Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 140 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Life is About Taking Action

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 140 of our Trek. Yesterday we started digging up nuggets of wisdom that I have learned from Jim Rohn, one of my virtual mentors, and began applying Wisdom-Trek logic to the nuggets that we discover. We will continue on this trail of nugget exploration for the next several days. If you have any of your own observations, comments, or questions as we explore these nuggets of wisdom, please share them in the comment section of our daily journal pages.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio, as we came up just for the weekend to start the leaf harvest and share in our grandson Gideon’s 6^th birthday celebration. When I refer to our leaf harvest, you have to understand that with about 4.5 acres of land with many very mature maple and oak trees. So, they produce an abundant amount of leaves. The Big House is also located in a residential community, so there are some expectations that we will maintain the property. As such, we do strive to keep the leaves gathered up on a timely basis so they don’t end up all over the community.

Today was just the first day of many that we will spend gathering leaves. Fortunately we have a very powerful vacuum system attached to our mower that takes much of the difficult work out of it.  We were able to clean the entire mow-able portion of the yard today which consisted of 8 loads. Each load has a capacity of over 400 gallons. That is a lot of leaves, and today was rather light in comparison when most of the leaves fall. I do enjoy spending the time outside, though, so it was a good day.

We will head back to Charlotte late on Sunday since we have some commitments this next week. With a full schedule, the days will fly by before returning to Marietta again this coming Friday.

Let’s continue on our trail today and search for some more nuggets of wisdom. Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us, “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.” As we start today, we first want to explore the wisdom nugget regarding a time to take action.

A Time to Take Action

Engaging in genuine discipline requires that you develop the ability to take action. You don’t need to be hasty if it isn’t required, but you don’t want to lose much time either. The time to act is when the idea is hot and the emotion is strong.

Let’s say you would like to build your personal library of books, either physically or electronically. If that is a strong desire for you, what you’ve got to do is get the first book. Then get the second book. Take action as soon as possible before the feeling passes and the idea dims. If you don’t, you fall prey to the Law of Diminishing Intent.

We intend to take action when the idea strikes us. We intend to do something when the emotion is high. But, if we don’t translate that intention into action fairly soon, the urgency starts to diminish. A month from now the passion is cold. A year from now it can’t be found. If nothing changes in your life, then your life will not change.

So take action. Set up a discipline or habit when the emotions are high and the idea is strong, clear, and powerful. If somebody talks about good health and you’re motivated by it, you need to get a book on nutrition. Get the book before the idea passes and the emotion gets cold. Begin the process. Fall on the floor and do some push-ups.

You’ve got to take action; otherwise the wisdom is wasted. The emotion soon passes unless you apply it to a disciplined activity. Discipline enables you to capture the emotion and the wisdom and translate them into action. The key is to increase your motivation by quickly setting up the disciplines. By doing so, you’ve started a whole new life process.

The key is to increase your motivation by quickly setting up the disciplines.

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The greatest value of discipline is self-worth, also known as self-esteem. Many people who are teaching self-esteem these days don’t connect it to discipline. But, once we sense the least lack of discipline within ourselves, it starts to erode our psyche. One of the greatest temptations is to just ease up a little bit. Instead of doing your best, you allow yourself to do just a little less than your best. Sure enough, you’ve started in the slightest way to decrease your sense of self-worth.

There is a problem with even a little bit of neglect. Neglect starts as an infection. If you don’t take care of it, it becomes a disease. And one neglect leads to another. Worst of all, when neglect starts, it diminishes our self-worth.

When neglect starts, it diminishes our self-worth.

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Once this has happened, how can you regain your self-respect? All you have to do is act now! Start with the smallest discipline that corresponds to your own philosophy. Make this commitment, “I will discipline myself to set and then achieve my goals today so that in the years ahead I can celebrate my successes.”

A Time to Be Fruitful

Over the years I’ve learned to challenge myself and those that I impact to turn their response to the ideas and information they receive into results. According to the Biblical story in Genesis 1:28, the first couple, Adam and Eve, were instructed to be fruitful or produce some results.  “Then God blessed them and said,  ‘Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.’”

If you study chapter 1 closely, you’ll see that God instructed all His creation to be fruitful.  He repeated these commands after the flood to Noah, his family, and all creation also.

Fruitful is kind of an interesting word. It denotes abundance to fill the earth. In our daily lives today, I think fruitful, abundance, and productivity mean to go to work on producing more than you need for yourself. I think we fulfill that command given to us so long ago to be productive and to produce far more than we need for ourselves by blessing our family and others, blessing our workplace, and blessing our nation regardless of where we live or what conditions we are living in.

Challenge yourself to produce more ideas than you need for yourself so you can share and give your ideas away. Produce more in terms of substance and money and treasure and all things valuable to human beings, far more than you need for yourself.

I am reminded of R.G. LeTourneau’s story, the man who built the big earth moving machines. It was his goal to someday give away 90% of his income. Giving away far more than anyone could possibly imagine. 90% is an awful lot to give away, but you should have seen the 10% that was left. Once abundance starts to come and once someone becomes incredibly productive, it’s amazing what the numbers turn out to be. It’s amazing what it finally totals. So make sure when you are given the opportunity that you turn your response into results and capitalize on the chance to be more fruitful and more giving.

Turn your actions into results and capitalize on the chance to be more fruitful and more giving.

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As we gain wisdom and apply wise principles to our lives, God will multiply our years so that we will have even more opportunities to be fruitful. Proverbs 9:11 puts it this way, “Wisdom will multiply your days and add years to your life.” We should produce abundant results in all of our endeavors as the Apostle Paul in his letter to the church in Ephesus put it in Chapter 6 verse 7, “Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.”

On our Trek today our wisdom nuggets gave us insight that there is a time to take action and a time to be fruitful. Both are related because if we do take action, we will multiply our results and be more fruitful. Come along with us tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy, and we will search for more of these precious wisdom nuggets that are more valuable than hidden treasures.

That will finish our podcast for today. Remember to listen to your daily dose of wisdom on Wisdom-Trek.com, or subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, Spreaker, or YouTube so the episodes will be downloaded to you automatically each day.  Please share Wisdom-Trek with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person so they can come along with us each day.

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 each day.

As we take this Trek 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!