I started a club!

I hate waking up early. I have never been one of those guys who embraces the early morning hours of any given day.

Honestly, I have always been jealous of “those guys” who can get up 7 hours before the sun rises and have time to read their Bibles, pray, plan their weeks, solve world hunger, make breakfast for their wives and children and groom their pets. Of course, I hate having a breakfast meeting with them, as I show up 9 minutes late with my disheveled hair under a baseball cap and my super sexy morning voice while they have that fresh-from-the-salon look, already having accomplished more by 7:30am then I might accomplish all day.

Over the past few years, I’ve had good reason for not being a morning guy. How many youth pastors do you know that are morning guys? (In fact, I’ll say what few others are bold enough to say in such a public forum: never trust a youth pastor who is a morning guy!) Youth ministry often runs late, I’ve always worked well late at night, and my wife and I have, together, found evenings to be a good space for productivity.

However, in prep for 2016, I’ve been reading several books on pursuing God-sized dreams and goals, as well as material written about time and talent management. They all have the same advice when it comes to mornings: those who tackle the biggest goals and achieve the greatest success in their fields, almost universally, embrace the early hours of each day.

I’ve had moments in my life where I tried to make friends with the predawn hours, but I’ve never kept a lasting relationship with them. You know, it’s not them...it’s me.

2016 is different though, and the season of life we’re in, and the situation we find our marriage/family/ministry in, is unique; clearly God has given us an opportunity to chase something, full steam ahead! I don’t want to miss what’s in front of us, so I’ve committed myself to learning more -- both knowledge and skill -- and making the necessary personal changes to embrace this future.

So dreaded thoughts of dreaded thoughts, I’m learning to accept mornings as part of the pathway to watching God unveil His plans in our lives. There...I said it.

Of course, if you’ve ever tried something new, “hating it” doesn’t help you embrace it. If you want to change your diet, hating the option that will bring you the changes you want, is not the key to success. In fact, quite the opposite, it’s a formula for disaster. So what do you do when you hate the change you most need in your life?

You create a club. Because clubs are fun, right?

So now, every night before I lay my 7 3/4” cranium down for sleep, I set the alarm to make sure I’m up in time for Club 555. That’s right, 555 is my new club and already it’s paying dividends. My productivity is up, beginning with more time each day in the Bible and in prayer. My focus on important tasks is more refined and I feel like the big picture items are becoming clearer.

Some of you are mocking me for getting up at 5:55 because you already do 3am. Cut me some slack, because embracing this is new to me! And embracing it as something that’s more than just a short-term fix is even harder. At four weeks in, I think it’s starting to stick, but being a club owner is no easy task. I’ll keep you posted a few weeks from now and let you know how things look at the end of another month.

As you pursue the Overboard Life, what change do you need to embrace? I’m not talking about making a change that becomes a strong habit, I’m talking about making a change that you embrace so that it becomes a strong habit you love. Maybe it’s time for you to start a club? Maybe it’s time for you to join me in my club? Can’t say I love the early morning hours yet, but I don’t hate them any more. At least I know I’m on the right path.

Go ahead and take the plunge, life -- including your club! -- is always better on the water.

Why it can be good to wait

Waiting can be so hard. Waiting can feel like lost time, lost opportunity and for some, can even feel unspiritual! People from the outside can view your waiting as laziness, and people closest to you can sometimes mistake your waiting as fear or anxiety. Sometimes, however, waiting can be very good. I’ve been thinking a lot about waiting, lately. It seems like God has us in a waiting game, hanging out to see what He reveals for us next. Without question, I get a little frustrated while I’m waiting, but I am learning to trust that waiting is, itself, part of God’s process for our lives.

This morning, as I was driving in to work, I came up on this intersection on a backroad near the church where I’m serving as interim youth pastor. In the past month of taking this road, I have never seen another car at this intersection that features stop signs for east and westbound traffic, but not for north or southbound vehicles.

