Kristine Militello has a great post on the power of goals and vision here. The Militello's have climbed their way out of massive debt and into financial freedom through applying the principles taught in the LIFE Business Financial pack and building their LIFE community. Orrin Woodward believes that Adveristy Quotient is more important than Intelligence Quotient, but in the Militello's case, they have both! Kristine's post explains the rest.

This morning God decided to give me a visual lesson about the power of goals and vision, and it was so good, I couldn't just keep it for myself.

As many of you know, our oldest daughter, Kali, has owned a horse for 6 years.  She's had a few through the years, but with that aside, she has had horses as the focal point of her life for 6 years.  She talks about horses, wants to ride every horse she can, she loves her cowboy boots and her camo jacket. She has decorated her brand new bedroom in a western theme!  She has horse shoes and a barn wood mirror, and her dresser and nightstand are made from beautiful, distressed wood that a true horse-lovin country girl looks at with love!  Kali's life leaves a lot of clues about what she loves the most: HORSES. 

Kali lives her life in such a way that a perfect stranger could identify her life focus.  That's pretty impressive.  However, for all the visual horse equipment on display there was no fire burning inside.  She had all the outward signs, but inside it has been empty for awhile.  Because of all the "gear" she has, only those closest to her would even know that the passion was dwindling down.  

As parents, sometimes we forget that our role isn't just laundry, chuaffeuring and discipline.  We're mentors to our children as well.  We are our child's leader.  

As Kali's leaders, we identified our daughter had lost her way, and it was time for her to have an office visit with Dad.  Last Wednesday Kali and I sat in Dad's office for some mentoring.  (It's so cool that what we do applies to our entire lives!)  

We talked and listened and she talked, cried, expressed frustration and confusion and for an hour and a half we worked her through what the real challenge was:  No focus.  She had too many goals!  She had no vision of which direction she wanted to go.  She was immersed in the midst of her love and her passion and was absolutely lost and therefore, she was going nowhere. 

So Marc left her with three tasks to complete:  

1. Narrow her focus and choose which direction truly was her passion.

2. Decide if she was willing to do the work.

3. Set goals.  

The next morning we left for the LifeTeam Leadership Convention and left her time to sort through her own thoughts.   

Four days passed, and Kali had listened to her Dad and done the hardest work:  The thinking work.  

Last night, Marc and I were heading home and I received an excited call from Kali.  "Mom, I have to ride tomorrow!" she said.  "So, I'm thinking 8:30am."  

8:30 am??? Tomorrow?  8:30?  hmmmmmm.   "Ok", I said.  But what I was really thinking is, "What happened to my daughter?"  

Kali is awesome, and has many tremendous qualities, but getting out of bed in the morning isn't on that list!  Kali equates the need for sleep with the need for oxygen! And she does NOT like getting up in the morning.  So, to be honest, I thought, we'll see about this.  Besides, she told ME to wake her up so we could go.

I set my alarm for 7:30am.  The alarm went off, I checked the weather and saw it was 3 degrees and happily turned off my alarm.  Kali doesn't ride went it's 23 degrees, there is NO way she's getting up this early and going outside when it's 3 degrees outside!!!!!!!!!!  Awesome.  My pillow felt great this morning, and I was happy to stay under the covers.

I was wrong.  1 hour later, my daughter stood next to my bed, fully dressed with a smile on her face saying, "Mom!"  It's time to go!  Get ready!"

I told her it was only 3 degrees thinking that would stop her.  It didn't.  She said,  "So, I still want to go, and you said you'd take me."

I got out of bed and drove her to the barn.  It was strange at first.  My daughter, who is normally less than happy in the morning was talking my ear off telling me all kinds of stories asking me questions, smiling from ear to ear.  She was so happy to be going to the barn!   

When we arrived, she and her horse had so much fun.  They were literally playing follow the leader in the arena! Running and playing and equally enjoying the fun they were having! (It's 3 degrees out remember!)  She was laughing and smiling and fully alive!  I had fun just watching them.  Her utter joy-filled passion made me feel the same way!  

