Practical steps to personal growth (part 4)

Find the people in your life who want to grow and decide to grow together. As we seek to add value to others and desire to help the grow, it is useful to create an environment of mutual sharing which will empower everyone.

'As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.' Proverbs 27:17

As we share what we learn with others I believe it helps to do several things:

1. It will increases our own insight
2. It will build our relationships
3. It will gives us a common vision
4. It will hold us accountable
5. It will create more worthwhile conversations

Practical steps to personal growth (part 3)

I want the great things I am learning to become part of me and so they help me to be a better person who is adding value to others in my life. Every time you learn something new I think it is a good idea to ask yourself, when, where and with who can I share it or use it. It is a good idea to apply quickly what you learn.

Here are a few practical helps to do this:

• Select one thing you have learned this week
• Put it on a 3 x 5 card and keep it in front of you for a week
• Share it with your wife/husband
• Share it with someone else within 24 hours
• Then teach it to someone else

Simple things I hear you say, but if we consistently do this think of the results. Please comment on the impact you think it could have in your life.

Practical steps to personal growth (Part 2)

Learning opportunities are everywhere if you are teachable! We tend to read, watch and hear so many good articles, one-liners, video clips, graphics, songs and quotes etc now-a-days; but may of us do not always make the best use them to help us grow. We read something and think, 'wow, I have to do something with that', and maybe even highlight it in a book you are currently reading, but busy so busy in life and we move on so quickly and good things are lost and we forget it. A good discipline someone once told me to do was to take the time to write down, cut out, photocopy etc and start to file what you learn.

I know I can be a little lazy on this one, but I do want to work at this as I think the pay off is huge. I say that because I see a couple advantages to doing this:

1. If you are ever asked to comment, speak, present, come up with creative ideas in your area of work or ministry you have plenty to resource to draw upon.

2. As you focus on the article again to record it; maybe you reduced it down to its most relevant paragraph or looked at it again I have found it somehow helps to reinforce what I have learned.

3. You have a reference point you can revisit as often as you like to see what you have learned. This is excellent because you can hold yourself accountable for any changes you felt you needed to make in your life.

Start a filing system today and build up your own resource bank to share with others. Go on try it!

Practical steps to personal growth

Those of us who are serious about personal growth must plan to do it. If you are like me getting side-tracked is one of the easiest things to do as we live such busy. We need to plan time in our calender that works for us and then seek to guard that time like any other appointment.

I remember reading somewhere that teachers report that people learn more effectively in short regular periods than in long, infrequent blocks of time.

John Maxwell shares his weekly development plan that I have tried to adopt (I am not always successful, but it is good to aim at something rather than do nothing!)

• Monday: One hour with God

• Tuesday: One hour listening to a leadership CD/Podcast etc

• Wednesday: One hour with the same leadership CD/Podcast incuding time filing notes on the highlights and reflecting on what is learned.

• Thursday: One hour reading a leadership book

• Friday: Another hour with the same leadership book, including time filing notes on the highlights and reflecting on what is learned.

This is a challenging plan but I recommend you have a shot! In addition to this go through other good materials whilst traveling or sitting around. Time that some would consider dead time and use it wisely. Cut out articles, quotes, artworks etc that may be useful.

More to follow .....

Brickies

I have finally decided to hire in some extra help for Vic (our builder) to speed up the building works!



Anyone wanting to book this guy for your next project, just let me know.

Wedding Anniversary

It was Alison and my 20th wedding anniversary today. Hip hip.....!! Flowers, After Eights and a bottle of Baileys as suprises set the tone for the day.

After work, I raced home to get changed for a night out with my girl. My mother-in-law came round to look after our kids and we set off for a fantastic curry at the Bekash Indian restaurant in Stony Stratford. It was awesome! Great food, I highly recommend it. We sat and chatted the whole time like true friends do and I couldn't believe how quickly time passed by. We then headed off to Cineworld at Exscape central MK to watch the new film Four Christmas's. It was very funny in places. The Nativity scene was a blast!

It was a lovely night and one I wished could have lasted a little longer and another celebration I will never forget. I love her so much and I value her more and more as the years have gone by. She is my best friend and yes, I would do the 20yrs all over again if I had the choice.

After all this time I still love to open the car door for her and know she likes me to do this for her. It makes her feel a little special and sends the clear signal of putting her first. Something I think we husbands should practice a little more often and it doesn't cost us anything. We just need to remember to do it!

Thanks Alison for sharing your life with me, you truly are a gift from God. Love you!

Pride in Milton Keynes awards evening

Fola, Sue and I attended the Pride in Milton Keynes Awards Evening last night as representatives of the Foodbank. Foodbank was nominated for three awards out of eleven: (1) Best Arts/Sports/Community Project (2) Making a difference on our streets (3) Service with a smile. The Awards Evening was sponsored by Milton Keynes Citizen and Milton Keynes Council and there were over 400 people in attendance. This was excellent profile for the Foodbank!

All the nominees were brilliant and as we listened to what each contributed it was moving. There are some incredible people in MK who give their time, treasure and talents to help others. I have to say it was awesome and I applaud them all.

We won one of the categories for best Arts, Sports and Community Project sponsored by MK Dons. We also received certificates as finalists in the two other categories. (Show you on Sunday!) It was good to meet special guest Trudie Goodwin who is best known for playing Sergeant June Ackland in ITV's popular police drama, 'The Bill'. Great to see Jim Marshall (OBE) of Marshall Amplification there and to see him win an a special award that Acknowledge his achievements over the years.

It was also good to see the Street Ministers also receive an award for Making a difference on our streets.

I enjoyed the evening and believe that the church should be involved more in these kind of evenings showing active participation in the local community - Brilliant!

Well done to all the volunteers in the Foodbank, you are doing a fantastic job and making a real difference in people's lives.