I was driving northbound (no stop sign) preparing to turn left. There was a car stopped on my right (preparing to turn south) and a vehicle driving southbound (coming towards me) down a hill, moving at a good clip. I turned on my blinker and waited just outside the intersection so that the southbound car could pass me, then I could make my left hand turn toward the office.

However, the gentleman to my right, did not see the vehicle coming down the hill from his right, and you could tell he was visibly confused and frustrated by the fact that I was not making my left-hand turn (he may have assumed I thought I was at a 4-way stop). He began edging out into the intersection, as though he was going to turn left in front of me, as he remained totally unaware of the vehicle cruising down the hill towards us both.

As he was about to make his move, I edged further into the intersection to “block” his path, when the car driving south flew through the intersection (probably doing 55-60) and startled him completely. At that point, I think he realized that had he darted around me, there would have been a three car collision and he would have been responsible for damages, injuries or maybe even someone’s death.

Waiting was a good thing.

For me, I think I’ve too often confused waiting with stalling, or waiting with doing nothing, when in fact, waiting should be a very active process. Here are a few lessons I’ve learned while waiting:

1. Rest while you wait. I remember when Traci and I were waiting for AJ to be born. Traci’s water broke at 1:30am, and by 10:30am progress was slow and painful. The doctor gave her an epidural and then we were waiting (AJ wasn’t born for another six hours!). While we waited, I remember the doctor telling Traci, “Rest while you can. When it’s time, you will need all your strength and energy to birth your child.” With the help of the pain meds, Traci slept for over an hour, and then she rested and napped, in and out, for the better part of a second hour. Later, when it was go time, she was ready. Use your waiting time as opportunity to rest.
2. Focus on habits while you wait. Waiting can be an excuse for laziness or wandering around like a lost man, but it should be an active season of preparing for whatever is next. Waiting is the perfect time to refine the habits we need when the waiting period is over.
3. Grow while you wait. Not only can we firm up our important daily habits, but waiting is also a time to pursue personal growth through education, reading, traveling or through being mentored or coached. Don’t waste your waiting time by constantly checking the front window to see if your new opportunity has arrived. Use the extra time in your schedule to learn a language, develop a new skill or deepen your knowledge/expertise in an area in which you are already strong. Let waiting time grow you!
4. Confirm/reestablish priorities while you wait. Often, in the grind of day-to-day living, we can lose sight of our most important priorities. We can allow bad habits that distract us from what’s most important (God, marriage, family, ministry to others etc...) and find we are too disproportionately focused on lesser things (money, bills, job etc...). During seasons of waiting, it’s good to confirm or realign your priorities, so that when the waiting is over, you are engaged in the things that matter mostt.
5. Review your dreams while you wait. You know those goals, dreams and lofty plans that have been sitting on the shelf for a little while? Waiting periods are great opportunities to pull them done, dust them off, and get them worked back into your plans. It’s easy to have big dreams that fall casualty to the ebb and flow of life, and when God slows things down during a time of waiting, use those moments to reflect on the dreams that used to drive you!

Waiting is rarely a fun or easy experience to navigate. However, as I’ve learned, the waiting process can be super productive in preparing you for what is on the other side of the wait. You may even find out that God was protecting you from a massive collision (like the driver in my car story), one that could have permanently derailed you and your work for the Lord.

I’m learning to wait, better, because sometimes, waiting can be very good!

Go ahead and take the plunge, even waiting is better on the water!

Why I'm going to work out this morning.

by Joe Castaneda I woke up today and the outside air temperature, with no windchill, was -20! Seems impossible when the sun is up, the sky is blue and from my ice-covered window, the view looks so inviting.

Usually after I have a busy weekend of ministry, my wife lets me sleep in on Monday. She gets up with the older students (around 6am) and drives them the 25-minutes into town to take them to school. This lets me sleep in until 7:15 when I get up with the younger girls, and the extra 75 minutes of sleep is blessed.

Today is one of those Mondays, compounded by the fact I have today off. So after I stumbled out of bed, made breakfast for the girls and settled in to do some blogging, I am enjoying the comfort of home. I’m sitting on a heater so I’m toasty, my sweat pants and sweatshirt are especially comfortable, the music is streaming to our wireless speakers, and my bacon, egg and tortilla breakfast has me feeling like a mid-morning nap would be very appropriate.

