2008 is over.  Thank God.

I mean that in both senses of the expression.  2008 had some of the biggest challenges of my life, but 2008 also had some of the biggest blessings of my life.

Challenges:

• My mom, who turned 82 in ‘08 had major abdominal surgery.  As hard as this was on her, it brought the family closer together.
• My new job.  I love my new job, but I worked at an intensity that I have never worked at in my entire life.
• Expenses.  We had some expenses this year that weren’t in the plan, but as always, God provides.
• My daughter.  Without going into personal detail, one of my girls is going through a rough time.  She could still use your prayers.

Blessings:

• 2008 Indie Spirit Momentum Award - Wow. I was surprised and honored.  It was so good to get together with so many like minded musicians and friends and celebrate the common mission.
• My first mission trip with my daughter, sponsored by Fallston Methodist to an ASP project in Western Virginia.
• My new job.  I have never had such a flexible position that has been so rewarding.  I work for really good people who uderstand that the culture of a company is best when it serves its employees and not the rules!
• My family.  I have an amazing family.  I am so proud of my kids and so thankful for my wife!
• My church family.  The folks at Ebenezer UMC are the best church family a man could ask for.
• Indieheaven.  Not just Keith Mohr and the staff, but all of the good friends I have made and continue to grow closer to as time passes and we find new ways to serve together.
• Several Concerts that I hosted or served at.  Phil Keaggy played 1/2 mile from the home I grew up in.  Alathea, Chris Ames and Chris Lucas played at River Valley Ranch.  Mark Cable, Mindy Boyd, and Margo B Smith joined me for a Songwriters in the Round, Drew Davidsen, joined me on the road and at home, lending his incredible talent and his giving heart to my efforts.  Craig Whitaker invited me to join him on the Road in Viginia.

Through all of this, I developed a new purpose statement that sums up both my work with and for other artists and my pursuits as an artist.

“Encouraging and Enabling Artists to fulfill their Missions”

Happy New year!

All of us have something that occupies our days.  Something we either decide to just get through, or something we decide to excell at.  I try to come at everything in life with an expectation of excellence.

Sometimes the goal is money and sometimes fulfillment.  As with all things, I think especially in the day job, it needs to be with excellence to God.

I am in my own estimation, a very good engineer.  I am discovering that I am a good mentor and potentially a very good leader.  Part of going through this process of refinement, has been with a clear attitude toward what most people call, “The Day Job”.  I think life needs to balance so that what you choose to do for a living, what you choose to explore with your gifts, has to be treated as something that is very important.

I love Jim Rohn’s statement “You need to get FROM the day, not just THROUGH the day!”

I have always had three rules of employment and I share them with you now….

Rule 1: If you are happy with your job (the environment, the people, the work, your satisfaction as to your contribution), then be happy.  Don’t stagnate, reach for excellence every day, and do what you’re paid to do.  Don’t support the grumblings of others, it will reflect poorly on you.

Rule 2: If you are unhappy with your job in any way, take steps to fix the situation.  Be candid, be flexible, but be pro-active.  You don’t always have to accept the way things are.

Rule 3: If you are unhappy with your job and you can’t overcome, ignore, or adjust your perspective, then you must consider change.  Look, I’m not talking about minor annoyances, I mean you are doing your best, and you have had honest conversations and you can’t get resolution on something that makes your day to day less than pleasant, you need to consider change.  There is only one person responsible in the end, for your career, and that is you.

I recently accepted a new postion with an area company, and I can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to this very welcome change.  I made it very clear to my wife, close friends, and myself, that a change was not an escape, but about growth and  opportunity.  I don’t take these things lightly, and never accept a position that I don’t feel strongly that I can do with excellence!

In the midst of discussing the mission and refining purpose, I have not said a lot about this very real part of my day.  So many people in the world are doing something they hate or at least strongly dislike, just to pay the bills.  You have to ask, if you didn’t have bills, would you choose to do what you are doing if you could choose anything?

So in adjusting the mission, exploring and reflecting on career, I needed to look for an opportunity that better suited both my gifts and my personality.  We don’t always have a lot to pick from in life, but when we do, we should choose wisely so as not to either fool ouselves, or disappoint our employers, our families, or ourselves.  it is part of being a good steward.  We should always move toward doing what we love, what we are wired to do, and we should do it with patience and respect toward those who would give us new opportunities to shine and expand on our gifts, so abundantly given by God!