The drive home was the same.  She laughed and asked me questions and talked and smiled.  She never once complained it was cold, though her cheeks were bright red from being out in the cold.  She never once said anything about cold hands or feet.  She had zero complaints and only smiles and joy! 

What happened to my daughter?  What changed so drastically and quickly?  What relit the fire for her passion?  

FOCUS.  VISION. GOALS.  

That's it.  My daughter, through her mentor/father, was able to clear the fog and re-find her way!  That's ALL she did.  She got a focus, a vision of where she was going and she set some goals to get there.

Think about that.  She had EVERYTHING she needed to be considered a true, camo-colored cowgirl!  She had all the tools.  She had all the right words.  She had the skills and talent.  She had the love for the sport.  And she had no passion UNITL she got a focus, a vision and set some goals!

So, what about you?  Do you have everything you need to play the game of LIFE and none of the passion?  It could be that you're like Kali, and you've just lost your way a bit.  It might be time for you to confront the brutal reality and realize, you can have everything and be going no where if you don't have a game plan to get there!

Don't let another passion-less day go by!  Get FOCUSED!  Get a VISION of where you are going!  Set GOALS and make a game plan to get there!  And relight your passion!  

It's time to live the LIFE you've always wanted, and there is no better time than now to start!  

God Bless!

Kristine

Posted by OrrinWoodward at 9:32 AM EST

Updated: Saturday, February 2, 2013 9:35 AM EST

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Dan Hawkins blog received more recognition at the end of 2012 - it was ranked one of the top 50 blogs to watch! Dan and Lisa Hawkins have become one of the top leaders within community building by their hungry and teachable attitude. The LIFE Business is filled with hungry students seeking to grow personally and professionally. Orrin Woodward has a goal to reach 1 million people and I wouldn't bet against it. This is Dan's post.

Wow 2012 has flown by and we are ready for a great 2013. I hope you are planning and setting goals for next year. My wife Lisa and I have discussed many times the goals we plan on accomplishing in 2013.

One of my goals is to continue to improve my writing and sharing through this blog. I believe in the principle Orrin Woodward teaches: “Ideas have consequences.” The LIFE business and its founders have committed their  lives to bringing better ideas to the world to make a difference.

While setting goals for my blog someone made me aware of some recognition this blog received that lines up perfectly with my goals!  Evan Carmichael from The Entrepreneur Blog has picked Dan Hawkins Leadership as one of the Top 50 Leadership Blogs to watch in 2013! I would like to extend a warm thank you to Evan for picking this blog, and will continue to work at making this blog a great leadership resource. It is an honor for someone like Evan to take the time to point out my blog.

The goal of the LIFE business and the founders is to bring world class information to the masses, not only through competitive pricing, but a compensated community business model that allows everyone to share in the profits.

Here is what my business partner Orrin Woodward had to say about the first year of the LIFE business.

Amid much fanfare, several best-selling authors and top leaders partnered together in the community building business with a goal to end the decline of North American morale and productivity. When opportunity and preparedness meet, success must happen. The LIFE founders were prepared and, thanks to God’s grace, the opportunity presented itself to do something in the leadership field that had never been done before. With the  LIFE founders, the LIFE business  exceeded even my highest expectations for the first year.

I hope you have high hopes for 2013 and make it your best year yet! You can bet the founders at LIFE have big things planned and are looking forward to you joining us.

God bless

Dan Hawkins

Posted by OrrinWoodward at 7:49 AM EST

Updated: Thursday, January 31, 2013 7:52 AM EST

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Bill Lewis shares an interesting perspective on centers of influence and centers of attention. The LIFE Business teaches people how to influence people in the direction of improved lives. Orrin Woodward says LIFE stands for Leadership Is For Everyone because improved leadership helps all. Here is Bill's article.