Just one main problem: I’m scheduled to workout this morning.

Presently I can think of -20 reasons why I shouldn’t work out. This is one of those rare mornings where I can rest, get a lot of writing and work done in a kid-free and quiet house and did I mention it’s -20 outside? Days like today were made for staying home and enjoying time with my wife (who works from home with a great job) and maybe catching up a on a couple of Netflix shows we’re watching.

But I’m going to mess up the morning by putting on work out clothes, piling on the layers so I can walk to the car, jumping in the car and driving over to the gym. Why am I going to work out today?

In 215 days, 23 hours, 12 minutes and 4 seconds I’m going to be on the starting line of my first road race ever, and it’s a 1/2 marathon. I don’t enjoy running and I’ve never run for more than 20 minutes at any one time in my life. The only 5K I’ve run, was not a “race” and my wife and I jogged/walked it. (you can click here to learn why I’m running it if you’re interested!)

If I make an excuse today for why I can’t hit the gym and get a practice run in, it’ll be even easier to have an excuse tomorrow and the next day. Suddenly it will be the end of summer and my workout habits will be sketchy at best, and I will be no where near race-ready. Then, when the obstacle starts looming closer and bigger, I’ll have to either hope I can kick my routine into hyper drive or I’ll have to scratch myself from the race roster that day.

How do I know this will happen? Because I’ve seen it happen in my life before and I’ve watched as others have done the same thing with their lives. And too often, I’ve done it, and watched others do it, on things way more important than a 1/2 marathon. I’ve watched friends’ marriages end because they kept thinking they would start working on it later. I’ve watched peoples’ health deteriorate because they were going to start their new healthy lifestyle next week. I’ve seen Christians desiring to live the Overboard Life never get out of the boat because the timing just wasn’t right.

Here is what I know about making advances in my own life:

1. The timing is never right. There will always be people, activities and events vying for your time. Those who complete what they start, who get out of the boat and live a compelling life of faith, those who date their spouses, invest in their children, organize their finances and step out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary don’t wait for the right time -- they take the time and, with God’s help, make those things happen.
2. Bad habits don’t take effort. Bad habits are easy. I don’t have to work hard to establish bad habits for my life. Think about it, if you have any bad habits, did you have to work to fit them into your lifestyle? Of course not. Generally speaking, the disciplines and habits that move us away from our God-given dreams come quite naturally -- that’s why we don’t have those dreams already!
3. Good habits require work. Replacing those bad habits is hard, that’s why people often give up on their [insert your goal here]. It would be easy to not run a 1/2 marathon on October 5th. To run it will require lots of sweat, sore calves, aching feet, mind-over-body workout lengths and the need to stretch a 20 minute run into 22…into 28…into 35…into 36…into 2.5 hours! Whatever good habit you’re trying to insert into your life will require hard work.
4. The journey is better than the goal. Ultimately, every major goal I’ve been blessed to achieve has proven that the journey is even better than the destination. When I completed my first book, Project Joseph, in 2011, I had no idea that the journey to finish that book was far more significant than finishing the book itself. We celebrated the book completion, and I’m grateful for how God has used that tool in the lives of others. But even more, I’ve celebrated how God has used the lessons from the process of writing that book to help shape my current life-direction. The process was as valuable as the final product.

What advances do you need to make today? What choices can you make in this moment to hold the course for a goal that may seem so far away? Hebrews 12:1-2 has just been resonating in my mind a lot lately. The idea of “…throw[ing] off everything that hinders and the sin so that easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…” Those bad habits have to go. My desires to take the easy path, to choose sin over righteousness, selfishness over selflessness or fear over faith have to be replaced with belief that God is greater than my weaknesses. With His help, I can run my race (and not just the one in October, but the one I’m running every day!) and I can live in faith out on the water where Jesus is building His Kingdom.