Remember to get from the day, not just through it.  Find the place you fit and make a contribution.  Help someone build something and find those whose philosophy of business and life are in line with yours!

It is human to wrestle with these things.  I have learned that to do so in a vacuum is not as productive as doing so with people who trust and believe in you!

I have a lot of experience, if you use a portion of a pile of years like the one I have learning new things, building relationships, and paying attention while doing so, you will gather a certain amount of expertise and definitely build opinions.  As my wife will attest, I have a head full of useless information that is occasionally useful if you can find an application for it.

What I have learned to do at my advanced age is to step more boldly, what I need to learn at times is to continue preparing and sometimes, step more quickly!

All of us fail to reach our potantial at times for lack of the singular task of developing a plan and setting goals!

You can’t hit tomorrow the goals you don’t set today!  Zig Ziglar gave the analogy one time that he could outshoot the world’s greatest archer.  All he had to do is blindfold the archer and spin him around a few times so he had no idea where he was aiming!  Can you imagine the world’s best basketball team running onto the court only to find that someone removed the goals?

I have discovered that we are all programmed to the American ideal to some extent and automatically do a bunch of things we’re “supposed to do”.  I didn’t have some master plan to be married by 25 and buy a house and raise 2 kids.  I mean I had a general idea that I should, but it was kind of wired in.  I wouldn’t trade my family for anything, but many of us our living by rules we didn’t sign up for sometimes to the detriment of the plan God has for us.

How many guidance counselors in HS ask you what you want to do?  Very few.  Mostly they test you to see what career you would best be suited for.  this idea is very new and very old.

It looks so bizare to some people to see someone doing full time music ministry, but not to see a career musician.  We know many people who own their own businesses and know about guys like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.  Keith Mohr is that kind of person, right?  He surely didn’t get Indieheaven from a guidance counselor, right?

If we didn’t build unusual debt, and make ourselves slaves of the weekly paycheck, we could still work hard at what we dream of doing and feed our families.  It is not built on either convenience or someone’s Normal ideal of what “normal people do” for a living.

So  I don’t know where that came from except to say that I am trying to be very honest about that conversation and thinking while planning better while listening to God, reducing debt that chain’s me to a certain reality, and working on the next set of skills that will propel me to where God would have me be both happy and effective in my life.

So this week, Eric Copeland of Creative Soul Records put a request on the Indieheaven Network for songs for an artist.  He wants one entry, fitting a particular criteria.  Entries will be accepted till Jan 31, 2008.  I have written a lot of songs, and even a few good ones, but can I write one that would catch the interest of one of the best indie producers in Nashville?

As I’ve been examining the various hats I wear, I noticed I’ve missed one hat lately; my songwriting hat!  I have a couple of songs I’ve been simmering, one of which has been developing nicely, but it’s been awhile since I wrote a song for a request.

So even if I write a song or three that may not interest Eric at all, I would be exploring a gift that I enjoy persuing.  Part of this discerning process is to honestly embrace the gifts I enjoy improving, and abandoning the activities that are not really in line with my unravelling purpose.

So, if just for the exercise, I will work on a new song, just to challenge my writing and work on something i enjoy!  I recently asked my younger daughter(she’s 11) what she thinks I’m good at…  I gave her no context and we weren’t even discussing music.  She said, “Well, … you’re a good songwriter…” Hmmmm

Ask me how I am doing with my 30 minutes of extra effort….

Terrible.  I get an F-. 

Failing is a wonderful thing.  It makes us do one of two things.  We either quit, or we learn.  Quitting is good if we are not giving up.  Learning is good, for it is necessary to get better.

So I’m not quitting… How could I?  Prayer, Exercise, Practice?  All essential to the current mission.  So what did you learn Dorothy? (There’s no place like Home, there’s no place like  …*)

The answer dawned on me as I struggled with the question, “Why was it so easy to do this stuff 15 years ago, but feels impossible now?”  Many people jump to the easy answer….. “It’s because you’re older!”  I wasn’t buying it.  Not one bit.  Something is different and I was determined to sort it out.  I know that most efforts, resolutions and new courses in life require two main ingredients; A strong desire and persistence.