I just found some material that ties into a previous post that I did on layers.  Are you a center of influence person, or are you a center of attention person? Don’t answer too quickly; wait until I explain and then think through your answer. In the previous post on layers, I spoke about people’s fears and how they start to build up protective layers because of those fears. Then they build up layers on top of those layers to keep anyone from even getting close to those fears. These layers determine the way people respond and act under different circumstances. This new information provides a great example of how to identify if you have built up layers and maybe don’t know it. It also helps show you how you will think when you minimize the number of fears you have, which in turn, will eliminate layers.

A center of influence person is aware that every thought, emotion, word, and behavior he expresses has an effect. If you are a center of influence person, you understand that you set the tone for your relationships. You take responsibility for how you interact with others and how they treat you. You cannot control what other people think or how they behave,  yet your beliefs and behavior serve to teach others how they should treat you. If you are in a difficult situation with someone, you ask yourself, “What effect did my communication have on that person and that situation?” As a center of influence person, you see others in terms of their needs, not yours. And you acknowledge the way you feel and recognize that you are the cause.

As a  center of attention person, you emanate fear and see other people according to what they have done to you or what they should be doing for you. Emotionally, you believe others should change to meet your needs and wants—that others should fit your ideas and beliefs in order for you to feel complete. The world must conform to your expectations. When it does conform to your expectations, you say that things are going well. When it doesn’t, you are unhappy. When your well-being comes from outside of you, there is always a fear that you won’t get what you need or want. You see the world as having caused you to feel hurt or angry.

If you are a center of influence person, then you operate with very few layers. If you are a center of attention person, then you still have many layers that need to be worked on and removed. It is easy to look at specific situations in our lives and say, “I get along great with people” or “I do think of others.” We think of people we like or situations that are in our favor, and we can easily convince ourselves that we don’t have many layers. But the way to analyze this is to think of people we don’t get along with, people that have different opinions than ours, and situations that are not in our favor. Does your opinion of those people change, or do you try to understand why they think the way they do? Do you blame the situation for why you didn’t do what you were supposed to do? Another way to analyze this is to look at your long-term relationships. Do you keep many, or do you lose most of them? People with few layers keep many long-term relationships because their happiness and self-assurance are not affected by other people. They can easily be around people that have different opinions and beliefs because they are secure with themselves and who they are. They don’t feel the need to defend themselves, so in turn, they don’t violate the relationship.

So how do we remove the layers we have? There are four steps that help accomplish this goal.  1) Start reading  self-development books and gain an understanding of human nature. 2) Work at something and build your self-esteem. 3) Find a mentor that can help you identify your layers or blind spots. 4) After interactions with others, analyze why you reacted the way that you did. The purpose of these four steps is not to learn some new technique, but rather to give you a different perspective. People skills alone will not change you from a center of attention person to a center of influence person. Somewhere in you, there is a layer ( pre-supposition) that is affecting how you behave, and the goal is to root it out. Only gaining a new perspective and being secure with who you are will allow you to be confident in your interactions with others.   

Bill Lewis

Posted by OrrinWoodward at 3:53 PM EST

Updated: Monday, January 28, 2013 3:56 PM EST

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Here is a post from new LIFE Business PC Wayne MacNamara. Wayne's enthusiasm and energy is contagious and has set all of Ontario on FIRE! Orrin Woodward first met Wayne when he was a Turbo 10 at a men's leadership. Wayne has grown so much since then. Here is Wayne's LIFE highlights for 2012.

The moment my eyes opened this morning I jumped out of bed excited for the New Year. There are so many great moments of 2012, but my goal today is to write my top 10 moments. There are so many special times last year, here are some of my favourites.

10. Lana Hamilton and Raylene going with the Kaizen Unified leading ladies shopping in Arizona. Check out this impressive list, 35 pairs of shoes, 22 accessories, 68 tops,1 bathing suit,17 bottoms, 3 PJs,4 bags, 4 suitcases, 9 dresses, 2 suits,1 skirt,1 straightener……NOW THAT’S FIRED UP LADIES!!!

