and satisfying lives this week. Today let us explore the trail called Staying Motivated Long Term.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. We were finally able to get a replacement engine in for our lawn vacuum, but as of the time of creating this podcast, the weather does not look good for using it this weekend. Since all of the leaves have finally fallen from the trees, it is only a matter of time. By the looks of it, I have about two days of leaf harvest left before we are finished for this season. That does include blowing leaves off of the roofs and cleaning the gutters that need it. This is no big rush, as the leaves will remain until I get to them, but I am motivated to complete the project before Christmas, so that it will be finalized.

Thinking about motivation as we break camp and head out on our trek for today, let us invest time exploring the concept of…

During the past two Monday’s we have explored what motivation is, and that to be motivated sometimes it requires that we take action first. That may get us started, but the real question that we need to have an answer for is, “How do we stay motivated long term?”

Imagine that you are playing tennis. If you try to play a serious match against a four-year-old, you will quickly become bored. The match is too easy. On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you try to play a serious match against a professional tennis player like Roger Federer or Serena Williams, you will find yourself demotivated for a different reason. The match is too difficult.

Compare these experiences to playing tennis against someone who is your equal. As the game progresses, you win a few points, and you lose a few points. You have a chance of winning the match, but only if you really try. Your focus narrows, distractions fade away, and you find yourself fully invested in the task at hand. The challenge you are facing is “just manageable.” Victory is not guaranteed, but it is possible. Tasks like these, science has found, are the most likely to keep us motivated in the long term.

Human beings love challenges, but only if they are within the optimal zone of difficulty. Tasks that are significantly below your current abilities are boring. Tasks that are significantly beyond your current abilities are discouraging. Tasks that are right on the border of success and failure are incredibly motivating to your brain. In this zone, you want nothing more than to master a skill just beyond your current horizon.

This is referred to as The Goldilocks Rule. The Goldilocks Rule states that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities – not too hard, not too easy, but just right.

Working on tasks that adhere to the Goldilocks Rule is one of the keys to maintaining long-term motivation. If you find yourself feeling unmotivated to work on a task, it is often because it has drifted into an area of boredom or been shoved into an area of great difficulty. You need to find a way to pull your tasks back to the border of your abilities where you feel challenged, but capable.

This wonderful blend of happiness and peak performance is sometimes referred to as flow. Flow is what athletes and performers experience when they are “in the zone.” Flow is the mental state you experience when you are so focused on the task at hand that the rest of the world fades away.

In many ways, we could describe flow as your state of peak motivation. You would be hard-pressed to find a state where you are more driven to continue the task you are working on.

One factor that researchers have found is linked to flow states is whether or not you are following The Goldilocks Rule we mentioned earlier. If you are working on challenges of optimal difficulty, then you will not only be motivated but also experience a boost in happiness. As psychologist Gilbert Brim put it, “One of the important sources of human happiness is working on tasks at a suitable level of difficulty, neither too hard nor too easy.”

To reach this state of peak performance, however, you not only need to work on challenges at the right degree of difficulty, but also measure your immediate progress. As psychologist Jonathan Haidt explains, one of the keys to reaching a flow state is that “You get immediate feedback about how you are doing at each step.”

Thus, we can say that measurement is a key factor in motivation. To put it more precisely, facing an optimal challenge and receiving immediate feedback about the progress you are making toward that challenge are two of the most critical components of peak motivation.

Inevitably, your motivation to perform a task will dip at some point. What happens when motivation fades? I don’t claim to have all the answers, but here’s what I try to remind myself of when I feel like giving up.

• Your Mind Is a Suggestion Engine

Consider every thought you have as a suggestion, not an order. When you have tasks to accomplish, you need to program your mind to suggest that you will feel very good about accomplishing the task once it is done. Your mind needs to suggest that you will respect yourself more when you stick to the schedule. It needs to suggest that you have the ability to finish this task, even when you don’t feel like it.

Remember, none of these suggestions are orders. They are merely options. You have the power to choose which options to follow.

• Discomfort Is Temporary

Relative to the time in your normal day or week, nearly any habit you perform is over quickly. Your workout will be finished in an hour or two. Your report will be typed to completion by tomorrow morning.

Life is easier now than it has ever been. 300 years ago, if you didn’t kill your own food and build your own house, you would die. Today, we whine about forgetting our iPhone charger. Maintain perspective. Your life is good, and your discomfort is temporary. Step into this moment of discomfort, and let it strengthen you.