The thing many people would add to that is will power.  OK, when was the last time you gave something up and rationalized it right back into your life?  I don’t care if it was smoking, drinking, weight loss, or a bad boyfriend, at some point you caved in and there you were, right back to or even worse than when you started because when your will power let go, the floodgates of want came with it!

So what is the missing piece?  Environment.  If the environment you have built, prepared, or ignored does not lend itself to supporting the activity, inconvenience will kill any persistence you may have!  Why is it so easy to watch TV, but not to pack your lunch everyday?  Well you set up the couch or recliner to aim at the TV and put a remote control right in front of you to make viewing not only easy, but enjoyable!  We don’t even really have commercial breaks to let us get up to go to the bathroom or throw in a load of laundry.  We are programmed and have built the environment to not only easily do, but enjoy watching TV.

After 3 faithful days of praying and playing guitar, and 3 days of still not knowing which exercise I could seriously add for 10 minutes a day, I watched my plan fade.  I couldn’t leave my guitar in the Living room, and I couldn’t find an ideal time to pray in a place where I have privacy.

The space I had built for music and alone time and planning was over-run with clutter.  Sure I use most of that stuff, don’t I?  Nope, just years of piles and no time to organize, or even the resolve to throw/give away or recycle stuff I will never use or read!

So, my action plan, which started over Christmas break was the rapid cleaning of my office space/sound room and closet of my studio.  Suddenly with the exit of clutter and the knowledge that I can find things faster, comes the idea that I can re-invent the environments I used to have, that allowed me to faithfully do the daily habits and rituals that are necessary to being healthy, productive, and on track as I continue refining my focus.  True quadrant 2 activities!  Now I’m getting on the right track!

Stay tuned, Another blog coming on clutter and our addiction to acquiring and keeping STUFF!

Becky asked a very good Question.  How do we cut back on the hats we are wearing by adding more to do.  She’s right, I skipped a step.  In order to have time to discern purpose and drop hats, I believe we must build good habits to support the changes that will inevitably come.  The idea is to do the foundational things I need and enjoy and make them habits and use those daily activities to improve health, skills and spiritual life.  I picked one daily habit from 3 categories;  Exercise - Health, Praying - Spiritual Life, Guitar Scales - Skill.

Doing just ten minutes a day of each allows me to make 3 ten minute adjustments to my day.  Not adding new activities, but replacing ineffective, unimportant activities such as TV, net surfing and spinning, deciding what to do while accomplishing nothing.  Had I decided to stop watching TV, or pray for an hour, or Play guitar for 2 hours a day, those would be unrealistic and I would feel very much like a failure.  By making small adjustments and replacing or redefining small parts of the day, I can effectively set good habits and replace activies that are a distraction from any mission.

Steven Covey wrote a best-selling book - The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (There is a nice overview here http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~tanguay/7habits.htm )

He talks about the 4 quandrants of activities we choose.  We tend to spend the bulk of our time on activities that are Urgent and Important(Impending deadlines, Emergency Car Repairs, personal Crisis) and Not Urgent and Not Important(Video Games, TV, Internet Surfing) and even Things that are Urgent and Not Important such as running to a sale or cell phone calls  and interruptions.  These quandrant 3 activities can make us very active without being productive.  Have you ever seen someone start cleaning a room and get so focused on re-arranging the furniture or re-organizing the china closet and never finish cleaning the room?

Quandrant 2 activities, which are important but not urgent, are often overlooked, and yet in the long run lead to less quadrant 1 activities.  Prevention and maintenance.  Would you be looking for a new car because the engine in your old car blew up if you’d takem time to get oil changes and regular maintenance?  Relationship building, looking for new opportunities, personal education and taking time to plan, rather than always reacting to the current crisis are all examples of Quadrant 2 activities.

As I examine the hats and take time to weigh what I am called to do, I need to balance in the things I should do.  The things that are required as a good steward of the gifts, talents, and health I’ve been granted.

You know it’s funny.  I get my teeth cleaned 4 times a year.  I brush my teeth at least 3, sometimes 4 times a day.  I floss everyday.  As a matter of fact, I remember to eat everyday, and although not enough at times, I manage to sleep everyday.  I show up for work, every day.  I find time to write and respond to emails every day.  I hug my kids and tell them I love them, every day.

