Those who are good at what they do in their own arenas dominate other arenas.

Adolph Kiefer won the gold in the 1936 Olympics 100 meter backstroke. It mattered to Germany.

Art can overpower arms. A single pedestrian can stop an entourage of tanks. Not always, but it can happen if the art is compelling enough or the pedestrian is angry enough and the times are desperate enough.

Hard working people are fed up with junk everywhere—politics, business, family, culture. Across the world, the best kept secret is the quality, hard work dominating secret workshops. When provoked, those workers will emerge.  · · · →

Many things have a threshold. Incompetence is one of them. Powerlessness is another. When a leader is viewed as both incompetent and powerless, everyone else—peers, outsiders, competitors, allies, subordinates—everyone will view that leader as “full of hot air”.

Once compared to a hot air balloon, it’s hard to restore any respectable reputation.

“Hot air” symptoms involve overreaching, making rules that can’t be enforced, making rules that hurt and don’t help, making rules outside of jurisdiction, prudence, or ethics.

As a leader it’s your full time job to make life better for others. When you don’t, they poke holes.  · · · →

See and understand by looking outside of your own world. Once you see beyond your normal boundaries, other boundaries will make more sense.

The comfort zone was never any indication of safety; it is a prison. That prison keeps people from knowing each other and from knowing the future—from understanding each other and from understanding both the future and the past.

Because we don’t understand so many things, the future seems impossible to predict or anticipate. People who see things coming get labeled as “lucky” or “divine” when, actually, they simply live comfortably uncomfortable. For futurists, comfort is evil.  · · · →

We can’t judge only methods and expect to find happiness. Results and methods that lead to results are entirely separate. But, from the perspective of the “capitol class” or the “teacher’s desk”, results are never in sight. Only theory matters in the universe of theory.

Complaining exposes people who lack their own good results. They whine about tone, hard-hitting, and they mislabel foresight as “lucky guessing”.

People fail because they don’t kick their own butts. Results and foresight go hand in hand. If you don’t know what’s likely to happen tomorrow, it’s likely that you need to excuse yourself less.  · · · →

When you see the writing on the wall: work.

While you work, people will call you crazy, but they won’t see you as a threat. Sounding an alarm makes people angry. They don’t want noise during tea time.

Note the reactions to crisis: denial, panic, investigation, flight, talking, and partying. Don’t participate. You have to be ready.

Being ready takes work. The danger is that work makes you tired. You have to keep your peace. Your friends will seem distant. Still, work is the best and strongest thing you can do.

Remember to rest, watch, stand, pray, then work more.  · · · →

When the alarm sounds, it’s too late to prepare. If you’re in the building during an earthquake, you can only hope it was designed to withstand and built correctly.

Most don’t want to talk about smoke on the horizon. Some might talk about the coming storm, but we usually hate the people who know the size and name of the coming army.

“I can’t know that much. So, there’s no way anyone else does.”

If you see the writing on the wall, don’t argue with people who don’t listen. Be peaceful. Be ready. Just make sure no one is surprised.  · · · →

It’s been twelve score years.

It’s interesting how we consider our independence to have started at our declaration of it. We hadn’t yet won the Revolution. It actually seemed doubtful. Troops weren’t too happy and thought about quitting. Congress argued and didn’t want to pay. Only 15% of the population participated.

Even after the British limped home and said, “We didn’t want to win anyway,” we still had a Constitution to figure out. Paul Revere helped start the first insurance company, remember. We won the war, we even won the peace, but then we had to figure out how to govern.  · · · →

Big education, big religion, big government, big money, big charity, big entertainment—these terms make their way through the memes. They are all problems. Sooner or later, people identify common threads and consistencies. “What do all these have in common?” we ask.

Look again. The basic “virtue”, or better called “anti-virtue”, in all these is their dedication to a centralized control over a vast spectrum. Everyone loves “internationalness”—travel, peace, trade, and the gang. But, we don’t want idiots running it all.

Consider things you despise. They are usually good things commandeered by “central planning”. “Centralism” is the elitist religion.  · · · →

Don’t forget to rest.

Task-driven hearts don’t care how tired they are while in pursuit of something great. The cost is worth the dream. The needs are worth paying their price. The benefit is every bit as much worth its pain as it is its salt.

Just don’t forget to rest.

The costs of victory are high enough as it is. Don’t add to those costs the great expense of over-heating, a taxi and one-time-use gas can, blown rings, or even the victory itself.

Remember the tortoise and the hare… pace yourself, steady as she goes. Don’t forget the rest.  · · · →

This life is as finished as it will ever get. Jesus finished it at the Cross.

That dream of completion won’t happen over night. When Jesus lands, there will be more work to do than ever.

From here on out, we keep working. We keep tying up loose ends by opening new ones. Eternity began at the Cross; it was the end of the Beginning.

Enjoy the journey. Don’t invalidate yourself or today’s work. Today is not broken, just in-process. The process is the product. Once you reach a landmark, you’ll find a new one. Goals are merely directional.  · · · →

Institutions will always irritate people and create problems. Eventually, everyone learns just how optional those institutions are. Trump has thoroughly exposed that for the American political establishment. Rome was another example.

Don’t be afraid.

Don’t fear the Colosseum’s collapse. Don’t fear what people will say when you exit first.

Institutions were made by men. And, like any construct, they were meant to fall at the hands of men. As for the good ones, like the castles of old… Their doors stay open because of superior craftsmanship, though they did shift in their purposes.

Don’t be afraid of waves; make them.  · · · →

When things are moving and popping and the road twists and curves, don’t get lost in the goal.

That’s one of the reasons it takes so long to reach any destination worth going to. The ride along the way—the scenery and thrill of danger and splendor—it’s all part of the story about the destination.

The journey also describes the price of the goal.

People don’t watch multiple seasons of a TV show just to find out what happens at the end. They often watch TV too much because they think their own lives are boring. Maybe they’re not.  · · · →

The devil’s in the details, they say. Look at the projects in your life. If you’re going anywhere, everything seems to happen too slowly. Even then, it may be happening too quickly. Or, it may be happening at just the right pace.

While we could review the many anecdotes—good things come to those who wait, you can’t rush art, haste makes waste, et cetera—look at the value of making people wait. Many good brands have a waiting period—and it actually helps their sales. Consumers know the anecdotes about patience. So, they wait for leaders who do also.  · · · →

Life happens. It’s normal. Don’t be afraid. Many “scary sounds” are no more than wind.

Many things can happen that we don’t know can happen. We get noodle-whipped—scared into submission as children who grew old, but never grew out of the chains.

The things that used to scare and control us in the past don’t need to scare or control us in the future.

So, have a sit-down with yourself. Review your fears, your alarms, your red-flag triggers, and the things that drive you to push the “panic” button. They might not be real things, at most idle threats.

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