I won’t be the fastest runner on October 5th. But with a little work I will finish the race with my wife and we will celebrate the completion of a great goal. Even more, we’ll celebrate the process that brought us to the finish line and we’ll be closer to being who God wants us to be through the journey.

And that’s why I’m going to work out today.

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water!

Inside and Out

My daughter BJ has been working on a science project the past two weeks. We make her take vitamins every day (twice a day) and she sometimes gets a little frustrated with our constant reminder, “BJ…did you take your vitamins this morning?” So for her science experiment, she decided to test whether or not the quality of our vitamins merited her consumption. She was trying to weasel out of taking them. She asked Traci, and looked online to find a suitable test. One test we’ve done, and one she found on YouTube, suggested testing the value and potency of the antioxidants in a vitamin. You do this by cutting up an apple and drop it in a jar with water. The apple represents a human cell, and by cutting it and placing it in the water, you expose it to oxidizing elements. In the jar, you place your vitamin and test the following:

1. Does the vitamin dissolve?
2. Does the vitamin offer any protection to the apple?

So Traci and BJ visited the local grocery store and purchased the only other children’s chewable vitamins they could find; Flintstones and Centrum. They filled four jars with water, put in our family vitamin in one, placed the other two vitamins in jars and then had one jar as a control sample (just water and apple, no vitamin). After that, BJ began observing the changes.

We believe in vitamins and supplements. In fact, we believe in our family vitamins so much that my wife works for the company as an independent distributor for them -- we had a lot on the line. So as BJ began her test, we felt confident of what she would discover, but I have to admit, I was a little worried about what might unfold.

Within hours it became very apparent that one nutritional supplement was superior to the other two. By the end of a week, two of the apples were black and covered in “vomitous goo” (that’s a scientific term my daughter coined), the one in water was brown and nasty (like when you leave a cut apple on counter) and the one with the family vitamin still looked mostly edible. (In order: Flintstones, USANA, Centrum, water)

BJ has become a vitamin zealot now, because she’s seen how well her vitamin protects her body’s cells.

As Traci and I were helping her put the finishing touches on her display for today’s presentation, I started thinking about how easy it is to focus on caring for our physical bodies, while neglecting the more important spiritual self; our very souls. Just like my daughter has had a visual on how well her vitamins protect her cells from those crazy-good-for-nothing Free Radicals (sounds like a 70’s band), I’ve seen how important it is to have a steady diet of spiritual care in our lives.

This became most evident to me when we moved to Michigan and we suddenly found ourselves in the unenviable position of trying to find a church. For five months we hopped from church to church, trying to find a good fit for our family. Without a doubt, we missed being spiritually connected to a church that was spiritually connected to us. Hebrews 10:25 reminds us, “Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching” (the Message).

We all need a spiritual connection. As a pastor, I used to remind people of the five components of a healthy spiritual diet. You can dress them up anyway you want, but at the end of the day your soul will be healthiest when all five of these are included in your life:

1. Daily time reading God’s Word. Today I was in Judges 17 preparing for next Sunday, and in Psalm 103 as I memorize along with my pastor.
2. Developing a habit of being with God in prayer, throughout the day. Not just a one time, “rubba-dub-dub, thanks for the grub” at meals, but rather, being connected to God all day.
3. Being a giver of your financial resources. Yes, this is a habit you need to keep a healthy soul!
4. Hanging out with other Christians. Of course, I’m not talking about living in a commune and excluding non-Christians. I’m talking about daily interacting with people who are also trying to pursue a life with God.
5. Serving those in need. Our greatest hypocrisy as Christians is that we don’t practice what we preach. We talk about the poor and needy, the broken-hearted and the depressed and we can sympathetically nod our heads at the plight of the widow and imprisoned while doing nothing. Service has to be a habit of true soul-care.

So be sure and take your vitamins. In fact, take the vitamins that will be best for your body. But even more, take care of your soul today. Could you begin a new habit today? After all, habits begin on the first day you start them, so what could you add to your regular routine today? Some Bible time? Generous giving? Service? Prayer? Friendship with other believers? The Overboard Life demands daily attention.