Theodore Roosevelt famously said, “Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” So often it seems that we want to work easily at work worth doing. We want our work to be helpful and respected, but we do not want to struggle through our work. We want our stomachs to be flat and our arms to be strong, but we do not want to grind through another workout. We want the final result, but not the failed attempts that precede it. We want the gold, but not the grind.

Anyone can want a gold medal. Few people want to train like an Olympian. Yet, despite our resistance to it, I have never found myself feeling worse after the hard work was done. There have been days when it was hard to start, but it was always worth finishing. Sometimes, the simple act of showing up and having the courage to do the work, even in an average manner, is a victory worth celebrating.

• This Is Life

Life is a constant balance between giving into the ease of distraction or overcoming the pain of discipline. It is not an exaggeration to say that our lives and our identities are defined in this delicate balance. What is life, if not the sum of a hundred thousand daily battles and tiny decisions to either gut it out or give it up?

This moment when you don’t feel like doing the work? This is not a moment to be thrown away. This is not a dress rehearsal. This moment is your life as much as any other moment. Invest it in a way that will make you proud.

As a Christ follower, there is also a higher calling to maintain motivation and complete those tasks that are required of us as Colossians 3:23-24 says, “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.”

As we finish our trek for today, let me ask you, “What practices and habits do you have in your life so that you can maintain your motivation long term?” Let me know if you need any assistance in this area.

Tomorrow’s short trek is part of our Wisdom Unplugged series, and we will also be celebrating 500 Days on our Wisdom-Trek. This 3-minute wisdom supplement will assist you in becoming healthy, wealthy, and wise throughout the entire week.

Thank you for joining me on this trek called life. Also, encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy. If you would like to listen to any of the past daily treks, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy podcast. This is Day 498 of our trek, and today is Philosophy Friday. Every Friday we ponder some of the basic truths and mysteries of life and how they can impact us in creating our living legacy.

Currently, we are in a multi-week trek as we explore the teachings from some of my virtual mentors, such as Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, and Earl Nightingale. The core of our current trek is based primarily on Jim Rohn’s book called The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle. I have learned a considerable amount from reading and re-reading this book on my own trek of life, and I trust that it will benefit you also. Keeping with the continuity of Wisdom-Trek, I will be adapting it to The Five Trails on Life’s Trek.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. It has been a rather cold week as winter weather begins to set in. We are thankful for a warm office with a beautiful view to work from.

On last Friday’s trek, we ended with three questions about how those you associate with impact your attitude and your life. Today’s trek on the Attitude Trail will explore those three questions in more detail. If you have missed the past few Philosophy Friday treks, it would be good to go back and review them to get caught up on our progress so far. We have a lot of ground to cover today, so let’s break camp and continue on the second trail of this extended trek as we cover…

It is good to invest some time once in a while analyzing the people who touch your lives on a daily basis and to mentally weigh the effect the members of your inner circle might be having on you. What reputation do they have with those who are productive, knowledgeable, and respected? What is the level of their own past accomplishments? What is the depth of their knowledge? Do they understand the value and importance of attitude, goals, and personal development? How many books have they read in the past year? Are they studying and developing new skills to refine their current abilities? How do they look upon the value of virtues such as integrity, commitment, persistence, fairness, patience, and diligent activity? What is it about them that makes their advice, opinions, and counsel valuable?

Hopefully, your inner circle does not consist of people whose strongest assets are an unlimited supply of jokes and a variety of distorted opinions. Those who can reach you and affect you on a daily basis should inspire you, not spread the seeds of doubt and dissent with their pessimism, complaining, and ridicule of others. Maintaining a positive attitude in the face of life’s challenges is difficult enough without this kind of influence in your lives.

That’s a legitimate question. Where do they have you going? How do they have you talking? What do they have you thinking, reading, and doing? What influence do they have on your ability to perform well and to grow? Do they inspire you to feel good about what you are doing? Most important of all, what do they have you becoming?

It is easy to let the wrong people slip into your lives. That is why you must take a close look at your circle of influence. You must frequently assure yourself that the wrong voices of influence have not invaded your garden of opportunity by sowing seeds of negativity and doubt.

Delicate as this subject may be, you have probably accumulated a few close friends whose attitudes and habits are damaging to your chances of success and happiness. They may be nice people, with the best intentions, but their affect is wrong. If so, then you may have to make some difficult choices. To protect yourself from the wrong influences, you may be forced to walk away from people you have known for many years to develop more positive and motivating friendships. This does not imply that you have to abandon them completely, but it is important to limit the time you invest in them, especially if they have a negative influence on you.

Re-evaluating your associations can be a difficult issue. Progress is often painful, but so are the consequences of allowing other people to exercise undue influence upon you.