9. Business partners sending me pictures of their OTCA checks!  Thank you LIFE.

8. Achieving Major Conventions in Ontario, Canada. Great job to ALL the teams who made this a reality.

7. Taking my parents on a 5 day shopping trip through Niagara falls, Ontario, Pennsylvania, New York. I will always remember the look of my dad’s eyes when we drove up to Yankees stadium, it was priceless.

6. Flying Raylene’s family from Nova Scotia to Ontario to attend my father-in-law Gussie’s favourite country Hall of Fame singer Gene Watson. It was magical having all of Raylene’s siblings, her 2 sisters (Karyn, Vicky) and brother (Cally) together for a couple of days, we all had so much fun. I really do love my awesome in-laws.

5. Opp advance trip to Florida to hang out with one of the Top 10 Leadership experts in the world, Orrin and Laurie Woodward.  This was an amazing day for our team to see what’s possible if you Dream Big, Work Big, Play Big.

4. Boston harbour Power Player cruise, Kaizen 300 was born!!   I still get goose bumps as I’m writing this. Joce, Claude and I never flinched a second when we said let’s break 300 Kaizen power players. The ripple effect of this leadership moment is still being felt today all across the LIFE/TEAM business.

3. Kaizen’s Epic Top Gun sweep of the top 3 spots. Congrats to my friends Alex and Leighanne Nickerson, and Denis and Lisa Leger for competing so hard and pushing yourselves so much in your quest for excellence. The determination both these couples displayed, shows how much they respect and honour their mentors Claude and Lana Hamilton. The Unity of Kaizen is ALIVE!!! The moment I looked to my left on stage just before they called out the PP Top Gun winner, I seen my best friend Claude’s eyes light up with joy, being so proud of how ALL his team rose to the challenge at the same time to claim the prestigious PP Top Gun Trophy.

2. A Champion was born!  2012 started with an amazing blessing, the birth of Wyatt Claude Hamilton. This was a special moment for Raylene and I, seeing our best friends glow with excitement and anticipation for this new chapter in their lives.

1. Realizing a 10 year DREAM coming true!!!!   Watching my beautiful wife try on her ____ dress/gown and lighting up brighter than the Christmas tree in Times Square. I’m so proud of my wife for suspending her disbelief and always believing in me. At 17 yrs old she trusted me and because of Gods grace, my Dad’s belief in me, and my best friend Claude’s continuous encouragement and correction when needed, today I am a husband she can be proud of. With lots of work for improvement our lives are absolutely a blessing.

2012 was an awesome year for Raylene and I , I hope today you have the courage to write out your 100 goal list and speak it into existence.

Thanks for reading and sharing in my highlights of 2012, so many other great moments never made the top 10,  the LIFE/TEAM turning point of 2012 was the Boston harbour power player cruise .

God Bless

Wayne

Posted by OrrinWoodward at 12:27 PM EST

Updated: Monday, January 28, 2013 3:49 PM EST

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George Guzzardo shares the importance of leaving a legacy in this well written article. So many people work hard just to get by when if they worked smart they could thrive. The LIFE Business gives this opportunity to everyone. Orrin Woodward dreamed of providing world-class information to the masses for a price they could afford so they could change their lives. LIFE has done just that. Here is George's thoughts on leaving a legacy.

What will move you into action this year?  That which moves you to action is your motivation. In their best selling book ‘Launching a Leadership Revolution', Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady, describe the 3 levels of motivation.  Some people will be moved to action because of material gain.  It appears that the majority of people in our society are motivated because of money. It maintains a standard of living.  What else would account for the majority of people who take the most precious time they have and devote it to receiving a paycheck?  Others move to action because of recognition. This might come from what we call status or a title. Looking around the society today it is clear that the majority of the population are not motivated by a sense of what Orrin and Chris describe as a third level of motivation called ‘Legacy’.  Legacy is your contribution. It’s what remains after you’re gone. It is what you will be remembered for.  It is what will be recorded about you. It appears that the majority of people today are not motivated by a sense of destiny which reflects the dominant world  - view.  Destiny comes from a sense of purpose and there is no more powerful motivator than detecting your purpose.  

