My take on a Life well lived.
Archive for Brad Burdette
Change
“What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.”
— Lao Tsu
The Tracks
“Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.”
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower
The Problem Solver
The Problem Solver
The picture below is a text conversation I had with my 14yr old son when he was flying home from school by himself. His plane had gotten in late to the terminal and he was waiting for his bag plane side with only 15 minutes to spear to get across DFW airport to catch his next flight. This conversation occurred because he was unsure how to navigate the airport.
The Ability to Problem Solve sets us apart from other people!!
Yes, yes it does.
I don’t think I have much more wisdom on that today. As Red Green would say, “Keep your stick on the ice.”
Not just Superman needs sun light to regain strength
Not just Superman needs sun light to regain strength.
Has the winter been long? I can feel a resounding yes from everyone that just read that last statement.
I think cabin fever is another way to say it.
There is not much I can do about the weather, but there is something I can encourage you in.
Just as Super Man needs sun light to regain strength we need a figurative sun light in our lives to regain strength as well.
I call it appreciation. I know the tough ones out there are thinking, “I don’t need that, I’m strong and confident in myself.”
Yes, and you are also human. We are wired to love and be loved.
Now how do you think we go about getting some of that light of appreciation?
By giving it away first!
I tell my kids everyday to, “encourage everyone.” Then I ask them, “Why?” and they say, “Because when we encourage others it encourages us return.”
It all goes back to a very simple but mostly forgotten law. The law of sowing and reaping. When a farmer goes out to the field to plant corn what comes up? Corn, not beans.
I would encourage you today to try it out. Give away some of your light, “encouragement”, to someone else and watch it produce a harvest in your own life.
A Few quotes on Encouragement I dug up for you from my stash.
“In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
“Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Correction does much, but encouragement does more.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“There are high spots in all of our lives and most of them have come about through encouragement from someone else. I don’t care how great, how famous or successful a man or woman may be, each hungers for applause.” ~ George Matthew Adams
You are the ceiling or the lid to what God wants to do in you and through you
You are the ceiling or the lid to what God wants to do in you and through you.Take a child for example, all wide eyed and expectant of the dreams they have can come true. When was the last time someone asked a child what they wanted to do for their lives and they answered, sit in a 5×5 cubical and stare at a box for 8 hours a day.
No, they said they wanted to be something great.
Why, because they haven’t learned to hold themselves back yet, that’s why.
Let me ask it this way; “If fear wasn’t an option what would you do?”
I know it seems like a hard question, but is it? Here are some thoughts on fear that may help you.
If you listen to your fears you will die, never knowing what a great person you might have been.
- Robert H. Schuller
Our doubts are traitors, and make us loose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.
- William Shakespeare
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold. -Helen Keller
“America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination, and unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.” —Harry S. Truman
At some point in your life you took a detour and allowed fear to move you in a different direction than maybe the one you should have been traveling. God puts gifts and talents in each and everyone of us, but through our fears we put a lid on them. We create a ceiling that stops us from reaching the next level. As the Shakespeare quote states, “Our doubts are traitors.”
My encouragement today, take some time and reflect on your life and allow yourself to see the gifts that you have. Then get ready to take your first step. As Martin Luther King Jr. said“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
Super Bowl
My eight-year-old son’s comment to the Super Bowl game last night. “The Seahawks must have practiced harder.”
Hall of Fame American Basketball coach John Wooden believed games were won in practice and preparation. The game was just an extension of what they had already perfected.
I’m not trying to analyze the game last night by any means. It’s the comment by my eight year old that brings a great teaching moment into play.
Ask yourself some questions today.
What am I doing to be better at my craft?
What new things have I learned lately that make me better than I was yesterday, last week, last month, or last year?
Lastly and most important questions.
How can I improve today?
Just taking the time to read this post is a step in the right direction. Just like Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”
Today’s Your Victory Day!!
To Learn. To Know. To Master.
To learn, read. To know, write. To master, teach.
To Learn. To Know. To Master.
What do those words say to you?
Is Mastery something that you think about on a daily basis?
Is being the best you can be part of your daily thought pattern?
Let me encourage you today by saying, “Someone needs what you have, so make the best of it and share it.”
Today’s your Victory Day!
How are you Playing?
Recently I attended one of my nephew’s pewee hockey game, they were struggling to keep up with the opposing team that they had beaten night before. I had to stand and watch the game because I was getting a little excited about how they were not in the game, “once a hockey player always a hockey player”. As I stood in the moment of watching that game I was reminded of a mind set most people get into when the game of life starts heading in the wrong direction.
“Are you playing to win or are you playing not to lose”?
The out come of that statement can be the same thing, but it’s the mind set that makes the difference. When we play to win we think in a way that is totally different then when we play not to lose.
Playing to win is an active response to our situation.
Playing not to lose is a passive response to our situation.
Activity takes a few ideas to process.
1. Recognition of the choices we are or are not making. That’s whats interesting about activity verses passivity they are both choices if you like it or not.
2. Using your God given ability to make a new choice in how you will respond to the situation. That is one thing that separates us from the animals is we don’t live on instinct, but rather by choice.
My encouragement for the day is take an active role in your life. Stop playing the game not to lose and start playing to win. Oh and by the way, my nephew’s team came out in the 3rd period ready to play to win and almost tied the game in the last few seconds. How are u playing?
Things I learned playing dominoes with my family
Things I learned playing dominoes with my family
1. Define the rules in the beginning before you start. Otherwise everyone’s presumptions will be different, and no one wants to see Dad and Mom argue over who’s right.
2. It’s not fair to look at other peoples dominoes.
3. Patience is a virtue.
4. Don’t take funny pictures with dominoes in your mouth that look like teeth then let your wife post it to Facebook.
5. Know your strategy for winning.
6. Competition is good. Until your wife throws a root-beer bottle at you and hits you in the head and then you spray water at her.
7. When the littles get tired the game’s over.
Yes there are some good take a ways in the previous list but the biggest take away is this: Take time for your Family. Days are short don’t let them slip by without a fight.