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water!

5 ways to stop living Overboard

Living the Overboard Life takes a lot of work. Obviously, if living a remarkable and fulfilling life was easy, everyone would be doing it. Brian Klemmer passed away a few years ago, and has written numerous books. One of them was entitled, “If How To’s Were Enough, We’d All Be Skinny, Rich and Happy.” It’s true.

While “How To’s” may not be enough for making a remarkable life become a reality, I thought I’d put together a list of “How Not To’s” if you want to sabotage your Overboard Life. This list comes from hours of personal research and application: I’ve tried all of these with great success at one point or another in my life (grrrr) so trust the research and avoid these five pitfalls to Overboard Living.

Pitfall #1: Make Netflix the most active app on your iPhone, iPad or AppleTV

I know a lot of people, like Traci and I, who have gotten rid of “regular TV” from their day-to-day lives. In fact, we haven’t had network, cable or satellite TV in our house for over 4 years now. However, in today’s digital on-demand age, “TV” has a lot of faces. Netflix is one of them, like Hulu, Amazon Prime, Red Box and several others.

Maybe you only watch one or two movies a week, and maybe you have just a couple of shows you enjoy, but it doesn’t take long for a small habit to turn into hours of time. So many people are “too busy” to live the Overboard Life and to take on the challenges that come with it, but they aren’t too busy to spend 8-10 hours a week with Netflix. It takes just two shows night to turn Netflix into a 10-hour a week habit. Add a movie or two and quickly your Overboard Life has lost 15 hours of productivity.

Yes, I still have Netflix. Yes, I still have TV show benders (c’mon…you know when you have to know what happens next?!?!) that keep me up later than I intend. But like anything -- reading, working out, sleeping, sports -- the Overboard Life must learn to regulate time consuming activities. “One More Episode” can lead to the death of the Overboard Life!

http://youtu.be/aQttrkzWOo4

Pitfall #2: Quit reading quality books

There’s so much good literature out there, and so many books that are begging for your time. Living Overboard demands a habit of reading quality material, but it’s so easy to read too much of the wrong stuff! What are good Overboard books? They are the type of books that challenge your thinking, force you to evaluate your life, encourage you to build winning habits, or push you to set, achieve and evaluate your goals.

They could be novels, they could be business books, they could be books about music or history or sports. The point is, you’ve got to read and you’ve got to keep the habit of reading quality books a priority. Look at your book list, is it encouraging you toward the Overboard Life?

Pitfall #3: Leave your Bible on the shelf untouched

One of the quickest ways to derail your Overboard Life is to avoid reading your Bible. The playbook for Overboard living is the Bible. If you keep that book on the shelf, don’t expect to know God’s plans for your life, or know how to understand the circumstances you find yourself in.

And it’s not enough to just read the book, you need to memorize the Good Book, too. Right now I’m working with my pastor to memorize the precious words of Pslam 103. A regular dose of reading and memorizing the Scriptures is crucial for anyone following God’s path.

Pitfall #4: Live without close friends who are actively living the Overboard Life

I can’t think of single person in history who achieved anything significant without the help of others. When I look at the pages of the Bible I see the same story of those living the Overboard Life -- each of the men and women who chose the life of obedience did so in the context of relationships. The ones who tried to fly solo, almost always ended up in disaster.

In Judges, one of the best examples of a solo player is found in the story of Samson. Gifted with great strength and know-how, he failed to be the great leader God made him to be, largely because he chose to play by his own rules, regardless of how it affected others. On multiple occasions he had opportunities to listen to good counsel but he ignored it. Sadly, he did more conquering by dying, then he did by living.

Pitfall #5: Make a habit of living undisciplined in one area of your life

Discipline takes on a lot of different looks. Discipline with time, money, health, resources, relationships etc… When we allow any area of our lives to get out of discipline, we create the possibility for breakdown in other parts of our lives, too. For example, if the discipline you have about your money is lacking, it won’t take long before that spills over into other areas. If you can’t stop impulse buying, the junk food you keep munching on will ultimately impact your physical health.