Whatever moves you to action on a daily basis is what the mind views as the most important motive.  I think that the subject of motivation is very appropriate for this time of year when many like to reflect on why people will do anything. Many of us who join the LIFE business and use the Team system to build ‘compensated communities’ become aware of even deeper qualities of motivation. Motivation does not come from nowhere to go somewhere. It must come from somewhere specific to go somewhere specific

The first step is to ask ourselves who we are, and what is important to us? The second step to this very important piece is to associate with others who are learning and growing in this area. Who in your current association do you spend time learning from? I have found the type of people who are in pursuit of leaving a legacy are in attendance at the Team open meetings and the LIFE seminars. I felt the most powerful sense of destiny when I attended the Team leadership conventions. I also notice an immediate impact on my thinking when I listen to the CD’s on a regular basis, which allows me to associate with the thinking of the leaders. The CD’s influenced my thoughts by pulling the weeds of my negative thinking. I remember when I had a job and was immersed in an environment where most people never discussed destiny or legacy. I began to look at my thinking as a garden. I needed to decide what I wanted to grow there. I have lots of weeds in there so I needed to counteract the effects of those weeds with CD’s and frequent association.

Bob Buford in his book ‘Halftime’ wrote, “I’m convinced that many people never make it to a life of significance because they’re trapped in a lifestyle that won’t let them.”  Leadership and Legacy connects when you mobilize others to serve a purpose. That is what’s missing in the world today.  Each of us has the opportunity to become a character in someone’s story this year. Is your story filled with purpose and destiny?  If you’re starting your LIFE business then the story starts with how you treat each day! The Roman historian Seneca wrote, “for all of us, the time is short and the span of life is brief. On top of that, our real human problem is not just that the span of life is short but that we waste so much of it – so that life ceases for us, just when we are getting ready for it.”  If your life is your story, how will you finish it?  This year, stop worrying, take hold and write your story! God Bless, George Guzzardo

Posted by OrrinWoodward at 8:53 AM EST

Updated: Thursday, January 17, 2013 8:56 AM EST

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Dan Hawkins has become one of the top leadership bloggers in the country. His information and style are attracting notice. Dan is a product of the leadership training offered by the LIFE Business and now teaches tens of thousands across America and Canada. Orrin Woodward believes Dan Hawkins is one of the best dreamers and doers in the LIFE Community. Here is Dan's article on the upcoming majors.

We are now two weeks from the LIFE business leadership conference in Louisville,KY. The excitement is building, LIFE members are preparing and teams are running to take home the biggest awards of the quarter.

Every quarter people travel from every corner of North America to attend a LIFE/Team leadership conference.  This is a powerful weekend filled with life changing information and moments. I have literally heard from thousands of people over the last few years on how weekends like this changed their lives. We, the founders of LIFE, are confident coming to a major leadership convention can change yours as well.

How can we be so confident? Because it has changed all of ours first. You see, the goal of LIFE is to help people become the best them so they can help others become their best.

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
― Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

 

The LIFE business is creating a Leadershift by helping people around the world develop themselves. 2013 is going to be the biggest year in the history of the Team and we invite you to start off right and join us in this journey!

We cannot wait to see you there! Please find us and say hello so we can look in your eyes and welcome you to the Leadershift.

The staff at the LIFE business has put together an incredible video to capture the feeling of this life changing weekend, enjoy!

God bless,

Dan and Lisa Hawkins

Posted by OrrinWoodward at 8:32 AM EST

Updated: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 8:38 AM EST

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The following article is from Orrin Woodward. He shares on the difference between leadership and management. Leaders lead people and manage numbers while non-leaders manage both. The LIFE Business rewards leadership, not management. Orrin learned early that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Leaders are tough. 