So why is it that I seem to skip other important things every day?

My favorite Jim Rohn Quote is:
“The things that lead to success are easy to do.  The challenge is that they are also easy not to do” - Jim Rohn

I get into amazing patterns of habit.  But it often doesn’t last.  I ran religiously from 1983 or so right up till around 1995.  I rekindled my running spirit, lost 30 lbs and worked back up to 6 mile runs in 2000 - 2002.  But here I am again… 40 lbs overweight and once again trying to build habits.  What is it about our nature that can be so dedicated, almost OCD about things for a period of time, and then we suddenly realize we aren’t doing that thing we loved so much for years?

As Americans, our attention spans are short, our ability to persevere generally small, and our appetites are HUGE!

Nike used to have a slogan… “Just DO it!” That in fact is the secret.  perseverence itself is the key.  Not will power, not self help jargon, and not the latest fad.  The fact is, it is a decision.  I am finding more and more that success in anything is a decision that starts with the words “I Will …”

I think the key to continuing is to overcome our tendencies to be all or nothing and just be consistent.  Momentum comes from repitition, not 1 big effort.  Momentum is maintained by doing a little bit everyday so that even when we fall, we get up and do it again.. Out of habit, out of stubborness and out of an intense desire to be something that we are not.

So for the next 30 days, starting today, I am going to do 3 new things everyday for 10 minutes each.  (If some of these seem small, this is in addition to what I am already doing.)

I am going to add a new exercise for 10 minutes.
I am going to pray for others for 10 minutes.
I am going to practice guitar scales for 10 minutes.

I won’t do them for more than 20 minutes, because I am trying to build a habit, not break records or bolster my pride.  So on Jan 5, 2008, I will have completed 300 minutes of Exercise, 300 minutes of prayer, and 300 minutes of guitar scales.  That’s 15 hours of moving in the right direction.

Slow and steady wins the race.  Moderation should keep us from burning out, and perseverence will see us through.

I pray that you will reach your goals and find your purpose.  Please keep me in your prayers as I struggle to succeed!

Harry Offutt ( http://www.indieheaven.com/artists/harryoffutt )

OK, so I know the process of defining a mission, and it occured to me over the last month or so why I haven’t done what is taught.

I know that if i commit to a clear mission statement that it does a more important thing than define what I am, it more clearly defines what I am not.  I know that to have a lazer beam clear mission, that I need to weed out.  What is giving me hope that it is OK, is the peace and joy I feel when I get rid of the physical clutter in my life.  My fear, is one of loss.  I realize that I am struggling with the giving up part.  What am I agreeing to NOT do anymore, to become effective at the things that I am not only called to do, but enjoy doing even more.

I want to thank Sean Smith, because he gave me the analogy that set this ball in motion back in May.  “You can use a knife as a screwdriver, but eventually it won’t be good for either job.”  It was the set up for the Song Real… “Trying to recognize the face in the mirror …”  Well I feel like a drawer full of knives.

I’ve been defining what it is I do, and found I am juggling not 3, but 4 balls in the air.  I also find that I am doing like a dozen things because of that…  “Jack of all trades, Master of some.”  I have lately become weary of juggling.  Of all of the skills, gifts and tasks that I enjoy, I enjoy juggling the least!

I just want to publically say that I am working on this because I trust you all.  I am moving toward a conversation with Sue Ross or someone like her, to help me wrestle through this a little faster.  I am very good at big picture thinking and visualizing.  I am very good at single task execution, but i am terrible at large scale planning, goals, and general persistence.  I embrace distraction.

Look at these guys and their mission statement….
Five Guys

I want to end up that clear as I set out on the next several years of my life.

I don’t just want your prayers, I’d love input, and I think I am going to start a blog about this partly to journal my progress, but also to maybe help someone else who is going through the same thing.

For me, I wear a lot of hats … Artist, Promoter, Producer, Web designer, Consultant, Writer, Songwriter, Worship Leader, Sound Engineer, and on and on and on… Not to mention, Software Engineer, Troubleshooter, Church leader, Father, Husband, Son, Sibling, and Encourager ….  Add to that list Plumber, Electrician, Drywaller, the pentultimate do-it-your-selfer…..

Time to seek peace and joy in the calling and find focus.

I’m growing wearing of being a hat rack.  Time to lose some weight.