I’ve found myself at times, struggling with discipline regarding the use of my free time (see Pitfall #1). It doesn’t take long for that lack of discipline to create a habit of leaving my Bible unread. And of course, when your Bible is unread, you don’t want to spend too much time with people living the Overboard Life….

There are other pitfalls, these are the ones that have hit closest to home for me. What about you? What pitfalls keep you from living the Overboard Life? My wife loves this saying: “living the extraordinary life is never easy…but it’s always worth it.” The Overboard Life can be tough, but I’ve never once regretted stepping out of the boat.

Go ahead and take the plunge…life is always better on the water!

My 2013 goals

As Traci and I get going on our 100 Day Challenge to kick off 2013, my goals have finally taken shape. Here’s an overview of what I’m working on, especially in the next 100 days. I would love your thoughts, ideas that have worked for you, or even to hear your goals for this year, too. So leave your thoughts in the comments.  

Here are my goals, broken down into three categories (writing, health, spiritual). Under each goal are a couple of tangible ways the goal will be measured, followed by a few practical steps.

1. I will make lifestyle changes that will produce more energy, release more weight, and be more balanced. 
   • I will have better energy, with fewer afternoon lulls
   • I will begin releasing weight
     • Drink 60+oz of water each day
     • Take my vitamins twice a day
     • No fast food for the 100 Day Challenge
     • Exercise 4 times a week (even when traveling)
     • Intentional down time (no phones/gadgets, rest, reading etc…) each week
2. I will write my next book, Project Peter, by March 15th.
   • I will have an outline completed by January 20th
   • I will have a book to hand to my editor by March 15th
     • Spend 7 hours a week, writing
     • Limit late night Netflix viewing, increase writing time!
     • Pray each time, before I write
3. I will complete the 4:8 Principle, 40 day devotional.
   • I will have a journal with 40 days of entries
   • I will write a devotional thought based on each day
     • Develop an early morning routine
     • Start with my book and Bible, not my phone and email
     • Coordinate morning schedule with Traci

Ok, there you have it. What are your thoughts? I’m open to your insights as I work through these projects in the first 100 days of 2013. What are you working on? What advice do you have for me? Let’s get this year started off with a bang!

Happy New Year, and remember -- go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water!

Habitual Readers (and other people we don't like): (7/7)

In order to live the Overboard Life, we must be willing to learn from, and join in, the experiences of others. Books offer us a great means to accomplish this goal. In fact, it’s one of the main reasons we started Overboard Ministries -- to create books that encourage people to live the Overboard Life. Each of our titles will challenge you, through story or direct teaching, to live the remarkable life God is calling you to. I was having lunch with a fellow youth pastor yesterday, a man living Overboard in his marriage and ministry, and we were talking about books. In our conversation he noted the challenges of reading, especially the problem of being able to carve out the time necessary to read. Time is the most common obstacle expressed when I talk to people about reading. The second most common challenge is trying to figure out what to read.

First, let’s talk about time.

The average adult reads about 200-250 words/minute. The average book is about 45,000 words. In our works, Project Joseph is 45,000 words, Project Nehemiah is around 39,000 words, Extreme Mind Makeover is close to 60,000 words, From Ruby Ridge to Freedom is 46,000 words and Dream House is 48,000 words. That means it would take the average adult approximately 180-225 minutes to read an average book. Not many of us have three or four hours just laying around waiting to read a book.

However, what if you broke down that time into 10-15 minute chunks each day? While you may not have a spare three hours to read a book, I know you have 10 minutes here or there, to start one. By using 10-15 minute chunks every day, you could easily read an average sized book in 20 days. Over the course of a year, you could get through 18 different books! Not bad for investing just ten minutes every day.