Leadership, a subject that I have spoken and written about a length, is a necessary ingredient in all successful lives and companies.  The problem is that many people confuse Leadership with the ability to call a meeting and pontificate to existing members on all they know about life & success, while real Leadership is lived on the front lines in making tough decisions, strategic planning, follow through with unhappy customers etc.  Chris and I clearly stated that performance comes before leadership in our book New York Times best selling book, Launching a Leadership Revolution, but since performance is much tougher than pontification, most skip past performance and promote themselves to Grand Master Manager Level – a rank requiring no results, just a mouth that prefers to talk than act.  I know that statement can sound a little harsh, but the amount of damage that managers, who will not lead, who feel successful when giving seminars on concepts they are not doing, cause by their inactivity is beyond the ability to measure.  Meaning, you cannot measure leadership directly, but you can certainly measure the effects of leadership in the results of a group the leader is leading.

Measuring results reminds me of the Hawthorne Studies.  In the early 20th century, studies were performed at the Western Electric Hawthorne Works that revealed an interesting correlation between measurements and results.  Here is a description of the Hawthorne Effect:

In essence, the Hawthorne Effect, as it applies to the workplace, can be summarized as “Employees are more productive because the employees know they are being studied.” Elton Mayo’s experiments showed an increase in worker productivity was produced by the psychological stimulus of being singled out, involved, and made to feel important.

Additionally, the act of measurement, itself, impacts the results of the measurement. Just as dipping a thermometer into a vial of liquid can affect the temperature of the liquid being measured, the act of collecting data, where none was collected before creates a situation that didn’t exist before, thereby affecting the results.

The major finding of the study was that almost regardless of the experiment employed, the production of the workers seemed to improve. One reasonable conclusion is that the workers were pleased to receive attention from the researchers who expressed an interest in them. The study was only expected to last one year, but because the researchers were set back each time they tried to relate the manipulated physical conditions to the worker’s efficiency, the project extended out to five years.

I can sum this up by saying Leaders must lead themselves, lead others, and then manage the numbers.  After leading yourself, the next best move is to expect others to lead themselves and teach them how to keep score.  In order to manage the numbers, you must start tracking the numbers and learning to keep score to identify if you are winning or losing.  Some people don’t want to keep score because they feel it would be negative, but nothing is more liberating than knowing the scoreboard so you can start the PDCA – Plan, Do, Check, Adjust process.  When leaders start keeping score, an amazing thing happens, people start scoring more.  If you are going to be in business, you might as well keep score so you can learn, grow and change.  Life is not ultimately as much about winning and losing as it is about growing & changing through the wins and losses experienced in life.

No one would go to a football game and pay big money for seats only to find out that both teams decided not to keep score.  The fans would demand a refund and feel cheated that professionals were playing the game, but not keeping score, but that is exactly what 90% of the people in America do everyday!  Managers love to play the game and are even will to track other people’s score so long as they don’t have to track their own.  Let’s agree that today, we will lead our teams, track our own scores, and only then, track the scores of our teams.  I am not in business to expend effort, time, & resources without expecting to change where necessary to win; I hope you feel the same.  Business is as good or as bad as you make it in your mind and actions.  Let’s take business to the next level by tracking our numbers after leading ourselves, giving us the ability to help others track their scoreboard.

Some of the essentials in business to start keeping score are the following.

Profit margin
New growth
Lost customers
Profit per employee
Profit per employee cost
Total Revenue
Customer Complaints

There are certainly others, depending upon what business you are in.  One thing I can tell you for certain, those who keep score will adjust quicker than people who do not keep score.  If you run a company, identify the key variable necessary to track to understand whether you are winning or losing.  Losing is a temporary situation if you are willing to change and fatal for those who deny reality.  Learn, perform, lead, score, and repeat the process with others is the way to lead people and manage the numbers. God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Posted by OrrinWoodward at 9:37 AM EST

Updated: Sunday, January 13, 2013 9:40 AM EST

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Jonathan Edwards was one of America's greatest men and minds. His faith and philsophy still resonates within American society. Orrin Woodward features him in his book RESOLVED: 13 Resolutions for LIFE. What have you resolved for 2013?

