Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 46 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life (Part 3)

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. By consuming these daily wisdom nuggets, you will digest the principles will help you in your quest to become healthy, wealthy, and wise as we trek through life together.  This is Day 46 of our Trek, and we will continue for the next few days on our Trek to look at how changing our thinking can dramatically change our lives.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. We had the privilege of being interviewed on another podcast this past week, which was released on Monday.  I count it a blessing to be able to share our story on other platforms as well.  So far we have been on the Profit Pathway with Adam Farmer, PluggedIN Life with Mitch Kriegh, The Launching Point with Mike O’Toole, and Life Uncut with Tom Walter and John Allaire. If you would like to listen to any of these interviews, they can be found on Wisdom-Trek.com and choose The Big House.  There is another interview not yet released and a couple of more scheduled, so I will keep you informed when they are ready.

I am excited to continue on our Trek today as we visit waypoints 4 and 5 on our trail in our quest to change our thinking so that we can change our lives.  There are 12 waypoints or rest stops plus a couple of planning discussions in all, so if you missed any of the past five days of podcasts, please go back and listen to them, or read our daily journal entries.  This will give you the foundation for this week’s Trek.

As we ended our podcast yesterday, I asked you to consider two more questions:

2. Am I dedicated to removing distractions and mental clutter so that I can concentrate with clarity on the real issue?
3. Am I working to break out of my “box,” exploring ideas and options, so I can experience creative breakthrough?

Did you take time to reflect on and answer those question?  How has your focus and creativity changed as a result of these two questions? Remember, we must grow ourselves before we can ever hope to help others grow.

Let’s start down the trail today towards the next waypoint or rest stop.  While I am very much an optimist in life, I am also very much a realist. I always believe the glass is completely full, either with liquid, air or other substances, but I also know that I may not always want to drink what is in the cup.

So, let’s settle in at our first waypoint or rest stop. 

4. Employ Realistic Thinking

Realistic thinking is absolutely essential for success in life. It minimizes your risk by determining in advance what the consequences of different actions might be. By understanding and acknowledging consequences, it is possible to plan for them.

By developing contingency plans, it allows you to feel and be more secure. Realistic thinking will also lead you to better define objectives or goals so that you can reach them. Through realistic thinking, you can create a solid foundation upon which your ideas can be built upon.

This reminds me of the parable that Christ taught us in Luke [6:47]-49,

“I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it.  It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built.  But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”

To improve your realistic thinking abilities, here are five tips:

• Develop an appreciation for truth. Realistic thinking requires you to face the truth and to take responsibility for its consequences.
• Gather the facts. An important part of realistic thinking is for you to gather the facts connected to an idea. It can also be useful to study what others have done.
• Think about the pros and cons. When you analyze the pros and cons associated with an idea, you can gain a more realistic view-point.
• Envision the worst case scenario. One of the most useful traits of realistic thinking is to uncover, envision, and analyze the worst case scenario about your ideas and plans
• Align resources with objectives. After analyzing the pros and cons and identifying the worst case scenario, you must then identify gaps between reality and your vision or plans. Once you do identify the gaps fill them.

Focus Question: Am I building a solid foundation on facts so that I can think with certainty?

5. Utilize Strategic Thinking

Strategic thinking enables you to take a long-term view of a situation. This type of thinking has numerous benefits. It can simplify your ideas by breaking them down into manageable pieces, and it also leads you to more precise thinking. You must move beyond a vague idea and identify specific ways to address you issue. By aligning actions with objectives, strategic thinking improves the odds that you are going in the right direction.

The following seven steps will help you with strategic thinking:

• Break down the issue. To focus on your issues most effectively, strategically break them down into smaller parts that are more manageable.
• Ask why before how. Identify all of the issues first, before jumping and trying to solve them.
• Identify the real issues and objectives. Ask yourself and others probing questions to uncover the real issues. After you have identified the real issues, often the solution to a problem is simple.
• Review the available resources. You must consider what resources are available. If this is overlooked, your strategy and plan will fail.
• Develop a plan. Put the obvious elements in place first to initiate momentum, then build your plan.
• Include other people if needed. As part of strategic thinking, include the right people to assist you.
• Repeat the process. Strategic thinking becomes most effective, when you utilize it continuously.

Focus Question: Am I implementing strategic plans that give me direction for today and increase my potential for tomorrow?

We need to learn and then adopt the thinking habits of wise and successful people. It is not enough just to learn something, we must also put it into practice for it to become effective.

As your guide, friend, mentor, and fellow sojourner, let me know how I can help you to become a better leader and mentor to your tribe.

Well, that will finish our podcast for today. If you missed any of our previous podcasts, please check out Wisdom-Trek on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud or Wisdom-Trek.com. Tomorrow as we continue our Trek about thinking, we will study how changing our thinking can literally change our lives.

So please join us at our “camp” tomorrow for another day on our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

If you enjoy our daily doses of wisdom, I encourage  you to help us in the following four ways:

1. Leave us feedback about the podcast on Wisdom-Trek.com.
2. Please subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher.
3. Leave us a rating on iTunes or Stitcher.
4. Share Wisdom-Trek with your family and friends.

Thank you for allowing me to serve as your Guide to Wisdom. I really do appreciate it.

The journal from this podcast can be found at Wisdom-Trek.com, where we also have pictures, tweetable quotes, wisdom nuggets, and free resources.

As we take this Trek together let us always:

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

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