Now if you will invest ten minutes a day into reading, the next question is what to read? Let me give you some suggestions:

1. Read a book that challenges you on a particular subject. I’m currently reading, “40 Days to a Joy-Filled Life” by Tommy Newberry. It’s a book that is helping me shape my thinking in a way that focuses on joy and thankfulness. It’s fantastic and highly recommend it to anyone! Steve Etner’s book, “Extreme Mind Makeover” also falls into this category.
2. Read a biography. Stories about other people are my personal favorites. There is something powerful about seeing how other people live, and how they overcome great obstacles (or not, in some cases) to achieve their goals. I read biographies about athletes, businessmen and women, politicians, everyday heroes, missionaries and more. Sara Weaver’s book, “From Ruby Ridge to Freedom” is a fantastic biography that Overboard Ministries was privileged to publish.
3. Read a good novel. Novels are a dime-a-dozen, but good ones aren’t so easy to come by. It’s also easy to make all of our reading come from this category, but we need to avoid that trap. Several Christian authors crank out good novels frequently, including Karen Kingsbury, Francine Rivers (two of my wife’s favorites), Ted Dekker and Randy Alcorn (two of my favorites). If you have a favorite author, please list them in the comments below. Overboard doesn’t currently publish works of fiction although we did recently help Jason Nightingale publish his story, “The Faithful Watchman.” If you want a great Christmas gift to pass along, this short little book is perfect!
4. Read in your profession. Whether you’re a pastor, an assembly line worker, a stay-at-home mom or a police woman, there is material written in your field. Become better at what you do, by reading about it. Living Overboard demands that we do our very best at whatever we do -- especially our vocation!

I try to rotate through these types of books. Here is what I’ve read most recently: “On Being a Pastor” (in my profession); “40 Days to a Joy-Filled Life” (a book that challenges me); 4-part Ted Dekker series (novels that I’m reading with my son AJ); “Pete Rose” (biography). If you will commit to 10 minutes a day, you could read 4 or 5 books a year in each of those categories! Commit to 15 minutes a day and you could crank out 30 books a year, over 7 in each category!

What books would you recommend others to read? Tell us in the comments.

It just takes 10-15 minutes every day to increase your ability to live the Overboard Life. Will you step up to that challenge to establish a reading discipline in your life?

Go ahead and take the plunge -- life is better on the water!

I'm a Hotdog and a can of Mt. Dew: The discipline of health (6/7)

If you’re like me, you’re probably ripped, carrying around a 6-pack of abs, and proudly flexing your buns of steel while standing in line at the grocery store. However, you and I should pity those around us who lack naturally healthy and muscular builds like us. On behalf of those other people, you should read this and then pass along the important details. Not that any of this pertains to you or me.

Since you and I are perfect specimens of health, we know how our spiritual, emotional and mental health is closely tied to our physical health. We cannot be all that God made us to be while neglecting our physical well-being. However, many of our associates don’t know this.

My friend Amber Thiel helped create the Healthy Edge, with her sister April. After experiencing the loss of a loved one through physical sickness, Amber and April became committed to teaching people about healthy lifestyles. They want people to break free of the diet-cycle, and to start embracing positive choices as a way of life. Their passion led to the creation of The Healthy Edge, an amazing resource for good health. (I highly recommend you check out their site and get a 14-day free trial membership!)

Good health flows out of these five basic components. Granted, you and I know this, but alas, our misshapen friends do not:

1. Eat good tasting, low-glycemic foods: In other words, spend less time counting calories and more time reading labels. Quit spiking your blood sugar with food and beverage that is no bueno for your body (quit overdosing on Coca Cola, breads and pastas!) (weird...I was just looking in the mirror when I wrote that....)
2. Hydrate: In other word, you need to down about 80oz of water per day. No, your coffee doesn’t count as water. But of course, you and I know this, it’s our other friends who do not. Please share this important piece of data with them.
3. Exercise: In other words, stop blogging and start walking! You need 30 minutes of good cardio, every day to keep your body running optimally. It’s crazy how many preventable diseases could be kept at bay if people (your friends of course, not you) would walk around the block at a good pace, for just 30 minutes.
4. Take good supplements: In other words, learn how much of that “super vitamin” you bought at the grocery store is actually being absorbed by your body. Just because it’s on the label doesn’t mean it’s actually getting into your body. My wife is the supplement queen, visit her web site for more info!
5. Eat six ore more Super Foods: In other words, eat real food, regularly. Do you know why an apple doesn’t have a food label? Because it’s an apple. An apple, is what’s in an apple. Eat real foods, those fruits and veggies, nuts, lean meats, fish, cottage cheese, eggs etc... Remember, you are what you eat (which makes me a giant Hotdog and a can of Mt. Dew!)