Jonathan Edwards was a preacher, theologian, a missionary to Native Americans, and shortly before his death, accepted the Presidency of the College of New Jersey (Princeton University).

Edwards “is widely acknowledged to be America’s most important and original philosophical theologian.”

Furthermore, Author George Marsden, writes,

“Edwards was extraordinary. By many estimates, he was the most acute early American philosopher and the most brilliant of all American theologians.At least three of his many works – Religious Affections, Freedom of the Will, and The Nature of True Virtue – stand as masterpieces in the larger history of Christian literature.”

But Edwards began his ministry with little advanced billing.

His first pastoral position in 1722, at 19 years of age, was far away from his Connecticut hometown, in New York City, then a thriving metropolis of 10,000 people.

Dr. Stephen Nichols, author of The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards, writes of the young pastor,

“Amidst all of this uncertainty and flux, this young man, Jonathan Edwards, needed both a place to stand and a compass for some direction. So he took to writing. He kept a diary and he penned some guidelines, which he came to call his ‘Resolutions.’ These resolutions would supply both that place for him to stand and a compass to guide him as he made his way.”

A.C. McGiffert described Edward’s method of resolutions, “Deliberately he set about to temper his character into steel.”

Tempering is a process to “toughen” the metals, just as written resolutions “toughen” the internal person through study and course corrections.

The tempering process takes time, but the internal fortitude and self-mastery gained living one’s convictions, not one’s preferences, is worth any price.

Jonathan Edwards dutifully wrote out 70 Resolutions (see appendix) between 1722 and 1723.

Edwards committed to read the 70 Resolutions once per week for the rest of his life, and fulfilled that commitment, reading the resolutions more than 1,800 times over the next 35 years.

Here are two of his resolutions.

1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriads of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.

2. Resolved, never to say anything at all against anybody, but when it is perfectly agreeable to the highest degree of Christian honor, and of love to mankind, agreeable to the lowest humility, and sense of my own faults and failings, and agreeable to the golden rule; often, when I have said anything against anyone, to bring it to, and try it strictly by the test of this resolution.

Edwards would have many occasions to apply his resolutions.

After his pastoral service in New York, on February 15, 1727, Edwards joined his father-in-law, Solomon Stoddard’s congregation in Northampton, Massachusetts.

In 1729, Stoddard died, leaving Edwards the sole minister in charge of one of the largest, wealthiest and proudest congregations in the colony.

Stoddard, in his later years, had introduced several doctrinal changes not founded upon scriptures.

Edwards, being new, continued the innovations when he assumed pastoral leadership.

But, in 1749, after years of successful ministry and intensive biblical study, Edward’s conscience balked at the doctrinal errors, precipitating an angry response from church members.

The controversy concluded with Edward’s dismissal by the margin of one vote.

Many would have railed against the injustice, but Edwards, dignified as always, preached his farewell sermon with the truth, love and grace, exiting Northampton without rancor or bitterness.

Edwards was, as Randall Stewart wrote, “Not only the greatest of all American theologians and philosophers but the greatest of our pre-19th century writers as well,” making his gracious humble spirit even more impressive.

He didn’t fight for his rights; instead he merely accepted the ruling as God’s Will, taking a position as missionary to the frontier Indians.

Edwards consistently displayed a grace-filled spirit of forgiveness to his many detractors, some who, years later apologized for their involvement in the misinformation spread.

Can one imagine the infamy of being associated with the congregation that dismissed one of the best theologians and philosophers in American history?

But Edwards, in his final years, never missed a beat, writing several classics of Christian literature, leaving an enduring testament to the power of character-based resolutions to transform a person from the inside out.

Edwards faithfully lived his principles externally because that is who he had become internally.

Specifically, he didn’t just give lip service to his resolutions, he truly lived them.