Sometimes it is helpful to remember that it is not just your attitude that you are attempting to protect and nurture, but the future well-being of others as well. If you are strong, you can help others to change and to improve their lives. If you are not, then the influence of certain people can make your own progress difficult, if not impossible.

To protect your better future, you must have the courage to disassociate whenever necessary. That may not be an easy choice, but it may be a necessary one. All of us become careless on occasion, and the wrong people, the wrong opportunity, or the wrong thoughts can find their way into your life. The key is to learn to recognize the effect and to take the necessary steps to minimize or eliminate the source.

Although we are to be kind and loving to all people, the amount of time that you allow them to influence you may need to be minimized. Why take such drastic action? Because the negative influence is too powerful and too threatening. Never underestimate the power of influence. The reason why influence is so powerful is that it has the capacity to change you, and change can be difficult to reverse, particularly if it is change for the worse.

Like failure, influence is subtle. You would never allow someone to deliberately push you off the course you have set for yourself. A word of caution, though, if you are not careful you might inadvertently permit someone to nudge you in the wrong direction a little each day. They may be so effective at these nudges that you don’t even notice what is happening…until it is too late and the damage is done. You might even think the person who is doing the nudging is a friend, and they may be. It is important to understand their influence on you and how that will impact your life long term.

A nudge here, a nudge there, and as time passes, we soon find ourselves looking around and saying, “What am doing here? This is not where I meant to be!” You wind up investing weeks or months or even years merely trying to return to the course you thought you were on before your nudging friend came by, subtly destroying your future with the power of undue influence.

Disassociation is not something to be treated lightly. It must be done carefully and thoughtfully. If you are sincere about changing yourself and designing a better future, you are obligated to distance yourself from those who are having the wrong effect on you. The price of not doing it is simply too enormous. If those you associate with are unwilling or unable to change with the positive influence you can have on them, then you cannot risk being impacted in a negative manner.

This reminds me of the Scripture passage in Ephesians [4:17]-24 where the Apostle Paul encourages us to live as children of the light when he wrote,

With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity. But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

We are deliberately taking our trek slowly on The Five Trails on Life’s Trek as we continue to hike on the Trail of Attitude. Today we learned how important it is to guard against the negative influences of others in our lives, even if they are related, or considered close friends.

Next Philosophy Friday we will continue to explore the value of who we associate with. Join us next Friday for additional insights. I know you will find these insights interesting and profitable in living a rich and satisfying life.

Our next trek will be Motivation Monday when we explore more trails of how to get and stay motivated to bring value to your world. So encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along on Monday for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

If you would like to listen to any of the past daily treks, they are all available at Wisdom-Trek.com.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you on Monday!

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is day 497 of our trek, and it is Thursday and time for our 3-minute mini-trek called Wisdom Unplugged. This short nugget of wisdom includes an inspirational quote with a little additional content for today’s trek. Consider this your vitamin supplement of wisdom each Tuesday and Thursday. So let’s jump right in with today’s nugget.

Today’s quote comes from Ray Lammie, who says, “I was given a most precious gift this morning when I woke up. It’s a gift I never received before. It’s one I can’t keep, can’t return, can’t save, and don’t know how well it will really work. I do know it’s a most wonderful and beautiful gift. I hope I value and appreciate it enough to use it wisely. That gift is this day! Enjoy yours — make it a very special one.”When you wake every morning, how do you think and feel about each new day? Do you consider it a gift or a curse? Time is the only truly finite commodity, and it is the only equalizer among everyone.

Each day every person has 1,440 minutes to spend or invest. No material possessions that we accumulate while we live can be taken with us when we die. Even with that knowledge, so many of us strive relentlessly to gain more. At the beginning of each new day, accept your gift, enjoy each moment, and invest the time impacting the lives of others in a positive manner.

Your impact can be through your work, your play, and all of the seemingly non-important moments of life. It is those small moments of life that may have the greatest impact. The impact that you have on the lives of others is the only thing that will live on throughout eternity long after you are gone. Take time to enjoy the sunrises and sunsets. To stop and smell the roses and coffee. To watch a butterfly flit through the air on a warm summer day. To watch the snowflakes gently fall to the ground on a cold winter night. Invest the gift of each new day wisely, and the return on that investment will last through eternity.

That’s a wrap for today’s Wisdom Unplugged quote. If you would like access to my database of over 10,000 inspirational quotes, the link is available on the main page of Wisdom-Trek.com. Just as you enjoy these nuggets of wisdom, encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy. Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most importantly your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow for Philosophy Friday!