Since you and I have honored our health perfectly, we understand how important taking care of our bodies is. How sad that so many of our friends don’t know this. But you might remind them that living the Overboard Life to its fullest, requires us to take care of all the resources God has given to us (time, money, relationships AND our health!). While we often can’t control circumstances that steal our financial resources, or how people respond to circumstances, we can almost always limit the negative stresses we put into our bodies. Those wishing to live Overboard must be disciplined in their health.

But, you and I already know this. So let’s make sure others are taking care of themselves. In fact, if you want to practice, stand in front of a mirror and repeat the five basic components of good health. See if the person on the other side of the glass is listening. If so, you’re off to a great start!

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is better on the water!

5 key phrases for remarkable living (2 of 5)

“Always deliver excellence.” (Part 2 of a 5-part series on living a remarkable life. Click here to read part 1)

In my last post, we discussed the importance of the phrase, “Mediocrity is unacceptable” to those wanting to live remarkable lives. And once mediocrity is set aside, excellence must become the standard.

The problem in trying to deliver excellence, is that excellence has a relative quality to it. Something that may be excellent to you, may or may not be excellent to someone else. You may look at one painting and call it excellent while I may scoff. On the other hand, I might call a ninth inning at-bat in the playoffs, excellent, while you may deem it overgrown boys playing a game (and in this case, we might both be right!).

But excellence must be defined if we are going to deliver in our quest to live remarkably. Despite its elusive nature, and somewhat relative context, there are some basic tenets to creating excellence in our lives. As I have reflected over products, projects and relationships in my life, I think excellence is a by-product of these five qualities:

1. Excellence is a by-product of effort: Excellence doesn’t happen on its own, and isn’t a product of being ‘natural’ at it. Excellence is achieved through hard work. But hard work, by itself, isn’t enough -- you can work hard to produce something of poor quality. Hard work, in the right way for the right reason, is an essential ingredient in excellence. If you’re not willing to work hard, you won’t, you can’t, achieve it. And keep in mind that effort must become a daily habit, not merely last minute frantic activity.
2. Excellence is a by-product of ruthlessly eliminating mediocrity: Mediocrity cannot be an acceptable result of your effort, or the work of your company or organization. Mediocrity and excellence are mutually exclusive: when you settle or pursue the one, you immediately eliminate the other. Check out part 1 of this series for more information on getting rid of mediocrity.
3. Excellence is a by-product of passion: Passion is the component of excellence that shows itself, even when no one else is looking. When you care, when you are consumed by what you are working on, the barriers become opportunities and obstacles become invigorating challenges to be conquered. When asked about how he created his famous angel sculpture, Michelangelo responded, "I saw the angel in the marble and I carved until I set him free." Passion is the fuel of excellence.
4. Excellence is a by-product of collaboration: While no one will care about your work, your creation or your family as much as you will, excellence can only be achieved when the efforts, passions and skills of others are harnessed in cooperation. Finding like-minded people to support, improve and increase your efforts is crucial in the pursuit of excellence.
5. Excellence is a by-product of finishing: Too many ventures, books, businesses, jobs, marriages and products fall by the wayside because people don’t finish. Excellence is hard, but worth the effort. Don’t give up when chasing your dreams and goals, finish them completely.

There you have it, my five thoughts about excellence. As you try to live the Overboard life, what would you add to this list?

So far we’ve talked about two key phrases to a remarkable life:

1. Mediocrity is unacceptable
2. Always deliver excellence

Stay tuned for the remaining three phrases.

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water!