Posted by OrrinWoodward at 7:58 PM EST

Updated: Wednesday, January 9, 2013 8:00 PM EST

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There are three leadership phases a person goes through - dependence, independence, and interdependence. The last, interdependence, is the best. Bill Lewis describes interdependence in the following article. Orrin Woodward, Claude Hamilton, George Guzzardo, and the rest of the LIFE Founders are interdependent upon one another to produce the longterm results they desire. The LIFE Business is producing longterm results. 

Posted by OrrinWoodward at 8:58 AM EST

Updated: Friday, January 4, 2013 9:03 AM EST

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 In Orrin Woodward's book RESOLVED: 13 Resolutions for LIFE, his introduction contains descriptions of three early Americans - George Washington, Ben Franklin, and Jonathan Edwards. Each of these three men made resolutions to improve their lives. Orrin modeled this method in his own life and shares his 13 resolutions in the book. Indeed, the LIFE Business is a business modeled on the 13 Resolutions. The following is a section of Orrin's introduction. 

By nature, young Washington had a fiery temper, but he developed an iron-willed discipline in order to check its excesses. Richard Norton Smith, in his book, Patriarch, said, “The adolescent Washington examined Seneca’s dialogues and laboriously copied from a London magazine one hundred and ten ‘rules of civility’ intended to buff a rude country boy into at least the first draft of a gentleman”.  The French Jesuits had originally developed the 110 Rules as principles to live by, and Washington’s methodical writing process helped him to adopt many of these maxims as his personal resolutions for life. As Richard Brookhiser, author of Founding Father, wrote, “His manner and his morals kept his temperament under control. His commitment to ideas gave him guidance. Washington’s relation to ideas has been underestimated by almost everyone who wrote of him or knew him, and modern education has encouraged this neglect. . . His attention to courtesy and correct behavior anticipated his political philosophy. He was influenced by Roman notions of nobility, but he was even more deeply influenced by a list of table manners and rules for conversation by Jesuits.”  Character and self-mastery were his goals through living his guiding ideals of fortitude, justice, moderation, and the dignity of every human being.

For Washington, life became a series of resolutions to live by. He wrote and studied many such maxims throughout his life. Here are two examples. (see appendix for more)

1. With me it has always been a maxim rather to let my designs appear from my works rather than by my expressions.
Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.

2. Washington developed and studied his maxims repeatedly, becoming convicted of the correctness of the maxims, teaching virtue over happiness and duty over rights, resolving to live based upon the principles implied within them.

Katherine Kersten, in George Washington’s Character, asks:

“What would Washington have accomplished if happiness, rather than integrity and service, had been his life-goal? Instead of suffering with his men through the snows of Valley Forge, he might have followed the example of Benedict Arnold, another Revolutionary War General. Though brave and talented, Arnold valued his own well-being and prosperity above all else. Out of self-interest, he plotted to betray West Point to the British, and died a traitor to his nation. What can we learn from Washington and his contemporaries about character-building? They teach us, most importantly, that “the soul can be schooled.” Exercising reason and will, we can mold ourselves into beings far nobler than nature made us.”

The ending quotation summarizes character-based training beautifully – “the soul can be schooled”.  Washington attended this class daily on his way to developing the nobility of character needed to unite the American colonies. General Henry Knox spoke truthfully when he shared that it was the strength of Washington’s character, not the laws of the new Constitution, that held the young republic together.  In a tribute to his friend, Congressman Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee eulogized Washington, saying, “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in humble and enduring scenes of private life. Pious, just, humane, temperate, and sincere; uniform, dignified, and commanding; his example was as edifying to all around him as were the effects of that example lasting…Correct throughout, vice shuddered in his presence and virtue always felt his fostering hand. The purity of his private character gave effulgence to his public virtues…Such was the man for whom our nation mourns.”  Lee’s tribute testifies to Washington’s faithful application of his resolutions into his life, living his maxims both privately and publicly.

Posted by OrrinWoodward at 8:25 AM EST

Updated: Thursday, December 27, 2012 8:31 AM EST

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